July 11, 2007 Inside today’s issue: CL Speed CL Racing CL Stunt RC Helicopter

Outdoor Events

July 11 RC Helicopter RC Helicopter Scale Helicopters: This year, Scale development on his electric-powered Cobra Control Line Helicopters have come to the forefront with and it flies superbly with a flybarless, two- CL Speed nearly twice as many entries as any other blade head. He will be another serious 21 Sport Speed Helicopter class. Few of the models have competitor. F2A Speed flybars; most are multiblade with a Several new faces have shown up: Kerry sprinkling of two-blade machines. The Muncy with one of his fabulous Apaches, CL Racing Scale Racing standard of the models is extremely high this Sergio Sanchez with a beautiful A-Star, and *B Team Race year and the judges are going to have their several others. I wish them all the very best work cut out deciding the winner. of luck. CL Combat The weather will be a factor with Joe Howard is here in a different mode. F2D Combat increasing winds forecast during the day He usually runs the Scale contest at IRCHA. CL Aerobatics making some of these machines *Old Time Classic Stunt difficult to fly. It will be an 8AM interesting day at the Scale *Classic Stunt 8AM Helicopter flying site and another to follow tomorrow, weather permitting. Len Mount has returned with Weather last year’s winning turbine- powered Scout. With a year of Wednesday Friday Hi 82 F Hi 72 F tuning under his belt, he is a Lo 65 F Lo 56 F serious contender for honors Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy again this year. Darrell Sprayberry also has a year’s Thursday Saturday Hi 81 F Hi 81 F Lo 59 F Lo 53 F Cloudy Partly Cloudy Weather courtesy of WTHR’s Skytrack Weather at www.wthr.com.

Academy of Model Aeronautics International Aeromodeling Center, Muncie IN Web site: www.modelaircraft.org E-mail: [email protected] Bob Harris competed in Scale Helicopter with a Vario Bell 412. Copyright Academy of Model Aeronautics 2007 1 Today he will be flying his beautiful ¼- everyone scurrying to get scale 47G and it will be his turn to feel their models under cover and the pressure. their tents dismantled, but by the time they had done it, it Day Two: We had a superb day at the was all over and the sun was Scale Helicopter event. Static judging shining again. Fortunately commenced early Tuesday and was the wind died down briefly completed by late morning. We managed and we managed to finish to get one round of flying in before the round with the last three lunch while the wind was steadily competitors enjoying increasing in strength but all the comparatively calm Emile Sheriff and Darrell Sprayberry competitors coped admirably with no conditions. with Emile’s Blackhawk. mishaps. We had a couple of We decided to try to get a second incidents: one when Emile Sheriff made round in after lunch and before a a desperate attempt to complete his forecast rain squall set in and we nearly transitional landing in the circle, set his made it! A couple of competitors pretty Blackhawk down a little too declined to fly because they were not firmly, and this started a ground comfortable in the wind. A judgment resonance causing mostly cosmetic decision as Wednesday’s forecast was damage to the helicopter. wet and windy until late morning, then Sergio Sanchez had been struggling just windy. with his beautiful A-Star all day. He Everybody who flew coped well with finally got it in the air only to find the wind—especially Len Mount who himself in serious trouble in the strong did a superb flight and showed why he wind with a helicopter he wasn’t used to won last year. Will he again be this flying. Again, the damage was slight and Mike Rose’s Bell 47 is powered with a gas engine. year’s victor? the model will be back next year. A strong wind and the rain had —Peter Wales

CL Combat Right: F2D winners (L-R) include first- place Phil Cartier, second-place Don Sopka, and third-place Howard Rush. Here is a short report on today’s action in F2D Combat. The main reason this is Below: Left to right are Phil Granderson, going to be a short report is that we only Larry Scarinzi, and John Gladfelter. had four entries in the event. But the people who were there had a really good time! We took everything at a leisurely rate and we were finished by noon. The best match of the day was between Phil Cartier and Don Sopka. I want to thank the people who volunteered to be judges: Rich Oesterle, Bob Sylvia, Pat Zerfas, and John Gladfelter. —Wayne McDaniels

Left: Don Sopka (L) and Howard Rush.

