Free Flight: Scale/Sport
JOHN PRESTON WANTS YOU! Volunteers with some Scale savvy will be in great demand this year, with the Nats being split between Seguin, TX and West Baden, IN. If you are planning to be at either of these events or know someone who will be there, give a thought to joining the "Good Guy Squadron" and giving a hand with the judging, timing, or general officiating. What an opportunity to get your hands on all of those little beauties entered (almost like holding the tape measure in a Miss America Pageant!) Another idea would be for a single club to take on the running of a single Scale event. Don't wait, call John this evening at (703) 532-2417 or during the day at (301) 492-6604. John and the National Association of Scale Aeromodelers are doing a bang-up job and deserve our support in promoting Scale.
Free Flight: Scale/Sport
IN REPLY TO the readers who wonder why the column is not spending more time with hints and tips, just let me say that there are magnificent in-depth treasuries available: Bill Hannan's Peanut Power, Bill McCombs' Flying and Improving Scale Model Airplanes, Fred Hall's Indoor Scale Model Flying, and the new entry into the field, Ron Williams' Building and Flying Indoor Model Airplanes. Suffice it to say that a thousand words every other month cannot even begin to scratch the surface of what the above books do so well. If one is a real Scale nut, there are a number of clubs devoted to this art such as the Flightmasters, Flying Aces, D.C. Maxecuters, Detroit Cloudbusters, Scale Staffel in San Diego, Cleveland Free Flight Society, etc. Their newsletters are a source of inspiration and rejuvenation, and are not as limited as this column. We'll continue to pass on the tips which are either unique or of recurring use. Keep 'em coming in!
Free Flight: Scale/Sport
"NEVER try to teach a pig to fly. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."-anon. The Hangar Pilot, newsletter of the famed Miama group (sparked by the old Opa-Locka fox, Doc Martin) often carries the slogan, "Indoor is not for everyone!" True enough. Not everyone could get into the flying site, for one thing. Especially if it was full of Cuban refugees. Certainly Control Line is not for everyone, either, due to the fact that some people get dizzy going around in circles. The economic requirements for entry into the RC fraternity need no restatement, and pricing the latest in kits and equipment will confirm that RC is not for all.
Free Flight: Scale/Sport
LET'S HEAR IT for the SOTS! Rowland Hoot, writing from the wilds of Pennsylvania, accuses us of ". . . ignoring SOTS with a vengeance." Rowland notes, not only have they a number of natinally-recognized Scalers like Dave Reese, but they have recently hosted two major Scale meets (Lakehurst and Warminster). With an acronym like that (stands for Scale Old-Timer Society) how can they lose? Remember SCUM (Southern Connecticut Ultimate Modelers)? Keep twistin' them gum-bands, men!
Free Flight: Sport/Scale
EVER NOTICE THAT the majority of modelers who fly in your club's contests are in their forties and fifties? When they die off, what is going to happen to the art? Where are the Juniors? I'd like to have a buck for every time that line has appeared in an AMA publication. A note from Doug Dahlke up in Oshkosh, WI got me to thinking a little more on this perennial problem. He suggests that a club might give any modeler who brings a "ready-to-fly" Junior to a contest a free entry fee. Also, let the Juniors fly first. At the Flightmasters West meets in L.A., Juniors fly free, and they have even tried having an hour set aside in which the "expert" modelers do nothing but help the beginners of all ages. I've seen a lot of things tried, and I've seen plenty of failure.
