Frankenmuth Aerotow Festival - Aug 11-12, 2018

[Joespeeder]

Hey Guys,

I had a question about rooms and the area so I'll tell you what I know and things I would consider as I traveled to the event. Your mileage may vary but this may help.


I would stay downtown Frankenmuth... You get a better feel for the area. They have a lot going on and the Hotels are not worn expressway motels. I don't have any specials or such. If you guys can give me a heads up on what you find when shopping for hotels I can give heads ups next year. Lets help each other...



Frankenmuth is known for it's Chicken Dinners... They are served family style and a good meal. It's not Morton's or Ruth's Chris, it's family style and you'll enjoy it.

The two major restaurants are the Bavarian Inn and Zenders. I like Zenders better. It's the white building. This is a personal choice but Zenders is the one I go to most.

The fried chicken livers appetizer at Zenders is very good.... lol The basement at Zenders has all the Kitsch Crap, great breads, and other things to buy.... lol

If you're looking for a great traditional German meal... Sad to say I haven't found it there. Bavarian Inn has some but not may favorite. Stay tuned....

Do not go to the Old Christmas restaurant North of town.... Gets good reviews. Funny.... Our meal didn't support those reviews.

Good bar style food can be had at the Brewery which is North of downtown a block or so.... We go there when we're looking for something not Chicken.



Birch Run which is where you get off the expressway has all the fast foods, Bagger Dave's, and Buffalo Wild Wings. All the corporate kind of meals are in the Birch Run area.
Be warned if you go to Tony's.... The portions there are stupid big.... Really really big.... 12 eggs for one omelet kind of big. You've been warned.


Traveling from the South. There are two restaurants that I would choose from depending on my time frame. If you're heading home after the event and want to stop for a nice meal or coming early and want to take a brake then these are the spots I would look at as I moved up and down US-23.

The first is Metzgers German Restaurant. It's a short side trip off of US-23 on M-14. But it's a quick hop and well worth the 10 minutes it takes to get there. This is were you'll get great German food and drinks. I tell my guys if they go with me to Stephanes aerotow in Milan we are stopping at Metzgers. I'm usually very accommodating about stuff like this but this is where I put my foot down. No choices... lol It's SUPER easy to get to and always pleases.

https://metzgers.net/

If you're traveling through the Toledo area on US-23 just south of the Michigan boarder then Ciao is the place to stop for great Italian food. It's right next to the expressway and couldn't be easier to get to as you travel US-23.

http://ciaorestaurant.com/menu/

Other than those bits you'll find the normal fare as you make your way up US-23 and I-75.

Hope this helps.

Joe

[Al_M]

Joe, may I respectfully add two eateries in the city of Fenton?

First is The Laundry, 125 W. Shiawasee Ave. Great food, craft beers and drinks. www.lunchandbeyond.com. Reservations for parties of 10 or more call 810-629-8852

Second is the Fenton Fire Hall, 201 South Leroy St. Bbq ribs, mac n cheese to die for, and much more. See the menu on their web page at: www.fentonfirehall.com.
First come, first served.

Good places to stop at on the way either northbound or southbound on US 23, 45 minutes south of Frankenmuth. Both are just five minutes off the highway.

[Joespeeder]

Hi Al,

Those are great restaurants!

If they fit schedules they are worth seeking out. If any of these choices sound good, I would do a quick google maps look into each to get a feel for where they are. Be sure to call ahead as places like these tend to have lines at times.

Nice choices.

Joe

[Joespeeder]

Btw Al,

Remind me to get all of our APModels ships together for a group photo. We can get it posted to the APModels Facebook page among other places for promotion.

Joe

[ARUP]

I booked a room at the Frankenmuth Motel!

[Joespeeder]

Great ! Looking forward to the weekend. I want to get more time on the Minimoa and Rhonsperber!

[ARUP]

I have a 40 sized trainer that can tow small sailplanes. Do you need it for duty or is this size covered?

[Joespeeder]

Hi Mike,

I think we’re good in that size... I think.. I’ll follow up after tomorrow night. We have an Avistar with a 30cc that’s suspose to come. I’ll confirm tomorrow with him. He’s a new tug pilot and flew my Flex Cessna 170 towing foam Ka8’s last year.

You’re bringing lots of planes and I hate to have you load up an extra plane at this point.

For the smaller sailplanes we have a Timber, the 170, a L-4 with ASP 160, a small electric tug built for a local design contest. Also an Avistar and a Carbon Cub that have shown interest but I can’t confirm them at this point.

