CONTROL LINE SCALE - 2003/07
Bill Boss, 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park NY 11040
Scales: accuracy and sportsmanship
How do you know that the scales you are using to weigh your model are accurate? And how about help from those around you when it is needed?
Jack Sheeks, one of the foremost Control Line (CL) Scale modelers, has a story about what happened to him at the 2002 Scale World Championships, held July 12–21 in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada. He wrote to tell about his "little mistake" at the championships and how it came about.
As most modelers who enter FAI (Fédération Aérotechnique Internationale) Scale events—whether CL or Radio Control (RC)—know, all models must stay within certain weight limits. The Hawker Hurricane Mk II that Jack was building was getting slightly heavy, so he purchased a new digital scale. When the model was weighed, the scales showed that it was 10 ounces under the weight limit.
All was well until Jack got to the championships. Things did not go so well during the first flight. It was evidently quite windy, and the model didn't handle it very well. The result was a belly landing, breaking the engine mount and wing. Officials then weighed the model, and Jack learned that it was approximately 1 pound overweight. After getting all of the pieces back to the hangar, US team members and supporters offered to help fix the model so that it could be put back into the air again to at least help the team score. At one point it seemed as though five pairs of hands were in the model making repairs. When the cowling was removed, the engine fell out, hence the broken engine mount.
Bill Logan and Neil Copeman, both of the Canadian team, also offered to help. Bill offered to drive 40 miles to a hobby shop to obtain new engine mounts and a propeller, and Neil volunteered glue and whatever else was needed. The result was that somehow the weight was reduced, and Jack got his model back into the air for a flight.
Jack wants everyone to know that the effort put forth by all who helped repair the model was a great example of the sportsmanship that is demonstrated many times on the model flying field. Jack thanks the US team members and friends, and especially the Canadian team members who were so helpful. As a postscript, Jack wrote, "The faulty scale is gone."
As noted above, the models were weighed after the first flight. It seems strange that that wasn't done before the first flight at a world event. I wonder if the outcome of Jack's flight would have been different had he known that the model was overweight before the flight. We should all heed Jack's experience and be sure that the scales we use to weigh our competition models are accurate.
Scales found in most homes include the old-fashioned baby-weighing scales and the usual kind kept in the bathroom. The baby scales are a balance type that can be zeroed and can accommodate as much as 30–40 pounds fairly accurately. The other type of scale usually depends on springlike action, and accuracy may not be as good at low weights as it is for measuring weights at the higher end of the scale. Heat and cold may have an effect on the spring mechanism and cause inaccurate measurements.
Weighing ourselves on regular bathroom scales may have no consequence if they are a few ounces off, but the effect could be significant when weighing our models. When selecting scales, be sure that they are accurate in the weight range you will be measuring. Refer to the rules of your event to make sure that your model is within the weight limits. In most cases, especially in CL, keeping the weight down means that there will be much less stress on the model during the pull test of its control system.
Notable models and competitors from the 2002 World Championships
- Jack Sheeks — Hawker Hurricane Mk II
- Built from a Brian Taylor (UK) design to a scale of 1 3/4 inch = 1 foot
- Wingspan: 70 inches; Length: 56 inches (including spinner)
- Power: .90 engine, 14 x 10 propeller
- Retracting landing gear by Dave Platt
- All control functions via electronic system by Ralph Burnstine
- Bill Logan — Havilland D.H.10
- Wingspan: 114 inches; Length: 70 inches (scale 1/7)
- Weight: 14 pounds
- Power: two Thunder Tiger .40 glow engines, 11 x 5 Zinger propellers
- Bill Logan placed 10th overall and had the highest flight score of 1,849.0 (posted in the third round). The D.H.10 was a crowd-pleaser because of its size and realistic slow flight.
- Piotr Zawada (Poland) — Miles M.14
- Approximate wingspan: 72 inches; Length: 50 inches
- Power: O.S. .91 engine, 15 x 7 propeller
- Notable for finely detailed cockpits, hinged access doors, windscreens, storage compartment, and a pamphlet drop
- Static score: 1,570.0 (7th best)
- Third-round flight score: 1,814.5 (2nd best), which moved him into 5th place overall
Marian Kazirod of Poland finished first flying a Lancaster bomber, with the high score of 3,506.3.
Russian competitors placed second through fourth and captured the first-place team honors.
Team standings (top six)
- Poland (individual first: Marian Kazirod — Lancaster)
- Russia (individuals placed 2–4)
- Ukraine
- USA
- Canada
- Germany (with one competitor)
Congratulations are in order for all competitors. It seems that all are winners in some way, especially when you consider that all competitors had to prove themselves worthy of representing their countries at a world competition. A special thanks to Jack Sheeks for sharing his unfortunate experience with us. I hope we all learn something about our choice of scales.
Videos
2002 Scale World Championships videos covering the CL and RC events are available from Aces Video, 22 W. F Ave., Kalamazoo MI 49004. Aces Video offers a great selection of other tapes and DVDs covering previous AMA Nationals, Scale Masters, Top Gun, a selection of full-scale aircraft, and a tape called Crash Course 2002 which covers some of the great model crashes. You can get a full listing of tapes and DVDs by writing to the address or by visiting the website: www.acesvideo.net.
Workshop hint (from Bob Furr)
- Intricate cuts and small, hard-to-reach places can be easy to sand if you use emery boards. These small files are easy to handle and provide two sanding grits. For more range of grits, glue different grades of sandpaper onto wooden ice-cream or craft sticks.
- Another way to sand hard-to-reach areas is to attach self-adhesive sandpaper to your fingertip. This will give you a good feel for the surface and greater control over the work.
- To sand in a corner, apply the sticky sandpaper to the blade of a stiff putty knife.
Please send ideas, notice of upcoming CL Scale events, contest reports, and especially photos of CL Scale activity to me at the address at the top of this column.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
