52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
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RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
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Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
Do you have an interesting story idea,
model airplane design, or technique you
would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
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Let the Model Aviation people know what
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January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
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the following manner.
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highest resolution setting.
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formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
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6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:29 pm Page 58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
Visit the MODEL AVIATION Digital Archives!
Featuring a searchable database of Model
Aviation issues and articles from 1975 to 2000.
This is by far one of the best
efforts AMA has made to
construct something that is for
every member.
—Marco Pinto
Peninsula Channel Commanders
San Francisco CA
“
”
Find it at www.modelaircraft.org. On the main page, click
on the “Members Only” section, log in with your last name
and AMA number, then click on the “Visit the Digital
Archive” image.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
MODEL AVIATIONOCTOBER2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 10
October 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
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® Come See Us
in Ontario!
Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
Do you have an interesting story idea,
model airplane design, or technique you
would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
be published in Model Aviation!
Let the Model Aviation people know what
you would like to see in AMA’s flagship
publication.
Look for information at the show about
Model Aviation seminars.
Hope to see you there!
January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
The digital imaging age has come, and we’re now accepting digital photographs for articles,
columns, “Focal Point” submissions, and “Modeler’s Mall” product releases. We will accept these in
the following manner.
1) All digital pictures must be taken with a 3.0 (or greater) Megapixel camera, adjusted to the
highest resolution setting.
2) All digital images must be submitted on disk or CD.
3) No E-mailed digital image submissions will be accepted.
4) Compressed formats should not be saved again before providing them to us. Acceptable file
formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
resolution standards.
5) Color proofs must be furnished with the files.
6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:29 pm Page 58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
Visit the MODEL AVIATION Digital Archives!
Featuring a searchable database of Model
Aviation issues and articles from 1975 to 2000.
This is by far one of the best
efforts AMA has made to
construct something that is for
every member.
—Marco Pinto
Peninsula Channel Commanders
San Francisco CA
“
”
Find it at www.modelaircraft.org. On the main page, click
on the “Members Only” section, log in with your last name
and AMA number, then click on the “Visit the Digital
Archive” image.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
MODEL AVIATIONOCTOBER2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 10
October 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
®
MODEL AVIATION SEPTEMBER 2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 9
September 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
®
MODEL AVIATION AUGUST2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 8
August 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
®
MODEL AVIATION JULY2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 7
July 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
® Come See Us
in Ontario!
Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
Do you have an interesting story idea,
model airplane design, or technique you
would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
be published in Model Aviation!
Let the Model Aviation people know what
you would like to see in AMA’s flagship
publication.
Look for information at the show about
Model Aviation seminars.
Hope to see you there!
January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
The digital imaging age has come, and we’re now accepting digital photographs for articles,
columns, “Focal Point” submissions, and “Modeler’s Mall” product releases. We will accept these in
the following manner.
1) All digital pictures must be taken with a 3.0 (or greater) Megapixel camera, adjusted to the
highest resolution setting.
2) All digital images must be submitted on disk or CD.
3) No E-mailed digital image submissions will be accepted.
4) Compressed formats should not be saved again before providing them to us. Acceptable file
formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
resolution standards.
5) Color proofs must be furnished with the files.
6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:29 pm Page 58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
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RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
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® Come See Us
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Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
Do you have an interesting story idea,
model airplane design, or technique you
would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
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Let the Model Aviation people know what
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January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
The digital imaging age has come, and we’re now accepting digital photographs for articles,
columns, “Focal Point” submissions, and “Modeler’s Mall” product releases. We will accept these in
the following manner.
1) All digital pictures must be taken with a 3.0 (or greater) Megapixel camera, adjusted to the
highest resolution setting.
2) All digital images must be submitted on disk or CD.
3) No E-mailed digital image submissions will be accepted.
4) Compressed formats should not be saved again before providing them to us. Acceptable file
formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
resolution standards.
5) Color proofs must be furnished with the files.
6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:29 pm Page 58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
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Featuring a searchable database of Model
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This is by far one of the best
efforts AMA has made to
construct something that is for
every member.
