Control Line Combat — Rich Lopez [[email protected]]
How to win the F2D World Cup
THE WORLD CUP contest was held at the Jetero RC Club field in Houston, Texas, May 1–2, 2010. It drew 36 entries from North America and around the world.
The reigning (2008) World Champion, Stas Culacichin, made the trip all the way from Moldova to participate. Another Moldovan and former European Champion, Igor Dementiev, made his first trip to Texas as well and collected the first-place trophy.
Several Team Canada members attended, including Brad La Pointe, Dave Lovegren, Pat McKenzie, and the transplant ringer from Kazakhstan, Yevgeny Melnikov. Greg Wornell is originally from Canada, but he decided that the "pickings" are better on this side of the border at an East Coast university with the initials MIT.
Team Mexico was at full strength with Junior Ariel Quezada, Fred Quezada, Arnulfo "Arnie" Delgado, and Leonardo "Leo-Nitro" Silva present. The US has its own set of former Eastern Bloc ringers, in Alex Prokofiev, Andrew Nadien, and A. Voytenkov.
Pete Plunkett of Austin, Minnesota, made a return to serious Combat flying in this contest. David Owen did not seem to lose his flying form, even after undergoing a series of cancer treatments that included chemotherapy and radiation.
The Jetero RC Club field is an outstanding facility that includes a covered pavilion with electrical outlets throughout and a full kitchen. Permanent restrooms are conveniently located adjacent to the pavilion. There was plenty of space in which to practice and trim models, even while the contest was in progress.
The advantage of having a large club is that a steady source of volunteers can be tapped to make the contest more enjoyable for competitors. Volunteers prepared coffee and pastries in the morning and provided hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, dessert for lunch, and drinks throughout the day. All of this was part of the entry fee.
Pat Willcox managed the whole operation, starting with the labor-intensive task of making quality streamers according to the rule book specifications. Luckily all of his houseguests were willing to help.
The most common fuel shutoff in use was a swing-arm device by Aerolux. The original idea for the swing arm was Chuck Rudner's, back when shutoff devices were mandated for Fast Combat. His first attempts were handmade using files and scrap parts from various sources. Chuck eventually convinced the Russians, namely Alexander Gievesky, to produce and sell them. The current devices have undergone numerous upgrades and incorporate many subtle refinements. They mount quickly and easily to engine mounts with one bolt that comes through the bottom mount. I saw only one shutoff failure throughout the entire weekend. A few models were cut away, with the shutoff devices operating as designed.
The trip from Moldova for Stas Culacichin was costly, and he ended up giving Combat flying-tactics lessons for a nominal fee to those who were interested. Several American pilots took him up on these sessions. It provided a rare opportunity to have a go at the reigning World Champion. Modelers could also buy Stas’s models at the end of the contest; selling the airplanes eliminated the need for him to pay baggage fees back to Moldova. Check with Mike Willcox to see if Stas left any unsold aircraft with him.
Also included in this column:
- So long, Frank Tomicich
- Thank you, Steve Hills
I paid close attention to Igor Dementiev’s flying style throughout the contest. He tended to walk to one side of the circle, usually on the downwind side, and fly in a defensive mode for roughly half of the match. Most of Igor’s maneuvers were large and open figure eights. Then he would quickly engage his opponent, flying offensively and taking a cut or two, and then return to the defensive figure-eight mode. This obviously worked, since he ended up winning the contest.
The World Cup was an amazing success, and that is owed to many people’s efforts. Pat Willcox recognized the volunteers with nicely printed certificates of appreciation. The judges did a great job throughout the weekend. Set aside some time in May 2011 to attend this contest.
Frank Tomicich Passes
The San Diego, California, modelers have a reputation for being laid-back. In spite of that, they tend to be fierce competitors in Combat. Frank Tomicich would give you the shirt off his back, take it back in the middle of a match, and then buy the beer afterward.
Frank loved flying with the likes of Charlie Johnson, Lorna Samuel, Greg Hill, Sean Dea, Stuart Mossman, Stan McCarver, Darrin Albert, Rich Ambler, Roger Ochoa, and Alan Deveuve. A number of others also flew with him throughout the years.
Frank won one of the last big Fast Combat contests in Riverside, California. I last saw him at a fun-fly at the sod farm in November 2009, where he provided lunch for everyone and did a stand-up comedy routine imitating Rodney Dangerfield.
The Combat community will miss Frank.
Loss of an Innovator
Steve Hills was a creative individual, as evidenced by his success as a fine commercial and graphic artist. He was instrumental in developing and refining foam models.
Steve had a set of 1/2A, FAI F2D, and Fast designs when I met him at one of the Lincoln, Nebraska, AMA Nats. He and Pete Athans had successfully used foam models in numerous competitions in Southern California.
As it turned out, Steve lived in Redondo Beach—just a short distance from my apartment in Playa Del Rey. We quickly hooked up and started building airplanes. I had no experience with foam, and Steve was a patient and competent teacher. I convinced him that we should give his designs the name "SlySir," and it stuck.
Steve was a member of the US F2D team in 1980 and served as a mechanic for Phil Granderson. He had some great stories about what the Soviets were doing to keep track of their team.
Steve broke through all of the politics and befriended the Russian team, and he managed to wrangle a model away from Oleg Doroshenko, who became the World Champion that year. Phil finished third, making him the first American to stand on the podium in an F2D event.
It was Steve who first used fiberglass and carbon-fiber arrow shafts as an integral part of the engine mounting block and as the boom to which the stabilizer and bellcrank were attached.
He designed and built four prototype models for my World Championship effort in 1990. When we settled on the final design, he spent several weeks in my garage, building a fleet of 16 aircraft for me to use.
Steve grew up flying with the likes of Riley Wooten, Pete Jaden, James Mears, and the rest of the Lubbock, Texas, crew. He passed away May 22—on his 64th birthday.
MA
Sources
- Mike Willcox — [email protected]
- Steve Hills — www.shills.com
- Miniature Aircraft Combat Association — www.maca.hobby-site.com:3535
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
