140 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
2004 Bladder Grabber (L-R): CD Jeff Rein; sponsor Bob Carver; Chuck Rudner, first; Bill
Maywald, second; Jim Greene, third; Dick Salter, fourth; Gary Harris, fifth.
The 1997 shield shape taught the author that you have to varnish
the glow plugs as well as the wood to prevent rust.
The two versions of the author’s homemade trophies sitting atop
the piece of redwood from which they were built.
AT THE START of each flying season,
clubs and individuals think about hosting
contests. There is usually quite a bit of
preparation and planning that needs to take
place before the event actually happens.
Securing a date and location, getting a
sanction, putting together publicity, getting
all of the necessary materials, having the
manpower to officiate, and having trophies
or prizes play a role in having a successful
contest.
The first consideration is the date of the
event. The organizers must make certain
that the date does not conflict with other
nearby or traditional major contests and
that it does not come right before or after a
nearby contest.
Many well-meaning contest organizers
are often frustrated because their events
have poor turnouts. Most contest
participants have a limited amount of
vacation time and often have other
commitments that prevent them from
attending all the events they would like.
The key is to advertise your contest well in
advance so that regular contest-goers can
put it on their calendars long before it
becomes full of other events and functions.
An attractive contest flyer with all of
the key information is a must. It has to
include the date, location, contact
information for at least two organizers,
directions to the flying field, any
deviations from the rules, the events to be
flown, and the telephone numbers of
nearby motels. If you can do so, include a
map to the field on the back of the
handout.
A nonflying member of the family or
club can help with this item. It is a good
idea to enlist the services of a computer
hobbyist to make the flyer look
professional.
Reminders, in person and via the
telephone or E-mail, are helpful in
assuring that people will participate. These
reminders and invitations to practice a
couple weeks in advance will help
motivate individuals. If people feel ready
and know that all of their equipment is in
working order, they are more likely to
show up for a competition.
Make a list of all the things you think
you will need to run the contest. Some
basic items are often overlooked, such as a
table and chairs for the officials. You need
enough stopwatches that are in working
order so you don’t have to scurry about at
the last minute trying to borrow one.
Stopwatches are cheap enough that a club
or individual can afford to have several for
contest use.
Paper, pens, markers, matching boards,
streamers, clipboards, traffic paint, a pulltest
scale or device, a 100-foot tape
measure, and a bullhorn or other sound-
amplifying device certainly help keep
things rolling at a good pace. Make certain
to have other club members’ help in
making the list.
When you have finalized the list, put a
person’s name next to the item for which
he or she will be responsible. Make copies
of the list, and make certain that all people
who have a job get one.
Most of what I am telling you may
sound simple, but once you get busy with
your job responsibilities, family, and other
interests, some things tend to get lost
because of the hectic pace of life.
Getting people to commit to working as
officials is difficult these days. That means
you should take care of those who do. A
cooler full of bottled water and soft drinks,
as well as lunch, should not out of the
question and will build good will. If you
can, get one of the club members to bring
the judges and workers sandwiches. This
will cost less than running out to the local
fast-food place. Coffee and doughnuts can
be provided as the officials arrive in the
morning.
Get some of the wives or others
involved in setting up a concession stand.
If there are den mothers or troop leaders,
they can get Boy Scouts or Girl Scout
troops to run the stand for a couple hours
during the day. This could be a 10 a.m.-2
p.m. project and a fund-raiser for them.
Make sure you let the contestants know
that there will be food available at the site.
At some of the bigger contests, T-shirts
have been made available to the
contestants. This involves some capital
outlay up front and will require someone
to do artwork.
This is a tricky endeavor because you
have to predict how many shirts to order
and what sizes. Producing T-shirts will
require quite a bit of thought, and one or
two people will need to see it through
from design to closing the books after the
contest.
Trophies can be a major expense for a
club, and that money is seldom
recuperated through entry fees. I have
donated trophies to contests because I
wanted to make certain that everyone had
a good experience and would come back.
