Marc Levy of France built this large
turbine-powered Fouga Magister
for F4C. It weighs 14.9 kilograms
(kg)—right on the limit. This was
its first World Championships.
Peter Jensen photo.
Russian F4B team
member Vladimir
Bulatnikov powered
his 5.7kg AIR-1
Yakovlev biplane with
a Webra .61 engine.
He finished fourth.
Chuck Snyder photo.
Andreas Lüthi of Switzerland with his F4C-winning Bücker
Jungmeister. The 1/3-scale model is powered by a 62cc twostroke
engine. Left: The Bücker Jungmeister’s exquisite
cockpit detail combined with Andreas’s superb piloting
talent gave him the edge to win F4C.
British F4C member David Knott flies his
Hawker Hurricane.
F4B team member
Piotr Zawada of Poland
powered his 80-inch
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford
with O.S. .52 FS
engines. Jensen photo.
Above: Scale judges Nils Smith Andersen
(L) and Stan Alexander examine scale
details on Czech Pavel Fencl’s Knoller C.II
observation/bomber aircraft in F4C. All
fasteners on the cowling are operational.
Top right: Russian F4B team member
Alexander Chuchulin flew this 2.2-meterwingspan
SU-12. Snyder photo.
Bottom right: Team USA’s F4B team
members receive their Bronze medals at
Saturday night’s banquet. Snyder photo.
Far right: Hal (L) and Gary Parenti of the
US prepare Hal’s T-28 for the third flight in
F4C Friday before the end of the
competition.
SWEDEN WAS THE host country of the
19th Scale World Championships, held July
13-23, 2006. As do many countries that host
the World Championships, the Swedish
aeroclub used a military base, in the town of
Norrköping, to complete static and flight
competition.
The weather was great all week for a
championships, with little rain and light
winds. And as some of the locals noted,
there was no snow; evidently that can
happen even in July.
To represent their country at the World
Championships, Scale modelers usually
qualify at a Team Selection held by their
aeroclub—in our case AMA—the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee, and National
Association of Scale Aeromodelers
(NASA).
In 2005 our team was selected from an
open competition in which any AMA
member could participate. The winners were
awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals,
just as they would be at the World
Championships. Two classes were flown:
F4B (CL Scale) and F4C (RC Scale).
In roughly the past 10 years the rules
have changed for the better. Although they
Great Britain’s Pete McDermott’s F4C
Sopwith Snipe featured a bomb drop
maneuver and had a rotating dummy
aluminum radial engine. Jensen photo.
US team member Charlie
Baker’s Rawdon T-1 takes off
for the first round of the week.
Jensen photo.
Left: US F4B team
member Chuck
Snyder’s Henschel Hs
129 gets unpacked for
competition. These
boxes are used to
transport the models
inside Boeing 767
airliners. Jensen photo.
Below: Viatcheslaw
Chubatov of Russia
won the F4B title with
this O.S. enginepowered
Yak-52 he
built and flew. Jensen
photo.
South African
F4C team
member
Johan Ehlers’
scratch-built,
1/4-scale
Druine
Turbulent is
powered by an
O.S. 1.60 fourstroke
engine.
still require roughly 80 pages to print off,
that includes the most comprehensive list of
flight diagrams available for Scale
competition.
Most of the flight maneuvers for F4B
and F4C are similar, if not identical, to
AMA rule-book maneuvers. The weight
limit for F4C is up to 15 kilograms, which
equals 33.03 pounds. Several airplanes at the
World Championships almost reached that
weight limit, including the Bücker
Jungmeister, the F-15 Eagle, and the Fw 190
from South Africa.
A larger assortment of aircraft has been
competitive at the World Championships
recently, including jets, World War II types,
civil airplanes, and European favorite World
War I subjects. Ten years ago almost all the
top 10 finishers were World War I models of
some type, but that is no longer the case. A
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager was
runner-up in F4C with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat that features folding wings and
two O.S. .91 FS engines for power.
Some of the Polish team’s color
documentation. Note how the national
aero club stamped these large color chips
on the page and the chip.
TEAM USA
STANDINGS
F4B (CL Scale)
T E A M
3. US
I N D I V I D U A L
5. Dale Campbell
6. Chuck Snyder
11. Ralph Burnstine
F4C (RC Scale)
T E A M
15. US
I N D I V I D U A L
34. Hal Parenti
35. Charles Baker
52. Gary Parenti
GET INTO
Above: South African
Koos Pretorius’s
9.8kg T-6 flares for a
touchdown. It flew
well all week and
finished 15th in F4C.
Right: This gives you
an idea of some
details included in
many of the models:
an opening canopy
and full cockpit with
all the details. The
2 . 4 - m e t e r - s p a n
model is powered
by a Saito 270 twin.
Scale COMPETITION
For more information about and rules
for FAI Scale and information about the
2008 World Championships, check out
www.nasascale.org or www.modelaircraft.org
under the FAI link.
Keep the new weight rules in mind. The
F4C (RC Scale) limit is 33.03 pounds and the
F4B (CL Scale) limit is 13.22 pounds.
If you bring, for instance, a P-51D to the
World Championships, you must have at least
one photo of the complete full-scale airplane
you are going to compete with, pictures of the
details, and other photos of the same type of
airframe (another P-51D). MA
—AMA Headquarters
Team USA and
supporters at
the 2006 World
Championships
opening
ceremony.
Thor Arne Solberg of Norway
presents his Blackburn 1912 for a
flyby in F4C. It weighs only 7kg and
spans 97 inches. Jensen photo.
rebuilt 1930s biplane did finish first this
year, but other kinds were right on its heels
in static and flight competition.
At a World Championships a formal
dinner and opening ceremony are usually
followed by an air show and a parade
through the town in the host country. We
don’t do anything like that here in the US.
A World Championships can last eight or
nine days. Proposals are being circulated to
reduce this to a week. Organizers and many
competitors hope this happens soon.
The pit area for all the countries is
usually in a large tent or more often, as it
was this year, in a large gym or hangar.
Once you put your model together, it can
stay together for the entire contest. Teams
eat together, participate in the competition,
and closely watch the other teams compete
in static and especially flight competition.
Team USA, led by Manager Lloyd
Roberts, brought our national flag for
display and pins and giveaways for kids and
other competitors from around the world.
This is a great opportunity to meet
people of different nationalities,
make friends, and learn about
interesting documentation
sources. There were 19 countries
present for this year’s version of
the Championships.
After the teams
marched into the
national flag area
and F4 Scale Chairman Narve Jensen
opened the ceremony, local officials, the
mayor, and others talked briefly to the
gathered crowd.
Teams at the World Championships consist
of three competitors from each country in
each of the two classes. A team
US F4B team member Dale
Campbell’s Spacewalker II
was built to 1/4-scale and
powered by an O.S. 1.20 FS
engine. Jensen photo.
manager usually accompanies the team or he
or she can be one of the three team
members.
This year the team from Poland won F4B
with its members placing second, third, and
eighth. The Silver medals went to the team
from Russia, with team members finishing
in first, fourth, and 10th place. Less than 100
points separated the two places.
Team USA finished third overall, with
Bronze medals awarded to Dale Campbell
who finished fifth, Chuck Snyder who
finished sixth, Ralph Burnstine who
finished 11th, and F4B Team Manager
Richard Schneider.
There was some controversy about the
winning Yak-52 performing nonaerobatic
maneuvers and a “leaflet drop” during the
flight performance, which I can understand.
The Russian Yak with the overall white
color scheme is definitely an aerobatic
aircraft, and one would expect the flight
routine to reflect this.
Second place went to the twin-engine
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford by Piotr Zawada,
who also served as the Polish F4B team
manager. His Oxford had a wingspan of 79
inches, was powered by two O.S. .52 FS
engines, and had all its other parts, including
the landing gear, scratch built.
Third place went to former World
Champion Marian Kazirod of Poland with
his Fairey Battle Mk II. It had a wingspan of
85.75 inches and was powered by an O.S.
1.20 FS engine. The model weighed only
6.2 kilograms, which is just more than 12
pounds.
Twins and multiengine models are still
competitive in F4B. Chuck Snyder flew a
Henschel Hs 129B-2/R-2, which was flown
on the Eastern Front in World War II. The
twin-engine tank buster and ground-attack
airplane was powered by two Thunder Tiger
.46 two-stroke engines. The model weighed
6.87 kilograms and had a wingspan of 76
inches.
Dale Campbell flew his highly detailed
Spacewalker II, which was built to 1/4 scale
and powered with an O.S. 1.20 FS engine.
The model was covered with fabric and
painted with dope.
Mechanical problems kept Ralph
Burnstine out of contention with his de
Havilland Chipmunk trainer. This model
was also powered by an O.S. four-stroke
engine.
F4C static judging actually started before
the opening ceremony. Judging teams were
divided into two groups; three judges took
on the task of evaluating outline, and the
other three judges scored color, scale details,
surface texture, and craftsmanship.