Right: Contestant Phil Cartier (L) and judge Pat Zerfas.

2 CL Carrier

but it’s not over yet. The model must land on the carrier deck with the tailhook engaging one of the arresting lines stretched across the aft half of the deck to bring it to a stop. Models that represent full-scale carrier-based aircraft receive a bonus, and there are many interesting and often obscure aircraft modeled. Modelers with an interest in Naval history can find aircraft that existed for only a short time and perhaps only as a single prototype aircraft. John Vlna is particularly good at finding obscure aircraft, and he’ll probably surprise us again this year. At the last Nats, he brought out a model of the Ki-76 high- This Brewster Bermuda is one example of the obscure aircraft wing observation aircraft that was flown from Japanese that can show up in the CL Navy Carrier events. The Bermuda was modeled by Gary Hull. Profile Carrier models must use carriers in World War II. With many rare aircraft no suction fuel systems. longer is existence, the CL Navy Carrier events are likely the only place one can see some of these aircraft flying

The Control Line Navy Carrier competition kicks off Thursday and it promises to be a good week of competition with some new models and some new contestants as well as most of the modelers who’ve been enjoying Nats competitions for years. With three days of competition, there will be plenty of Navy Carrier flying to watch. There are so many different things happening in the Navy Carrier events that there’s something for nearly everyone. CL Navy Carrier combines a variety of challenges for the modeler into a single event. The models are 1 timed for /2 mile from a standing-start takeoff from the simulated aircraft carrier deck to determine the high speed capability of the model. Speeds can reach nearly 120 mph. The pilot then slows the engine and model for a timed 1/2 mile at its slowest possible speed (as slow as 7-5 mph with the model hanging on the propeller). A combination of the two speeds makes up the flight score, Art Johnson entered these two models of the Grumman Guardian in the Nostalgia Carrier events. Nostalgia Navy Carrier gives a bonus for older model designs and older engines. The 33-inch-span model in front uses a McCoy 60.

today—if only in model form. Thursday’s schedule includes Profile Carrier and the unofficial Sportsman Profile Carrier event. Thursday will be the high-performance full-body scale models of Class I and Class II with engine limits of .40 and .65 cubic inches respectively. Friday the rest of the unofficial events will be flown: Sig Skyray Carrier, .15 Carrier, and three classes of Nostalgia Carrier. The Nostalgia Carrier models can be some of the fastest models on the deck since the old (1952-1976) scoring system used in Nostalgia places a high scoring emphasis on the high- speed portion of the flying. The next CL Navy Carrier column will look at some of the models that will compete in the Profile Navy Carrier events. Come back throughout the week Scale models of the original aircraft are flown in the Class I and Class II for information on results, personalities, models, and, events. The larger engines and unrestricted fuel systems make these the of course, lots of photographs. fastest of the Navy Carrier models. Ron Duly entered this 1923 Glenn Martin MO-1 in the 2006 Nats. —Dick Perry

3 CL Racing

Tuesday began with Scale Racing— time of 6:50.09. informally called Goodyear—with In the second race of the finals, eight entries flying. Qualifying races I was paired against Steve were scheduled in rounds with each Eichenberger. During the warm- consisting of two heats for the two-up up, I could not get the engine to races. “clean out,” a sign of a bad plug. First round found Jim Ricketts With one minute left in the warm- paired with Jason Allen. Jim turned a up, I pulled the offending plug and good time in the second heat of got the engine warmed up at the 3:10.16. The second round had me very last minute. (Bill Lee) flying against Bob Oge. I At “Go!” I was off with a turned in the fastest qualifying time of perfect start! But at the first pit, the day at 3:04.37, while Oge ran disaster struck when the model 3:17.03 in his second heat. nosed over slightly on the launch The third round was Dave Betz and after another near-perfect one-flip Dave Hull with Betz turning his best start, and sheared off 1/2 inch of time of 3:19.55 in the second heat of the propeller on each tip. Still the round. The fourth round was flying—slower—but still swift Jimmy Ricketts and Steve enough to be competitive. The Eichenberger. Steve ran his best time second pit was again quick in-and- of 3:18.08 in his first heat. out despite the shortened prop, but in that tank the glow plug failed. On the third stop, the plug still showed good on the meter, but would not light. Rather than changing the plug, I pulled it out at 108 laps. Steve Action in the center with Dave McDonald flying for Bob Oge and Jimmy Ricketts (facing the camera) Eichenberger for his father. was also off

