October 2004 135
ONE OF THE TERRIFIC things to do
on the slope with your buddies is fly in
close formation. You may have heard
about “Slope Scale Parties”: the informal
term for flying two to 10 heavy, highperformance
fiberglass warbirds in a
“half-pipe” pattern, tearing across the
slope with high stall turns on each end of
the circuit. Not many things in Slope
Soaring provide as much adrenaline rush
and camaraderie and as many laughs as
formation flying.
I saw my first Slope Scale Party at Soar
Utah ’95 and have been flying in them
every chance I get since then. Once you
get hooked, you start to think about
matched sailplanes so that the maneuvers
can be tighter, closer, and more precise.
Joe Chovan and I approached this goal
through an “I’ll build two; you build two”
project so we could have gliders that
matched as closely as possible. Each of us
built a matched pair of sailplanes; Joe
constructed two Slope Scale Lockheed P-
80 Shooting Stars and I built two Slope
Scale Mitsubishi A6M Zeros, and we’re
Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING
Jack Cooper, Joe Chovan, Rich Loud flew Leading Edge Gliders P-40s at MWSC 2004
as foamie warbird racers. Greg Smith photo.
DAW 2-meter Schweizer 1-26s pass silently
in close formation, flown by Joe Chovan
and Dave Garwood. Smith photo.
As part of a dual building project, Terry Dwyer built two DAW
Ka6s for formation flying. Randy Linderman photo.
DAW Kawafoamie Ki61 and foaMe-109 flown in formation by Dave
Sanders and Dennis Duncan at Laguna Niguel CA club flying site.
quite happy with the results. Watch for the
“Building With Speed and Efficiency”
how-to article in next month’s MA if this
strategy appeals to you.
There’s some risk in flying fast
airplanes in close proximity, but we
minimize it by sticking with the half-pipe
10sig5.QXD 7/23/04 9:25 am Page 135
136 MODEL AVIATION
pattern and keeping the models flying in
the same direction. I’ve flown with as
many as nine sailplanes in the pattern,
and most contacts resulted in nothing
more than swapping a little paint. There
is still a risk of models getting entangled
and both going down, but hey, “No guts,
no glory”! And repairing airplanes is part
of Soaring—at least part of extreme
Soaring.
“You know what I like about this kind
of flying?” asked Mike Wofford of the
Inland Slope Rebels. “You don’t know
for sure if you will return from the
mission. Just like the real thing.”
OFB (Old Flying Buddy) Greg Smith
(of www.slopeflyer.com) reminded me
how much of a thrill formation flying
is—especially for those who are new to
it—when he wrote in an E-mail message:
“I love these Slope Scale sailplanes!
I’ve had several great flights with the
CSD [Composite Systems Development]
F-20 here in Milwaukee, in South Dakota,
and now in Kansas. While all were fun,
flying close formation with matched
airplanes is what really jazzes me. Todd
Martin and I had a blast!”
Not everyone is ready to start turning
and burning in close formation with 20-
ounce-per-square-inch wing-loading
sailplanes, but not to worry. Flying
longer-wing, lighter-wing-loading gliders
is just as much fun and generates hoots,
hollers, and laughs to the same degree,
but with less self-induced terror.
We spent several excellent hours
flying as many as six Dave’s Aircraft
Works (DAW) 2-meter Schweizer 1-26s
in the days following the Midwest Slope
Challenge this year. Another suitable
sailplane for this kind of flying is the 3-
meter DAW Schleicher Ka6. Two or
three of them flying together is
impressive, and we also flew them at
Wilson Lake. When the wind came up,
we flew four of Jack Cooper’s EPP-foam
P-40 Warhawks made by Leading Edge
Gliders, our trusty Slope Scale warbirds,
and our Slope jets.
If you’re new to formation flying,
Joe Chovan, Joe Hosey, Rich Loud fly DAW 1-26s around a bush
in a racing pattern. Wilson Lake KS is in background.
In another dual building project, the author built two Slope Scale
Zeros. Joe Chovan built two Slope Scale Shooting Stars.
consider starting with light-lift sailplanes;
the speeds will be lower and any collisions
will incur less damage. The DAW 2-meter
1-26 is ideal for this; it handles well, flies
in a wide variety of lift conditions—say,
from 5-25 mph—and looks good doing it.
Of course, you can join the fun with
any foam flying wing or foam warbird,
depending on available lift. Most people
start with bounceable foam gliders, and
plenty of those kits are available from
several makers and suppliers. The
warbirds and Slope jets look superb flying
together, and the Scale sailplanes have a
beauty and majesty all their own that
makes formation flying look sublime.
After you get some experience, you
may move on to faster and heavier models.
Fast formation flying is even more
impressive than basic formation flying.
