Control Line: Combat
SOME MONTHS BACK, I gave you some preliminary data on the Fox Mark 7 Combat Special, but I did not include any photographs. This month you'll get a good look at its outward appearance, as well as its internal organs. The crankshaft is very robust and does not appear to have any weaknesses-I haven't heard of anyone breaking one. Those horrible Phillips-head screws are gone from the cylinder-head clamp, but they can still be found holding on the backplate. The crankcase is all-new; it's not merely a retooled version of the Mark 6. The mounting lugs are thicker, and they don't look like they will break in a hard ground check. The engine still has the standard all-steel crankshaft stud, prop washer, and nut; these can easily be replaced with a titanium bolt and a lightweight aluminum washer to save lots of weight.
Control Line: World Championships
Control Line World Championships are always momentous occasions, and the 1996 version was no exception. The Sveriges Modellflygforbund (Swedish Model Flyers Association) is to be commended. Located at the edge of Norrkoping is an old military field that housed the Royal Bravalla Swedish Air Force F 13 wing until 1992. The Bravalla facility continues to be a center for flying activities. The American teams (F2A Speed, F2B Stunt, F2C Team Racing, and F2D Combat) had some personnel changes. The Original F2D team consisted of Don Cranfil, Mark Rudner, and Richard Stubblefield.
Control Line: Combat
ONCE EVERY two years, we US Combat Pilots get semi-serious about FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) Combat (also known as F2D) because there is usually a paid overseas trip on the line, and more importantly, the right to represent the US in the Control Line World Championships. It's an honor and a very large responsibility; one does not want to seem unprepared and noncompetitive. The reputation of US Combat pilots, as seen by the world at large, is in the hands of the three of four who are chosen at the team trials. For the World Championships, you used to be able to spend countless hours building models, then test-flying them so that they would be just right. Even more time was spent on the engine upgrades and tuneups. The early Fox .15s used in the 1970s could be considered assembled kits that needed to be disassembled, massaged, carefully fitted, measured (blueprinted), reassembled with many new components, then tested for performance. Some of the engines worked really well and others were less than satisfactory.
Control Line: Combat
I HAVE BEEN thinking about the number of Control Line (CL) Combat kits that are available at hobby shops, and have come to the conclusion that there are no modern kits to be found. The only kits that you may see would be something such as a VooDoo or a Lil' Satan by the Carl Goldberg company. I cannot recall the last time I saw one of these kits in a hobby shop. This becomes a real problem in exposing potential modelers to our hobby. Most hobby shop owners these days know little, if anything, about CL Combat.
Sly Sir
THIS IS THE BEST all around 1/2A Combat model that has been designed to date, in my opinion. There are wooden 1/2A Combat models that will fly just as well as this one, but as far as crash resistance goes, foam has it all over balsa models. That's quite a statement, but one that I believe to be true. I have been flying 1/2A Combat since 1965 and have designed three 1/2A Combat models that have been published, one of which was produced as a kit. You can see that I have a fair amount of experience. Steve Hills, the designer of SlySir, has been flying since 1955, and he has also designed several 1/2A Combat models, though this is his first design to published. A great many of the Combat pilots in Southern California have long recognized the soundness of Steve's foam designs and have used them year after year.
