Radio Control Combat
Greg Rose [[email protected]]
Note on my hiatus and the house fire
My house was rebuilt after the fire and I am back to work.
I took a hiatus from the Combat column for the last several issues. I (and the MA editorial staff) received e-mails and telephone calls from readers who were concerned about the missing columns. I want to apologize for their absence and explain the reason.
My family had a fire that destroyed our home. I was able to continue to write while they were rebuilding, but when we moved back in I needed to dedicate my time to getting the house back in order. Unfortunately I had no access to my airplanes and no time to fly.
Flying during the rebuild
If it were not for some of the excellent "everything-you-need-to-fly-comes-in-this-one-box" electric models such as the Stryker B, I would not have flown at all in the last year. (I'm going to come back to that Stryker B and electric Combat in a later issue.) My family and I have settled into our "rebuilt" house and I have started building and writing again. I put rebuilt in quotes because the insurance people consider scraping an entire house off the foundation and building a new house on the old foundation "rebuilding."
By the same logic, salvaging the firewall from a shattered Combat aircraft and reusing it would turn your new model into a "rebuilt" airplane. If that's the case I haven't built a new model in a decade or so since I'm constantly salvaging a control rod from here or a hinge from there when I build. I still have the elevator control rod from my first RC model waiting to be the right size for something I'm building! (In case you are wondering, it was a Schoolyard Special from Radio Control Modeler plans. My first RC airplane was scratch built, so take that, ARF-aholics!)
As a final note on the house fire, I lost all the photos that everyone had been so nice about sending in (especially you, Scott Anderson). I could use some replacement pictures, and now most digital photos can work as well as prints. If you have a chance to send in a few pictures of your event or your new model, I would really appreciate it!
2006 Combat statistics
It's been a good year of Combat despite my hiatus, and I want to start out by updating some Combat statistics for 2006.
- 59 sanctioned events were held.
- Combat pilots made nearly 6,000 flights in sanctioned events.
- Slow Survivable Combat (SSC) continues to be the event flown by the greatest percentage of Combat fliers: 79% of Combat pilots flew at least one round of SSC during 2006.
- Open B was the second most popular event: roughly two-thirds of Combat pilots flew in that event.
- Limited B grew in popularity to attain third place; it is an offshoot of Open B that limits engine power to avoid the unbelievable pace of Open B.
- Scale Combat events dropped to fourth place in popularity, but were only a hair's breadth behind Limited B in participation.
- Scale Combat shows nearly a 50-50 split between the 2610 sanctioned rules and the 2548 provisional rules.
Since RCCA Combat is still an evolving series of events, it will continue to grow and develop into 2007.
RCCA membership
Approximately half of the Combat fliers belong to the Radio Control Combat Association (RCCA), RC Combat's SIG. As does AMA, the RCCA combines our interest to give us strength in numbers and to ensure a broad representation of ideas and interests within the RC Combat community.
I highly recommend that Combat fliers and other RC pilots who have a special interest in the fate of RC Combat take the time to join the RCCA. You can visit the organization on its web site at www.rcca.org.
National Point System (NPS)
One of the services the RCCA performs for its members is recording scores for the National Point System (NPS). The RCCA tallies the top 20 rounds of each member's performance in all official and provisional RC Combat classes. These scores are used to determine the NPS champions—the "Top Dawgs" of the RCCA.
2006 NPS results
In 2006 there was little doubt who came out on top of the NPS heap.
- Kirk Adams took the number-one spot in Scale Overall, in 2610 Scale, in Open Overall, and in Open B. In 2610, Kirk ran away from Chris Handegard and Brian Gilkey's second- and third-place finishes. In Open B, Tom Neff and Mark Schofield gave Kirk a tighter fight for the second and third spots.
- In Open C, veteran Combat pilot Don Veres II led the class, besting Corey Stein and Sean Rupp.
- In the provisional classes, Lee Liddle took two crowns with first place in SSC and first place in 2548 Scale. The SSC title was hotly contested—Mike Fredericks and David McGinnis made Lee work hard for his pole position. In 2548 Scale, Lee bested Cash Hargett and Brian Gilkey.
- Mike "Firebricks" Fredericks took top honors in Limited B Combat, handily defeating Brian Gilkey in second place and Darrin Lawler in third.
Closing
It was a great year, but the 2007 RC Combat season is here and it is time to get out and have some fun! Build straight, fly safely, and be sure to check your six!
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
