Control Line: Combat
THE MONEY NATS is now history. It will be remembered as the richest meet cashwise (the Bladder Grabber offers $10,000 worth of merchandise), 159 hard-fought matches, and a refreshing touch of good sportsmanship. The big winner was Team TWA member Jim Womack from Salt Lake City, who took home the $1,000 prize. Jim used TWA engines, some well-built foam models, and some very solid flying. Runner-up was Michael Willcox from Houston, TX, who won the Bladder Grabber last summer and had this year's thousand in his grasp. In the final, it came down to Michael with only one loss and Jim Womack with two-which meant that Jim had to win twice. In the first match Michael flew conservatively and lost, so it came down to one match for everything.
Control Line: Combat
COMPLAINTS! One that is most often heard is that mere mortals are unable to obtain the really exotic stuff that the pros are able to use to their advantage. If you weren't able to get one of the 20 McCollum piston/liner sets or possibly a Brasher crank, there's still hope. Cipolla made 200 ABC piston/liner sets for the Fox which can be used as either replacements for early iron versions or for the Mark VI. The sets cost $39.95 plus $1 for P&H and are available from Doc Passen, P.O. Box 111, Jasonville, IN 47438. Early reports from Chicago indicate that the Cipolla (or "Foxolla") is fast, needles well, and shakes less than the iron-piston setups. The Cipolla piston is of very robust design and features a single "circlip" holding the wrist pin in place. If you get one, you'll have to grind down one end of your Fox wrist pin to fit this new piston, and the sample I received needed a little X-Acto work to deburr the ports. Reports on reliability and performance will follow in a later column.
AMA Nats: CL Combat
MEMORABLE. The previous Nats held in Lincoln in 1979 and 1982 were good-but not especially memorable. Combat had good matches, but that was about all. The 1982 Nats will be remembered, though, as the one where the lights were turned off by an errant Slow Combat model. The fly-away model, trailing its control lines, flew around some power lines located in the vicinity of the site and caused a transformer to blow in a spectacular fashion. A professional photographer caught the action, and it was on display in the AMA HQ tent along with a lot of other neat photos available to the contestants. The Celebrity Fun-Fly featured Burt Rutan (designer of the around-the-world Voyager plane) flying against Hazel Sig-Hester using a couple of her models which may be kitted in the future. It was one-to-one when the rest of the AMA officials and Duke Fox got into the fray, turning it into the biggest free-for-all since the 1971 Nats where California challenged the world. Vince "Head-On-Pass" Mankowski and Duke Fox put on the best show, with the winner being the one with the slightly faster engine.
Control Line: Combat
CLOSE! How many matches have been lost because one pilot was the second one up? I watched closely the pit work of the Texas teams during the latest Nats, and there may be a thing or two for all of us to learn. The first step is to get out to the circle early and get the model ready. Run the engine to make sure the setting is right, the needle is locked down, and all that. Shut the engine off and refill the bladder (if necessary), turn the model upside down, and put four drops of fuel in the exhaust. Turn the crankshaft (in the normal direction of rotation) until the piston is up at the top of its compression stroke. Keep the exhaust port closed, and don't flip the prop or put on the starting battery. You can leave it in this mode for a minute or two, although it's better to do this drill in the 30 sec. before the start time of the match.
Control Line: Combat
REVOLUTIONARY stuff is in the column this month-but you aren't permitted to read any further until you send in your MACA (Miniature Aircraft Combat Association-Ed.) subscription. I haven't plugged MACA for a couple of months, so get those checkbooks out and send your 10 bucks to MACA Secretary-Treasurer Mike Urban, 316 Spring Ave., Glen Ellyn, IL 60137. Besides all the latest information from around the world and reports from various districts, there were seven pages of pictures in the latest issue of the newsletter, plus some super cartoons by Steve Hills and a MACA survey on what you want in Combat. This is the time to join MACA while newsletter editor Pete Plunkett is still filled with energy and enthusiasm and Combat seems to be on such an upswing.