Unlike in many Scale competitions,
expect to lose points if you can’t prove that
your model looks the way it should at the
World Championships. Some Scale modelers
think this restricts the subjects they can
model, but I disagree. It simply allows the
contestant to show off how well his or her
model matches all the documentation.
Having photos of an airplane showing
both sides of the fuselage and many detail
shots is a huge advantage. You also need to
have at least one complete photo of the
entire aircraft you have modeled. Having
that picture is the minimum criteria for you
to compete. Of course, that won’t make you
a winner.
Static judges in FAI competition watch
for anything that looks like it belongs on a
model, such as wing bolts, mufflers sticking
out, switches, clevises, nonscale control
horns, servo hatches, and the entire cockpit
is judged. A few modelers actually move
control surfaces while the judges are
examining the cockpit to show that the
joystick and rudder pedals are connected to
that control surface.
In past years the competitors have asked
for notes back after the static judging so
they could tell why the judges counted
points off. This year the F4C team managers
received a total of 104 pages of notes taken
on 52 airplanes. The F4B static and flight
judges will be giving notes back at the next
World Championships.
The high static score this year in F4C
went to Great Britain’s Pete McDermott
with his Sopwith Snipe, just edging out
eventual winner Andreas Lüthi of
Switzerland with his Bücker Jungmeister.
Pete finished second overall with this
scratch-built model, which featured a bomb
drop in the flight routine.
The Snipe’s dummy aluminum radial
engine actually spun in flight, and it was
powered by a Laser-360v twin. This is an
experimental engine, and the only other one
used in competition was in South African
Humphrey LeGrice’s Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
The extensive detail and workmanship
in the Snipe, especially the cockpit—
including the woven seat and instruments
that lit up—the engine, and all the other
features clearly showed how Pete’s aircraft
took high static.
Humphrey LeGrice’s Fw 190A-6 was
another high-static model, with all its
cockpit detail including rudder pedals. All
the operational hatches opened on this
model, and most had scale detail on the
inside. Humphrey finished seventh overall.
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager earned
second place again with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat. The big 86.86-inch-wingspan
model had folding wings, as did the fullscale
aircraft, but Max’s did not have full
cockpits in the rear.
Power was provided by two O.S. .91 FS
engines, and the airplane weighed only
22.44 pounds. The all-scratch-built Tigercat
featured brakes and full retracts.
Andreas Lüthi brought his Bücker
Antares Jungmeister again with which to
compete in F4C. His documentation was
wonderful; the outline judges said the
model’s outline was almost flawless, which
is rare. That combined with the flying skills
of a modeler who practices almost every day
it doesn’t rain Andreas makes tough to beat.
He has won the last four World
Championships with two airplanes. Many
think it’s time for him to retire the
Jungmeister. Andreas’s win, along with his
team members Max Schilt’s and Gody
Fischer’s finishes, put them in third place in
the team competition.
The Czech Republic team fought its way
to a first-place finish. Team Manager Pavel
Fencl flew his Knoller C.II to a fifth-place
finish in F4C, but at the end of the second
round he was in second place.
Petr Tax of the Czech Republic brought a
new model to the competition this year: a
huge French Caudron G.IV that spanned 162
inches. He finished it just last summer. It
weighed only 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds)
and was powered by two Laser-200 fourstroke
engines.
The G.IV was a World War I twin
bomber and observation airplane that had
more struts and wires than anything else. It
was amazing to see how stable this model
was in flight. Petr did have some problems
with the model in the second round and
elected not to fly.
Petr finished in fourth place, and fellow
team member Karel Vodesil flew his Bristol
F.2B Fighter to an eight-place finish. All
three Czech models were large, well
detailed, and built from scratch.
Mechanical problems kept Team USA’s
F4C contingent out of the running. Gary
Parenti crash-landed his T-28 during
practice before his first official flight, and
with the damage to the wing and landing
gear the model was not reparable.
Gary’s dad Hal Parenti had an identical
T-28. Although he completed most of all
three flights, engine problems kept him out
of contention. Charlie Baker completed all
three of his flights with his Rawdon T-1 and
finished 35th overall.
The Team Selection competition for the
2008 FAI World Championships is mostly
set with most members of the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee. Chairman Mike
Gretz is voting to hold the event at the USA
FAI Scale Championships at Muncie,
Indiana, September 20-23. This first-year
event is limited to US residents and AMA
members.
Thanks to a Scale benefactor, NASA is
offering $10,000 in prize money for this
event. The top three finishers will create the
US team, and the fourth-place finisher will
be the alternate. Hope to see everyone there!
The World Championships is already set
for 2008 in Poland. Those who went to
Sweden seemed to have had a great
experience and were shown the best of times
and excellent administrative efforts. I look
forward to the next Team USA participating
in F4B and F4C classes.
Thanks for the hard work of the Swedish
aeroclub and Peter Kalloff, Bengt Lindgren,
Lennart Andersson, Johan Bagge, Lars-Erik
Borg, Bengt Lindgren Ulf Hammar, Bertil
Carlsson, Rolf Pahlsson, Ulf Malmqvist,
Riika Vilkuna, and Lillan Sahlin.
For more information about the 2006
World Championships, photos, and videos,
go to www.scalechamps-in-sweden.se. MA
Stan Alexander
[email protected]
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 45,46,47,48,52
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 45,46,47,48,52
Marc Levy of France built this large
turbine-powered Fouga Magister
for F4C. It weighs 14.9 kilograms
(kg)—right on the limit. This was
its first World Championships.
Peter Jensen photo.
Russian F4B team
member Vladimir
Bulatnikov powered
his 5.7kg AIR-1
Yakovlev biplane with
a Webra .61 engine.
He finished fourth.
Chuck Snyder photo.
Andreas Lüthi of Switzerland with his F4C-winning Bücker
Jungmeister. The 1/3-scale model is powered by a 62cc twostroke
engine. Left: The Bücker Jungmeister’s exquisite
cockpit detail combined with Andreas’s superb piloting
talent gave him the edge to win F4C.
British F4C member David Knott flies his
Hawker Hurricane.
F4B team member
Piotr Zawada of Poland
powered his 80-inch
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford
with O.S. .52 FS
engines. Jensen photo.
Above: Scale judges Nils Smith Andersen
(L) and Stan Alexander examine scale
details on Czech Pavel Fencl’s Knoller C.II
observation/bomber aircraft in F4C. All
fasteners on the cowling are operational.
Top right: Russian F4B team member
Alexander Chuchulin flew this 2.2-meterwingspan
SU-12. Snyder photo.
Bottom right: Team USA’s F4B team
members receive their Bronze medals at
Saturday night’s banquet. Snyder photo.
Far right: Hal (L) and Gary Parenti of the
US prepare Hal’s T-28 for the third flight in
F4C Friday before the end of the
competition.
SWEDEN WAS THE host country of the
19th Scale World Championships, held July
13-23, 2006. As do many countries that host
the World Championships, the Swedish
aeroclub used a military base, in the town of
Norrköping, to complete static and flight
competition.
The weather was great all week for a
championships, with little rain and light
winds. And as some of the locals noted,
there was no snow; evidently that can
happen even in July.
To represent their country at the World
Championships, Scale modelers usually
qualify at a Team Selection held by their
aeroclub—in our case AMA—the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee, and National
Association of Scale Aeromodelers
(NASA).
In 2005 our team was selected from an
open competition in which any AMA
member could participate. The winners were
awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals,
just as they would be at the World
Championships. Two classes were flown:
F4B (CL Scale) and F4C (RC Scale).
In roughly the past 10 years the rules
have changed for the better. Although they
Great Britain’s Pete McDermott’s F4C
Sopwith Snipe featured a bomb drop
maneuver and had a rotating dummy
aluminum radial engine. Jensen photo.
US team member Charlie
Baker’s Rawdon T-1 takes off
for the first round of the week.
Jensen photo.
Left: US F4B team
member Chuck
Snyder’s Henschel Hs
129 gets unpacked for
competition. These
boxes are used to
transport the models
inside Boeing 767
airliners. Jensen photo.
Below: Viatcheslaw
Chubatov of Russia
won the F4B title with
this O.S. enginepowered
Yak-52 he
built and flew. Jensen
photo.
South African
F4C team
member
Johan Ehlers’
scratch-built,
1/4-scale
Druine
Turbulent is
powered by an
O.S. 1.60 fourstroke
engine.
still require roughly 80 pages to print off,
that includes the most comprehensive list of
flight diagrams available for Scale
competition.
Most of the flight maneuvers for F4B
and F4C are similar, if not identical, to
AMA rule-book maneuvers. The weight
limit for F4C is up to 15 kilograms, which
equals 33.03 pounds. Several airplanes at the
World Championships almost reached that
weight limit, including the Bücker
Jungmeister, the F-15 Eagle, and the Fw 190
from South Africa.
