The CL Scale Task Force (CLSFT) 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 in the past months studying the entire body of rules that address CL Scale: General, CL General, and CL Scale. The current 2013-2014 rules can be found at the AMA website, listed in “Sources.” CL Scale rules are currently within the PDF document titled, 2013-2014 RC - CL Scale.
The CLSFT will host a meeting during the Weak Signals 58th Toledo R/C Show (The Toledo Show) April 4-7. CLSFT members will present working revisions and solicit critiques and recommendations from the attendees. Stop by the Brodak Manufacturing and Distribution Co. booth (booth numbers 092-094) for time and location of the CLSFT meeting.
The assignment given by the meeting attendees to the CLSFT was to produce a set of CL Scale specific rules without ambiguities or contradictions and produce a more effective flight judging section. Diagrams for flight maneuver options will be included for the first time. With AMA Precision Scale having gone away, AMA Designer Scale being limited, and FAI F4B Scale fading globally, CLSFT decided to create a new category to be 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 guy for CLSFT, I will be attending 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 in final format by the 2013 AMA Nationals.
The CLSTF will host a second meeting at the Nats of CL Scale contestants for a final group review of the proposed rule set. After putting the draft out for comment to AMA CL Scale builders/fliers, CLSFT finalized rule-change proposals will be submitted to AMA. During 2014 the AMA Scale Contest Board will do its job and if accepted, the new rule set and flight judging guide will be in use starting on January 1, 2015.
2013 CL Scale Nationals
The venue for the AMA Nationals is the AMA International Flying Site in Muncie, Indiana. CL week starts with CL Scale processing and Static judging 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, and Unofficial Event 1/2A Scale.
Let me know if you need a copy of the rules for the 1/2A Scale event, which is limited to .061 cdi/1cc maximum engine size with multiple engine aircraft permitted. The rules are the same as last year. The models can be profile or full fuselage, and engines fully or partially cowled, with no effect on scoring. The airplane modeled must be heavier than air and jets must use propeller propulsion. Seaplanes can have non-scale under carriage. No throttles or other mechanical options are allowed.
Static judging is from 5-feet away and a maximum of four pages of scale documentation is allowed. Static points are maximums of 40 for side, plan, and end view, and 40 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 for each of the 10 laps and 40 for realism of flight. Multi-engines give 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 in this column.
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 started with a general love of aviation or a certain aircraft in particular. Maybe it was as simple as one that caught your eye at the local airport or as emotionally complex as the one your uncle died in during World War II. Hours of delight are spent searching history, pictures, and plans to find the perfect airplane for you.
CL Scale airplanes are a never-ending work in progress. Your craftsman instinct makes you ask the Static judge why he marked you down, and you go back to the bench and fix it. Craftsmanship gets in the way of expediency. You are always noticing areas that need improvement, such as landing gear, markings, rivets, antennas and 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 quite 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 three 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!
