AS YOU MAY
have noticed, I took
a hiatus from the
Combat column for
the last several
issues. I (and the MA
editorial staff) have
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.
Greg’s house was rebuilt after the fire and he is back to work!
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Combat Greg Rose
Open Class B fliers lined up at the 2006 Lone Star Nationals held March 24-26 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Putting something sticky on the LE is common practice, but
using honey is a bad idea, as Jeff Boswell discovered!
Lee Liddle, displaying his midair-damaged 2548 Scale Corsair,
took first place in SSC and 2548 Scale last year.
Also included in this column:
• A look back at the 2006 RC
Combat results
May 2007 155
05sig5.QXD 3/23/07 10:03 AM Page 155
Indeed, if it were not for some of the
excellent “everything-you-need-to-flycomes-
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
general 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!
TIRED OF PAYING
$1.29 FOR 6 SCREWS?
Our 4-40x1/2 socket
caps sell for $4.35/100
for alloy steel, or
$6.65/100 stainless, or $7.50/50 aluminum.
For fair prices on sensible quantities of the fasteners
you need for model building, call, write or
fax for our free catalog!
Micro Fasteners 800-892-6917
24 Cokesbury Rd., Suite 2 908-236-8120
Lebanon, NJ 08833 fax 908-236-8721
e-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://microfasteners.com www.pspec.com
www.pspec.com
Nelson Engines
Piston/Cylinder Assemblies
Four Stroke Mufflers
Ultrathrust Mufflers
It’s been a good year of Combat despite my
hiatus, and I want to start out by updating
some Combat statistics for 2006. Fifty-nine
events were held and 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. A whopping
79% of Combat pilots flew at least one round
of SSC during 2006.
The second most popular event is Open B.
Roughly two-thirds of Combat pilots flew in
that event. Growing in popularity to attain
third place is Limited B: an offshoot of Open
B that limits engine power to avoid the
unbelievable pace of action in Open B.
With the growing popularity of Limited
B, Scale Combat events have dropped to
fourth place in popularity, but they’re only a
hair’s breadth behind Limited B in the
numbers of fliers participating. The Scale
numbers show nearly a 50-50 split between
the 2610 sanctioned rules and the 2548
provisional rules. Since RC Combat is still an
evolving series of events, it will continue to
grow and develop into 2007.
One statistic I want to address is the
percentage of pilots flying Combat who
belong to the Radio Control Combat
Association (RCCA), RC Combat’s SIG.
Approximately half of the Combat fliers are
taking advantage of the AMA SIG
established to protect and promote RC
Combat.
As does AMA, the RCCA combines our
interest to give us strength in numbers to
ensure that we have a broad representation of
ideas and interest 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.rc
combat.com.
One of the services the RCCA performs
for its members is recording the 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.
In 2006 there was little doubt who came
out on the 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’s and Brian Gilkey’s second- and
third-place finishes. In Open B Tom Neff and
Mark Schofield gave Kirk a tighter finish for
the second and third spots. Kirk was clearly
the man to beat last year!
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 his first
place in SSC and 2548 Scale.
The SSC title was hotly contested. Mike
Fredricks and David McGinnis made Lee
work hard for his pole position. In 2548
Scale, Lee bested two familiar names: Cash
Hargett and Brian Gilkey.
Mike “Firebricks” Fredricks took top
honors in Limited B Combat, handily
defeating Brian Gilkey in second place and
Darrin Lawler in third.
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