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Q-talk 19 - Jan/Feb 1990 - index

JAN/FEB 1990
ISSUE NUMBER 19

QUICKIE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION

INTRODUCTION

by Jim Masal

 

A BIENNIAL REVIEW

Off we go into another new year...one that happens to be the first of the last decade of the twentieth century! Whaddaya say we all get excited about it and plan to have all our birds out of the workshops and into the air for a great, smashing fly-in to celebrate 2000? I'm giving you all 10 more years to do it. That's reasonable, ain't it?

I'm pleased with all the reports of your activities coming in with your renewals and when I re-read the "Checking in with the Home Office" column written last year at this time I find much progress, yet plenty to be curious about. What, for example, happened to J. C. Simpson's Limbach installation? Pohl's Corvair engine, whahoppened? Did Weigart get his medical waiver; is Thurman back in the air with the Konig and where's Schuckler's photo? And then I'm waiting for photos and progress reports from about 5 of you who are "working" on 0-235 installations.

Since there are a lot of progress reports yet due, and since there are new QBAers now on board, let me review some helpful technical aspects of putting together Q-TALK.

I found some good stuff from Steve Whiteside recently. It had been lying around here for quite some time. In case somebody is still confused, writing Q-TALK is not the only event that happens in my life. About half the time I have motivation problems just like you. Unfortunately, I take pride in meeting my schedule (and I get under pressure, imagining you guys salivating over your mailboxes every other month). So when I see a block of my time free, I start working like a trampled-up anthill. Any correspondence that is sent to me written in my exact column width gets glued down immediately. Any stuff that needs drawing redone or necessary graphs that aren't sharp and clear enough that I can reduce them it fit and still be readable I push aside for a later issue when I have the time and interest to draw. I have enough trouble just being a typist. When someone like Haxton sends in his excellent drawings, they generally get immediate attention.

I'm NOT tellin' you to stop sending your scratchy drawings, I'm just saying don't have a hissy-fit if they don't show up in print for a while. I'm not in a hurry to use up ALL my free time on Q-TALK (and neither is my wife, if you get my drift!).

The fastest way to show up in print (and be my friend for life) is to do your stuff the way I do. I type everything up in a column of lines that is 4 and 7/8 inches wide. Then I take it down to Kinko's Kopies (goofy, huh?) and reduce it on a copier to 78%. THEN, I cut these strips out and set them up on 8.5 x 11 inch sheets of blue graph paper to help my eyeballs align everything. This is real low tech. If I had the right computer and program I could type everything on the screen, cut, paste and move it around electronically, then spit it out on my printer ready for the print shop.

The reason I make the effort to reduce the typing is so that you can get more reading out of each issue. Some of you understandably proud papas than attempt to thwart my efforts by sending billboard-sized photos of your favorite airplane. Sorry, Charlie, that ain't EVEN gonna fly. I counter-thwart by having my photo lithographer reduce them to a more humble size (at extra expense). NOBODY gets to take up an entire page of our newsletter just to show off a photo, drawing, graph, etc. You wanna WHOLE page, you gonna hafta WRITE for it. And take a look at some back issues to see the guys who have earned this privilege (with no complaints from this office!). So, don't be ordering K-mart jumbo prints just for me. Anyway, more about photos: I think we do a remarkable low tech job considering I have to convert your color or black 'n white shots to halftones (a series of dots) and then my printer has to use the correct ink flow to get a sharp printout. You should see some of the junk in other independent newsletters. Your color shots work out just fine so don't get a hernia trying for B/W. Hardly anybody prints them anymore.

I don't just reduce photos in size, first I get my handy dandy slicer and cut off your house, backyard, baby's stroller and all that crap on the ground that you thought would photograph nicely with your airplane. Now I'd be delighted if more of you were in the photo so long as you didn't obscure any aerial machinery, but your garden tools just don't interest us, OK?

And another thing about space gobbling: classified advertising for members is free. HOWEVER, if you'll notice I try to limit ads to five lines. If you send me twelve pages of ecstatic ravings about your airplane, I will cut it down to 5 lines. We are not about sales here, but for the right $$$, we CAN be, i.e. you pay for the extra pages and stamps and printing so that everybody else gets the same amount of Q-news. Free advertising is only for an individual member, by name. It is not free for your buddy down at the EAA chapter, for your company (no matter how small), or for your kid's trike, unless it flies. If you're selling a product in the name of a company, write me for rates.

And another ground rule I live with: I can turn out a pretty good newsletter, but I'm not EVEN interested in being a librarian. If you want me to tell you which issue of Q-Talk had the plans for vortex generators, touch luck, Charlie. Look it up yourself, Mr. Lazybones. If you don't have a free 45 minutes to wade through a pile of Q-TALKS, neither do I. If I have the info on the top of my head, I'm glad to help, otherwise I'd rather spend the time writing instead of looking up stuff. It may be my fault that there are now over 588 pages of Q-TALK info out, but I'm not going to suffer for it. And then there's the reader(?) who wants to know how the Rotax conversions are working out. Well, hell, we've only been covering that stuff for over 3 years. Take a reading skills class at your local community college. Hoooweeeee! Did I just hear someone fall out of the turnip truck?

SUN 'N FUNNERS: Look for me and the QBA Builders Forum in the forum tents at 9 am Sunday morning, first day of the show.

 

Other Articles In This Issue

CHECKING IN WITH THE HOME OFFICE, 1990 - by Jim Masal
ODDS and ENDS - by Jim Masal
PILOT REPORT - by Jim Masal
LETTERS - by Jim Masal
ACCIDENT REPORT - by Jim Masal
QUICKSHOTS - by Jim Masal
CLASSIFIEDS - by Jim Masal

 


You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #19 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.