any years back I had what I
thought was a great idea. I
reasoned that a contest between
an RC club, a CL club, and an
FF club might be a great way to achieve a
closer bond between modelers with
differing interests. I figured that we have
more in common than not, and a contest in
which each contestant had to fly not only
his/her normal type of model but also one
each from the other two disciplines might
be fun and educational.
Well, I’m lazy and never did get that
idea off the ground. But the members of the
Screaming Eagles R/C Club of Plainfield,
Indiana, had a similar thought and brought
it to fruition. In this issue there is an article
by Scott Black about the group’s
“Triathlon of Modeling.”
The club’s idea differed from mine in
that all Screaming Eagles members had to
fly models from all three major disciplines
in fun-fly-type events; the overall winner
was decided by total combined score.
There were also individual category
winners.
The event was a big success, and the
club’s plan, according to Scott, is to hold it
again in 2006 and perhaps try the interclub
idea a year after that. Scott was the
Triathlon of Modeling CD, and I chatted
with him a bit about the meet and what
could be done to increase the scope of the
idea.
Since that discussion I have given the
idea a great deal of thought and have come
up with a proposal/challenge. Let’s work to
bring this idea to a regional or even a
national scale.
Clubs representing each of the three
modeling disciplines in a region could get
together for contests in which basic flight
events could be used to determine the best
overall modeler and the best overall club.
This idea could be implemented on a
challenge basis or a round-robin type of
ongoing series within a state or AMA
district. State or district champions (one
club from each discipline) could then
gather for a national event at Muncie to
pick the best overall model flier—or group
of fliers—in the nation.
For modelers who have never tried
another discipline of modeling, crosstraining
days could be arranged. An RC
club could offer flight instruction to CL or
FF club groups, and vice versa. Or perhaps
all groups could meet on a suitable field
and all three disciplines could be taught on
one day.
Naturally the actual events to be flown
need some serious thought, and there may
be many other good ideas that will make
this concept more viable. I’m receptive to
all thoughts on this matter. I do believe that
the basic idea has great merit, however, and
I think this type of fun contest will bring us
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt
Let’s work to bring this
idea to a regional or even
national scale.
M
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closer together as a group.
There seems to be a common line of
thought among those who have never
flown RC that it is just a matter of “button
pushing,” and there seems to be a common
line of thought among those who have
never flown CL models that they are just
“rocks on a string.” Many who have never
launched an FF model think they just fly
by themselves, with no input of any type
from the flier. Each of these
misconceptions truly limits the learning
process from one discipline to the other.
Watch a knowledgeable FFer trim a
new model for a few minutes sometime
and you will come away with a new
respect for what he/she can do with just a
few fine adjustments. If you’ve never
experienced flight at the end of lines,
you’d be surprised by the amount of pull
that is developed by the engine/motor and
the feel of the model as it responds to
control inputs. You actually feel flight
through the lines!
And if you think RC is just pushing
buttons, try precisely controlling a model
in three-dimensional flight with just eyehand
coordination. None of these things is
as simple as it may seem from cursory
appraisal, but each can yield valuable
knowledge about model flight.
I’ll be awaiting input from those who
would like to take this idea to the next
level.
Speaking of triathlons, there are three
ways to get in touch with me. I can be
reached via E-mail at [email protected],
by telephone at (610) 614-1747, or by
regular mail at Box 68, Stockertown PA
18083. Those who contact me via all three
methods will get additional points. MA
Modeling Spoken Here
6 MODEL AVIATION
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Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 6