One of the most satisfying things at the Nats for me – as Volare Products – was the Stout 2-AT One-Design Mass Launch. We, the Cloudbusters, selected the 2-AT as the One-Design to honor our aging member, Stu Weckerly. Stu, who is in his mid-80s and has 411 kanones to date, used to fly a Stout back in the 80s and 90s. It was a light-weight wonder that dominated the Golden Age event.
I took Stu’s plan and developed a laser-cut short kit for an 18.5″ version that was necessarily more robust for a better scale representation and so the model would be buildable by the average modeler. This short kit was given away as part of the registration for the 2015 FAC Outdoor Champs in Muncie last year and many have been sold since. As a vendor, I only get a small amount of feedback on what people think of my kits. It made me a bit apprehensive having a single event at the Nats for one of my designs. Would many people build it? Would the models fly?
Well, about 15 people showed up for the Mass Launch and all of the models looked – the same! One of the issues with this plane is that out of the 11 or so 2-ATs that were built, every one was silver with black lettering. This might make for some issues with following specific models during a mass launch, but that all worked out well, for the most part.
Here are a handful of the competitors with their planes before the first round.
F.S. Gilbert
Dick Gorman
John Houck, sr
Matt King with Ray Rakow
Winn Moore with Jack Bredehoft
Ted Allebone holding Mike Welshans’ Stout – prototype #1 and still flying!
Wally Farrell
Final Round Launch. L-R: Mike Escalante, Dave Mitchell, Winn Moore, John Houck, and Bruce Clark
Happy winner, Dave Mitchell – model lost OOS in June 2017
Here is a long (4 minute) video of the first round. At least two planes flew out-of-sight in that first round. The third and final round was nearly as impressive with all planes going up and the victor winning only seconds ahead of 2nd and 3rd. These performances were spectacular – and comforting to the kit designer and producer.
Congrats! Another great Volare kit
Thanks George, for the wonderful video and pics of the Stout/Ford event. All of us had a grand time including me in spite of the fact that I didn’t find my plane in time to return for the final round. Still she flew like a champ.
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Hi George, I’m sad to report that I lost my Stout for good at the Raeford, NC Kudzu meet this June. That plane was a MONSTER flyer. I don’t think I got more than a dozen flights out of the thing, most of them maxes, before Hung took a shine to it and lifted it deep into the NC blue…
BTW, the fellow in the final round launch on the far right is Bruce Clark.
Dave Mitchell