RE: AMA EC Elections 2009, et al.
You right Horrace, I cannot run this year. But hope others do. And ya, glad you never had to drop one of those gunpowderless bombs either. Marc
Posted on: 6/18/2009 6:58 AM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8861514

RE: AMA EC Elections 2009, et al.
Horrace, Please quantify how many ships were lost out of how many total aircraft and total flights. Please do not throw a bomb with out gunpowder. It is my experience that what many call radio problems have more to do with install issues (especially 2.4 set ups) and bad flying/crummy flying aircraft than your radio working incorrectly. I have flown 2.4 full time since the fall of 2007 in high end composite sailplanes, an issue right there to be done correctly, and electrics and have not had problem one. To me, 2.4 provides a refuge from the guys without pins on my old frquencies. As far as running for office, I hope folks step up. Marc
Posted on: 6/17/2009 3:51 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8859821

RE: EC Votes In Term Limits
I believe that the vote finished on ~the 14th of April, and it was on the agenda for the EC meeting that was just held. I would think that the word will be out pretty soon. As I stated on RCG, most folks I talked to were for the issues. Marc
Posted on: 4/28/2009 7:41 AM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8721862

RE: A Conversation with Dave Mathewson Concerning PPP
Those answers sound about right to me, sounds businesslike, can you imagine that? Ron, to all their opinion, but the last thing that Jim Cherry is is power hungry I believe. He loves model aviation and could be working with industry and commerce, and has. Life could have a whole lot less hassles working in Florida than in Muncie, but he took on the challenge. I have worked with him during the Nats and some other activities at the International Aeromodeling Center, and he has been full service for us, LSF. I think that he is a sharp guy and good modeler. Marc
Posted on: 3/11/2009 4:49 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8567635

RE: EC Votes In Term Limits
I will vote for this gladly, I am glad to see that progress is being made in bringing new blood to the mix. Marc
Posted on: 1/19/2009 9:11 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8377915

RE: Show me your cards
I'm with you Budman, I was 2 as well. I have one, and I ditch about anything that has no use in the future except pics. Marc
Posted on: 1/14/2009 7:23 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8358655

RE: Muncie site
Crash, Yap, the place is busy, but get on the phone and talk to Joyce Hagar and see what they have available and go from there. I know that for us in soaring there is usually open flying and on some occasions there has been FF and rocket activeties going on too. With 2.4 available, the latitude allowed on the field is getting larger. Marc
Posted on: 1/13/2009 7:09 AM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8352744

RE: AMA Nationals
103/17, You are right about volunteers and venues, wandering the USA makes it tough, but Money is the issue compared to having the Nats at Muncie. Remember, they would rail ship a semi trailer, have to get it to the main site, and put up the main volunteers. AMA staff is used for a number of things, so figure travel and putting them up too. It is just reality. I will admit that, having multiple disciplines on site is fun. I know that when we have sailplane contests at Muncie, many times the FF guys are there, just cool to watch. Marc
Posted on: 11/10/2008 6:10 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8134150

RE: AMA Nationals
It does sound good CP, have your buddy donate the hay field and we can go from there. Have a good week. Marc
Posted on: 8/25/2008 9:40 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7885819

RE: AMA Nationals
"They built a Taj Mahal and until the novelty wears off they will proudly showcase it as their crown jewel." CP, the IAC is about 14 years old, it is like good wine, it is just getting better. You are right, it is one of the best model flying sites in the world, as you said, the Taj Mahal. How does the novelty wear off from that? Have you flown there? I know that I live close, and it can be said I am biased, but it could have been many places but it is here, I had nothing to do with it. If we did not have it, then folks would be grumping that we did not own a site. I think that AMA cannot win in many folks eyes no matter what they do. Marc
Posted on: 8/25/2008 4:18 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7884541

RE: AMA Nationals
Glad you do CP, but the point remains, CL is CL at the Nats, not just combat. Soaring is soaring, not just hand launch, which means winches, landing barriers, lots of cones, and on and on, etc, versus a sound system and a few cones for hand launch. CL is one of the most labor intensive event catagories at the Nats, and I realize that you guys can fly on about any field and do it in ten minutes, but the CL Nats is not just combat and that is the point. If you ask Ron Morgan, Nats over all Manager, I think he will agree. Marc
Posted on: 8/19/2008 7:53 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7864242

RE: AMA Nationals
CP, The Nats is more than the few things that combat requires even for combat. Since combat is part of CL, CL requires tents, sound systems, transportation, barriers and rigging, getting AMA staff on site, etc. So, it is not lime, cones, and caution tape for combat, it is a whole lot more any given portion of the Nats. Marc
Posted on: 8/19/2008 5:18 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7863777