To initiate the formation-flying
session, one pilot calls the pattern and
others join in. It often works well to have
the least-experienced pilot fly the best
figure-eight pattern he or she can, and
have the others form up on the rookie;
higher-time pilots can more easily track a
lead sailplane and maintain suitable
separation between the aircraft.
It’s an accomplishment to maintain a
tight formation through the classic figureeight
Slope pattern, fly through stall turns
together, or even kick off a little informal
racing using bushes or other markers as
the turn points. Flying aerobatic
maneuvers together is fabulous—an air
show in miniature.
Alack and Alas! You may have heard that
DAW has stopped producing kits. That’s
true, but Ed Harris (ed@skykingrcpro
ducts.com) holds the rights to the designs
and will be producing the fine line of
Dave Sanders-designed EPP-foam kits—
some as early as September 2004. More
information is available on the SkyKing
RC Products Web site—www.skykingrc
products.com—or call Ed in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, at (612) 605-1128.
The Slope Scale line of fiberglass
warbirds and Slope jets is produced from
new molds by Robert Cavazos
([email protected]) at Composite
Systems Development in Moreno Valley,
California. The CSD Web site is
www.rcglider.com, and the telephone
number is (909) 485-0674.
Additional suppliers of suitable EPPfoam
Slope sailplanes that I have flown
and seen flown are:
California Sailplanes
www.californiasailplanes.com
Steve Greenfield
[email protected]
Leading Edge Gliders
www.leadingedgegliders.com
Jack Cooper
[email protected]
Magnum Models
www.magnum-models.com
Larry Blevins
[email protected]
Midwest Slope
www.midwestslope.com
Mike Bailey
[email protected]
Mountain Toys
www.mtntoys.com
Tom Henscheid
[email protected]
Patton Aircraft
home.earthlink.net/~pattonacft
Steve Patton
[email protected]
Soaring Specialties
www.soaringspecialties.com
George Voss
[email protected]
I have two more Web sites to mention.
Greg Smith maintains one of the most
extensive Slope Soaring Web pages in the
country at www.slopeflyer.com. R/C
Soaring Digest—the last pure RC Soaring
magazine—has transitioned from print
media to PDF format. The current issue
and dozens of back issues are available
online at www.b2streamlines.com/
RCSD.html. MA
10sig5.QXD 7/23/04 9:25 am Page 136
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/10
Page Numbers: 135,136
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/10
Page Numbers: 135,136
October 2004 135
ONE OF THE TERRIFIC things to do
on the slope with your buddies is fly in
close formation. You may have heard
about “Slope Scale Parties”: the informal
term for flying two to 10 heavy, highperformance
fiberglass warbirds in a
“half-pipe” pattern, tearing across the
slope with high stall turns on each end of
the circuit. Not many things in Slope
Soaring provide as much adrenaline rush
and camaraderie and as many laughs as
formation flying.
I saw my first Slope Scale Party at Soar
Utah ’95 and have been flying in them
every chance I get since then. Once you
get hooked, you start to think about
matched sailplanes so that the maneuvers
can be tighter, closer, and more precise.
Joe Chovan and I approached this goal
through an “I’ll build two; you build two”
project so we could have gliders that
matched as closely as possible. Each of us
built a matched pair of sailplanes; Joe
constructed two Slope Scale Lockheed P-
80 Shooting Stars and I built two Slope
Scale Mitsubishi A6M Zeros, and we’re
Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING
Jack Cooper, Joe Chovan, Rich Loud flew Leading Edge Gliders P-40s at MWSC 2004
as foamie warbird racers. Greg Smith photo.
DAW 2-meter Schweizer 1-26s pass silently
in close formation, flown by Joe Chovan
and Dave Garwood. Smith photo.
As part of a dual building project, Terry Dwyer built two DAW
Ka6s for formation flying. Randy Linderman photo.
DAW Kawafoamie Ki61 and foaMe-109 flown in formation by Dave
Sanders and Dennis Duncan at Laguna Niguel CA club flying site.
quite happy with the results. Watch for the
“Building With Speed and Efficiency”
how-to article in next month’s MA if this
strategy appeals to you.
There’s some risk in flying fast
airplanes in close proximity, but we
minimize it by sticking with the half-pipe
10sig5.QXD 7/23/04 9:25 am Page 135
136 MODEL AVIATION
pattern and keeping the models flying in
the same direction. I’ve flown with as
many as nine sailplanes in the pattern,
and most contacts resulted in nothing
more than swapping a little paint. There
is still a risk of models getting entangled
and both going down, but hey, “No guts,
no glory”! And repairing airplanes is part
of Soaring—at least part of extreme
Soaring.
“You know what I like about this kind
of flying?” asked Mike Wofford of the
Inland Slope Rebels. “You don’t know
for sure if you will return from the
mission. Just like the real thing.”