You can also make trophies for your
contest. I have done this, and a couple of
examples are shown in the photos. Some
of this came about to make our December
31 Beach Brunch and Fly more
memorable and to keep a record of who
had the last kill of the year. I had a bunch
of leftover redwood from when we
replaced a fence and a gate, so I cut some
of it up and had a go at making trophies.
The first award I made, in 1997, was a
simple shield shape with a thin piece of
copper tubing used to hold two pieces of
thin music wire. On the end of each piece
of music wire, I glued in a used glow plug
and a half-stripped twist tie to simulate a
streamer. I used two colors of twist ties. I
used a Sharpie permanent marker to write
the information on the wooden shield.
To finish the award, I gave it several
coats of polyurethane varnish, and presto!
There was a unique wall plaque. My
advice is to give the wooden portion of
your trophy one coat of varnish before
doing the lettering. This gives you a
clearer line that has not bled.
I designed the other plaque in 1999. It
is a simple model-airplane form made
from scrap redwood, scrap boom arrowshaft
material, and a burned-out Cox glow
plug. You can tell how it was made by
looking at the accompanying photograph.
These simple designs memorialize a
contest while not taking up too much
space in the house.
After the fascination and thrill of
winning the first few trophies wears off,
they begin collecting dust and become a
storage problem. These small mementos,
on the other hand, can probably find a bit
of wall space in the workshop.
If you plan ahead and share the
workload, you and your club can have an
enjoyable contest that everyone will talk
about. Give it a try and get everyone
involved.
I read in the most recent Miniature
Aircraft Combat Association (MACA)
newsletter (MACA News) that Mike
Willcox went to Saint Petersburg, Russia,
for a World Cup contest and beat the best
of the Russians on their own turf.
It must feel good to give them a little
payback after the clean 1-2-3 sweep they
had at Muncie, Indiana, during the 2004
CL World Championships. Thank you,
Mike, for making the Russians not appear
so invincible.
There have been few instances of
Americans winning in Europe or on
foreign soil. I won a Class A Diesel
contest in Peterborough, England, in 1982;
Tom Fluker won the World
Championships three weeks later in
Oxelosund, Sweden; Mark Rudner won
the Junior World Championships in
Shanghai, China, in 1994; and Mike
Willcox won the World Championships in
Sebnitz, Germany, in 2002.
If I have missed anyone who won
somewhere outside the United States, do
let me know.
You should join MACA to keep abreast
of what is going on in the Combat world.
Send your $15 dues to treasurer Gene
Berry at 4610 89th St., Lubbock TX
79424. Make certain that you supply him
with your AMA number and category.
Goran Olsson of Sweden has recently
set up a Web site that is devoted entirely
to Combat, at http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/cl_combat/. It is a good place to
read about what is on the minds of the
world Combat community. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/03
Page Numbers: 140,141,142,143
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/03
Page Numbers: 140,141,142,143
140 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
2004 Bladder Grabber (L-R): CD Jeff Rein; sponsor Bob Carver; Chuck Rudner, first; Bill
Maywald, second; Jim Greene, third; Dick Salter, fourth; Gary Harris, fifth.
The 1997 shield shape taught the author that you have to varnish
the glow plugs as well as the wood to prevent rust.
The two versions of the author’s homemade trophies sitting atop
the piece of redwood from which they were built.
AT THE START of each flying season,
clubs and individuals think about hosting
contests. There is usually quite a bit of
preparation and planning that needs to take
place before the event actually happens.
Securing a date and location, getting a
sanction, putting together publicity, getting
all of the necessary materials, having the
manpower to officiate, and having trophies
or prizes play a role in having a successful
contest.
The first consideration is the date of the
event. The organizers must make certain
that the date does not conflict with other
nearby or traditional major contests and
that it does not come right before or after a
nearby contest.
