RADIO CONTROL SCALE
Stan Alexander 3709 Valley Ridge Dr., Nashville TN 37211 E-mail: [email protected]
FAI Scale World Championships — Deblin, Poland (July 23–August 1, 2004)
By some modelers' standards, the best-kept secret in the scale community is the FAI Scale World Championships. This column covers the 2004 edition held in Deblin, Poland, July 23–August 1, and the team who went there to represent the United States, AMA, their local clubs, and all of us. This might get your competitive and patriotic juices flowing to try this "Olympics of Scale Competition."
Some potential competitors and curious scale modelers think it's too expensive to go to a World Championships. That isn't true. If you go as a competitor and don't take a spouse or traveling partner with you, the World Championships will cost roughly the same as attending a regional scale contest. With a traveling partner, the same event costs an extra airplane ticket and lodging. Some members of this year's team who didn't take their wives said they weren't out any expenses! The reason for the relatively low cost of an international contest such as the World Championships is the funds raised for the team and help from AMA. The Scale SIG — the National Association of Scale Aeromodelers — helped raise money, as did Team USA, Team Manager Lloyd Roberts, and a host of sponsors. There was a great deal of fundraising going on in the past two years.
Participation requirements and model rules
- You must have a current passport.
- You must build your own model.
- You must have a model box to transport the model in.
- F4C aircraft have a weight limit of 15 kilograms (33 pounds), effective January 2005. An extra 0.03 pound is allowable, but you don't want to be that close to the limit if you can help it. Some modelers have been seen gutting scale pilots and cockpit interiors to meet the weight limit. Fuel isn't counted as weight.
Event organization and sponsors
This year the Aero Club of Poland held one of the most elaborate World Championships in recent years. Major corporate sponsors included (but were not limited to):
- LOT Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Graupner
- Filar
- Ford
- Citroen
- Skoda
- Konspol
- Bossar
Patrons also supported the event. The competition could not have been held without cooperation from the Polish Air Force, with Brigadier General Tadeusz Kuziora and General Ryszard Olszewski; Aero Club of Poland President Jan Tadeusz Karpinski; and Polish Confederation of Sports President Andrzej Krasnicki. Special thanks to Dorota and Pawel Wlodarczyk, who worked for several years to make this event go smoothly.
Event atmosphere and social activities
The event lasted a full week and proceeded at a more relaxed pace than many U.S. contests. Tours for families, dinners, and parties are part of the experience — similar to an Olympics — yet many competitors miss the importance of the social events at a World Championships. These are rare opportunities to meet and talk with people from numerous other countries. Many speak English and will try even if you don't speak their language. Social events were held almost every night or at special times during the week.
Everyone ate in either the enlisted cafeteria or the officers' cafeteria. The food and service were good, with a variety of options. Be warned: the beer in Poland is stronger than typical U.S. beer, at roughly 8%.
Logistics and customs
US team member Manny Sousa helped obtain a kind of passport for the model boxes, stating that the boxes' contents would be taken back out of the country. This smoothed the way through customs in both Poland and the U.S. The whole team drove to Chicago and flew LOT Polish Airlines to Warsaw. The flight was on a Boeing 767, with all the boxes in the hold. Models were transported around the site by golf cart fitted with special attachments to accommodate models of all sizes.
F4C RC Scale — "Museum Scale"
F4C RC Scale is what I lovingly refer to as "Museum Scale," and the models are as good as you will see anywhere in competition. The static portion of the competition requires proof — with at least three different photos of the prototype — that the full-scale aircraft existed or still exists. That is the minimum needed to compete, but not to win. Many modelers present six to eight pages of documentation, along with detailed photos and multiviews.
Competition format and judging
The flying portion of the event assigns K (difficulty) factors to different maneuvers, including takeoff and landing, which carried the highest K factors this year. So you want to make sure you execute a great takeoff and landing, especially in wind. If space allows at an FAI Scale event site, pilots are allowed to take off and land into the wind — something that is impossible at some U.S. sites but very helpful for competitors when available.
Only one model flies at a time, allowing the modeler and judges to concentrate on the aircraft and engine sound. No one is starting an engine in your ear while you are flying. Judges also give points for realistic flight and maneuver choice. If you're not competing, you can sit back and watch the rest of the competition (many took notes) or take a short trip for the day.
Typical flight sequence (aerobatic aircraft / fighter)
- Takeoff
- Straight flight
- Figure eight
- Descending 360-degree circle
- Option: roll
- Option: Immelmann turn
- Option: split S
- Option: half Cuban eight (purpose-built aircraft such as an Extra 300 would be expected to fly the full Cuban eight)
- Option: touch-and-go
- Approach and landing
Results and notable entries
Biplanes have held many of the top-10 places in recent championships. This year:
- 1st: Andreas Luthi (Switzerland) — Bücker Jungmeister biplane
- 2nd: Max Merckenschlager — Grumman F7F Tigercat
- 3rd: Hans Ammann (Switzerland) — Curtiss Jenny
The highest-scoring jet was Australian David Law's de Havilland Vampire Mk T-35 two-seater, which finished an impressive seventh place.
There were only two crashes this year: Italian team member Cesare Cordella's Macchi MC.200 Sesta and U.S. team member Charlie Baker's Rawdon T-1. Crashes are rare in this contest, and the ones that did occur were caused by internal problems with the aircraft.
Aircraft types represented
A variety of aircraft competed, including:
- CAC 25 Wirbel
- Halberstadt CL.IV
- Zlin 526 Akrobat Special
- Avro 504K
- Bristol fighter
- Antonov An-2
- Potez 62 (French transport)
- P-61 Black Widow
- Several Tiger Moths
- Liberty Sport biplane
- Morane-Saulnier AI
- Ki-27 Nate
- Beechcraft TC-45
- SBD Dauntless dive bomber
- de Havilland D.H.1
- Miles Hawk Major
- Fournier RF-4D motor glider
- Druine Turbulent
- Fw 190A-6
- North American Harvard Mk II
- de Havilland D.H.4
- Vultee BT-13
- Saab 91C "Safir"
- Culver Cadet
Next World Championships
The next Scale World Championships will be held July 14–23, 2006, in Norrköping, Sweden. This competition is held every two years. For more information about Norrköping, see: www.destination.norrkoping.se
Contacts and resources
- For information about USA FAI Team Selection for Scale, contact Scale Team Selection Committee Chairman Mike Gritz at [email protected] or Stan Alexander at the address above.
- For a download of the latest FAI Sporting Code and a complete listing of the 2004 World Championships results and photos, go to www.scaleaero.com/amascale.htm and click "Tech Resources" → "FAI" → "CIAM" → "CIAM Documents" → "FAI Sporting Code" → "Section 4 (Aeromodelling)" → "Scale Model Aircraft Competitions" — "FAI." The file is 464 kilobytes, so make sure you have plenty of paper handy. It's in Adobe Acrobat.
- You can also request a copy from AMA at (765) 287-1256. Contact Lisa Johnson in the Competition Department at extension 231.
'Til next month, fair skies and tailwinds. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