A larger assortment of aircraft has been
competitive at the World Championships
recently, including jets, World War II types,
civil airplanes, and European favorite World
War I subjects. Ten years ago almost all the
top 10 finishers were World War I models of
some type, but that is no longer the case. A
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager was
runner-up in F4C with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat that features folding wings and
two O.S. .91 FS engines for power.
Some of the Polish team’s color
documentation. Note how the national
aero club stamped these large color chips
on the page and the chip.
TEAM USA
STANDINGS
F4B (CL Scale)
T E A M
3. US
I N D I V I D U A L
5. Dale Campbell
6. Chuck Snyder
11. Ralph Burnstine
F4C (RC Scale)
T E A M
15. US
I N D I V I D U A L
34. Hal Parenti
35. Charles Baker
52. Gary Parenti
GET INTO
Above: South African
Koos Pretorius’s
9.8kg T-6 flares for a
touchdown. It flew
well all week and
finished 15th in F4C.
Right: This gives you
an idea of some
details included in
many of the models:
an opening canopy
and full cockpit with
all the details. The
2 . 4 - m e t e r - s p a n
model is powered
by a Saito 270 twin.
Scale COMPETITION
For more information about and rules
for FAI Scale and information about the
2008 World Championships, check out
www.nasascale.org or www.modelaircraft.org
under the FAI link.
Keep the new weight rules in mind. The
F4C (RC Scale) limit is 33.03 pounds and the
F4B (CL Scale) limit is 13.22 pounds.
If you bring, for instance, a P-51D to the
World Championships, you must have at least
one photo of the complete full-scale airplane
you are going to compete with, pictures of the
details, and other photos of the same type of
airframe (another P-51D). MA
—AMA Headquarters
Team USA and
supporters at
the 2006 World
Championships
opening
ceremony.
Thor Arne Solberg of Norway
presents his Blackburn 1912 for a
flyby in F4C. It weighs only 7kg and
spans 97 inches. Jensen photo.
rebuilt 1930s biplane did finish first this
year, but other kinds were right on its heels
in static and flight competition.
At a World Championships a formal
dinner and opening ceremony are usually
followed by an air show and a parade
through the town in the host country. We
don’t do anything like that here in the US.
A World Championships can last eight or
nine days. Proposals are being circulated to
reduce this to a week. Organizers and many
competitors hope this happens soon.
The pit area for all the countries is
usually in a large tent or more often, as it
was this year, in a large gym or hangar.
Once you put your model together, it can
stay together for the entire contest. Teams
eat together, participate in the competition,
and closely watch the other teams compete
in static and especially flight competition.
Team USA, led by Manager Lloyd
Roberts, brought our national flag for
display and pins and giveaways for kids and
other competitors from around the world.
This is a great opportunity to meet
people of different nationalities,
make friends, and learn about
interesting documentation
sources. There were 19 countries
present for this year’s version of
the Championships.
After the teams
marched into the
national flag area
and F4 Scale Chairman Narve Jensen
opened the ceremony, local officials, the
mayor, and others talked briefly to the
gathered crowd.
Teams at the World Championships consist
of three competitors from each country in
each of the two classes. A team
US F4B team member Dale
Campbell’s Spacewalker II
was built to 1/4-scale and
powered by an O.S. 1.20 FS
engine. Jensen photo.
manager usually accompanies the team or he
or she can be one of the three team
members.
This year the team from Poland won F4B
with its members placing second, third, and
eighth. The Silver medals went to the team
from Russia, with team members finishing
in first, fourth, and 10th place. Less than 100
points separated the two places.
Team USA finished third overall, with
Bronze medals awarded to Dale Campbell
who finished fifth, Chuck Snyder who
finished sixth, Ralph Burnstine who
finished 11th, and F4B Team Manager
Richard Schneider.
There was some controversy about the
winning Yak-52 performing nonaerobatic
maneuvers and a “leaflet drop” during the
flight performance, which I can understand.
The Russian Yak with the overall white
color scheme is definitely an aerobatic
aircraft, and one would expect the flight
routine to reflect this.
Second place went to the twin-engine
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford by Piotr Zawada,
who also served as the Polish F4B team
manager. His Oxford had a wingspan of 79
inches, was powered by two O.S. .52 FS
engines, and had all its other parts, including
the landing gear, scratch built.
Third place went to former World
Champion Marian Kazirod of Poland with
his Fairey Battle Mk II. It had a wingspan of
85.75 inches and was powered by an O.S.
1.20 FS engine. The model weighed only
6.2 kilograms, which is just more than 12
pounds.
Twins and multiengine models are still
competitive in F4B. Chuck Snyder flew a
Henschel Hs 129B-2/R-2, which was flown
on the Eastern Front in World War II. The
twin-engine tank buster and ground-attack
airplane was powered by two Thunder Tiger
.46 two-stroke engines. The model weighed
6.87 kilograms and had a wingspan of 76
inches.
Dale Campbell flew his highly detailed
Spacewalker II, which was built to 1/4 scale
and powered with an O.S. 1.20 FS engine.
The model was covered with fabric and
painted with dope.
Mechanical problems kept Ralph
Burnstine out of contention with his de
Havilland Chipmunk trainer. This model
was also powered by an O.S. four-stroke
engine.
F4C static judging actually started before
the opening ceremony. Judging teams were
divided into two groups; three judges took
on the task of evaluating outline, and the
other three judges scored color, scale details,
surface texture, and craftsmanship.
Unlike in many Scale competitions,
expect to lose points if you can’t prove that
your model looks the way it should at the
World Championships. Some Scale modelers
think this restricts the subjects they can
model, but I disagree. It simply allows the
contestant to show off how well his or her
model matches all the documentation.
Having photos of an airplane showing
both sides of the fuselage and many detail
shots is a huge advantage. You also need to
have at least one complete photo of the
entire aircraft you have modeled. Having
that picture is the minimum criteria for you
to compete. Of course, that won’t make you
a winner.
Static judges in FAI competition watch
for anything that looks like it belongs on a
model, such as wing bolts, mufflers sticking
out, switches, clevises, nonscale control
horns, servo hatches, and the entire cockpit
is judged. A few modelers actually move
control surfaces while the judges are
examining the cockpit to show that the
joystick and rudder pedals are connected to
that control surface.
In past years the competitors have asked
for notes back after the static judging so
they could tell why the judges counted
points off. This year the F4C team managers
received a total of 104 pages of notes taken
on 52 airplanes. The F4B static and flight
judges will be giving notes back at the next
World Championships.
The high static score this year in F4C
went to Great Britain’s Pete McDermott
with his Sopwith Snipe, just edging out
eventual winner Andreas Lüthi of
Switzerland with his Bücker Jungmeister.
Pete finished second overall with this
scratch-built model, which featured a bomb
drop in the flight routine.
The Snipe’s dummy aluminum radial
engine actually spun in flight, and it was
powered by a Laser-360v twin. This is an
experimental engine, and the only other one
used in competition was in South African
Humphrey LeGrice’s Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
The extensive detail and workmanship
in the Snipe, especially the cockpit—
including the woven seat and instruments
that lit up—the engine, and all the other
features clearly showed how Pete’s aircraft
took high static.
Humphrey LeGrice’s Fw 190A-6 was
another high-static model, with all its
cockpit detail including rudder pedals. All
the operational hatches opened on this
model, and most had scale detail on the
inside. Humphrey finished seventh overall.
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager earned
second place again with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat. The big 86.86-inch-wingspan
model had folding wings, as did the fullscale
aircraft, but Max’s did not have full
cockpits in the rear.
Power was provided by two O.S. .91 FS
engines, and the airplane weighed only
22.44 pounds. The all-scratch-built Tigercat
featured brakes and full retracts.
Andreas Lüthi brought his Bücker
Antares Jungmeister again with which to
compete in F4C. His documentation was
wonderful; the outline judges said the
model’s outline was almost flawless, which
is rare. That combined with the flying skills
of a modeler who practices almost every day
it doesn’t rain Andreas makes tough to beat.
He has won the last four World
Championships with two airplanes. Many
think it’s time for him to retire the
Jungmeister. Andreas’s win, along with his
team members Max Schilt’s and Gody
Fischer’s finishes, put them in third place in
the team competition.
The Czech Republic team fought its way
to a first-place finish. Team Manager Pavel
Fencl flew his Knoller C.II to a fifth-place
finish in F4C, but at the end of the second
round he was in second place.
Petr Tax of the Czech Republic brought a
new model to the competition this year: a
huge French Caudron G.IV that spanned 162
inches. He finished it just last summer. It
weighed only 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds)
and was powered by two Laser-200 fourstroke
engines.
The G.IV was a World War I twin
bomber and observation airplane that had
more struts and wires than anything else. It
was amazing to see how stable this model
was in flight. Petr did have some problems
with the model in the second round and
elected not to fly.