—Marco Pinto
Peninsula Channel Commanders
San Francisco CA
“
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Find it at www.modelaircraft.org. On the main page, click
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and AMA number, then click on the “Visit the Digital
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RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
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Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
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would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
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Let the Model Aviation people know what
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January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
The digital imaging age has come, and we’re now accepting digital photographs for articles,
columns, “Focal Point” submissions, and “Modeler’s Mall” product releases. We will accept these in
the following manner.
1) All digital pictures must be taken with a 3.0 (or greater) Megapixel camera, adjusted to the
highest resolution setting.
2) All digital images must be submitted on disk or CD.
3) No E-mailed digital image submissions will be accepted.
4) Compressed formats should not be saved again before providing them to us. Acceptable file
formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
resolution standards.
5) Color proofs must be furnished with the files.
6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:29 pm Page 58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
Visit the MODEL AVIATION Digital Archives!
Featuring a searchable database of Model
Aviation issues and articles from 1975 to 2000.
This is by far one of the best
efforts AMA has made to
construct something that is for
every member.
—Marco Pinto
Peninsula Channel Commanders
San Francisco CA
“
”
Find it at www.modelaircraft.org. On the main page, click
on the “Members Only” section, log in with your last name
and AMA number, then click on the “Visit the Digital
Archive” image.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
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® Come See Us
in Ontario!
Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
Do you have an interesting story idea,
model airplane design, or technique you
would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
be published in Model Aviation!
Let the Model Aviation people know what
you would like to see in AMA’s flagship
publication.
Look for information at the show about
Model Aviation seminars.
Hope to see you there!
January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
The digital imaging age has come, and we’re now accepting digital photographs for articles,
columns, “Focal Point” submissions, and “Modeler’s Mall” product releases. We will accept these in
the following manner.
1) All digital pictures must be taken with a 3.0 (or greater) Megapixel camera, adjusted to the
highest resolution setting.
2) All digital images must be submitted on disk or CD.
3) No E-mailed digital image submissions will be accepted.
4) Compressed formats should not be saved again before providing them to us. Acceptable file
formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
resolution standards.
5) Color proofs must be furnished with the files.
6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:29 pm Page 58
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/01
Page Numbers: 52,53,54,55,56,57,58
52 MODEL AVIATION
R a d i o C o n t r o l P y l o n R a c i n g
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
The Quarter 40 winners grip and grin.
It’s a tense 60 seconds between “You’re on the clock” and the
takeoff flag. Mario Travieso (L) checks engine rpm.
THE NATIONALS! Aspiring competitors speak of this annual
contest in hushed, reverent tones, the way journeymen baseball
players in the movie Bull Durham spoke of “The Show”—the
major leagues. Seasoned pilots try to affect an offhand attitude,
as though the Nationals, or Nats, was just another well-publicized
local meet. They drop the name casually, the way one might say
“As I was telling Steve Spielberg at lunch just the other day ... ”
But the fact is, this is where it all comes together. Nowhere
else can you be assured of matching wits and horsepower with a
wider spectrum of talented pilots from across North America.
There’s no prequalification, and no invitation is required. The
contestant next to you on the starting line is just as likely to be a
big-name former champ as a local hero who has quietly
sharpened his or her skills in some rural locale you’ve never
Q-40 winner Tom Scott (R) and Dennis O’Brien (L) thank
assistant starter Mike DeNeve for his hard work.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:15 pm Page 52
January 2004 53
The top dogs in Q-500. Bright spot in center is clear-finished wood fuselage of winner Randy Bridge’s Vortex.
In the thick of battle, caller Gary Freeman
(L) checks cut board for pilot Mario
Travieso (R) while caller Jim Allen helps
Gary Schmidt stay inches ahead.
Shown is the tidy front end of Dan Kane’s Polecat model. The Quarter 40 rules require
an exposed head, but they allow the use of a crankcase cover.
Starter Mike Eden prepares to send off another heat. The
on-course display shows cuts and laps completed.
Travis Flynn (R) has good launch; Steve Baker is in midswing. Rules
require slight delay between lanes, to prevent collisions.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:17 pm Page 53
54 MODEL AVIATION
Marcus Blanchard fuels up with assistance from his son Brian.