Many well-meaning contest organizers
are often frustrated because their events
have poor turnouts. Most contest
participants have a limited amount of
vacation time and often have other
commitments that prevent them from
attending all the events they would like.
The key is to advertise your contest well in
advance so that regular contest-goers can
put it on their calendars long before it
becomes full of other events and functions.
An attractive contest flyer with all of
the key information is a must. It has to
include the date, location, contact
information for at least two organizers,
directions to the flying field, any
deviations from the rules, the events to be
flown, and the telephone numbers of
nearby motels. If you can do so, include a
map to the field on the back of the
handout.
A nonflying member of the family or
club can help with this item. It is a good
idea to enlist the services of a computer
hobbyist to make the flyer look
professional.
Reminders, in person and via the
telephone or E-mail, are helpful in
assuring that people will participate. These
reminders and invitations to practice a
couple weeks in advance will help
motivate individuals. If people feel ready
and know that all of their equipment is in
working order, they are more likely to
show up for a competition.
Make a list of all the things you think
you will need to run the contest. Some
basic items are often overlooked, such as a
table and chairs for the officials. You need
enough stopwatches that are in working
order so you don’t have to scurry about at
the last minute trying to borrow one.
Stopwatches are cheap enough that a club
or individual can afford to have several for
contest use.
Paper, pens, markers, matching boards,
streamers, clipboards, traffic paint, a pulltest
scale or device, a 100-foot tape
measure, and a bullhorn or other sound-
amplifying device certainly help keep
things rolling at a good pace. Make certain
to have other club members’ help in
making the list.
When you have finalized the list, put a
person’s name next to the item for which
he or she will be responsible. Make copies
of the list, and make certain that all people
who have a job get one.
Most of what I am telling you may
sound simple, but once you get busy with
your job responsibilities, family, and other
interests, some things tend to get lost
because of the hectic pace of life.
Getting people to commit to working as
officials is difficult these days. That means
you should take care of those who do. A
cooler full of bottled water and soft drinks,
as well as lunch, should not out of the
question and will build good will. If you
can, get one of the club members to bring
the judges and workers sandwiches. This
will cost less than running out to the local
fast-food place. Coffee and doughnuts can
be provided as the officials arrive in the
morning.
Get some of the wives or others
involved in setting up a concession stand.
If there are den mothers or troop leaders,
they can get Boy Scouts or Girl Scout
troops to run the stand for a couple hours
during the day. This could be a 10 a.m.-2
p.m. project and a fund-raiser for them.
Make sure you let the contestants know
that there will be food available at the site.
At some of the bigger contests, T-shirts
have been made available to the
contestants. This involves some capital
outlay up front and will require someone
to do artwork.
This is a tricky endeavor because you
have to predict how many shirts to order
and what sizes. Producing T-shirts will
require quite a bit of thought, and one or
two people will need to see it through
from design to closing the books after the
contest.
Trophies can be a major expense for a
club, and that money is seldom
recuperated through entry fees. I have
donated trophies to contests because I
wanted to make certain that everyone had
a good experience and would come back.
You can also make trophies for your
contest. I have done this, and a couple of
examples are shown in the photos. Some
of this came about to make our December
31 Beach Brunch and Fly more
memorable and to keep a record of who
had the last kill of the year. I had a bunch
of leftover redwood from when we
replaced a fence and a gate, so I cut some
of it up and had a go at making trophies.
The first award I made, in 1997, was a
simple shield shape with a thin piece of
copper tubing used to hold two pieces of
thin music wire. On the end of each piece
of music wire, I glued in a used glow plug
and a half-stripped twist tie to simulate a
streamer. I used two colors of twist ties. I
used a Sharpie permanent marker to write
the information on the wooden shield.
To finish the award, I gave it several
coats of polyurethane varnish, and presto!
There was a unique wall plaque. My
advice is to give the wooden portion of
your trophy one coat of varnish before
doing the lettering. This gives you a
clearer line that has not bled.