RE: AMA Nationals
Hoss is right, it is a $$$$$ thing, moving around costs major bucks. As the Soaring Event Director for the last four years, I have heard many horror stories about the fields that ended up being used when thing traveled. As far as we are concened (soaring/LSF), the IAC, is a world class soaring venue and we love it. The guys out west gumble sometimes, but even they like to fly there, but the logisitcs are a bit tough on them. Maybe someday the west will have a site too, but for right now the IAC is "the" place for the LSF/AMA Soaring Nats. Marc
Posted on: 8/18/2008 5:46 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7860002

RE: August MA
If you had not noticed (Obviously some do not), yes there has been a change at MA at Editor, Michael Ramsey, and Jay Smith, Assistant Editor. Mr. Hunt was the Editor prior to Mike taking the post last year, Jay has just started in the last couple of months and was the main guy behind the Nats News. Marc
Posted on: 8/13/2008 4:52 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7842270

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
Looking good... I just thought I would give a gear update, I emailed RC4WD about getting Nitro gear packs for the NTK guys here and it was no problem to basicly just subsitute another ball diff/counter gear instead of the elc spur,... SO nitro NTK guys... keep this in mind when you order your gear sets.
Posted on: 6/11/2008 4:53 PM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7608180

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
New TK RC4WD Transmission Gears... review ... I just got the new tranny gears for the Thunder King kits and thought I would post my thoughts... AWESOME!, AWESOME!, AWESOME! I ordered a few sets from http://www.rcrockcrawling.com/product_info.php?cPath=52&products_id=683 I got a bit of a suprize when I opened the package, I was expecting the gears to be made from aluminum as said on the rc rock crawling site but when I got them out of the bags I realized that these are all STEEL! gears. To me this is a huge bonus and ups the durability factor a whole bunch. The machining quality looks excellent!... WELL DONE!... The gears also seem to have a black anodized type coating on them which again is another plus. I am very impressed. I HIGHLY recommend to anyone that has a TK-BK-DT-NTK to get a set of these new gears made by RC4WD while you can because if they run out of them you guys will really be missing out on what looks to be an AWESOME! upgrade to your kits, well worth the the price. The complete tranny gear set is included, gear shaft, counter gear, differential gear and elc spur gear. http://rc4wdstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=734 I have always used and would recommend using a high temp moly type grease on metal gears, The machining quality looks to be excellent... ALSO... ------------------------------------------------------------------- ATTEN... Nitro Thunder King owners... ------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some new pics (second row of pics) of the modded NTK nitro 24pitch spur gear we are using from the 65T monster pirate (black) beside a factory 68T (white) NTK nitro 24pitch spur gear. All we are doing to make this gear work is to make/add a same thickness as gear lexan or plastic spacer/washer to downsize the center hole from 30mm to 14mm, then we set the factory rulon pad into the center indentation which it fits perfectly and drill 8 small holes, one on each side of the larger 4 factory holes for the M/T pirate mounting, with this we thread in set screws to keep the rulon pads in place on each side and thats it. If down the road RC4WD would be willing to make this gear, it could be sold to the monster pirate and NTK guys, also this gear is the same size as the xtm mammoth uses 65T so there might be some possiblitys there too.
Posted on: 4/4/2008 3:26 AM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7256105

RE: Discussion of My Response to Greg Hahn's recent "The Inside Loop" column
Toolman, nope we have to have a membership, that is for sure, but I would guess most either agree or do not care one way or the other. Marc
Posted on: 4/1/2008 5:41 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7317783

RE: Discussion of My Response to Greg Hahn's recent "The Inside Loop" column
SB, Greg is a paid employee of the AMA President Dave Mathewson (actual AMA CEO officer), the Executive Council and Jim Cherry, not directly the membership. Not a single person in that building works for you in the literal sense, and there is a good reason. If an association were to fire any employee because some group has a burr in their arse concerning that employee, there would be no one to work there. So keep in mind who he works for as the main technical advisor of AMA, it is not you or me, but boys way above our pay grade. Marc
Posted on: 4/1/2008 7:27 AM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7315271

RE: Discussion of My Response to Greg Hahn's recent "The Inside Loop" column
Ok Kid, lets stay on topic, I think Phils response is hyperbole in reaction to what was observations by a very qualified member of the hobby industry. Nothing against Phil stating his opinion, it is the good ole USA you know, just kind of think it was not warranted . Marc
Posted on: 3/31/2008 9:39 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7313699