Petr finished in fourth place, and fellow
team member Karel Vodesil flew his Bristol
F.2B Fighter to an eight-place finish. All
three Czech models were large, well
detailed, and built from scratch.
Mechanical problems kept Team USA’s
F4C contingent out of the running. Gary
Parenti crash-landed his T-28 during
practice before his first official flight, and
with the damage to the wing and landing
gear the model was not reparable.
Gary’s dad Hal Parenti had an identical
T-28. Although he completed most of all
three flights, engine problems kept him out
of contention. Charlie Baker completed all
three of his flights with his Rawdon T-1 and
finished 35th overall.
The Team Selection competition for the
2008 FAI World Championships is mostly
set with most members of the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee. Chairman Mike
Gretz is voting to hold the event at the USA
FAI Scale Championships at Muncie,
Indiana, September 20-23. This first-year
event is limited to US residents and AMA
members.
Thanks to a Scale benefactor, NASA is
offering $10,000 in prize money for this
event. The top three finishers will create the
US team, and the fourth-place finisher will
be the alternate. Hope to see everyone there!
The World Championships is already set
for 2008 in Poland. Those who went to
Sweden seemed to have had a great
experience and were shown the best of times
and excellent administrative efforts. I look
forward to the next Team USA participating
in F4B and F4C classes.
Thanks for the hard work of the Swedish
aeroclub and Peter Kalloff, Bengt Lindgren,
Lennart Andersson, Johan Bagge, Lars-Erik
Borg, Bengt Lindgren Ulf Hammar, Bertil
Carlsson, Rolf Pahlsson, Ulf Malmqvist,
Riika Vilkuna, and Lillan Sahlin.
For more information about the 2006
World Championships, photos, and videos,
go to www.scalechamps-in-sweden.se. MA
Stan Alexander
[email protected]
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 45,46,47,48,52
Marc Levy of France built this large
turbine-powered Fouga Magister
for F4C. It weighs 14.9 kilograms
(kg)—right on the limit. This was
its first World Championships.
Peter Jensen photo.
Russian F4B team
member Vladimir
Bulatnikov powered
his 5.7kg AIR-1
Yakovlev biplane with
a Webra .61 engine.
He finished fourth.
Chuck Snyder photo.
Andreas Lüthi of Switzerland with his F4C-winning Bücker
Jungmeister. The 1/3-scale model is powered by a 62cc twostroke
engine. Left: The Bücker Jungmeister’s exquisite
cockpit detail combined with Andreas’s superb piloting
talent gave him the edge to win F4C.
British F4C member David Knott flies his
Hawker Hurricane.
F4B team member
Piotr Zawada of Poland
powered his 80-inch
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford
with O.S. .52 FS
engines. Jensen photo.
Above: Scale judges Nils Smith Andersen
(L) and Stan Alexander examine scale
details on Czech Pavel Fencl’s Knoller C.II
observation/bomber aircraft in F4C. All
fasteners on the cowling are operational.
Top right: Russian F4B team member
Alexander Chuchulin flew this 2.2-meterwingspan
SU-12. Snyder photo.
Bottom right: Team USA’s F4B team
members receive their Bronze medals at
Saturday night’s banquet. Snyder photo.
Far right: Hal (L) and Gary Parenti of the
US prepare Hal’s T-28 for the third flight in
F4C Friday before the end of the
competition.
SWEDEN WAS THE host country of the
19th Scale World Championships, held July
13-23, 2006. As do many countries that host
the World Championships, the Swedish
aeroclub used a military base, in the town of
Norrköping, to complete static and flight
competition.
The weather was great all week for a
championships, with little rain and light
winds. And as some of the locals noted,
there was no snow; evidently that can
happen even in July.
To represent their country at the World
Championships, Scale modelers usually
qualify at a Team Selection held by their
aeroclub—in our case AMA—the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee, and National
Association of Scale Aeromodelers
(NASA).
In 2005 our team was selected from an
open competition in which any AMA
member could participate. The winners were
awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals,
just as they would be at the World
Championships. Two classes were flown:
F4B (CL Scale) and F4C (RC Scale).
In roughly the past 10 years the rules
have changed for the better. Although they
Great Britain’s Pete McDermott’s F4C
Sopwith Snipe featured a bomb drop
maneuver and had a rotating dummy
aluminum radial engine. Jensen photo.
US team member Charlie
Baker’s Rawdon T-1 takes off
for the first round of the week.
Jensen photo.
Left: US F4B team
member Chuck
Snyder’s Henschel Hs
129 gets unpacked for
competition. These
boxes are used to
transport the models
inside Boeing 767
airliners. Jensen photo.
Below: Viatcheslaw
Chubatov of Russia
won the F4B title with
this O.S. enginepowered
Yak-52 he
built and flew. Jensen
photo.
South African
F4C team
member
Johan Ehlers’
scratch-built,
1/4-scale
Druine
Turbulent is
powered by an
O.S. 1.60 fourstroke
engine.
still require roughly 80 pages to print off,
that includes the most comprehensive list of
flight diagrams available for Scale
competition.
Most of the flight maneuvers for F4B
and F4C are similar, if not identical, to
AMA rule-book maneuvers. The weight
limit for F4C is up to 15 kilograms, which
equals 33.03 pounds. Several airplanes at the
World Championships almost reached that
weight limit, including the Bücker
Jungmeister, the F-15 Eagle, and the Fw 190
from South Africa.
A larger assortment of aircraft has been
competitive at the World Championships
recently, including jets, World War II types,
civil airplanes, and European favorite World
War I subjects. Ten years ago almost all the
top 10 finishers were World War I models of
some type, but that is no longer the case. A
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager was
runner-up in F4C with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat that features folding wings and
two O.S. .91 FS engines for power.
Some of the Polish team’s color
documentation. Note how the national
aero club stamped these large color chips
on the page and the chip.
TEAM USA
STANDINGS
F4B (CL Scale)
T E A M
3. US
I N D I V I D U A L
5. Dale Campbell
6. Chuck Snyder
11. Ralph Burnstine
F4C (RC Scale)
T E A M
15. US
I N D I V I D U A L
34. Hal Parenti
35. Charles Baker
52. Gary Parenti
GET INTO
Above: South African
Koos Pretorius’s
9.8kg T-6 flares for a
touchdown. It flew
well all week and
finished 15th in F4C.
Right: This gives you
an idea of some
details included in
many of the models:
an opening canopy
and full cockpit with
all the details. The
2 . 4 - m e t e r - s p a n
model is powered
by a Saito 270 twin.
Scale COMPETITION
For more information about and rules
for FAI Scale and information about the
2008 World Championships, check out
www.nasascale.org or www.modelaircraft.org
under the FAI link.
Keep the new weight rules in mind. The
F4C (RC Scale) limit is 33.03 pounds and the
F4B (CL Scale) limit is 13.22 pounds.
If you bring, for instance, a P-51D to the
World Championships, you must have at least
one photo of the complete full-scale airplane
you are going to compete with, pictures of the
details, and other photos of the same type of
airframe (another P-51D). MA
—AMA Headquarters
Team USA and
supporters at
the 2006 World
Championships
opening
ceremony.
Thor Arne Solberg of Norway
presents his Blackburn 1912 for a
flyby in F4C. It weighs only 7kg and
spans 97 inches. Jensen photo.
rebuilt 1930s biplane did finish first this
year, but other kinds were right on its heels
in static and flight competition.
At a World Championships a formal
dinner and opening ceremony are usually
followed by an air show and a parade
through the town in the host country. We
don’t do anything like that here in the US.
A World Championships can last eight or
nine days. Proposals are being circulated to
reduce this to a week. Organizers and many
competitors hope this happens soon.
The pit area for all the countries is
usually in a large tent or more often, as it
was this year, in a large gym or hangar.
Once you put your model together, it can
stay together for the entire contest. Teams
eat together, participate in the competition,
and closely watch the other teams compete
in static and especially flight competition.
Team USA, led by Manager Lloyd
Roberts, brought our national flag for
display and pins and giveaways for kids and
other competitors from around the world.
This is a great opportunity to meet
people of different nationalities,
make friends, and learn about
interesting documentation
sources. There were 19 countries
present for this year’s version of
the Championships.
After the teams
marched into the
national flag area
and F4 Scale Chairman Narve Jensen
opened the ceremony, local officials, the
mayor, and others talked briefly to the
gathered crowd.
Teams at the World Championships consist
of three competitors from each country in
each of the two classes. A team
US F4B team member Dale
Campbell’s Spacewalker II
was built to 1/4-scale and
powered by an O.S. 1.20 FS
engine. Jensen photo.
manager usually accompanies the team or he
or she can be one of the three team
members.
This year the team from Poland won F4B
with its members placing second, third, and
eighth. The Silver medals went to the team
from Russia, with team members finishing
in first, fourth, and 10th place. Less than 100
points separated the two places.