I designed the other plaque in 1999. It
is a simple model-airplane form made
from scrap redwood, scrap boom arrowshaft
material, and a burned-out Cox glow
plug. You can tell how it was made by
looking at the accompanying photograph.
These simple designs memorialize a
contest while not taking up too much
space in the house.
After the fascination and thrill of
winning the first few trophies wears off,
they begin collecting dust and become a
storage problem. These small mementos,
on the other hand, can probably find a bit
of wall space in the workshop.
If you plan ahead and share the
workload, you and your club can have an
enjoyable contest that everyone will talk
about. Give it a try and get everyone
involved.
I read in the most recent Miniature
Aircraft Combat Association (MACA)
newsletter (MACA News) that Mike
Willcox went to Saint Petersburg, Russia,
for a World Cup contest and beat the best
of the Russians on their own turf.
It must feel good to give them a little
payback after the clean 1-2-3 sweep they
had at Muncie, Indiana, during the 2004
CL World Championships. Thank you,
Mike, for making the Russians not appear
so invincible.
There have been few instances of
Americans winning in Europe or on
foreign soil. I won a Class A Diesel
contest in Peterborough, England, in 1982;
Tom Fluker won the World
Championships three weeks later in
Oxelosund, Sweden; Mark Rudner won
the Junior World Championships in
Shanghai, China, in 1994; and Mike
Willcox won the World Championships in
Sebnitz, Germany, in 2002.
If I have missed anyone who won
somewhere outside the United States, do
let me know.
You should join MACA to keep abreast
of what is going on in the Combat world.
Send your $15 dues to treasurer Gene
Berry at 4610 89th St., Lubbock TX
79424. Make certain that you supply him
with your AMA number and category.
Goran Olsson of Sweden has recently
set up a Web site that is devoted entirely
to Combat, at http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/cl_combat/. It is a good place to
read about what is on the minds of the
world Combat community. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/03
Page Numbers: 140,141,142,143
140 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
2004 Bladder Grabber (L-R): CD Jeff Rein; sponsor Bob Carver; Chuck Rudner, first; Bill
Maywald, second; Jim Greene, third; Dick Salter, fourth; Gary Harris, fifth.
The 1997 shield shape taught the author that you have to varnish
the glow plugs as well as the wood to prevent rust.
The two versions of the author’s homemade trophies sitting atop
the piece of redwood from which they were built.
AT THE START of each flying season,
clubs and individuals think about hosting
contests. There is usually quite a bit of
preparation and planning that needs to take
place before the event actually happens.
Securing a date and location, getting a
sanction, putting together publicity, getting
all of the necessary materials, having the
manpower to officiate, and having trophies
or prizes play a role in having a successful
contest.
The first consideration is the date of the
event. The organizers must make certain
that the date does not conflict with other
nearby or traditional major contests and
that it does not come right before or after a
nearby contest.
Many well-meaning contest organizers
are often frustrated because their events
have poor turnouts. Most contest
participants have a limited amount of
vacation time and often have other
commitments that prevent them from
attending all the events they would like.
The key is to advertise your contest well in
advance so that regular contest-goers can
put it on their calendars long before it
becomes full of other events and functions.
An attractive contest flyer with all of
the key information is a must. It has to
include the date, location, contact
information for at least two organizers,
directions to the flying field, any
deviations from the rules, the events to be
flown, and the telephone numbers of
nearby motels. If you can do so, include a
map to the field on the back of the
handout.
A nonflying member of the family or
club can help with this item. It is a good
idea to enlist the services of a computer
hobbyist to make the flyer look
professional.
Reminders, in person and via the
telephone or E-mail, are helpful in
assuring that people will participate. These
reminders and invitations to practice a
couple weeks in advance will help
motivate individuals. If people feel ready
and know that all of their equipment is in
working order, they are more likely to
show up for a competition.
