CL Scale rules revisions for 2015
by Ted Kraver [email protected]
The CL Scale Task Force (CLSTF) was formed at the July 2012 AMA Nats during a meeting attended by most of the CL Scale contestants. The task force has been hard at work studying the entire body of rules that address CL Scale: General, CL General, and CL Scale.
The current 2013–2014 rules can be found on the AMA website (see Sources). CL Scale rules are contained in the PDF titled "2013-2014 RC-CL Scale."
The CLSTF will host a meeting during the Weak Signals 58th Toledo R/C Expo (the Toledo Show), April 4–7, 2013. CLSTF members will present working revisions and solicit critiques and recommendations from attendees. Visit the Brodak Manufacturing and Distribution Co. booth (booth numbers 092–094) for the time and location of the CLSTF meeting.
The assignment given by the CLSTF meeting attendees was to produce a set of CL Scale–specific rules without ambiguities or contradictions and to produce a more effective flight-judging section. Diagrams for flight maneuver options will be included for the first time.
AMA Precision Scale has gone away, AMA Designer Scale is limited, and FAI F4B Scale is fading globally, so the CLSTF decided to create a new category named Authentic Scale. The Authentic Scale rule set will integrate the best of Precision, Designer, and FAI F4B Scale rules. This category will meet the needs of the Expert builder, provide a challenging goal for the Sportsman builder, and address emerging technologies such as 2.4 GHz flight option control and electric motor power. Authentic Scale will be used instead of Sport Scale to define static-judging rules for the other events of CL Fun, Profile, Sport, and Team Scale.
As the communications person for CLSTF, I plan to attend the Toledo Show and the meeting. If you can't make the April meeting, send me your thoughts and concerns about the current rules and I will provide them to the task force. The draft set of revised CL Scale rules is expected to be finalized by the 2013 Nats.
The CLSTF will host a second meeting at the Nats for a final group review of the proposed rule set. After putting the draft out for comment to CL Scale builders and fliers, CLSTF–finalized rule-change proposals will be submitted to AMA. The Scale Contest Board will review proposals during 2014; if accepted, the new rule set and flight-judging guide will be in use starting January 1, 2015.
2013 CL Scale Nationals
The venue for the outdoor portion of the AMA Nationals is the AMA International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana. CL week starts with CL Scale processing and static judging on Friday, July 12, 2013. Flying competition will consume the weekend of July 13–14, 2013.
There is a full docket of CL Scale events:
- 509 CL Sport Scale (J)(S)(O)
- 510 CL FAI F4B (J)(S)(O)
- 521 CL Profile Scale (J)(S)(O)
- 526 CL Fun Scale Novice (J)(S)(O)
- 526 CL Fun Scale
- 527 CL Team Scale
- Unofficial event: 1/2A Scale
If you need a copy of the rules for the 1/2A Scale event: it is limited to a .061 cu in / 1 cc maximum engine size with multiple-engine aircraft permitted. The rules are the same as last year.
Models can be profile or full-fuselage, and engines may be fully or partially cowled, with no effect on scoring. The airplane modeled must be heavier-than-air; jets must use propeller propulsion. Seaplanes can have a non-scale undercarriage. No throttles or other mechanical options are allowed.
Static judging is conducted from 5 feet away, and a maximum of four pages of scale documentation is allowed. Static points are awarded as follows: maximum 40 points for side, plan, and end views, and a maximum 40 points for color, finish, markings, and craftsmanship.
The single flight option is a takeoff — level flight — landing with a maximum of 50 points. There is one flight score for each of the 10 laps and 40 points for realism of flight. Multi-engine models receive a five-point bonus.
I will be at the AMA Nationals for most of CL week, starting with Scale and wrapping up with Navy Carrier. Let's chat about what you would like to see.
Craftsmanship
I looked up a number of definitions of craftsmanship and I liked this one for CL Scale: "Craftsmanship is doing what you love and doing it right."
It all starts with a general love of aviation or a particular aircraft. Maybe it was as simple as one that caught your eye at the local airport, or as emotionally complex as the one your uncle flew in during World War II. Hours of delight are spent searching history, pictures, and plans to find your perfect airplane.
CL Scale airplanes are a work in progress. Your craftsman instinct makes you ask the static judge why he or she marked you down, and you go back to the bench and fix it. Craftsmanship gets in the way of expediency. You notice areas that need improvement, such as landing gear, markings, rivets, antennas, panel lines—and especially the cockpit, where your pilot needs a bump in realism.
You expand your tool set and develop skills to fabricate the smallest components. As you browse through store shelves, you keep an eye out for items to cobble into a cowl, cockpit part, pilot, or gun for your latest creation.
You start out as a sportsman to have fun flying scale model airplanes. Then somehow the hook sets, and the passion grows as skills develop throughout the years. At some point, you start feeling like a craftsman, and a magic change might overtake you as it becomes a big part of your life.
The craftsmanship thing came over me recently. I enjoy taking years to fully develop a model and seeing continuous improvement come together, but the old slap-dash urge jumps out once in a while. A month ago I invested 3 hours and 10 minutes to take two ARF Flight Streaks from boxed parts to engines installed for a club balloon-bust contest. You've got to love it all!
SOURCES:
- 2013–2014 Competition Regulations
www.modelaircraft.org/events/compreg.aspx
- CL and RC Fixed-Wing Scale Competition Regulations
www.modelaircraft.org/files/2013-2014RC-CLScale_.pdf
- National Association of Scale Aeromodelers
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
