Scalemasters
THE WEATHER that greeted us on Wednesday, strong 30 mph winds with temperatures in the 30s, appeared to be the biggest gamble facing the qualifiers at the 1991 Scalemasters. It was second only to the gaming tables in the casino at Vacation Village, the headquarters motel. Located at the very end of the Las Vegas Boulevard south of the famous lighted strip, the motel provided very reasonable room rates and easy access to the two floors of rooms from a huge parking lot. Nice for those handling the bigger models.
Top Gun 1992
TOP GUN is a premier invitational Scale event. The 1992 meet was held at the West Palm Beach Polo Club in Wellington, Florida-the same location as in '91. Frank Tiano's dream of a great event is attracting more and more modelers and public alike to this magnificent field with great facilities and food. There was a great enough variety of models and designs to please anyone. "Heavy metal" WW II planes, WW I examples, private planes, and transports competed head-to-head for the honors of Top Gun. A little Waco bipe in 1:1.5 scale took not only top static points of 96.02 but highest overall score of 186.52. Charlie Nelson has been flying it since 1987. All scores at Top Gun represented the best three out of four flight scores averaged and then added to the static score.
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Sponsors its Aero Design `92
UNIVERSITIES from around the world joined 61 U.S. schools in sending their top engineering students to the Daytona Beach, Florida, area for the seventh annual Radio-Controlled Cargo Aircraft Competition, held the weekend of May 1-3, 1992. Informally called Aero-Design '92, the contest is sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers student club at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The engineering students compete in a weight-lifting challenge similar to the free flight PAA Load event, sponsored by the now-defunct Pan American Airways, that was part of the AMA Nationals in the 1950s and became a Provisional AMA event in 1968. The action took place at the Golden Eagles R/C Club flying site in Deland. A large, full-size airport with one end of a closed runway set aside for model airplane use, this is the location of choice for many flying events in Florida.
The Scale Masters: 1992 Finale of Premier RC Scale Contests
THIRTEEN. Yes, the 1992 Scale Masters Tournament in Irving, Texas, was the 13th time this great event has been held. It featured some new faces and some old faces this year. Irving is the home of the Dallas Cowboys. The Fort Worth/Dallas Holiday Inn served as the headquarters hotel, as it did two years ago at the Scale Masters. That meet also used the same runway at the George F. Myer Memorial Park, which is located about two miles northeast of the motel in the Irving city park. Ernest Harwood did a great job as Contest Director, aided by the Irving R/C Flyers Association, which is made up of some 400 members. Dr. Miles Poor is the 1992 president of the association. The field was new two years ago but had suffered some weather damage, with the worst of it right on the centerline of the runway. As a result, the centerline was not used. For purposes of rules interpretations, the centerline was determined to be the part of the runway used by the plane for takeoff.
The Greatest Show on Earth
THE GREATEST SHOW on earth-in scale modeling-is Top Gun. This invitational meet just completed its fifth successful year and was held once more at the beautiful West Palm Beach Polo Club. All the planes that flew at Top Gun were beaten by a scratch-built civilian aircraft, the Globe Swift, copied by Corvin Miller from a blue, white, and gold pinstriped full-size privately-owned plane from Venice, Florida.
