Control Line: Combat
I noticed on some of the contest flyers I've received that there will be special restrictions in Slow Combat and Slow Rat. The biggest limiting factor has been the engine rule which requires only a Fox .35 Stunt engine. Northwest Sport Race has been super-successful using this engine, as has their Very Slow Combat using the same engine. It seems that on the local level most people are dissatisfied with the full-blown Slow Combat models and want a truly "slow" model-hence the Stunt-engine requirement.
Control Line: Combat
MORTGAGE the house, the car, or whatever it takes to get a plane ticket to Seattle for Bladder Grabber VII. Unfortunately for most of you who get your MA by regular mail, this super Triple-Elimination Fast Combat contest will be history. Over $5,000 in prizes will be awarded for first through fifth place for the richest of all Combat contests. If you are among the lucky and receive a copy of MA, then please alert any potential candidates for the meet to be held June 26-27.
Control Line: Combat
DAWG FIGHTERS take the Northwest Regionals. Gene Pape's quick-to-build Fast Combat model (as reviewed in my last column) placed first and second at the Regionals, with Gene winning first and Howard Rush second using some of Gene's models. Last year, Norm McFadden and I made good use of Gene's models, too. The two test samples I received from Gene have also seen much action. Performance is only limited by the amount of power available, so use a strong engine to overcome the slight dragginess caused by the clipped trailing edge.
1982 AMA Nats: CL Combat
THE FIRST THING that happens to most of us when we return home after a Nationals is that the phone starts ringing and all our friends want to know who won what. If you just can't wait, then turn to the complete results a few pages back in this issue, because we're starting at the beginning. Actually, the beginning starts about three years ago when the Lincoln site was used for the 1979 Nationals. It appeared that there had been no rainfall on the Combat site since that time to soften up the ground, because the field would score quite a way up the Rockwell hardness scale. Only a little mist one morning-and that only softened up the streamers. The type of grass (or weeds) found on the field didn't lend itself to being marked out very easily, as the circle markings just melted away. After the first day or two, the center circle was very well broken in and will be easy to find for the next year or two (we heard that it was visible for about a year after the 1979 Nats).
Control Line: Combat
NEW COVERING. At this past Nationals I met Paul Baluch, who is marketing a new covering called (appropriately enough) Baluch Covering. Unlike some of the other coverings that shatter or tear, this new product seems invulnerable to just about anything. The picture shows Paul dropping a screwdriver on the wing of his model, but we really torture-tested another model that had been center-punched during a match.