Team USA finished third overall, with
Bronze medals awarded to Dale Campbell
who finished fifth, Chuck Snyder who
finished sixth, Ralph Burnstine who
finished 11th, and F4B Team Manager
Richard Schneider.
There was some controversy about the
winning Yak-52 performing nonaerobatic
maneuvers and a “leaflet drop” during the
flight performance, which I can understand.
The Russian Yak with the overall white
color scheme is definitely an aerobatic
aircraft, and one would expect the flight
routine to reflect this.
Second place went to the twin-engine
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford by Piotr Zawada,
who also served as the Polish F4B team
manager. His Oxford had a wingspan of 79
inches, was powered by two O.S. .52 FS
engines, and had all its other parts, including
the landing gear, scratch built.
Third place went to former World
Champion Marian Kazirod of Poland with
his Fairey Battle Mk II. It had a wingspan of
85.75 inches and was powered by an O.S.
1.20 FS engine. The model weighed only
6.2 kilograms, which is just more than 12
pounds.
Twins and multiengine models are still
competitive in F4B. Chuck Snyder flew a
Henschel Hs 129B-2/R-2, which was flown
on the Eastern Front in World War II. The
twin-engine tank buster and ground-attack
airplane was powered by two Thunder Tiger
.46 two-stroke engines. The model weighed
6.87 kilograms and had a wingspan of 76
inches.
Dale Campbell flew his highly detailed
Spacewalker II, which was built to 1/4 scale
and powered with an O.S. 1.20 FS engine.
The model was covered with fabric and
painted with dope.
Mechanical problems kept Ralph
Burnstine out of contention with his de
Havilland Chipmunk trainer. This model
was also powered by an O.S. four-stroke
engine.
F4C static judging actually started before
the opening ceremony. Judging teams were
divided into two groups; three judges took
on the task of evaluating outline, and the
other three judges scored color, scale details,
surface texture, and craftsmanship.
Unlike in many Scale competitions,
expect to lose points if you can’t prove that
your model looks the way it should at the
World Championships. Some Scale modelers
think this restricts the subjects they can
model, but I disagree. It simply allows the
contestant to show off how well his or her
model matches all the documentation.
Having photos of an airplane showing
both sides of the fuselage and many detail
shots is a huge advantage. You also need to
have at least one complete photo of the
entire aircraft you have modeled. Having
that picture is the minimum criteria for you
to compete. Of course, that won’t make you
a winner.
Static judges in FAI competition watch
for anything that looks like it belongs on a
model, such as wing bolts, mufflers sticking
out, switches, clevises, nonscale control
horns, servo hatches, and the entire cockpit
is judged. A few modelers actually move
control surfaces while the judges are
examining the cockpit to show that the
joystick and rudder pedals are connected to
that control surface.
In past years the competitors have asked
for notes back after the static judging so
they could tell why the judges counted
points off. This year the F4C team managers
received a total of 104 pages of notes taken
on 52 airplanes. The F4B static and flight
judges will be giving notes back at the next
World Championships.
The high static score this year in F4C
went to Great Britain’s Pete McDermott
with his Sopwith Snipe, just edging out
eventual winner Andreas Lüthi of
Switzerland with his Bücker Jungmeister.
Pete finished second overall with this
scratch-built model, which featured a bomb
drop in the flight routine.
The Snipe’s dummy aluminum radial
engine actually spun in flight, and it was
powered by a Laser-360v twin. This is an
experimental engine, and the only other one
used in competition was in South African
Humphrey LeGrice’s Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
The extensive detail and workmanship
in the Snipe, especially the cockpit—
including the woven seat and instruments
that lit up—the engine, and all the other
features clearly showed how Pete’s aircraft
took high static.
Humphrey LeGrice’s Fw 190A-6 was
another high-static model, with all its
cockpit detail including rudder pedals. All
the operational hatches opened on this
model, and most had scale detail on the
inside. Humphrey finished seventh overall.
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager earned
second place again with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat. The big 86.86-inch-wingspan
model had folding wings, as did the fullscale
aircraft, but Max’s did not have full
cockpits in the rear.
Power was provided by two O.S. .91 FS
engines, and the airplane weighed only
22.44 pounds. The all-scratch-built Tigercat
featured brakes and full retracts.
Andreas Lüthi brought his Bücker
Antares Jungmeister again with which to
compete in F4C. His documentation was
wonderful; the outline judges said the
model’s outline was almost flawless, which
is rare. That combined with the flying skills
of a modeler who practices almost every day
it doesn’t rain Andreas makes tough to beat.
He has won the last four World
Championships with two airplanes. Many
think it’s time for him to retire the
Jungmeister. Andreas’s win, along with his
team members Max Schilt’s and Gody
Fischer’s finishes, put them in third place in
the team competition.
The Czech Republic team fought its way
to a first-place finish. Team Manager Pavel
Fencl flew his Knoller C.II to a fifth-place
finish in F4C, but at the end of the second
round he was in second place.
Petr Tax of the Czech Republic brought a
new model to the competition this year: a
huge French Caudron G.IV that spanned 162
inches. He finished it just last summer. It
weighed only 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds)
and was powered by two Laser-200 fourstroke
engines.
The G.IV was a World War I twin
bomber and observation airplane that had
more struts and wires than anything else. It
was amazing to see how stable this model
was in flight. Petr did have some problems
with the model in the second round and
elected not to fly.
Petr finished in fourth place, and fellow
team member Karel Vodesil flew his Bristol
F.2B Fighter to an eight-place finish. All
three Czech models were large, well
detailed, and built from scratch.
Mechanical problems kept Team USA’s
F4C contingent out of the running. Gary
Parenti crash-landed his T-28 during
practice before his first official flight, and
with the damage to the wing and landing
gear the model was not reparable.
Gary’s dad Hal Parenti had an identical
T-28. Although he completed most of all
three flights, engine problems kept him out
of contention. Charlie Baker completed all
three of his flights with his Rawdon T-1 and
finished 35th overall.
The Team Selection competition for the
2008 FAI World Championships is mostly
set with most members of the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee. Chairman Mike
Gretz is voting to hold the event at the USA
FAI Scale Championships at Muncie,
Indiana, September 20-23. This first-year
event is limited to US residents and AMA
members.
Thanks to a Scale benefactor, NASA is
offering $10,000 in prize money for this
event. The top three finishers will create the
US team, and the fourth-place finisher will
be the alternate. Hope to see everyone there!
The World Championships is already set
for 2008 in Poland. Those who went to
Sweden seemed to have had a great
experience and were shown the best of times
and excellent administrative efforts. I look
forward to the next Team USA participating
in F4B and F4C classes.
Thanks for the hard work of the Swedish
aeroclub and Peter Kalloff, Bengt Lindgren,
Lennart Andersson, Johan Bagge, Lars-Erik
Borg, Bengt Lindgren Ulf Hammar, Bertil
Carlsson, Rolf Pahlsson, Ulf Malmqvist,
Riika Vilkuna, and Lillan Sahlin.
For more information about the 2006
World Championships, photos, and videos,
go to www.scalechamps-in-sweden.se. MA
Stan Alexander
[email protected]
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 45,46,47,48,52
Marc Levy of France built this large
turbine-powered Fouga Magister
for F4C. It weighs 14.9 kilograms
(kg)—right on the limit. This was
its first World Championships.
Peter Jensen photo.
Russian F4B team
member Vladimir
Bulatnikov powered
his 5.7kg AIR-1
Yakovlev biplane with
a Webra .61 engine.
He finished fourth.
Chuck Snyder photo.
Andreas Lüthi of Switzerland with his F4C-winning Bücker
Jungmeister. The 1/3-scale model is powered by a 62cc twostroke
engine. Left: The Bücker Jungmeister’s exquisite
cockpit detail combined with Andreas’s superb piloting
talent gave him the edge to win F4C.
British F4C member David Knott flies his
Hawker Hurricane.
F4B team member
Piotr Zawada of Poland
powered his 80-inch
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford
with O.S. .52 FS
engines. Jensen photo.
Above: Scale judges Nils Smith Andersen
(L) and Stan Alexander examine scale
details on Czech Pavel Fencl’s Knoller C.II
observation/bomber aircraft in F4C. All
fasteners on the cowling are operational.
Top right: Russian F4B team member
Alexander Chuchulin flew this 2.2-meterwingspan
SU-12. Snyder photo.
Bottom right: Team USA’s F4B team
members receive their Bronze medals at
Saturday night’s banquet. Snyder photo.
Far right: Hal (L) and Gary Parenti of the
US prepare Hal’s T-28 for the third flight in
F4C Friday before the end of the
competition.
SWEDEN WAS THE host country of the
19th Scale World Championships, held July
13-23, 2006. As do many countries that host
the World Championships, the Swedish
aeroclub used a military base, in the town of
Norrköping, to complete static and flight
competition.
The weather was great all week for a
championships, with little rain and light
winds. And as some of the locals noted,
there was no snow; evidently that can
happen even in July.