Father/son teams are a familiar sight in RC Pylon.
Canadians Roy Andrassy (left) and Jim Henderson came
prepared for the sudden chill on Friday morning.
Travis Flynn (L), Randy Bridge retrieve Travis’s Miss Ashley II
after Q-40 heat. They are fierce competitors and teammates.
Jon Baker and dad Steve place high with their home-brewed, allwood
GI8U2 (“Gee, I ate you too”). It’s all good fun. What’s Dub Jett up to now? His bar-stock engines howled.
How windy was it? Mike Helsel clutches his Stetson hard hat;
Dub Jett prepares to launch Mike’s TRC-1 Sidewinder.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 2:23 pm Page 54
heard of and is ready to elbow past you
and everybody else on the way to the top.
Radio Control (RC) Pylon is as strong
as ever according to the numbers, with
more than 80 entries in Quickie 500
(AMA event 428) and 60 in Quarter 40
(AMA event 422). An elimination format
was used for both. In this system the field
is divided into an “A” matrix and a “B”
matrix, as though they were separate
contests. After seven rounds, the points
are tallied and the top 14 finishers from
each matrix (a total of 28 competitors)
fly against each other in a five-round
final tournament.
Those who do well in the preliminary
rounds are punished with as much flying
as they can handle in a field with no easy
heats (as if there had been easy heats
before). Those who don’t do so well in
the preliminary are rewarded with the
opportunity to relax a little, swap racing
lore, tour the AMA museum and the
other world-class flying sites and
facilities in Muncie, and, of course, sit
back and watch the “best of the best”
beat up on each other out on the
racecourse.
The big story in 2003 was the
weather. Storms stalked the Midwest like
ogres, appearing out of the sultry
overcast to hurl avalanches of water onto
the already-drenched landscape. How wet
was it? Low-lying portions of the
International Aeromodeling Center had
their own temporary lakes, complete with
cattails and a resident frog population to
serenade those who camped out
overnight in tents and motor homes.
Yet we only lost approximately two
hours of flying time during the entire
week. Event Director Mike Condon
stayed in close touch with the National
Weather Service to track each storm cell
with split-second precision.
Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6,
provided an opportunity for those who
arrived early to do some on-site test
flying. This is a luxury well worth
indulging in if you have the time, and
local hotels made it easier by offering
competitors discounted rates. Sunday
afternoon was the official kickoff to the
festivities, with aircraft processing at the
field under a big canvas tent.
The air was heavy with humidity,
anticipation, and the smell of good
barbecue as Herr Condon regaled his
captive audience with the usual “dos”
and “don’ts” of a businesslike pilots’
meeting. Among the topics: Whether Ed
Smith of the Canadian contingent would
be allowed to measure his engine-start
time in Imperial seconds rather than
American seconds. Mike replied that that
would be acceptable as long as his bribe
was paid in American dollars.
Quickie 500 (Q-500): Monday morning,
July 7, the unlucky denizens of Matrix A
lined up to bring their transmitters to the
impound tent as Nancy Telford and
January 2004 55
Young Gino Del Ponte has been tearing ’em up on the West Coast and set a record in Q-
40. Chuck Bridge (in the background) kits the Vortex for Q-500.
The Nats is a great place to learn. Dennis O’Brien (R) gives engine-care seminar.
The timers/lap counters (L-R) Andrew Kunz, Nick McKee, Jordan Michael, Kirk Eden,
and Mike O’Donohue had sharp eyes—good gear for RC Pylon.
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 55
volunteer/competitor Dave Doyle applied
identification stickers and fired up the
scorekeeping computer.
With Tammy Seaman’s able assistance,
Nancy and Dave maintained order and
good humor for the rest of the week—even
when sudden downpours brought the
competitors scrambling to retrieve their
transmitters and muddied the sod under
their feet.
Q-500 is the slower of the two Nats
events, but not by much. Airframe
specifications are the same as for the
entry-level Sport Quickie (event 424)
category: box fuselage, constant-chord
wing, 500 square inches.
