May 2007 115
AT ROUGHLY THE time this column
comes out, the contest season will be
starting in earnest in most parts of the
country. My usual first stop of the year is
at Top Gun in Florida, but I can’t make it
this year. Therefore, the Mint Julep Scale
Meet in May will be my first event.
This is one contest I make sure to go back to year after year.
The good times, the people, the hospitality, and the model
airplanes are the attraction. The Mint Julep is much like most
other contests and scale fly-ins across the country.
This is one of the many US Scale Masters Championships
qualifiers held across the country each year. It takes place at the
beautiful Rough River Dam State Resort Park in Falls of Rough,
Kentucky.
The Mint Julep favors a diverse group of modelers and
models. That drives the contestant numbers up, which helps the
organizing club: the Southern Indiana R/C Modelers. You can
enter the event and win with a J-3 Cub or any civil aircraft
because the contest administration has split the Expert class into
two groups: Division 1 and Division 2.
Division 1 is for models built of full-scale prototypes that had
retracting landing gear, had more than one mechanical option, or
were designed specifically for racing. These include the P-51
Mustang, SBD Dauntless, B-25, Art Chester Jeep, and Gee Bee
R-2. These aircraft generally don’t have as many struts, etc., and
Vacation and fun at a Scale contest
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Scale Stan Alexander
Also included in this column:
• Richthofen book
• Gene Falada plans
• New column feature: Scale
Web sites
The Rough River Dam State Resort Park, in Kentucky, is a beautiful site for a Scale
contest. It is one of the few state parks the author knows of that has a full-scale runway.
Bob Underwood and his daughter Kathy go through the preflight
checklist with Bob’s 88-inch-wingspan Russian Il-2.
Art Shelton and his wife run up the engine on his 1/3-scale Fokker
E.I. The scratch-built model has functional wing warping.
Greg Hahn’s Balsa USA Fokker D.VII gives you an idea of the
details that can be added to a Sport Scale model. Note the
streamers on the cabanes.
05sig4.QXD 3/26/07 9:44 AM Page 115
Mike Barbee entered his CAP 580 in the Mint Julep Scale
Aerobatics class. It adds to modelers’ flight time and makes for a
generally more enjoyable contest.
Co-CD John Guenther (R) holds Dave Voglund’s scratch-built Ki-
43 for its flight at the Mint Julep.
they fly better than the (generally) slower Division 2 airplanes,
which have more drag.
Division 2 is for models built of full-scale prototypes that had
fixed gear, had no more than one mechanical option, or were not
designed specifically for racing. This includes most light civil
types, such as Piper Cubs, Ercoupes, and many 1930s-era
biplanes.
Why not try this type of division at your next contest? You
might gain several pilots with different types of aircraft and
eventually help change the Sport Scale rules for competition.
A class offered at the Mint Julep that isn’t in the rule book is
Scale Aerobatics. It is the same as Fun Scale, but no mechanical
options are allowed for scoring in flight.
These classes are one of the reasons why this event typically
draws hundreds of spectators and close to 100 competitors each
year. The classes are popular with the contestants, which
generates necessary money for the Southern Indiana R/C
Modelers.
A club has to have at least enough funds to cover expenses for
a contest or it’s hard to obtain enough interest to help. Sometimes
even then it’s a tough sell with the limited amount of time club
members have to spend outside their regular schedules.
Tired of trying to build your scale project from tiny, blurry prints? Are you
looking for something where you see ALL the details - including rivets, panel lines
and nomenclature?
We are too, so we developed the Aero-Pac – an exciting new twist on scale
documentation.
Each Aero-Pac is a digital library devoted to one specifi c airframe; whether it is a
Cap 231, P-51D, J-3 Cub, Pitts S2C, Suhkoi SU-26, Waco WMF-5, etc.
All pictures are shot with the latest digital technology, capturing detail never
before available from other sources. Since the fi les are digital, you can enlarge
them on your computer screen, print copies and/or enlargements using your color
printer to use them for your fi nal scale documentation package.
• Each Aero-Pac has an multi-point walk-around, exterior
detail photos, enhanced close-ups, a 3-view and more!
• Each Aero-Pac is devoted to a single airframe.
• Incredibly large, detailed photos like you’ve never seen
before.
• All wording (N-numbers, nomenclature, etc.) is shot
close-up and head-on for easier duplication.
• Viewable in any modern web-browser.
• Mac and PC compatible.
7414 Burton
The Mint Julep isn’t a ruthless event in
which there is tense competition and the
most insane pilot wins. There is serious
competition, but those present try to help
each other with whatever others there need
or may have forgotten.
At this contest you’re more likely to
catch up with families you only see once
or twice a year and have great food from
across the country than participate in a
cutthroat event. As at many regional and
national Scale contests, those who attend
are like a large extended family.