RE: One FLY can Ruin a great PIE !
Jug, The one that comes to mind is the use fees structure (for equipment and such) that is being instituted for the International Aeromodeling Center. I would guess from what has been told to me in the last couple of years while at the Nats this had been long time coming. But of course here, most took it as the staff telling the VP's how to do business. From what I knew about this from the Nats organizational meetings and talking with Nats Managers, this was a long time developed structure and was held back at least once to make sure that it was right. There you go, Marc
Posted on: 3/31/2008 8:08 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7313168

RE: Discussion of My Response to Greg Hahn's recent "The Inside Loop" column
Pigg, I referenced AMA specifically, not the suppliers. AMA or suppliers are not immune from comment, but in many situations here, AMA in particular is run over for any or all of what they do, well, as noted they get tired of the beating and I for one am kind of glad that Greg made the stand. Marc
Posted on: 3/31/2008 7:30 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7312921

RE: Discussion of My Response to Greg Hahn's recent "The Inside Loop" column
Phil, from what I see, what Greg said is largely true. I do not know Greg, but from what is evident here everyday, the folks at AMA take a beating from places like this and most if not all the issues raised are being brought up with no real evidence or real first hand accounts of what happened or what the principals actually said or did. Just the way I see it, I hope that Michael and Greg stand by their pistolas! Marc
Posted on: 3/31/2008 4:47 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7312017

RE: Just the Facts Sir, Only the facts:
b. Equipment Rental – Appendix II [quote][/quote][b]Council received copy of headquarters policy on equipment rental[/b]. The costs shown are below market value; the piece will be re-done to show the pricing for AMA members and non-AMA members. SIGs have been alerted that there will be a charge for equipment rental if they hold an event on site. This policy DOES NOT apply to SIGs during the AMA Nationals. [b]Council was cautioned not to request that headquarters waive these rental fees for any group.[/b] Note: this policy is only available to official sanctioned event organizers and not individual members. [quote][/quote] Just for the record, this was coming for a long time, I probably heard this for the first time from Ron Morgan (Overall Nats Manager) two years ago. With all the issues of cash flow at AMA, and trying to make the place pay it's way, this I think was a long time coming. There was resistance to this at first, but I always have thought that everything (service or equipment) has a price, and the use of the IAC and the infrastructure has one. This one is a no brainer in my mind, the PFP on the other one has no place at all, but I will let you guys slice that subject up. Marc
Posted on: 3/4/2008 5:46 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7174822

RE: What has my AMA become?
Abel, it is not rationalization, it is the facts of what happens in an association environment. Hate to say it, but the staff have a much better handle on what is happening and where things are headed in any group. It just makes sense that many, not all, of the ideas that are generated should come from the staff because of their vantage point. Lets face facts, the EC, this is not their day job, but it is the staff. Many times in my situation, when the board got some major issue they felt they had the response, it backfired in our faces because the research had not been done to make sure we were headed in the right direction. In one case in particular, it ended up in court and it was all because the board did not know enough on the subject other than emotional reactions to one incident. P-51B (the best version made), the staff is not there just for requests, they are paid to think ahead and be progressive in heading off issues. The EC does not come up with that much stuff in the big scheme of things I would think, and again, the staff faces the battle everyday. I wish folks would give the staff credit for their work. Just my views, and everyone has one. Have a good all! Marc
Posted on: 2/26/2008 7:36 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7142092

RE: What has my AMA become?
I read this and kind of wonder what you all feel that the AMA staff should be doing. One time in my life, I worked for a major horse association as part of the staff in a very public department. Yes, the EC did ask for information on subjects, but many times we brought issues to them that we had identified as issues and brought what we felt was needed to be done from what we saw as our vantage point, not always for the members and not always for the association. We did our jobs just like the staff at AMA does. When JC or any staff is in front of the EC, they are going to do eactly what I did in my job. I am sure that we can find requests from the EC for information, study, and action from the staff in the EC minutes. I know good an well, the Nats have been changed a bunch over the last few years as directed by the EC so not everything they do is under the thumb of the AMA Staff. Marc
Posted on: 2/25/2008 5:43 PM by Author "OVSS Boss" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7136050

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
9NX NTK SE
Posted on: 2/21/2008 1:39 AM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7111360