To represent their country at the World
Championships, Scale modelers usually
qualify at a Team Selection held by their
aeroclub—in our case AMA—the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee, and National
Association of Scale Aeromodelers
(NASA).
In 2005 our team was selected from an
open competition in which any AMA
member could participate. The winners were
awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals,
just as they would be at the World
Championships. Two classes were flown:
F4B (CL Scale) and F4C (RC Scale).
In roughly the past 10 years the rules
have changed for the better. Although they
Great Britain’s Pete McDermott’s F4C
Sopwith Snipe featured a bomb drop
maneuver and had a rotating dummy
aluminum radial engine. Jensen photo.
US team member Charlie
Baker’s Rawdon T-1 takes off
for the first round of the week.
Jensen photo.
Left: US F4B team
member Chuck
Snyder’s Henschel Hs
129 gets unpacked for
competition. These
boxes are used to
transport the models
inside Boeing 767
airliners. Jensen photo.
Below: Viatcheslaw
Chubatov of Russia
won the F4B title with
this O.S. enginepowered
Yak-52 he
built and flew. Jensen
photo.
South African
F4C team
member
Johan Ehlers’
scratch-built,
1/4-scale
Druine
Turbulent is
powered by an
O.S. 1.60 fourstroke
engine.
still require roughly 80 pages to print off,
that includes the most comprehensive list of
flight diagrams available for Scale
competition.
Most of the flight maneuvers for F4B
and F4C are similar, if not identical, to
AMA rule-book maneuvers. The weight
limit for F4C is up to 15 kilograms, which
equals 33.03 pounds. Several airplanes at the
World Championships almost reached that
weight limit, including the Bücker
Jungmeister, the F-15 Eagle, and the Fw 190
from South Africa.
A larger assortment of aircraft has been
competitive at the World Championships
recently, including jets, World War II types,
civil airplanes, and European favorite World
War I subjects. Ten years ago almost all the
top 10 finishers were World War I models of
some type, but that is no longer the case. A
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager was
runner-up in F4C with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat that features folding wings and
two O.S. .91 FS engines for power.
Some of the Polish team’s color
documentation. Note how the national
aero club stamped these large color chips
on the page and the chip.
TEAM USA
STANDINGS
F4B (CL Scale)
T E A M
3. US
I N D I V I D U A L
5. Dale Campbell
6. Chuck Snyder
11. Ralph Burnstine
F4C (RC Scale)
T E A M
15. US
I N D I V I D U A L
34. Hal Parenti
35. Charles Baker
52. Gary Parenti
GET INTO
Above: South African
Koos Pretorius’s
9.8kg T-6 flares for a
touchdown. It flew
well all week and
finished 15th in F4C.
Right: This gives you
an idea of some
details included in
many of the models:
an opening canopy
and full cockpit with
all the details. The
2 . 4 - m e t e r - s p a n
model is powered
by a Saito 270 twin.
Scale COMPETITION
For more information about and rules
for FAI Scale and information about the
2008 World Championships, check out
www.nasascale.org or www.modelaircraft.org
under the FAI link.
Keep the new weight rules in mind. The
F4C (RC Scale) limit is 33.03 pounds and the
F4B (CL Scale) limit is 13.22 pounds.
If you bring, for instance, a P-51D to the
World Championships, you must have at least
one photo of the complete full-scale airplane
you are going to compete with, pictures of the
details, and other photos of the same type of
airframe (another P-51D). MA
—AMA Headquarters
Team USA and
supporters at
the 2006 World
Championships
opening
ceremony.
Thor Arne Solberg of Norway
presents his Blackburn 1912 for a
flyby in F4C. It weighs only 7kg and
spans 97 inches. Jensen photo.
rebuilt 1930s biplane did finish first this
year, but other kinds were right on its heels
in static and flight competition.
At a World Championships a formal
dinner and opening ceremony are usually
followed by an air show and a parade
through the town in the host country. We
don’t do anything like that here in the US.
A World Championships can last eight or
nine days. Proposals are being circulated to
reduce this to a week. Organizers and many
competitors hope this happens soon.
The pit area for all the countries is
usually in a large tent or more often, as it
was this year, in a large gym or hangar.
Once you put your model together, it can
stay together for the entire contest. Teams
eat together, participate in the competition,
and closely watch the other teams compete
in static and especially flight competition.
Team USA, led by Manager Lloyd
Roberts, brought our national flag for
display and pins and giveaways for kids and
other competitors from around the world.
This is a great opportunity to meet
people of different nationalities,
make friends, and learn about
interesting documentation
sources. There were 19 countries
present for this year’s version of
the Championships.
After the teams
marched into the
national flag area
and F4 Scale Chairman Narve Jensen
opened the ceremony, local officials, the
mayor, and others talked briefly to the
gathered crowd.
Teams at the World Championships consist
of three competitors from each country in
each of the two classes. A team
US F4B team member Dale
Campbell’s Spacewalker II
was built to 1/4-scale and
powered by an O.S. 1.20 FS
engine. Jensen photo.
manager usually accompanies the team or he
or she can be one of the three team
members.
This year the team from Poland won F4B
with its members placing second, third, and
eighth. The Silver medals went to the team
from Russia, with team members finishing
in first, fourth, and 10th place. Less than 100
points separated the two places.
Team USA finished third overall, with
Bronze medals awarded to Dale Campbell
who finished fifth, Chuck Snyder who
finished sixth, Ralph Burnstine who
finished 11th, and F4B Team Manager
Richard Schneider.
There was some controversy about the
winning Yak-52 performing nonaerobatic
maneuvers and a “leaflet drop” during the
flight performance, which I can understand.
The Russian Yak with the overall white
color scheme is definitely an aerobatic
aircraft, and one would expect the flight
routine to reflect this.
Second place went to the twin-engine
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford by Piotr Zawada,
who also served as the Polish F4B team
manager. His Oxford had a wingspan of 79
inches, was powered by two O.S. .52 FS
engines, and had all its other parts, including
the landing gear, scratch built.
Third place went to former World
Champion Marian Kazirod of Poland with
his Fairey Battle Mk II. It had a wingspan of
85.75 inches and was powered by an O.S.
1.20 FS engine. The model weighed only
6.2 kilograms, which is just more than 12
pounds.
Twins and multiengine models are still
competitive in F4B. Chuck Snyder flew a
Henschel Hs 129B-2/R-2, which was flown
on the Eastern Front in World War II. The
twin-engine tank buster and ground-attack
airplane was powered by two Thunder Tiger
.46 two-stroke engines. The model weighed
6.87 kilograms and had a wingspan of 76
inches.
Dale Campbell flew his highly detailed
Spacewalker II, which was built to 1/4 scale
and powered with an O.S. 1.20 FS engine.
The model was covered with fabric and
painted with dope.
Mechanical problems kept Ralph
Burnstine out of contention with his de
Havilland Chipmunk trainer. This model
was also powered by an O.S. four-stroke
engine.
F4C static judging actually started before
the opening ceremony. Judging teams were
divided into two groups; three judges took
on the task of evaluating outline, and the
other three judges scored color, scale details,
surface texture, and craftsmanship.
Unlike in many Scale competitions,
expect to lose points if you can’t prove that
your model looks the way it should at the
World Championships. Some Scale modelers
think this restricts the subjects they can
model, but I disagree. It simply allows the
contestant to show off how well his or her
model matches all the documentation.
Having photos of an airplane showing
both sides of the fuselage and many detail
shots is a huge advantage. You also need to
have at least one complete photo of the
entire aircraft you have modeled. Having
that picture is the minimum criteria for you
to compete. Of course, that won’t make you
a winner.
Static judges in FAI competition watch
for anything that looks like it belongs on a
model, such as wing bolts, mufflers sticking
out, switches, clevises, nonscale control
horns, servo hatches, and the entire cockpit
is judged. A few modelers actually move
control surfaces while the judges are
examining the cockpit to show that the
joystick and rudder pedals are connected to
that control surface.
In past years the competitors have asked
for notes back after the static judging so
they could tell why the judges counted
points off. This year the F4C team managers
received a total of 104 pages of notes taken
on 52 airplanes. The F4B static and flight
judges will be giving notes back at the next
World Championships.
The high static score this year in F4C
went to Great Britain’s Pete McDermott
with his Sopwith Snipe, just edging out
eventual winner Andreas Lüthi of
Switzerland with his Bücker Jungmeister.
Pete finished second overall with this
scratch-built model, which featured a bomb
drop in the flight routine.
The Snipe’s dummy aluminum radial
engine actually spun in flight, and it was
powered by a Laser-360v twin. This is an
experimental engine, and the only other one
used in competition was in South African
Humphrey LeGrice’s Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
The extensive detail and workmanship
in the Snipe, especially the cockpit—
including the woven seat and instruments
that lit up—the engine, and all the other
features clearly showed how Pete’s aircraft
took high static.