Make a list of all the things you think
you will need to run the contest. Some
basic items are often overlooked, such as a
table and chairs for the officials. You need
enough stopwatches that are in working
order so you don’t have to scurry about at
the last minute trying to borrow one.
Stopwatches are cheap enough that a club
or individual can afford to have several for
contest use.
Paper, pens, markers, matching boards,
streamers, clipboards, traffic paint, a pulltest
scale or device, a 100-foot tape
measure, and a bullhorn or other sound-
amplifying device certainly help keep
things rolling at a good pace. Make certain
to have other club members’ help in
making the list.
When you have finalized the list, put a
person’s name next to the item for which
he or she will be responsible. Make copies
of the list, and make certain that all people
who have a job get one.
Most of what I am telling you may
sound simple, but once you get busy with
your job responsibilities, family, and other
interests, some things tend to get lost
because of the hectic pace of life.
Getting people to commit to working as
officials is difficult these days. That means
you should take care of those who do. A
cooler full of bottled water and soft drinks,
as well as lunch, should not out of the
question and will build good will. If you
can, get one of the club members to bring
the judges and workers sandwiches. This
will cost less than running out to the local
fast-food place. Coffee and doughnuts can
be provided as the officials arrive in the
morning.
Get some of the wives or others
involved in setting up a concession stand.
If there are den mothers or troop leaders,
they can get Boy Scouts or Girl Scout
troops to run the stand for a couple hours
during the day. This could be a 10 a.m.-2
p.m. project and a fund-raiser for them.
Make sure you let the contestants know
that there will be food available at the site.
At some of the bigger contests, T-shirts
have been made available to the
contestants. This involves some capital
outlay up front and will require someone
to do artwork.
This is a tricky endeavor because you
have to predict how many shirts to order
and what sizes. Producing T-shirts will
require quite a bit of thought, and one or
two people will need to see it through
from design to closing the books after the
contest.
Trophies can be a major expense for a
club, and that money is seldom
recuperated through entry fees. I have
donated trophies to contests because I
wanted to make certain that everyone had
a good experience and would come back.
You can also make trophies for your
contest. I have done this, and a couple of
examples are shown in the photos. Some
of this came about to make our December
31 Beach Brunch and Fly more
memorable and to keep a record of who
had the last kill of the year. I had a bunch
of leftover redwood from when we
replaced a fence and a gate, so I cut some
of it up and had a go at making trophies.
The first award I made, in 1997, was a
simple shield shape with a thin piece of
copper tubing used to hold two pieces of
thin music wire. On the end of each piece
of music wire, I glued in a used glow plug
and a half-stripped twist tie to simulate a
streamer. I used two colors of twist ties. I
used a Sharpie permanent marker to write
the information on the wooden shield.
To finish the award, I gave it several
coats of polyurethane varnish, and presto!
There was a unique wall plaque. My
advice is to give the wooden portion of
your trophy one coat of varnish before
doing the lettering. This gives you a
clearer line that has not bled.
I designed the other plaque in 1999. It
is a simple model-airplane form made
from scrap redwood, scrap boom arrowshaft
material, and a burned-out Cox glow
plug. You can tell how it was made by
looking at the accompanying photograph.
These simple designs memorialize a
contest while not taking up too much
space in the house.
After the fascination and thrill of
winning the first few trophies wears off,
they begin collecting dust and become a
storage problem. These small mementos,
on the other hand, can probably find a bit
of wall space in the workshop.
If you plan ahead and share the
workload, you and your club can have an
enjoyable contest that everyone will talk
about. Give it a try and get everyone
involved.
I read in the most recent Miniature
Aircraft Combat Association (MACA)
newsletter (MACA News) that Mike
Willcox went to Saint Petersburg, Russia,
for a World Cup contest and beat the best
of the Russians on their own turf.