However, unlike Sport Quickie, the .40-
cubic-inch power plant for Q-500 may
employ a tuned muffler, or “folded pipe,”
boosting the output from a nominal 2
horsepower to somewhere closer to 3. This
translates to straightaway speeds near 160
mph. Yet with power off, these highly
efficient models can ride thermals and will
land as gently as a feather.
The trend in Q-500 airframe design is
toward smoothly finished, laminar airfoils
such as the NACA 66-012. Until recently
it was considered heresy to use a laminar
foil on a small RC model that demands
momentary bursts of high lift, as a racing
model does on the racecourse.
Laminar flow is tricky to maintain,
even on full-scale aircraft at high speeds.
But with enough airspeed, the Reynolds
number increases to the point at which a
model can fool the air into behaving. Three
of the most popular airframes used in this
event—Chuck Bridge’s Vortex, Lyle
Larson’s Bird of Prey, and Terence
Palaschuk’s Neme-Q—use symmetrical or
nearly symmetrical, laminar sections.
Composite (all-molded, prebuilt) wings
offer guaranteed straightness, a smooth
finish, and convenience for serious
competitors who are willing to invest in
them. However, a well-built balsa-andfoam
wing can do equally well if you trade
time for money.
Fuselage construction appears equally
divided between wood and fiberglass, with
a pack of wood-fuselaged Vortexes
(Vortices? Whatever!) placing high at this
meet. Wood is light and stiff; fiberglass is
quick and uniform. Take your pick.
From the get-go, it was clear that the
competitors had their work cut out for
them. Some came equipped with Nelson
engines featuring a slightly longer intake
channel (aka “deep throat”). With the
correct head spacing, they could reliably
turn the standard APC 8.8 x 8.75 propeller
at 20,000 rpm, up from the previous mark
of roughly 19,400. Since the pipe is tuned
for an optimum takeoff rpm of somewhat
less, a few contestants were able to load
the engine with propeller pitch up to 9.25
or even 9.5.
Dub Jett brought new hardware, with
crankcases machined from a solid block of
aluminum. His teammate Mike Helsel used
one to post a time of 1:07.07—the secondfastest
time of the contest behind winner
Randy Bridge’s 1:06.35.
The pressure was on to get as much
flying done as possible in case of rain
delays later. As a contestant in Matrix B, I
had the privilege of observing all morning
and was safely “parked” at approximately
noon on Monday when a rain squall of
biblical proportions marched toward us
from the south, obliterating the RC
Helicopter flying site before suddenly,
unaccountably changing direction and
moving east away from us. As it happens,
Chip Hyde no longer flies RC Pylon; he
has gone for helicopter events instead.
Hmmmm. You have to wonder ...
Racing resumed an hour later with
contestant/volunteer Rick Moreland
running the starting line. Those of us in
Matrix B were reminded that racing luck
never leaves you on top for long as Rich
kept us hopping until nearly sunset when
the threat of a worker and contestant revolt
forced an end to the festivities after four
rounds.
Tuesday, July 8, dawned much clearer
with a forecast for strong storms, which
fortunately didn’t materialize. We
completed the last three rounds with the
leaders emerging: Gary Freeman Jr.,
56 MODEL AVIATION
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RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:21 pm Page 56
Terry Frazer, and Mike Helsel in Matrix
A, and Randy Bridge, Chuck Anderson,
and Marcus Blanchard in Matrix B.
The final rounds brought a fresh start
for those who stumbled early but
managed to garner enough points to
qualify. For others it brought heartbreak.
In these heats there could be no backing
off; with four aircraft running neck and
neck, every turn had to be right over the
pole or one risked losing a precious
airplane length that couldn’t be regained
without cutting inside the course. That in
itself meant a greater risk of cuts. In
many of the 35 heats of the final, the cut
board showed at least one for each of
three, or sometimes all four, pilots.
In the end, three of the top seven
finishers showed a double cut (zero points
for the heat) as one of their five scores in
the final. Of these, Terry Frazer and Travis
Flynn had otherwise perfect scores (four
points per heat) and would have been in
contention with Randy Bridge for first
place or Jim Allen for second.