Humphrey LeGrice’s Fw 190A-6 was
another high-static model, with all its
cockpit detail including rudder pedals. All
the operational hatches opened on this
model, and most had scale detail on the
inside. Humphrey finished seventh overall.
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager earned
second place again with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat. The big 86.86-inch-wingspan
model had folding wings, as did the fullscale
aircraft, but Max’s did not have full
cockpits in the rear.
Power was provided by two O.S. .91 FS
engines, and the airplane weighed only
22.44 pounds. The all-scratch-built Tigercat
featured brakes and full retracts.
Andreas Lüthi brought his Bücker
Antares Jungmeister again with which to
compete in F4C. His documentation was
wonderful; the outline judges said the
model’s outline was almost flawless, which
is rare. That combined with the flying skills
of a modeler who practices almost every day
it doesn’t rain Andreas makes tough to beat.
He has won the last four World
Championships with two airplanes. Many
think it’s time for him to retire the
Jungmeister. Andreas’s win, along with his
team members Max Schilt’s and Gody
Fischer’s finishes, put them in third place in
the team competition.
The Czech Republic team fought its way
to a first-place finish. Team Manager Pavel
Fencl flew his Knoller C.II to a fifth-place
finish in F4C, but at the end of the second
round he was in second place.
Petr Tax of the Czech Republic brought a
new model to the competition this year: a
huge French Caudron G.IV that spanned 162
inches. He finished it just last summer. It
weighed only 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds)
and was powered by two Laser-200 fourstroke
engines.
The G.IV was a World War I twin
bomber and observation airplane that had
more struts and wires than anything else. It
was amazing to see how stable this model
was in flight. Petr did have some problems
with the model in the second round and
elected not to fly.
Petr finished in fourth place, and fellow
team member Karel Vodesil flew his Bristol
F.2B Fighter to an eight-place finish. All
three Czech models were large, well
detailed, and built from scratch.
Mechanical problems kept Team USA’s
F4C contingent out of the running. Gary
Parenti crash-landed his T-28 during
practice before his first official flight, and
with the damage to the wing and landing
gear the model was not reparable.
Gary’s dad Hal Parenti had an identical
T-28. Although he completed most of all
three flights, engine problems kept him out
of contention. Charlie Baker completed all
three of his flights with his Rawdon T-1 and
finished 35th overall.
The Team Selection competition for the
2008 FAI World Championships is mostly
set with most members of the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee. Chairman Mike
Gretz is voting to hold the event at the USA
FAI Scale Championships at Muncie,
Indiana, September 20-23. This first-year
event is limited to US residents and AMA
members.
Thanks to a Scale benefactor, NASA is
offering $10,000 in prize money for this
event. The top three finishers will create the
US team, and the fourth-place finisher will
be the alternate. Hope to see everyone there!
The World Championships is already set
for 2008 in Poland. Those who went to
Sweden seemed to have had a great
experience and were shown the best of times
and excellent administrative efforts. I look
forward to the next Team USA participating
in F4B and F4C classes.
Thanks for the hard work of the Swedish
aeroclub and Peter Kalloff, Bengt Lindgren,
Lennart Andersson, Johan Bagge, Lars-Erik
Borg, Bengt Lindgren Ulf Hammar, Bertil
Carlsson, Rolf Pahlsson, Ulf Malmqvist,
Riika Vilkuna, and Lillan Sahlin.
For more information about the 2006
World Championships, photos, and videos,
go to www.scalechamps-in-sweden.se. MA
Stan Alexander
[email protected]
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 45,46,47,48,52
Marc Levy of France built this large
turbine-powered Fouga Magister
for F4C. It weighs 14.9 kilograms
(kg)—right on the limit. This was
its first World Championships.
Peter Jensen photo.
Russian F4B team
member Vladimir
Bulatnikov powered
his 5.7kg AIR-1
Yakovlev biplane with
a Webra .61 engine.
He finished fourth.
Chuck Snyder photo.
Andreas Lüthi of Switzerland with his F4C-winning Bücker
Jungmeister. The 1/3-scale model is powered by a 62cc twostroke
engine. Left: The Bücker Jungmeister’s exquisite
cockpit detail combined with Andreas’s superb piloting
talent gave him the edge to win F4C.
British F4C member David Knott flies his
Hawker Hurricane.
F4B team member
Piotr Zawada of Poland
powered his 80-inch
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford
with O.S. .52 FS
engines. Jensen photo.
Above: Scale judges Nils Smith Andersen
(L) and Stan Alexander examine scale
details on Czech Pavel Fencl’s Knoller C.II
observation/bomber aircraft in F4C. All
fasteners on the cowling are operational.
Top right: Russian F4B team member
Alexander Chuchulin flew this 2.2-meterwingspan
SU-12. Snyder photo.
Bottom right: Team USA’s F4B team
members receive their Bronze medals at
Saturday night’s banquet. Snyder photo.
Far right: Hal (L) and Gary Parenti of the
US prepare Hal’s T-28 for the third flight in
F4C Friday before the end of the
competition.
SWEDEN WAS THE host country of the
19th Scale World Championships, held July
13-23, 2006. As do many countries that host
the World Championships, the Swedish
aeroclub used a military base, in the town of
Norrköping, to complete static and flight
competition.
The weather was great all week for a
championships, with little rain and light
winds. And as some of the locals noted,
there was no snow; evidently that can
happen even in July.
To represent their country at the World
Championships, Scale modelers usually
qualify at a Team Selection held by their
aeroclub—in our case AMA—the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee, and National
Association of Scale Aeromodelers
(NASA).
In 2005 our team was selected from an
open competition in which any AMA
member could participate. The winners were
awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals,
just as they would be at the World
Championships. Two classes were flown:
F4B (CL Scale) and F4C (RC Scale).
In roughly the past 10 years the rules
have changed for the better. Although they
Great Britain’s Pete McDermott’s F4C
Sopwith Snipe featured a bomb drop
maneuver and had a rotating dummy
aluminum radial engine. Jensen photo.
US team member Charlie
Baker’s Rawdon T-1 takes off
for the first round of the week.
Jensen photo.
Left: US F4B team
member Chuck
Snyder’s Henschel Hs
129 gets unpacked for
competition. These
boxes are used to
transport the models
inside Boeing 767
airliners. Jensen photo.
Below: Viatcheslaw
Chubatov of Russia
won the F4B title with
this O.S. enginepowered
Yak-52 he
built and flew. Jensen
photo.
South African
F4C team
member
Johan Ehlers’
scratch-built,
1/4-scale
Druine
Turbulent is
powered by an
O.S. 1.60 fourstroke
engine.
still require roughly 80 pages to print off,
that includes the most comprehensive list of
flight diagrams available for Scale
competition.
Most of the flight maneuvers for F4B
and F4C are similar, if not identical, to
AMA rule-book maneuvers. The weight
limit for F4C is up to 15 kilograms, which
equals 33.03 pounds. Several airplanes at the
World Championships almost reached that
weight limit, including the Bücker
Jungmeister, the F-15 Eagle, and the Fw 190
from South Africa.
A larger assortment of aircraft has been
competitive at the World Championships
recently, including jets, World War II types,
civil airplanes, and European favorite World
War I subjects. Ten years ago almost all the
top 10 finishers were World War I models of
some type, but that is no longer the case. A
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager was
runner-up in F4C with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat that features folding wings and
two O.S. .91 FS engines for power.
Some of the Polish team’s color
documentation. Note how the national
aero club stamped these large color chips
on the page and the chip.
TEAM USA
STANDINGS
F4B (CL Scale)
T E A M
3. US
I N D I V I D U A L
5. Dale Campbell
6. Chuck Snyder
11. Ralph Burnstine
F4C (RC Scale)
T E A M
15. US
I N D I V I D U A L
34. Hal Parenti
35. Charles Baker
52. Gary Parenti
GET INTO
Above: South African
Koos Pretorius’s
9.8kg T-6 flares for a
touchdown. It flew
well all week and
finished 15th in F4C.
Right: This gives you
an idea of some
details included in
many of the models:
an opening canopy
and full cockpit with
all the details. The
2 . 4 - m e t e r - s p a n
model is powered
by a Saito 270 twin.
Scale COMPETITION
For more information about and rules
for FAI Scale and information about the
2008 World Championships, check out
www.nasascale.org or www.modelaircraft.org
under the FAI link.
Keep the new weight rules in mind. The
F4C (RC Scale) limit is 33.03 pounds and the
F4B (CL Scale) limit is 13.22 pounds.
If you bring, for instance, a P-51D to the
World Championships, you must have at least
one photo of the complete full-scale airplane
you are going to compete with, pictures of the
details, and other photos of the same type of
airframe (another P-51D). MA
—AMA Headquarters
Team USA and
supporters at
the 2006 World
Championships
opening
ceremony.