OFB (Old Flying Buddy) Greg Smith
(of www.slopeflyer.com) reminded me
how much of a thrill formation flying
is—especially for those who are new to
it—when he wrote in an E-mail message:
“I love these Slope Scale sailplanes!
I’ve had several great flights with the
CSD [Composite Systems Development]
F-20 here in Milwaukee, in South Dakota,
and now in Kansas. While all were fun,
flying close formation with matched
airplanes is what really jazzes me. Todd
Martin and I had a blast!”
Not everyone is ready to start turning
and burning in close formation with 20-
ounce-per-square-inch wing-loading
sailplanes, but not to worry. Flying
longer-wing, lighter-wing-loading gliders
is just as much fun and generates hoots,
hollers, and laughs to the same degree,
but with less self-induced terror.
We spent several excellent hours
flying as many as six Dave’s Aircraft
Works (DAW) 2-meter Schweizer 1-26s
in the days following the Midwest Slope
Challenge this year. Another suitable
sailplane for this kind of flying is the 3-
meter DAW Schleicher Ka6. Two or
three of them flying together is
impressive, and we also flew them at
Wilson Lake. When the wind came up,
we flew four of Jack Cooper’s EPP-foam
P-40 Warhawks made by Leading Edge
Gliders, our trusty Slope Scale warbirds,
and our Slope jets.
If you’re new to formation flying,
Joe Chovan, Joe Hosey, Rich Loud fly DAW 1-26s around a bush
in a racing pattern. Wilson Lake KS is in background.
In another dual building project, the author built two Slope Scale
Zeros. Joe Chovan built two Slope Scale Shooting Stars.
consider starting with light-lift sailplanes;
the speeds will be lower and any collisions
will incur less damage. The DAW 2-meter
1-26 is ideal for this; it handles well, flies
in a wide variety of lift conditions—say,
from 5-25 mph—and looks good doing it.
Of course, you can join the fun with
any foam flying wing or foam warbird,
depending on available lift. Most people
start with bounceable foam gliders, and
plenty of those kits are available from
several makers and suppliers. The
warbirds and Slope jets look superb flying
together, and the Scale sailplanes have a
beauty and majesty all their own that
makes formation flying look sublime.
After you get some experience, you
may move on to faster and heavier models.
Fast formation flying is even more
impressive than basic formation flying.
To initiate the formation-flying
session, one pilot calls the pattern and
others join in. It often works well to have
the least-experienced pilot fly the best
figure-eight pattern he or she can, and
have the others form up on the rookie;
higher-time pilots can more easily track a
lead sailplane and maintain suitable
separation between the aircraft.
It’s an accomplishment to maintain a
tight formation through the classic figureeight
Slope pattern, fly through stall turns
together, or even kick off a little informal
racing using bushes or other markers as
the turn points. Flying aerobatic
maneuvers together is fabulous—an air
show in miniature.
Alack and Alas! You may have heard that
DAW has stopped producing kits. That’s
true, but Ed Harris (ed@skykingrcpro
ducts.com) holds the rights to the designs
and will be producing the fine line of
Dave Sanders-designed EPP-foam kits—
some as early as September 2004. More
information is available on the SkyKing
RC Products Web site—www.skykingrc
products.com—or call Ed in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, at (612) 605-1128.
The Slope Scale line of fiberglass
warbirds and Slope jets is produced from
new molds by Robert Cavazos
([email protected]) at Composite
Systems Development in Moreno Valley,
California. The CSD Web site is
www.rcglider.com, and the telephone
number is (909) 485-0674.
Additional suppliers of suitable EPPfoam
Slope sailplanes that I have flown
and seen flown are:
California Sailplanes
www.californiasailplanes.com
Steve Greenfield
[email protected]
Leading Edge Gliders
www.leadingedgegliders.com
Jack Cooper
[email protected]
Magnum Models
www.magnum-models.com
Larry Blevins
[email protected]
Midwest Slope
www.midwestslope.com
Mike Bailey
[email protected]
Mountain Toys
www.mtntoys.com
Tom Henscheid
[email protected]
Patton Aircraft
home.earthlink.net/~pattonacft
Steve Patton
[email protected]
Soaring Specialties
www.soaringspecialties.com
George Voss
[email protected]
I have two more Web sites to mention.
Greg Smith maintains one of the most
extensive Slope Soaring Web pages in the
country at www.slopeflyer.com. R/C
Soaring Digest—the last pure RC Soaring
magazine—has transitioned from print
media to PDF format. The current issue
and dozens of back issues are available
online at www.b2streamlines.com/
RCSD.html. MA
10sig5.QXD 7/23/04 9:25 am Page 136