The Southern Indiana R/C Modelers,
with Dale Arvin and John Guenther, has
been conducting this annual spring
madness for more than 30 years. Each year
Dale tells people that he grew up at the
contest, which makes him only 35 years
old now. It’s a great time, even with
enough sarcasm at the Saturday-night
banquet to put M.A.S.H. to shame.
For more information about the Mint
Julep check out www.sircm.org and
www.nasascale.org. It will take place May
18-20, but it’s a good idea to make your
reservations early.
I’m betting there’s a Scale contest or
Scale fly-in within driving distance of your
home, maybe with a great group of people
there! If so, let me know about it; I want to
go too. Check out the “Contest Calendar”
in the back of this magazine for more
event listings.
Bookshelf: Richthofen by A.E. Ferko is
published by Albatros Productions Ltd.
The 80-page, cardstock-covered book
contains 193 photos of the highest-scoring
Ace in World War I.
Many of the pictures, which appebe from typical photo albums, are of
Richthofen—also known as the Red
Baron—and other pilots and sometimes of
squadron mates and their dogs. Fifty-eight
of the aircraft pictures would be usable for
documentation.
The book covers Manfred von
Richthofen’s history from childhood
through his short adult life. It also
documents the fact that he was buried
three times, the last of which was in 1976
in his hometown of Mainz, Germany.
This book is a treasure trove of photos
of Richthofen’s different airplanes. There
are no three-views, but there are several
color side views of different aircraft the
Red Baron flew.
An airplane that might be of particular
interest to many Scale modelers is the allred
Fokker Dr.I, or the “Dreidecker” as it
was also called. Richthofen flew several
different aircraft, and most of his victories
were in Albatros Scouts rather than the
more famous Dr.I triplane. Photos of Dr.Is
were hard to come by for many years.When presenting documentation, most
modelers may have one photo of the
subject aircraft. This book is a good source
for you to use to add to your Dr.I collection
and history from that period. It is available
from Hannan’s Runway, Box 210, Magalia
CA 95954; Tel.: (530) 873-6421; Web site:
www.hrunway.com.
There are several Dr.I kits on the
market. The first two that came to mind are
Balsa USA’s and the smaller-scale kit from
Proctor Enterprises. Balsa USA’s version
has a wingspan of 70.5 inches and is
designed for a 1.20 four-stroke or G-23 gas
engine. The new G-20 would be perfect for
it too. The Proctor version has a wingspan
of 47 inches, and the company
recommends a .70 FS for its model.
I wish I knew of a source for good 1/3-
scale plans for this aircraft. If anyone does,
please let me know!
New Products: This service isn’t new, but
you might not know about it. If you are
looking for plans for something besides the
standards out there, such as the P-51, J-3
Cub, and numerous ARFs, you are
basically left with designing and building
your own model or using some else’s
plans.
Gene Falada of Sea-Clusion
Aeronautics has been drawing plans of
obscure aircraft and maritime aviation
subjects for many years. He is probably one
of the least-known designers.
Gene has 90 plans sets available,
including those for a 141-inch-span Blériot
5190, a 109-inch-span Heinkel He 115, a
120-inch-span Curtiss-Reid Courier, a 118-
inch-span Sikorsky S-42B, an 88-inch-span
Dornier Do 24 flying boat, a 114-inch-span
Northrop Gamma, a 108-inch-span Phillips
Aeroneer X-PT, a 69-inch-span Heinkel HD
24, an 84-inch-span Caproni Ca 133, a 95-
inch-span Kinner XRL-1 Envoy, and a 96-
inch-span Saunders-Roe Mk II.
You can contact Gene at 22W070 Byron
Ave., Addison IL 60101; E-mail: GENE
[email protected].
Web Sites: There are a million Web sites
out there, and a few specifically for Scale
modeling or containing full-scale
documentation. I’ll try to list a few each
month. I won’t endorse them, but they are
valuable sources of information. Let me
know how you like this feature.
• http://uscockpits.com: I learned about
this site from Frank Tiano. It has good,
clear cockpit shots of almost any warbird
you can imagine. It’s definitely worth a
few minutes on the computer.
• www.charleslindbergh.com: Mike Gretz
informed me about this site dedicated to
the events in Charles Lindbergh’s life,
memorabilia, and books about the
different events that took place. If you’re
interested in aviation in the Golden Age, it
is a good source of information.
This site also gives you an idea of how
aviation exploded between 1927 and 1945.
The advances during those years were
incredible.
Fair skies and tailwinds. MA
Sources:
Mint Julep Scale Contest:
Contact:
CD Paul Cain
1906 Center St.
New Albany IN 47150
(812) 045-3103
[email protected]
Information or reservations:
Rough River Dam State Resort Park
Falls of Rough KY 40119
(270) 257-2311
US Scale Masters Championships
www.scalemasters.org