As it was, they matched up with Gary
Schmidt in a three-way flyoff for third. A
takeoff collision between Travis and Gary
ended the fight before it began, leaving
Terry in third and Travis with fourth place
but one less airplane. The pilots’ times
were used to decide the tie.
Quarter 40 (Q-40) is the successor of the
old Formula I in the hearts and minds of
speedheads everywhere. Unlike the strict
rules that limit Quickie to box fuselages
and constant-chord wings, the Q-40
formula encourages streamlining in a
slightly smaller, slightly heavier airframe.
Designs must be approved by a fivemember
committee to ensure that they
don’t stray too far from the appearance of
some identifiable full-scale aircraft.
Other than a liberal sprinkling of new
and improved airplane designs, the only
innovation in Q-40 this year was the
legalization of a specific size and style of
APC propeller; it’s injection-molded from
a carbon-fiber material and must be used
without modification. Modified wooden
propellers were also legal, as always.
This slight easing of the propeller rule
does appear to have “leveled the playing
field” a bit, allowing the less adept
woodworkers to go fast for an investment
of $8 and none of their time. It was
interesting to see the results.
Tom Scott won using a home-brewed
wood propeller on his Nelson-powered
Polecat, setting the fast time of the meet at
1:03.26. Lloyd Burnham put an APC
propeller on his Jett-powered Sidewinder
and went 1:04. Both pilots are top notch.
So it may truly be said that the difference
between wood and plastic propellers in this
event is lost in the static.
Another innovation, although not
recent, was the 1999 adjustment allowing a
shorter, more scalelike fuselage profile on
non-Mustang-type designs. All fuselages
must have 12.5 square inches of frontal
area at some point, and the Mustang types
(e.g., Dago Red, Vendetta, and Miss
Ashley) must still be 6 inches high to
account for the belly scoop. However, non-
Mustang types need only be 5 inches high.
The result has been a number of new
and cool kits, including the Polecat, flown
by several Ohio Valley and Florida
contestants, and a Proud Bird fielded by
some from the West Coast.
Q-40 started promptly on Wednesday
morning, July 9, after it rained all night.
Again, the weather cleared more than we
ever dared hope. Starter Mike Eden
clicked off heat after heat until we had
finished three rounds each of Matrix A and
Matrix B by the end of the day. A rain
delay did cost us one round of each.
Remember me mentioning racing luck?
Young Nick Brandow, on his way to a
Best Junior trophy, matched up with me
for a two-airplane heat that should’ve been
an easy win for him, but he suffered a nostart
instead.
That allowed me my only four-point
heat of the contest—an opportunity to get
the Stinger dialed in and even to horribly
ruin my eighth lap in public without
paying the price. Fortunately I was able to
salvage my pride later by double cutting,
MODEL AVIATIONOCTOBER2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 10
October 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
®
MODEL AVIATION SEPTEMBER 2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 9
September 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
®
MODEL AVIATION AUGUST2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 8
August 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
®
MODEL AVIATION JULY2003 • VOLUME 29, NUMBER 7
July 2003 $4.50 Official Publication of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
SINCE 1936
® Come See Us
in Ontario!
Model Aviation will have a booth at the
AMA Convention, January 9-11, 2004 at
the Ontario Convention Center in sunny
Ontario, California.
Stop by and visit with Model Aviation
Aeromodeling Editor Bob Hunt.
Do you have an interesting story idea,
model airplane design, or technique you
would like to share with other modelers?
Find out how you can write an article to
be published in Model Aviation!
Let the Model Aviation people know what
you would like to see in AMA’s flagship
publication.
Look for information at the show about
Model Aviation seminars.
Hope to see you there!
January 2004 57
RADIO CONTROL
01sig2.QXD 10/27/03 12:27 pm Page 57
58 MODEL AVIATION
allowing a more deserving person to move
on to the final. After all of that excitement,
I needed the rest.
At roughly that point some spectators
happened by. They were friendly and
polite, visiting from somewhere and
watching all of the different events,
including RC Pylon. They asked a
question that took me by surprise: Why
would you race as opposed to participating
in any of the other RC events that are
available?
