Mint Julep 35
BY STAN ALEXANDER
RITES OF SPRING, a yearly event, great friends, good times, good food, a beautiful setting, and Scale models come together each May (18-20 this year) at the Rough River Dam State Resort Park at Falls of Rough, Kentucky. The Southern Indiana R/C Modelers has hosted the Mint Julep Scale Meet for 35 years, and impressive attendance usually makes this one of the larger contests in the country.
This event is a US Scale Masters Qualifier. Those who make it through will fly in the US Scale Masters Championships, which will be held this year October 11-14 in Hemet, California.
The contest site rests in Western Kentucky, somewhere north of Morgantown on State Highway 79. The state park, one of many in the state, has cabins, a lodge, a lake, the Green River, a golf course, a boat dock, boat rentals, and a beautiful full-scale, paved, 2,000-foot-long runway.
The Mint Julep began as an RC Aerobatics (Pattern)/Scale event. After several years it changed to an all-Scale event and the Pattern portion went to its own set of dates.
The variable weather during the competition has been the butt of many jokes, and at night in May it's cool and somewhat humid at times in the park. Many modelers, including myself, have a "Mint Julep Kit" that consists of rubber boots, heavy coat, gloves, and a pullover hat, and we take it no matter what the contest dates are. We've seen snow there in April.
However, the weather has been much better since the club moved the event to the weekend after Mother's Day. We couldn't have asked for better conditions this year, with cloudless days and full sun all the time, and the temperature never exceeded 80° with light and variable winds. Saturday morning there was a fog that lifted at roughly 9:00, and it was clear flying after that.
The competition is divided into nine classes: Expert Division I and Division II, Designer, F4C, Sportsman, Team, Scale Aerobatics, Fun Scale Open, and Fun Scale Novice. AMA Fun Scale Open had the most entries, with 25. Fun Scale Novice had an increased number of participants this year, with nine.
What is Fun Scale? It may seem complicated, but it really isn't.
Jim Rediske, one of my best friends, entered his first Scale contest as a competitor at the Mint Julep. With work commitments and traveling up out of the country, he didn't have time to finish his own Scale model so he bought one from a friend. It was a simple Carl Goldberg Anniversary J-3 Cub with an O.S. .70 FS engine, which he admitted was way too much engine for the full-wingspan model.
He and his wife drove late into the night Wednesday, arriving at the park Thursday morning. That afternoon everyone started setting up canopies in the pit area adjacent to the runway. He set his up next to Bob Underwood's and mine, and the line went down the length of the grassy pit area.
Jim and I talked about his flight routine. Using the KISS (keep it simple) principle he selected a list of maneuvers for the Cub that anyone could fly, and it helped keep the nervousness down. His routine looked like this:
- Takeoff
- Straight Flight
- Figure Eight
- Straight Flight Out
- Procedure Turn
- Straight flight back
- Chandelle
- Traffic Pattern to Landing
- Landing
- Realism in Flight
Jim had been practicing with what available time he had for a few weeks, but he was a little nervous when it came time to put in that first flight. (He’d probably say that was an understatement.) I kept telling him just to get his Cub up and back down on the ground in one piece.
I acted as Jim’s caller. In a calm voice I would tell him which maneuver was next, letting him announce to the judges what he was doing. Part of that process might go, “Judges, my next maneuver will be the Chandelle, performed from left to right, beginning now.” After he finished the maneuver he would call “Maneuver complete” to the judges.
Part of a caller’s job is to watch for wind changes and other model traffic; other models may be doing the same type of maneuvers in the same airspace. In a calm voice, the caller should let the pilot know if he or she is clear for the next maneuver.
Jim let out several deep sighs of relief after his first and second flights. He learned that he was in fourth place after the first three flights and picked up his final placing in the last round. He finished third in Fun Scale Novice.
That’s quite an accomplishment for someone’s first Open competition. Jim flew the Cub slowly and smoothly; it was not jerky in the air and there were no sudden moves or large variations in altitude, which contributed to his good scores.
Jim had a photo of a Cub with his model’s N number on it, so he was good for the five static points he needed. A photo of the full-scale aircraft or the artwork from a plastic-model box top is required for the maximum five static points.
This is the kind of success story that is enjoyable to see at any Scale contest. Somebody goes, has a good time, and returns home with a model and a well-deserved award. It’s fun! Even if you don’t win, you accomplish making that first splash into competition.
Event Details: Hats off to Doug Miller, Matthew Laine, Jim Rediske, Glenn Sheppard, Ernie Masche, Charles Tuttle, Duwayne Lindsay, Ted Schmitz, Daniel Stander, Dick Tonan, Bill Scott, Don Harmon, and Steve Franklin for their competitive spirit and determination.
I have focused on Fun Scale because it’s the beginning for many Scale modelers now, as well as for those who don’t have the time to build an Expert-class model. If you have built your own model and want to get into Scale competition, try Sportsman class. It puts you up against others who have approximately the same experience in building, flying, and developing static documentation presentations for the judges.
The Expert, Designer, and F4C classes are designed to keep a level playing field for Scale modelers. The airplane you choose and the scale of that model is totally up to you.
I’ll have more about this contest in my MA RC Scale column in coming months. Thanks to Mint Julep CD Paul Cain, all the Southern Indiana R/C Modelers volunteers, and the judges across the Central US for their time and efforts. MA
Stan Alexander [email protected]
Final Standings
Fun Scale Novice
- Doug Miller: P-47 95.375
- Matthew Laine: Super Stearman 94.125
- Jim Rediske: J-3 Cub 89.375
Fun Scale Open
- Eric Alford: AT-6 99.375*
- Al Kretz: Chipmunk 99.375
- John Boyko: Pitts Special 98.750
Sportsman
- Billy Thompson: Sopwith Pup 179.500
- Mike Stellern: Chipmunk 175.250
- Rick Carg: Chipmunk 174.125
Expert Division I
- Tom Czikk: P-47 Razorback 187.250
- Al Kretz: Spitfire 184.250
- William Zimmerman: P-47 179.125
Expert Division II
- Larry Folk: Top Cub 192.375
- Mike Barbee: WACO YMF-5 191.625
- Chauncey Dance: Fokker D.VII 185.875
Designer Scale
- David Johnson: Albatros D.Va 193.500
- Bob Patton: Cessna 150 Aerobat 181.625
- Bob Underwood: Shturmovik 175.500
Team Scale
- Dale Arvin/Jeremy Arvin: SNJ-5 189.375
- Kerry Bridges/Eric Alford: F4U 185.625
- Dorin Luck/Gary Allen: Tiger Moth 185.375
Fun Scale Aerobatics
- Michael Hunt: Extra 300 Red Bull 98.500
- Dale Arvin: Extra 300S 96.250
- Bob Underwood: Laser 200 94.750
* High flight to break the tie
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