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
COLLECTOR/TRIVIA INFO... Here is some more interesting trivia for TK collector fans, I got a call from the sales rep at MRC a good few years back when they were already compleatly sold out of NTK kits for quite a while, Peggy told me that they were cleaning up the warehouse and found some of the first original 4 NTK PROMO kits that they had made for them that they used to show off to/at the r/c industry shows hidden way up on the top shelfs where they were forgotten, so anyway they thought of me and called me up to give me first dibs. Tim at MRC told me there were less than 1000 Nitro modded TK kits put together so it was a no brainer for me lol... So guess who has some of the first NTK kits ever made lol... All 4 of the originals (2 with radios sys, 2 with out) are sitting on my top shelf still in the boxes MRC sent them to me in years ago LOL. These kits are more crude looking, the tune pipes look like hell, they have diffrent linkages than the newer ones and a few other diffrent parts than the newer prodution kits. I wonder if there are any people with one of the first batch (blue head) style kits still in the box out there? One other interesting thing I heard and I seen one pic of one is apparently MRC made a very few PROTOTYPE trucks with ALL virgin white nylon parts on them (same material as the factory TK wheels), I heard you could practicly throw them off a 10 story building or run over these things with a fullsize car/truck and you could not break/none of the parts would break. I am guessing that they would never be able to sell any parts if they marketed the kits in all nylon. I would love to get my hands on on some of these rare parts which could also be dyed any colors. Have a close look at the new at that time aftermarket 8scale Parma body for these kits, closely check out the suspension parts in the pic below and you will see this super rare white rino. Also there were a good few companys back when these kits came out that made some real nice stuff like a complete carbon fiber chassis and a few companys making real nice looking aluminum wheels and other goodies, looking back I realy wish I would of bought more of the aftermarket stuff companys made for them. In the past I was so hardcore into these kits when they first came out as elc kits, I bet I was probably one of the first guys to convert an elc kit to nitro using a low hp K&B .21 engine with flywheel start, usa1 counter gear support, ofna mounts/tank, traxxas bell brake and som other misc pasts, I had to use a bit of wetlube in the tranny to make the elc gears last longer. I got into being a dealer for the NTK kits because guys here that bought elc kits years back could not get parts from the hobby stores for them so we/I looked into other ways to get parts. Here in calgary I sold a lot of NTK kits and specialized in them and others, we used these kits in the USHRA monster jam event shows and these kits sold them selfs after that. MRC and the NTK even helped us build and support the Nitro Extreme r/c park which was a 2.5 acre 8scale nitro park in the middle of the city with 2 tracks, parking, toilets, food, drinks and more, it just was a great place for 8scale guys to hang out to run there NTKs, anyway I can give more info out of this later. Here in calgary I wanted to do something special with the NTK because it was a limited/low production conversion kit. So I made up 9/nine special editon nitro extreme kits to go with the theme of the r/c park MRC help us to build. In various shippments of NTK's from MRC after the park opened I took extra time to go though every nut and bolt and resetup everything including going through the ball diff setups/gears with extra grease and adjustments. These NINE 3+3+3 NITRO EXTREME NTK kits got something extra... something hidden.
Posted on: 2/21/2008 1:34 AM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7005799

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
Nope, we have tryed the fuel tanks in diffrent places though, stock spot is best, just turn it around
Posted on: 2/19/2008 1:56 AM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7099561

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
MOVIES...I found some old NTK vids I uploaded a while ago... get some popcorn... http://www.rcpics.net/media/tk.mpeg http://www.rcpics.net/media/MOV04543.mpg http://www.rcpics.net/media/MOV04541.mpg http://www.rcpics.net/media/MOV04542.mpg http://www.rcpics.net/media/MOV04540.mpg I put some stuff on RC-PICS a while back and I will see if I can add some more soon http://www.rcpics.net/media.php?searchstr=user:9108&trick=Any&type=Any&time=1203322446&search=search&limit=10 here is one from gound level taken with a hidden camera http://www.rcpics.net/media/Monster_jam_1_2004.wmv Below is a link to pics of the lastr/c M/J show I orgainized. http://www.rcpics.net/media.php?trick=Any&type=Any&next=10&limit=10&searchstr=user:16952&time=1203333244&search=search&max=22 The pics below is of 2 of the NTKs that I setup with some of the mods in this thread to run at the last monster jam, The yellow one is the one you see in the vids winning the jump off, it was drivin by a guy that did not like NTKs and used to say they are outdated among other things, he busted his other 8scale mts so I let him drive the yellow NTK (I told him give it hell), all the jumps of that NTK was him driving it for the first time, he had never drove/used/owned an NTK before this, funny... he had good things to say about the NTKs after that lol. I think there were 6 in total in the last m/j show we did, every year we did the show at least half the kits in the show were always nitro thunder kings and was the kit to beat for the guys running the new high tech stuff lol. let me know if I am boring you TK fans with all this now.
Posted on: 2/18/2008 6:57 AM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7093818

RE: MRC THUNDER KING picture gallery
Yup, just e-mail me.
Posted on: 2/18/2008 3:07 AM by Author "The Boss" in the forum "RC Monster Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7093813