It must feel good to give them a little
payback after the clean 1-2-3 sweep they
had at Muncie, Indiana, during the 2004
CL World Championships. Thank you,
Mike, for making the Russians not appear
so invincible.
There have been few instances of
Americans winning in Europe or on
foreign soil. I won a Class A Diesel
contest in Peterborough, England, in 1982;
Tom Fluker won the World
Championships three weeks later in
Oxelosund, Sweden; Mark Rudner won
the Junior World Championships in
Shanghai, China, in 1994; and Mike
Willcox won the World Championships in
Sebnitz, Germany, in 2002.
If I have missed anyone who won
somewhere outside the United States, do
let me know.
You should join MACA to keep abreast
of what is going on in the Combat world.
Send your $15 dues to treasurer Gene
Berry at 4610 89th St., Lubbock TX
79424. Make certain that you supply him
with your AMA number and category.
Goran Olsson of Sweden has recently
set up a Web site that is devoted entirely
to Combat, at http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/cl_combat/. It is a good place to
read about what is on the minds of the
world Combat community. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/03
Page Numbers: 140,141,142,143
140 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
2004 Bladder Grabber (L-R): CD Jeff Rein; sponsor Bob Carver; Chuck Rudner, first; Bill
Maywald, second; Jim Greene, third; Dick Salter, fourth; Gary Harris, fifth.
The 1997 shield shape taught the author that you have to varnish
the glow plugs as well as the wood to prevent rust.
The two versions of the author’s homemade trophies sitting atop
the piece of redwood from which they were built.
AT THE START of each flying season,
clubs and individuals think about hosting
contests. There is usually quite a bit of
preparation and planning that needs to take
place before the event actually happens.
Securing a date and location, getting a
sanction, putting together publicity, getting
all of the necessary materials, having the
manpower to officiate, and having trophies
or prizes play a role in having a successful
contest.
The first consideration is the date of the
event. The organizers must make certain
that the date does not conflict with other
nearby or traditional major contests and
that it does not come right before or after a
nearby contest.
Many well-meaning contest organizers
are often frustrated because their events
have poor turnouts. Most contest
participants have a limited amount of
vacation time and often have other
commitments that prevent them from
attending all the events they would like.
The key is to advertise your contest well in
advance so that regular contest-goers can
put it on their calendars long before it
becomes full of other events and functions.
An attractive contest flyer with all of
the key information is a must. It has to
include the date, location, contact
information for at least two organizers,
directions to the flying field, any
deviations from the rules, the events to be
flown, and the telephone numbers of
nearby motels. If you can do so, include a
map to the field on the back of the
handout.
A nonflying member of the family or
club can help with this item. It is a good
idea to enlist the services of a computer
hobbyist to make the flyer look
professional.
Reminders, in person and via the
telephone or E-mail, are helpful in
assuring that people will participate. These
reminders and invitations to practice a
couple weeks in advance will help
motivate individuals. If people feel ready
and know that all of their equipment is in
working order, they are more likely to
show up for a competition.
Make a list of all the things you think
you will need to run the contest. Some
basic items are often overlooked, such as a
table and chairs for the officials. You need
enough stopwatches that are in working
order so you don’t have to scurry about at
the last minute trying to borrow one.
Stopwatches are cheap enough that a club
or individual can afford to have several for
contest use.
Paper, pens, markers, matching boards,
streamers, clipboards, traffic paint, a pulltest
scale or device, a 100-foot tape
measure, and a bullhorn or other sound-
amplifying device certainly help keep
things rolling at a good pace. Make certain
to have other club members’ help in
making the list.
When you have finalized the list, put a
person’s name next to the item for which
he or she will be responsible. Make copies
of the list, and make certain that all people
who have a job get one.
Most of what I am telling you may
sound simple, but once you get busy with
your job responsibilities, family, and other
interests, some things tend to get lost
because of the hectic pace of life.
