Radio Control: Combat
THE BIGGEST news in 704 Scale Radio Control (RC) Combat isn't a new kit or a rules change; it's the creation of our Special Interest Group (SIG): the American Scale Dogfighters Association (ADA). This group was formed for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that as with other SIGs, people who are involved in the event can use their experience to promote and direct its future. Direction from those who understand 704 Scale Combat and understand the impact that changes have on it is important to ensure continued growth.
Radio Control: Combat
ONE INDICATION that RC Combat is booming is the number of manufacturers that have begun to kit models or have added to their current model line to fill the growing demand. It was not too long ago that we were forced to pick our way through swap shops, looking for a few out-of-production kits that might be suitable for use. Today it's an entirely new picture (except that picking your way though a good swap shop is still a lot of fun) with more than a dozen active kit manufacturers producing models for 1/12-scale RC Combat!
Radio Control: Combat
FOR YEARS, the Top Gun event has meant top-notch entertainment for Radio Control (RC) fliers and spectators. This year, the hosting West Palm Beach Aero Club added an entertaining facet to the contest: Scale RC Combat. Twenty Combat fliers, some from as far away as Hawaii, came to Florida to put on a spectacular show for the crowds. After five elimination rounds, the top-scoring 12 pilots performed their final round in front of midday crowds on Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25. When the dust settled, Kevin Crandell, a 15-year-old pilot from Irvine CA, walked away with the honors. How did Kevin get that good? He regularly flies Combat with his Dad, who placed 13th, and his uncle, who placed fifth in the event!
Radio Control Combat
IT'S TIME TO update some vocabulary words as Radio Control (RC) Combat grows in popularity. The RC Combat Special Interest Group, formerly the American Scale Dogfighters Association (ASDA), has changed its name to the Radio Control Combat Association (RCCA) to show its greater involvement in the non-Scale or Open Combat events. The RCCA is the place for all fliers interested in RC Combat in Scale and Open events. Join by contacting AMA, Attn: RC Combat Association, Box 3028, Muncie IN 47302.
Radio Control: Combat
I'VE HAD MANY questions about changes in the 704 rules for Scale Radio Control (RC) Combat. It's very difficult for me to talk about these changes in this column because of the time lag between when I sit down and type and the time that you actually see the column. About three months passes between those times, and unfortunately, as I write today, I know that some of the things in my last column have changed before you have even seen them. So after a brief reassurance that no upcoming change is going to dramatically alter the face of Scale RC Combat, but rather expand fliers' options, I'm going to stick to a more "timeless" subject for this column. When 704 Scale RC Combat was first published in the AMA Competition Regulations handbook, one line read that the model had to be a "scale replica of a combat aircraft." That meant that the model's shape and color would reproduce that of the Combat aircraft represented.
