Radio Control Scale
Stan Alexander [[email protected]]
All good Scale competitions have a "hook"
As this is being written, it's flying season almost anywhere you go in the US. It's the time of the Nats and many other Scale contests, as well as Scale fly-ins and fun-flys. Some events have better success than others, and many contests that are successful have a "hook," or attraction, for the people who attend.
The hook may be the flying site, but in most of the US we are blessed with multiple flying sites that afford us many opportunities to hold contests or fly-ins. The larger the city, sometimes the more opportunities you have. Then again, others have fewer sites close to home. Here in Nashville, Tennessee, we are lucky to have multiple flying sites within a short drive of almost anyone's home. I hope you are in a similar situation.
Back to the hook. Each year Top Gun presents many modelers with the first chance to fly their models since their last flight in the fall. A practice session is available to get all the winter moths sorted out before the competition begins. Then there is the location of Top Gun in Lakeland, Florida, with Disney World close by and all the other attractions the Orlando area has to offer. That's one big hook for modelers.
The contest I'll cover this month is held in a Kentucky state park called Rough River State Resort Park. On the Green River the surrounding lake has beautiful scenery and boat rentals. Cabins and rooms at the inn are also available. However, if the Mint Julep Scale contest is in town that week, you might have a tough time getting accommodations. The rooms and cabins book up at least a year in advance—sometimes several years. If you want a room for next May's Mint Julep, contact the Kentucky Department of Parks now.
The Mint Julep is one of the oldest contests in this part of the country and maybe any others in the southeast. The host Southern Indiana R/C Modelers club has had a great working relationship with the Kentucky park service for more than 35 years. Club President Dale Arvin and his wife Mary put a great deal into the event each year, as do the rest of the club members. John Guenther serves as the co-CD and performs many other duties.
Also included in this column:
- Divisions of Scale competition
- Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate by Leszek A. Wieliczko
- Nick Ziroli's Beechcraft Staggerwing
Divisions of Scale competition
Classes at the Mint Julep are divided into Division I and Division II for Expert. This groups similar aircraft types together in competition, which many people find a fairer way to run Scale events.
Division I is for aircraft with retracts, aircraft with more than one mechanical function, racing designs, or fighter types. This year’s Division I winners included Greg Hahn's B-25 in first place, Tom Czikk's big P-47 Razorback Thunderbolt in second, and Dave Pinegar's own-design Piper Arrow—a civil aircraft with flaps and retracts.
Expert Division II is for the more docile-flying aircraft with one or no mechanical options that are not designed for racing. Mike Barbee won this year flying his beautiful 1/3-scale WACO YMF-5. Arthur Shelton finally stepped up into the Expert class and finished second with his 1/3-scale Eindecker E.I. Bill Brucken flew his Fairchild M-62 to a third-place finish.
These and other classes held at most Scale contests across the country include Fun Scale. For that division you can buy your model or borrow it if a really good friend trusts your flying abilities. There are only five static points, and one photo of the full-scale aircraft is all you need to receive the high score.
This year's first-place finisher in Fun Scale Open was repeat winner Greg Hahn with a new model that will probably be available by the time you see this column: a B-25 electric-powered ARF painted as "Dirty Dora." Jeremy Arvin finished in second place flying a Super Cub, and Sam Hart finished third with an F8F Bearcat.
Not sure you can fly in a contest? Want a really good pilot to fly your model for you? Try Team Scale, which matches a good builder with a good pilot. It's a good idea to have lots of practice together for an event. This year Dave Pinegar flew George Maiorana's Tu-4 to another win at the Mint Julep. George is working on another project—a Tu-95 with counter-rotating propellers—and I can't wait to see it soon.
I'll have more about Scale competition next month!
Bookshelf: Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Leszek A. Wieliczko)
Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate by Leszek A. Wieliczko, published by Kagero, has 122 pages when you count all the scale drawings and color profiles of different aircraft and models. This is an excellent resource for those who want to build a Scale model we don't see every day at the field.
The Ki-84 was a Japanese World War II Army fighter, with conventional landing gear and all-metal construction. That airplane followed a line of fighters for the Japanese Army, including the Ki-27 Nate and the Ki-43 Oscar. Looking at the photos gives you an idea of how hard the environment was on the aircraft and the paint; in several pictures the Ki-84s have paint flaking off the fuselage and wing surfaces. Several friends familiar with Japanese aircraft told me that by 1944 they were painting the aircraft with pretty much whatever they could find.
There are approximately 110 black-and-white photos in the book showing different airframes and aircraft details. Some of the detail shots include the cockpit, bomb and/or fuel-tank racks, landing-gear close-ups, and scoops. Color material includes the cockpit and 11 pages of color profiles and color schemes. There are also 1/72-, 1/48-, and 1/32-scale multiview outline drawings.
The book is available for $22.96 plus shipping from Squadron: Squadron 1115 Crowley Dr. Carrollton, TX 75011 Tel.: (972) 242-8663 Web: www.squadron.com
New Products: Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing (Nick Ziroli Plans)
The Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing is a unique aircraft in aviation history. When it was first produced in late 1932, it was a huge advance—one of the earliest civil aircraft to have a top speed comparable to fighter aircraft of the era. Later models (17L, 17R, A17F, B17B, etc.) were refinements to the original prototype. Remember this was just five years after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.
The Staggerwing was a biplane with retractable gear—a 1930s businessman's hot rod in the sky. It remained in production even after World War II (Beech produced the Model G17S). The aircraft has fascinated modelers for decades and has been produced in every form imaginable, including ARF versions.
The version I'm featuring this month is from veteran and prolific designer Nick Ziroli. His 86-inch-span model has plans, cowling, plastic tail cone, wing tube and sleeve, plus Robart retract landing gear. Nick Ziroli Plans offers all the parts for the model. Wood kits are also sold for many of Nick's designs; several kit-cutter companies produce kits for plans designers, but you do have to build the model—it’s not an ARF.
The plans come on four sheets with a plans catalog and a construction booklet. The construction booklet has black-and-white photos that spell out what goes where and how, and it recommends glues to use in most instances. The majority of the construction photos detail the fuselage. A Staggerwing has an unmistakable silhouette in the sky when finished, and the plans show a typical G-17S engine that will haul this model around the field with authority.
Plans cost $56, and all other parts are available from the suppliers below.
Kits and parts: The Aeroplane Works 2134 Gilbride Rd. Martinsville, NJ 08836 Tel.: (732) 356-8557 Web: www.theaeroplaneworks.com
Nick Ziroli Plans 29 Edgar Dr. Smithtown, NY 11787 Tel.: (631) 467-4765 Web: www.ziroliplans.com
Fair skies and tailwinds. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