Thor Arne Solberg of Norway
presents his Blackburn 1912 for a
flyby in F4C. It weighs only 7kg and
spans 97 inches. Jensen photo.
rebuilt 1930s biplane did finish first this
year, but other kinds were right on its heels
in static and flight competition.
At a World Championships a formal
dinner and opening ceremony are usually
followed by an air show and a parade
through the town in the host country. We
don’t do anything like that here in the US.
A World Championships can last eight or
nine days. Proposals are being circulated to
reduce this to a week. Organizers and many
competitors hope this happens soon.
The pit area for all the countries is
usually in a large tent or more often, as it
was this year, in a large gym or hangar.
Once you put your model together, it can
stay together for the entire contest. Teams
eat together, participate in the competition,
and closely watch the other teams compete
in static and especially flight competition.
Team USA, led by Manager Lloyd
Roberts, brought our national flag for
display and pins and giveaways for kids and
other competitors from around the world.
This is a great opportunity to meet
people of different nationalities,
make friends, and learn about
interesting documentation
sources. There were 19 countries
present for this year’s version of
the Championships.
After the teams
marched into the
national flag area
and F4 Scale Chairman Narve Jensen
opened the ceremony, local officials, the
mayor, and others talked briefly to the
gathered crowd.
Teams at the World Championships consist
of three competitors from each country in
each of the two classes. A team
US F4B team member Dale
Campbell’s Spacewalker II
was built to 1/4-scale and
powered by an O.S. 1.20 FS
engine. Jensen photo.
manager usually accompanies the team or he
or she can be one of the three team
members.
This year the team from Poland won F4B
with its members placing second, third, and
eighth. The Silver medals went to the team
from Russia, with team members finishing
in first, fourth, and 10th place. Less than 100
points separated the two places.
Team USA finished third overall, with
Bronze medals awarded to Dale Campbell
who finished fifth, Chuck Snyder who
finished sixth, Ralph Burnstine who
finished 11th, and F4B Team Manager
Richard Schneider.
There was some controversy about the
winning Yak-52 performing nonaerobatic
maneuvers and a “leaflet drop” during the
flight performance, which I can understand.
The Russian Yak with the overall white
color scheme is definitely an aerobatic
aircraft, and one would expect the flight
routine to reflect this.
Second place went to the twin-engine
Airspeed AS.10 Oxford by Piotr Zawada,
who also served as the Polish F4B team
manager. His Oxford had a wingspan of 79
inches, was powered by two O.S. .52 FS
engines, and had all its other parts, including
the landing gear, scratch built.
Third place went to former World
Champion Marian Kazirod of Poland with
his Fairey Battle Mk II. It had a wingspan of
85.75 inches and was powered by an O.S.
1.20 FS engine. The model weighed only
6.2 kilograms, which is just more than 12
pounds.
Twins and multiengine models are still
competitive in F4B. Chuck Snyder flew a
Henschel Hs 129B-2/R-2, which was flown
on the Eastern Front in World War II. The
twin-engine tank buster and ground-attack
airplane was powered by two Thunder Tiger
.46 two-stroke engines. The model weighed
6.87 kilograms and had a wingspan of 76
inches.
Dale Campbell flew his highly detailed
Spacewalker II, which was built to 1/4 scale
and powered with an O.S. 1.20 FS engine.
The model was covered with fabric and
painted with dope.
Mechanical problems kept Ralph
Burnstine out of contention with his de
Havilland Chipmunk trainer. This model
was also powered by an O.S. four-stroke
engine.
F4C static judging actually started before
the opening ceremony. Judging teams were
divided into two groups; three judges took
on the task of evaluating outline, and the
other three judges scored color, scale details,
surface texture, and craftsmanship.
Unlike in many Scale competitions,
expect to lose points if you can’t prove that
your model looks the way it should at the
World Championships. Some Scale modelers
think this restricts the subjects they can
model, but I disagree. It simply allows the
contestant to show off how well his or her
model matches all the documentation.
Having photos of an airplane showing
both sides of the fuselage and many detail
shots is a huge advantage. You also need to
have at least one complete photo of the
entire aircraft you have modeled. Having
that picture is the minimum criteria for you
to compete. Of course, that won’t make you
a winner.
Static judges in FAI competition watch
for anything that looks like it belongs on a
model, such as wing bolts, mufflers sticking
out, switches, clevises, nonscale control
horns, servo hatches, and the entire cockpit
is judged. A few modelers actually move
control surfaces while the judges are
examining the cockpit to show that the
joystick and rudder pedals are connected to
that control surface.
In past years the competitors have asked
for notes back after the static judging so
they could tell why the judges counted
points off. This year the F4C team managers
received a total of 104 pages of notes taken
on 52 airplanes. The F4B static and flight
judges will be giving notes back at the next
World Championships.
The high static score this year in F4C
went to Great Britain’s Pete McDermott
with his Sopwith Snipe, just edging out
eventual winner Andreas Lüthi of
Switzerland with his Bücker Jungmeister.
Pete finished second overall with this
scratch-built model, which featured a bomb
drop in the flight routine.
The Snipe’s dummy aluminum radial
engine actually spun in flight, and it was
powered by a Laser-360v twin. This is an
experimental engine, and the only other one
used in competition was in South African
Humphrey LeGrice’s Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
The extensive detail and workmanship
in the Snipe, especially the cockpit—
including the woven seat and instruments
that lit up—the engine, and all the other
features clearly showed how Pete’s aircraft
took high static.
Humphrey LeGrice’s Fw 190A-6 was
another high-static model, with all its
cockpit detail including rudder pedals. All
the operational hatches opened on this
model, and most had scale detail on the
inside. Humphrey finished seventh overall.
Germany’s Max Merckenschlager earned
second place again with his Grumman F7F
Tigercat. The big 86.86-inch-wingspan
model had folding wings, as did the fullscale
aircraft, but Max’s did not have full
cockpits in the rear.
Power was provided by two O.S. .91 FS
engines, and the airplane weighed only
22.44 pounds. The all-scratch-built Tigercat
featured brakes and full retracts.
Andreas Lüthi brought his Bücker
Antares Jungmeister again with which to
compete in F4C. His documentation was
wonderful; the outline judges said the
model’s outline was almost flawless, which
is rare. That combined with the flying skills
of a modeler who practices almost every day
it doesn’t rain Andreas makes tough to beat.
He has won the last four World
Championships with two airplanes. Many
think it’s time for him to retire the
Jungmeister. Andreas’s win, along with his
team members Max Schilt’s and Gody
Fischer’s finishes, put them in third place in
the team competition.
The Czech Republic team fought its way
to a first-place finish. Team Manager Pavel
Fencl flew his Knoller C.II to a fifth-place
finish in F4C, but at the end of the second
round he was in second place.
Petr Tax of the Czech Republic brought a
new model to the competition this year: a
huge French Caudron G.IV that spanned 162
inches. He finished it just last summer. It
weighed only 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds)
and was powered by two Laser-200 fourstroke
engines.
The G.IV was a World War I twin
bomber and observation airplane that had
more struts and wires than anything else. It
was amazing to see how stable this model
was in flight. Petr did have some problems
with the model in the second round and
elected not to fly.
Petr finished in fourth place, and fellow
team member Karel Vodesil flew his Bristol
F.2B Fighter to an eight-place finish. All
three Czech models were large, well
detailed, and built from scratch.
Mechanical problems kept Team USA’s
F4C contingent out of the running. Gary
Parenti crash-landed his T-28 during
practice before his first official flight, and
with the damage to the wing and landing
gear the model was not reparable.
Gary’s dad Hal Parenti had an identical
T-28. Although he completed most of all
three flights, engine problems kept him out
of contention. Charlie Baker completed all
three of his flights with his Rawdon T-1 and
finished 35th overall.
The Team Selection competition for the
2008 FAI World Championships is mostly
set with most members of the FAI Scale
Team Selection Committee. Chairman Mike
Gretz is voting to hold the event at the USA
FAI Scale Championships at Muncie,
Indiana, September 20-23. This first-year
event is limited to US residents and AMA
members.
Thanks to a Scale benefactor, NASA is
offering $10,000 in prize money for this
event. The top three finishers will create the
US team, and the fourth-place finisher will
be the alternate. Hope to see everyone there!
The World Championships is already set
for 2008 in Poland. Those who went to
Sweden seemed to have had a great
experience and were shown the best of times
and excellent administrative efforts. I look
forward to the next Team USA participating
in F4B and F4C classes.
Thanks for the hard work of the Swedish
aeroclub and Peter Kalloff, Bengt Lindgren,
Lennart Andersson, Johan Bagge, Lars-Erik
Borg, Bengt Lindgren Ulf Hammar, Bertil
Carlsson, Rolf Pahlsson, Ulf Malmqvist,
Riika Vilkuna, and Lillan Sahlin.
For more information about the 2006
World Championships, photos, and videos,
go to www.scalechamps-in-sweden.se. MA
Stan Alexander
[email protected]