After a moment’s hesitation, I blurted
out the three reasons that every Pylon flier
probably knows by heart but rarely needs
to verbalize. “Well, it makes for a good
contest because the results are usually
pretty clear-cut, without a lot of subjective
judgment calls; it’s by far the cheapest
motor sport you’ll ever find, even at a
national level like this; and besides, it’s
the most fun you can have with all your
clothes on!”
We had all our clothes on Friday
morning, certainly. At last the sun came
out to stay and we were treated to brilliant
blue skies and tumbling white clouds. But
this spectacular aerial scenery was
accompanied by a chilly wind that steadily
increased in intensity in preparation for the
final rounds.
The last few heats of Matrix B had
many cuts and double cuts at Pylon One as
the airplanes struggled to make headway
against the fierce wind. This threw off the
callers’ timing, since at 180-plus mph the
airplanes normally only take a couple of
seconds to cover the 608 feet of front
straightaway. And although this contest
was unusually free of mishaps, the toll
began to grow because of the wind and
other factors.
Going into the final, the leader board
listed Jim Allen, Tom Scott, and Lloyd
Burnham for Matrix A, and Mike Helsel,
Dan Kane Jr., and Gary Freeman Jr. for
Matrix B. Tom and Gary were flying
Polecats, and each held the fast time in his
matrix: 1:04 for Tom and 1:05 for Gary.
This would prove prophetic.
As in Q-500, the race would goeth to
the smart—as in the person who could
resist temptation and stay clean while
everybody else cut. Heat 14 had Jim Allen
and Dan Kane duking it out. With Jim
nipping at his heels, Dan stayed cool and
hung on for the win.
In Heat 15, Randy Bridge stayed the
course while the double cuts accumulated
around him. It was a four-way furball,
with near collisions seemingly at every
turn.
Fred Burgdorf, Jim Henderson, Bill
Johanson, and Terry Frazer provided the
entertainment in Heat 16. With Terry
lagging because of engine trouble
(uncharacteristically, but there’s that
racing luck again), Fred milked out a
narrow lead when Billy and Jim held a
smidge longer before turning at Pylon One
to avoid cutting.
Billy nudged the Polecat ahead to begin
a careful march to reel in Fred’s Proud
Bird while Jim sat back and waited for the
two of them to cut. In this case it didn’t
work; both stayed clean, and Fred held off
Billy’s charge until sometime after they
both crossed the finish line.
A decisive duel emerged in Heat 19,
when 1999 champ Jaime De La Vega, here
from Mexico for the first time since then,
brought out what appeared to be the same
well-groomed Miss Ashley, matched up
with Tom Scott and the Polecat.
The Polecat showed its stuff as both
entered the second and third turns
simultaneously, and the Polecat peeled
away just a length or two ahead each time.
The difference appeared to be a tiny
advantage in turning efficiency, but it was
clearly visible from the pits and it seems to
have been the edge that Tom needed to
take the Q-40 gold.
In all, it was a great Nats. Many thanks to
those who placed ahead of us for giving us
a good example, to those who placed
behind us for giving us a break this time,
and, most of all, thanks to the volunteers
and contestant/volunteers who made it all
possible. We will dry out our mukluks and
come back next year! MA
Attention all Model Aviation Contributors!
The digital imaging age has come, and we’re now accepting digital photographs for articles,
columns, “Focal Point” submissions, and “Modeler’s Mall” product releases. We will accept these in
the following manner.
1) All digital pictures must be taken with a 3.0 (or greater) Megapixel camera, adjusted to the
highest resolution setting.
2) All digital images must be submitted on disk or CD.
3) No E-mailed digital image submissions will be accepted.
4) Compressed formats should not be saved again before providing them to us. Acceptable file
formats are .jpg and .tif. Model Aviation reserves the right to reject any photo that does not meet
resolution standards.
5) Color proofs must be furnished with the files.
6) Under no circumstances do we accept color copies or prints from home inkjet printers, except to
provide a proof of the digital file(s) furnished.
There will be no exceptions to the above requirements.
Thanks!
—Model Aviation staff
RADIO CONTROL
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