Control Line: Navy Carrier
THE NATS is about a month away. If you haven't begun building yet, it is time to start! This year's Carrier events are shaping up to be the best in quite a few years. Dayton is centrally located among the major Carrier centers in the northern and eastern US with easy access by interstate highway. This may run the number of Carrier entries over the 200 mark. There are sure to be many past and present Nats winners and record holders attending, and the competition should be quite exciting. The Scale classes will lead off this year on Tuesday, August 3, with Profile following on Wednesday. Lu Baker will be directing the Carrier activities with two decks and nine hours of flying scheduled for each day.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
NOW THAT Carrier fliers have had some experience under the revised scoring system, it is becoming easier to associate high- and low-speed performance with the corresponding flight score. The confusion that was apparent at the beginning of the year has diminished considerably. I have been reviewing Carrier scores from many of the Carrier contests this year, and I have seen many scores reported to 0.01 point. Much of this is the result of old habits, but there is some concern that the change to 0.01 point scoring is a loss of accuracy that might create some problems in determining placing, particularly with flight scores being closer together. I have seen no duplicate scores yet (through mid-June), but the possibility does exist, and I would like to hear your views on resolving ties when they occur.
Nats Control Line: Scale
THE CL SCALE competition at Wright Field was a joy to watch with a wide variety of aircraft and a large number of entries. A total of 36 airplanes were flown, with a mix of civil and military, domestic and foreign, modern and vintage aircraft that provided four hours of continuous action on the two circles. The flight circles this year were directly in front of the HQ hangar which helped increase the number of spectators, and there was plenty for them to watch. The large turnout in CL Scale this year was due largely to the addition of the Sport Scale event to the schedule. Twenty-three airplanes were submitted for static judging with 17 of these in the Open age category.
Short Seamew
ONE OF THE MOST enjoyable aspects of the scale Navy Carrier events is looking for suitable subjects to model. A few years ago, my search for carrier-based aircraft turned up the Short "Seamew" which appeared to be a good prospect for the Carrier event. The feature which appealed to me most on the Seamew was the unusual shape of the forward fuselage which allows a semicowled, rat racer type of engine installation with minimum frontal area. The Seamew was manufactured by Short Brothers and Harland, Ltd. for the British Royal Navy. The first prototype flew in August 1953. It was followed by production versions which were modified slightly from the original configuration. The production Seamews had slightly more dihedral, leading edge slots to improve aileron control and a vented fillet on the horizontal stabilizer to improve elevator and rudder effectiveness.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
G-S Products F8F Bearcat: There are very few kits on the market designed for the Profile Carrier event. G-S Products Corp., International, PO Box 466, LaGrande, OR 97850, makes three of them-Sky-raider, Corsair, and Bearcat. I built the Bearcat and found it to be a well-engineered kit with good flying qualities. The $24.95 price is not unreasonable considering the workmanship and the hardware included in the kit. Parts are sawn, not die-cut, and tail surfaces are shaped and have hinge slots already cut. Hardware includes Klett hinges and a G-S 3-line bellcrank with leadouts.
