Radio Control Scale - 2012/02

100 MODEL AVIATION
The 2012 Scale Nats—prepare for a great week!
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Scale Stan Alexander
ARE YOU THINKING about competing this
year? Do you have your model nearly finished or
have a finish date in mind? It sounds as though you
are ready for the Scale National Championships
(Nats), held each summer at AMA Headquarters in
Muncie, Indiana.
The Scale Nats dates usually change to
accommodate other activities, but it’s generally in
July. Last summer it was held during the Fourth of
July weekend—not a good idea for a laborintensive
event. This year’s Scale Nats will be held
July 13-15. That should be good for weather as well
as a great turnout.
NASA (National Association of Scale
Aeromodelers), the AMA SIG that operates the
Scale Nats, has made some changes this year. There
will be no late fee for entering after the cutoff date.
There are classes for beginners through
seasoned Scale modelers. You can enter as long as
you are an AMA member. US citizenship is not a
requirement.
Also included in this column:
• It’s not a Mulligan; it’s not a
Monocoupe; it’s a Mullicoupe!
Right: Competitors helping each other is common
at any Scale contest; everyone wants to see you do
well and have a great time.
Cindy Kern assists Mike Wartman, from
Tennessee, with flight plans for their Balsa USA
Fokker Eindecker E.III at the 2011 Nats.
Right: The noontime lineup on the runway at last
summer’s Nats gave spectators a chance to
photograph the models and talk to the
competitors.
02sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/16/11 4:35 PM Page 100You don’t have to have a Scale model; a
P-51 or Zero ARF can be entered in Fun
Scale. This class was designed for those
who have an ARF or a model they have
purchased from another modeler.
Download a copy of the AMA
Competition Regulations from the AMA
website and flip over to the Scale section.
Read what is required for your particular
class. You have to perform nine maneuvers
including takeoff, a flyby, Figure Eight, and
landing. You’re scored on realism in flight
as well as five optional maneuvers within
your prototype’s flight envelope.
Now is the time to think about all of this
and learn your maneuvers. Make sure your
documentation is ready and make your hotel
reservations. NASA usually chooses an
“official” hotel where many of the modelers
meet either for dinner or breakfast. The 12th
Street Cafe, where the food and service is
good, has been a Nats hangout for breakfast
for many years. There is a well-stocked
hobby shop adjacent to the AMA flying site,
if you need glue or spare parts.
Getting there early and staking out a
space for your canopy is a good idea. Many
bring a 10- x 20-foot canopy so they have
room for the airplanes as well as
themselves.
Many come in groups such as the people
from the club in Sarasota, Florida, the group
from St. Louis, or the Pittsburgh-area
bunch. Talk it up and come to the Nats.
You’ll have a great time.
AMA’s National Flying Site is a
beautiful place with a grass runway and a
paved strip. The smell of freshly cut grass
and nitro in the morning, clear skies, and the
beautiful backdrop are inviting. Add the
Saturday evening NASA banquet where, ifyou go away hungry, it’s your fault, and you
don’t want to leave on Sunday evening until
after the awards ceremony! For more
information, see “Sources.”
It’s the middle of winter and time to start
working on that new Scale subject if you
haven’t started already. One of the joys of
Scale modeling is finding a new airplane to
model that you didn’t know existed.
On a recent trip, I was at the airfield and
heard a distant roar behind the tree line.
This is common at the Antique Airfield near
Blakesburg, Iowa. Classic and antique
airplanes and even airliners frequently make
low passes at high speeds at this beautiful
setting.
Jim Younkin, from Arkansas, and Bud
Drake got the idea of the Mullicoupe while
at this very airfield in 1982. Jim has built
several reproductions of classic aircraft,
some of which are no longer in existenceincluding the Howard DGA-6 Mister
Mulligan and several Beech Staggerwings.
Another racing aircraft he has constructed is
the Travel Air Mystery Ship. One still exists
in the Chicago Museum of Science and
Industry.
The subject of combining a Howard
Mister Mulligan and a Monocoupe came up.
Would it be a Mullicoupe? The seed was
sown and a few years later we had the first
Mullicoupe. To my knowledge there are no
three-views or scale drawings of thisairplane and only four were built.What does it look like? It’s basically a
Monocoupe on steroids. It’s much larger and
sits higher, and at first glance it looks like
something that has been blown-up in size in
a replicator.
The full-scale airplane has a 29-foot, 3-
inch wingspan, a 150-gallon fuel capacity,
and 24-27 pounds per square foot wing
loading. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-
985 with Hornet or Wasp impeller and
geared at 12:1 blower-to-crank ratio, the
aircraft’s cruise speed is 200-225 mph
(depending on loading).
The aircraft is a two-seat, high-wing,
single-engine monoplane. It is built with a
steel-tube frame and covered with plywood.
The Mullicoupe has a wooden wing and
ribs, is double-fabric covered, and is stressed
for high speed as well as aerobatics.
The two-place, side-by-side cockpit
looks much larger than the Monocoupes that
share the nearby field. The design and
lineage of the Monocoupe and the Howard
DGA-6 is well represented in this one
design.
Mark Holliday owns and flies a
Mullicoupe to local air shows and fly-ins.
The airplane is based at Vintage Aero Flying
Museum in Platte Valley Airpark in Hudson,
Colorado.
Deep black and trimmed in red, the
Mullicoupe is something to see and hear,
and it makes you wonder why one of the
ARF manufacturers hasn’t chosen to model
it. It looks like an antique classic, sounds
even better, and in the air looks like it’s
going roughly 350 mph.
The Mullicoupe can transport you back
in time to when most airplanes had less than
eight instruments in the entire cockpit and
flying was your next great adventure. Flying
then must have been fun!
The Howard Aircraft Corporation built a
line of airplanes for racing as well as
commercial purposes. The Ike and Mike
racers were favorites wherever they went.
The DGA stands for “Damn Good
Airplane”—a quote from Benny Howard in
the 1930s.
Great Planes has a 52-inch, electricpowered
Mister Mulligan ARF covered in
MonoKote. If it were black, it would
resemble the Mullicoupe.
Looking at several websites, I found that
Troy Built Models is coming out with a line
of racers from the 1930s. The line includes
the 58-inch Travel Air Mystery Ship, the
Champion Special flown by Col. Roscoe
Turner, the Howard DGA-5 Ike, and the
Wedell-Williams #121 Gilmore Red Lion.
These aircraft, for the most part, span
between 88 and 95 inches. They are due out
in April 2012.
Nelson Hobby-Hobby Direct is back in
business with a new owner. The great paint
we’ve been using for years for Scale models
is once again available, as are the miniature
piano hinges and other products offered by
Jerry Nelson in years past. To get in contact,
see “Sources.”
Upcoming Events: Gunsmoke 2012 RC
Scale Model Aircraft Contest, March 2-4,
will be held at Superstition Air Park, in
Mesa, Arizona.
A Scale Masters Qualifier, classes
include Expert, Team, Advanced, Open,
and Fun Scale. The CD will be Austin
Goodwin and the event is hosted by the
One Eighth Air Force. For more
information, see “Sources.”
Fair skies and tail winds. MA