Getting people to commit to working as
officials is difficult these days. That means
you should take care of those who do. A
cooler full of bottled water and soft drinks,
as well as lunch, should not out of the
question and will build good will. If you
can, get one of the club members to bring
the judges and workers sandwiches. This
will cost less than running out to the local
fast-food place. Coffee and doughnuts can
be provided as the officials arrive in the
morning.
Get some of the wives or others
involved in setting up a concession stand.
If there are den mothers or troop leaders,
they can get Boy Scouts or Girl Scout
troops to run the stand for a couple hours
during the day. This could be a 10 a.m.-2
p.m. project and a fund-raiser for them.
Make sure you let the contestants know
that there will be food available at the site.
At some of the bigger contests, T-shirts
have been made available to the
contestants. This involves some capital
outlay up front and will require someone
to do artwork.
This is a tricky endeavor because you
have to predict how many shirts to order
and what sizes. Producing T-shirts will
require quite a bit of thought, and one or
two people will need to see it through
from design to closing the books after the
contest.
Trophies can be a major expense for a
club, and that money is seldom
recuperated through entry fees. I have
donated trophies to contests because I
wanted to make certain that everyone had
a good experience and would come back.
You can also make trophies for your
contest. I have done this, and a couple of
examples are shown in the photos. Some
of this came about to make our December
31 Beach Brunch and Fly more
memorable and to keep a record of who
had the last kill of the year. I had a bunch
of leftover redwood from when we
replaced a fence and a gate, so I cut some
of it up and had a go at making trophies.
The first award I made, in 1997, was a
simple shield shape with a thin piece of
copper tubing used to hold two pieces of
thin music wire. On the end of each piece
of music wire, I glued in a used glow plug
and a half-stripped twist tie to simulate a
streamer. I used two colors of twist ties. I
used a Sharpie permanent marker to write
the information on the wooden shield.
To finish the award, I gave it several
coats of polyurethane varnish, and presto!
There was a unique wall plaque. My
advice is to give the wooden portion of
your trophy one coat of varnish before
doing the lettering. This gives you a
clearer line that has not bled.
I designed the other plaque in 1999. It
is a simple model-airplane form made
from scrap redwood, scrap boom arrowshaft
material, and a burned-out Cox glow
plug. You can tell how it was made by
looking at the accompanying photograph.
These simple designs memorialize a
contest while not taking up too much
space in the house.
After the fascination and thrill of
winning the first few trophies wears off,
they begin collecting dust and become a
storage problem. These small mementos,
on the other hand, can probably find a bit
of wall space in the workshop.
If you plan ahead and share the
workload, you and your club can have an
enjoyable contest that everyone will talk
about. Give it a try and get everyone
involved.
I read in the most recent Miniature
Aircraft Combat Association (MACA)
newsletter (MACA News) that Mike
Willcox went to Saint Petersburg, Russia,
for a World Cup contest and beat the best
of the Russians on their own turf.
It must feel good to give them a little
payback after the clean 1-2-3 sweep they
had at Muncie, Indiana, during the 2004
CL World Championships. Thank you,
Mike, for making the Russians not appear
so invincible.
There have been few instances of
Americans winning in Europe or on
foreign soil. I won a Class A Diesel
contest in Peterborough, England, in 1982;
Tom Fluker won the World
Championships three weeks later in
Oxelosund, Sweden; Mark Rudner won
the Junior World Championships in
Shanghai, China, in 1994; and Mike
Willcox won the World Championships in
Sebnitz, Germany, in 2002.
If I have missed anyone who won
somewhere outside the United States, do
let me know.
You should join MACA to keep abreast
of what is going on in the Combat world.
Send your $15 dues to treasurer Gene
Berry at 4610 89th St., Lubbock TX
79424. Make certain that you supply him
with your AMA number and category.
Goran Olsson of Sweden has recently
set up a Web site that is devoted entirely
to Combat, at http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/cl_combat/. It is a good place to
read about what is on the minds of the
world Combat community. MA