CONTROL LINE NAVY CARRIER
Dick Perry 427 Live Oak Ln. NE, Albuquerque NM 87122 E-mail: [email protected]
THE FLYING SEASON is upon us, even for those of us outside the Sun Belt, and it's time to try out those winter creations. As this column is being written, most winter building plans are in the earliest stages, so I have little to offer about what will be showing up on the flying circles this spring.
However, there have been quite a few inquiries about the Nostalgia Navy Carrier events at the Nationals. There are even discussions about new models for the official events—not just "new" MO-1s, but new "No-MO" designs! I'm anticipating being pleasantly surprised with the variety of models at Muncie, Indiana. One can always hope.
2003 Nationals
There will be three full days of Carrier activity at Muncie, July 9–11, with Profile Carrier starting the activities with processing Wednesday evening and flying on Thursday. The official Profile event and Sportsman Profile Carrier will be flown that day. Friday is reserved for official Class I and Class II flying and the Navy Carrier Society's (NCS's) annual meeting and awards dinner that evening.
I hope to offer early processing—before the end of official flying, at approximately 3–5 p.m.—Thursday afternoon for the unofficial Carrier events. That should allow flying to start earlier on Saturday without the requirement of processing all of the models Saturday morning.
There are still opportunities to volunteer to help run the events all three days. Bill Bischoff has accepted the duties of Carrier event director for the official flying Thursday and Friday. Thanks, Bill. We need event directors for each unofficial event, center judges, pull-testers, timers, tabulators, and runners. Experience is not a requirement for most duties, and training will be offered.
- To volunteer, contact:
- Bill Bischoff: (972) 840-2135 (evenings); (972) 242-4930 (days)
- NCS President Bill Calkins: 317 Snow St., Sugar Grove, IL 60554; Tel.: (630) 466-1531 after 5 p.m. CST; E-mail: [email protected]
Nostalgia at the Nationals
The Nostalgia events are shaping up nicely. As I mentioned in the last column, the grand prize is a 50-year-old, new-in-the-box McCoy .60 engine.
There have been many queries about rules, and I will send copies to anyone requesting them. This summer's Nostalgia event will provide plenty of data to help shape future rules, but the event rules for this Nationals are the ones established in January 1999, and they have not changed in the last four years.
Although there is no requirement that a model was designed before 1978, such models are encouraged and there are bonus points for such aircraft. As the rules are written, models must have been published or kitted prior to January 1, 1978 to qualify for the bonus. My interpretation of that requirement is that plans must have been published or the kit advertised in a magazine or newsletter. I will also accept kit plans with a copyright date in 1977 or earlier.
- I have a partial listing of models that meet that requirement (available on request).
- I also have plans for many of those models. Contestants should be prepared to document their models; plans that can be used to verify model configuration will be greatly appreciated. If you have magazine-size plans, please bring a copy to add to the database.
The Navy ran the Carrier events at the Nationals for the first five years. Landing gear was not required to be in the scale location on the model. The Domizil Guardian is an early Guardian Carrier model in which the landing gear is mounted on the fuselage. There are also some excellent kits from the early years that are great models, but they might not match the reviews that are currently available.
The Berkeley F8F Bearcat (1947, large version) does not have the small bend in the wing leading edge near the fuselage. In Class I and II Nostalgia Carrier I will allow scale models built to the original plans to qualify for scale bonus points. I will also allow Nostalgia bonus points if minor modifications are made to the original kit or design outlines to allow them to conform to scale three-view documentation.
Survivor
I heard from Bob Frogner recently; he was telling me about his Profile Guardian. Bob had the loss of control on the upwind side of the circle at the 2002 Nationals (I mentioned that mishap in the February column).
We all thought the model was a total loss, but Bob took the pieces and a large supply of epoxy to the hotel room and rebuilt it in time to fly at the Fargo, North Dakota contest a week later. He also flew it at Phoenix, Arizona, in November and achieved a personal-best score. He has been building a version of Bill Calkins' profile Sea Vampire for this coming season.
Glenn Simpson is planning MO-1s for the coming season. Class I will have O.S. power, and Class II will have a NovaRossi. Class I will have the option of left-hand rotation.
Rules
There are two rules currently under consideration for the Navy Carrier events.
- Mufflers
- There was strong support at the last NCS annual meeting to allow models with mufflers to compete in Carrier events. The impetus for the change comes from competitors who must use mufflers on their home flying fields.
- The last round of discussions on the topic, some 15 years ago, was hung up on defining mufflers to avoid performance-enhancing devices such as tuned mufflers.
- The present proposal would allow any exhaust extension (muffler, tuned pipe, etc.) as long as the contestant uses 10% nitromethane fuel. The NCS is encouraging contest directors to allow mufflers with 10% fuel this flying season to evaluate the potential rules change.
- Four-stroke engine intake location
- The other change would exempt four-stroke engines from the front-intake restriction in the Profile Carrier event.
- The majority of four-stroke engines have the throttle mounted at the rear of the engine to protect it from damage and to keep the modeler's fingers farther away from the propeller.
- The change would allow a much greater selection of four-stroke engines to be used. There is no performance advantage with the carburetor mounted on the rear of a four-stroke engine.
The addresses of your CL Navy Carrier Contest Board members are listed in the "Competition Directory" near the back of this issue. Please contact them to discuss your opinions on these changes.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