Stephane is coming with his Bidule and Valiant. Plus some of the guys that join him at his events have larger tugs I’m hoping we’ll see them as well. Unfortunately Rolly and his father are not able to attend due to some non RC issues that need attention.

And,,, I’m hoping to do some tows with my 50cc Storch. I’m flying it tomorrow night and if all is good we’ll get it into limited service. It’s flown once as I write this so we’ll see.

Tomorrow night I’ll know more.

Joe

[Joespeeder]

Hey Mike,

The 30cc Avistar Tug says he's coming.

I flew the Sotrch tonight and did several landings. It's comfortable in the air and I still suck at tuning but it's not dropping a cylinder so that's very good. I need to check it over and re-tune the top end. I went too far in tuning and it kicked the prop.... Grrr... It's tough to get in there and tune it due to the the shape and size of the Storch so I'll do it here with the wings off.... I was able to fly for a few sessions doing landings and I can see how this is going to be a great plane. I'm hoping I'll get it before Saturday. Time is the tough thing to come by at the moment.

My car has to be serviced tomorrow and maybe I can do the Storch while they have it. Other than having the car done it's full steam ahead for this weekend. I'll start pulling planes down and planning how to pack. Looks like I'll have 9 planes there. Luckily I have guys to set up the foam intro stuff. So I don't need to manage those. But it's going to be busy...

BTW, I had a guy shooting photos of the Storch so as soon as I get them I'll post those pics.

Joe

[ARUP]

9 models???.wow... I'm only bringing 3! I can't wait!

[Joespeeder]

Hey Mike,

Yea... It seems so easy till you go to load them.... lol Having a stable of intro stuff bumps the airframe count. We use my Timber and Flex Cessna 170 to tow up 2 foam Ka8's reg #'s THX-1138 and TK-421. lol.... Then you add in my L-4 as a stand by tug, the Sotrch and then 3 sailplanes for me.

I'm trying to get some local sport pilots interested in aerotow so the intro stuff really adds to the work load. Luckily, I have some good guys that will set them up and manage them to do all the intro stuff.

Due to last years invitational event(test event) we introduced a bunch of sport/warbird guys into the world of aerotow and we now have a new WM Minimoa and WM Hall Cherokee to maiden this year. Each is a new sailplane pilot and learning on the towline! I worked with both of them to find all the appropriate threads, info, CG's, and mods for each airframe. All the info was there so each should have a great intro aerotow sailplane.

As a side note, maybe it's well known on the forums but I've never seen it mentioned. The WM Minimoa has spoilers if you buy it direct from China. However, if you by the same airframe from Airborne Models here in the States it comes without spoilers.... We ordered from our LHS and discovered the difference. I never knew there were 2 versions... Hmmm....

Note that Scotty used a Mr Spock for his scale WM Minimoa pilot. You can't tell unless you look close. But when you meet Scot be sure to tell him "Live Long and Thermal" ...... or ...... " Thermal Long and Prosper" !!


Joe

[Joespeeder]

Hey Guys,

Thought I'd make the obligatory day before, come to our event post.... lol

Looking forward to the weekend, I'm charging a ton of batteries today, renting a trailer, and loading the car....

See everyone early tomorrow morning.

Joe

[Joespeeder]

Day day One was awesome !!!

Lots of 1st’s and intro flights. We had some 1st Tows on both sides of the line, some maidens, and a first thermal flight for a sport flyer !!

Our drone chase pilot mixed this short video of today’s flights.

It it was great to meet and fly with Mike. He flew lots and helped us with all the intro pilots and kept us on track !!

Joe

[ARUP]

Mark did the vids with his quad and they are amazing! I didn't realize he was flying by my model and I thought it was a little bird attacking it as they sometimes do! We were at altitude, too! I put a post about Mark below. He is a super guy!

[lenb]

Excellent drone piloting...

congrats on getting something started!!

[ARUP]

Here are pictures from Frankenmuth. I was there for Saturday only. I met a lot of new friends and had some unbelievably great landings for a change! The event was a lot of fun!

[ARUP]

Here are some more...

[ARUP]

Here are some more pictures...









Joe got his Storch working!

[ARUP]

More pictures... even butterflies were in attendance! The last pictures show the quad coptor piloted by Mark. His piloting was brilliant!

[ARUP]

Here is Mark. He was kind enough to take time from his schedule to get footage of some of our models in flight. He came up from Detroit. He is in the business of advertising(?) and gets footage of various things via the advanced technology incorporated into the quads. He works with ADO...'As Detroits Own'. (Joe... please add to this any info needed or needing correction). Mark says he builds his quads.







It was a pleasure meeting and socializing with Mark! He even helped locate some downed sailplanes... you guessed it... in the corn.