September
27, 2002The Scioto Valley Ninety Nines paint another out-of-State compass Rose!
Bev Giffin, who was a Scioto Valley member when she lived in Columbus, and her husband Walt, had helped with the Raton, New Mexico compass rose a year earlier. This year, she convinced the Scioto Valley chapter to paint a compass rose on her airport, the Fremont County Airport at Caņon City, Colorado, and to show her Pikes Peak Chapter how to do the job efficiently.
Connie and Ray flew Marilynn Miller and Marjorie Anderson in their Cessna 340, and Myra Jamison took the opportunity to drive to Colorado and visit with her daughter, Carolyn, in Colorado Springs. Bev secured commitments of help from some of the local Ninety Nines, and Walt knew there would be plenty of additional interest and help from other airport friends and neighbors.
September
27, 2002
The early morning air is chilly in the Colorado desert. Well, truthfully, this was a not-so-early 11:30 in the morning, after we'd laid down most of the chalk lines we'd need for the painting project. Connie, Myra, Diane Rose, Marilynn, Bev, Phyllis Wells, and Marjorie are all bundled up to ward off the chill wind.
September
27, 2002
Our original plan was to lay out the compass rose today (Friday), and paint it tomorrow (Saturday) when the full crew planned to show up. However, we had made excellent progress on the layout this morning, and rain was forecast for the evening. We decided to apply a coat of white paint this afternoon, so the first coat would be ready the next day, and so that our chalk-line layout efforts wouldn't be obliterated by any evening rain.
Grant Schemmel and Richard Baker stirred up more white traffic paint than we'd need for the entire project, by far. We ended up using less than a third of this 50-gallon drum which Richard, the airport manager, had set aside for the project. Richard claimed that he had a couple more drums in reserve, just in case we ran short! We came to appreciate what a great, dedicated manager and planner Richard really is. Caņon City and Fremont County are lucky to have him.
September
27, 2002
Grant Schemmel adopted the white "North" mark, as Marjorie decided she needed to soak up a few rays in the afternoon desert sun as she accepted the task of "point specialist". Connie started on the white circle, while Marilynn and Myra tried to get more than one coat on the base under where the "Scioto Valley" inscription and the "2002" stencils would be painted the next day.
September
27, 2002
By 3:30 in the afternoon, we had painted a lot more of the white areas than we had expected, thanks to all the extra help provided by Grant and Richard, who took a very personal interest in seeing this project through to the end. That's N98RC, Connie and Ray's Cessna 340 parked on the ramp beside Bev and Walt's minivan.
As it turned out later in the evening, Walt learned that a severe-thunderstorm warning was issued for the area of the airport, with the possibility of one-inch hail. Walt phoned Richard and had the 340 moved into a hangar for safety. Fortunately, only the edge of the thunderstorm crossed over the airport, and no damage was reported to any of the airplanes or airport buildings.
September
28, 2002
Randy Adolf, in the yellow jacket, pitches in to help with the white pennants, as Connie starts the blue circle at the 35-foot radius. Diane Rose (in the red hat) is working on the 99-detail, while Walt, Richard and someone else seem to be supervising everyone painting the blue pennants.
September
28, 2002
Richard Baker and Robert Henderson, filling the roles of spectators at the Compass-Rose worksite. Randy Adolf is painting the white pennant just beyond Marilynn on the right. Robert Henderson is a noted local sculptor of aviation and other art. Later we enjoyed visiting his studio in downtown Caņon City, and also seeing his work displayed at the Air Force Academy.
September
28, 2002
Here's Amy Hughes, carefully painting the flat-black lettering through the stencils with a fine-tipped artist's brush. At first, Amy feared she would have to draw the lettering, but she was relieved to see we had the stencils for guidance. Amy said she's a good "detail person", but not an artist.
September
28, 2002
Time for another five gallons of blue paint. Walt Giffin is using this slightly dull can opener on the next quart of dark-blue (phthalate) tint additive. Behind him, Richard Baker is dipping five gallons of white paint out of the 50-gallon drum.
September
28, 2002
Walt watches Richard stir and blend the dark-blue tint into the white paint, obtaining the ideal shade of blue matching the Ninety-Nines' official colors.
September
28, 2002
Here is Amy Hughes, touching up the white background around her stenciled lettering. Doesn't she look proud of her work? She deserves that Coca Cola break now.
Richard Baker, the airport manager, brought in a catered picnic lunch for all of us, and we wandered down to Bev and Walt Giffin's hangar at the end of the flight line. You can see the remains of the lunch on the table behind the 99s in the next picture.
September
28, 2002
Seated: Myra Jamison, Marjorie Anderson, Diane Rose, Bev Giffin. Standing: Marilynn Miller, Lee Anne Grindinger, Amy Hughes, Connie Copeland, Phyllis Wells.
September
28, 2002
After enjoying that great lunch, it is time to get back on the final phase of the project, and complete the blue interlocking nines in the white center circle.
September
28, 2002
Adding the last of the blue paint in the interlocking nines area of the compass rose. Second and even third coats of paint have added a bright sparkle to the whites.
September
28, 2002
Here's a large-format, overall shot, with each of the participating Ninety Nines posed on a point of the Compass Rose. This is a kind of celebration for an attractive job well done. You may need to scroll this picture to see all of it.