Jim Ricketts warms up the engine before his final race. With eight competitors, four were taken to the finals: Jim Ricketts, Bob Oge, Steve Eichenberger, and I. The finals turned into a Henry Nelson benefit! No fewer than six plug changes were made during the course of the final rounds by the four competitors. Blown plugs ruled the day and determined the outcome. In the first flight of the finals, Jim Ricketts was up against Bob Oge. During the warm-up period, Bob used three Nelson plugs only to see the fourth blow during the first tank of his final race! Bob had simply run out of plugs and pulled it out at 35 laps. Jim Ricketts, with son Jimmy piloting, motored on to a slow (but complete!)

4 David Betz. We flew 35- and 70-lap qualifying races, followed by a 140- lap finals. This was another iteration of the tortoise and the hare. Ron Duly had the fastest model running in traffic at 15.4 seconds for ½ mile (7 laps on 60- foot lines), but as has been Ron’s A beautiful B-TR by Ron Duly. misfortune in the past, his superlative speed was hampered by slow pit stops quickly, but the engine started. Steve that prevented his best performance. had serous plug problems persevered and finally Glen VanSant (with son James on his pits. Changing one got him got in enough laps helping in the pits and Jason Allen to 101 laps where he just couldn’t get before calling it quits to flying) took first in the finals at slide into second place at 7:21.07. Ron, with Bob Whitney 115 laps. pitting, was second at 8:17.52, and In all, a disappointing David Betz, with Dave Hull piloting, finish for all but Jim was third at 8:33.79. Ricketts. Ron’s beautiful model took the Best in Show award. B-Team Race: B-TR A big thanks to all who helped run consists of models events Monday and Tuesday, and also designed and built in the to those who manned (or “womaned” spirit of Racing in the in the case of “Aunt Kay” Betz and 1950s . Three competitors Sandra Lee) the watches and the lap were entered: Glen counters. VanSant, Ron Duly, and —Bill Lee

Above: Jim and Jimmy Ricketts took first place in Goodyear.

Right: B-Team Race winners (l-r): Dave Hull piloting for Dave Betz (third place); Ron Duly and his pitman, Bob Whitney (second place); and pilot Jason Allen with Glen VanSant and son James (first place).

5 CL Speed

Carl Dodge’s Perky airplane is beautiful! The clear-finished balsa model is a great example of the type of aircraft used in this event. It is expertly built and finished and the fastest Perky model to date at 103 mph.

James vanSant took third with 129.72. In the F2A event, the models are equipped with tuned pipes that help the .15 engines generate large amounts of power. They are also quite sensitive to weather conditions. Of the 12 contestants in the event, four were unable to place an official flight. There were 15

Tuesday proved to be a day of frustration for many Speed fliers. The combination of high temperatures and high humidity left many contestants with failed attempts. There were 64 official attempts placed. Many just could not arrive at a needle setting that would hold over their flight. The pit area was busy all day long with people testing different head-shim and propeller combinations trying to find one that would work. Jerry Rocha placed first in .21 Sport Speed as he did last year. It took him two attempts to place a run at 153.39 mph. This NASS President Bill Hughes made several flights in Vintage Speed using this 1960s MonoLine Handle that was used by an Italian F2A run set the mark for the rest of the day. team member during the few years that monoline was allowed in F2A Second place went to Chris Montagino at competitions. 149.69 mph. Third place went to the MnM team of Mathison, Newton, and Murphy at 143.25. In the Junior-Senior .21 Sport Speed Class, Eric Olson failed attempts, which is unusually high in an event that took first at 140.13. Second went to Bobby Poisson at 135.48 draws the most experienced Speed fliers. mph. Bobby used all four of his attempts to hit his speed. First in F2A went to Chris Montage at 179.63 mph. Bill Hughes placed second at 171.05 and Jim Booker was third with 171.41 mph. After the completion of the official events, Perky Speed and Vintage Speed were flown. Perky Speed has been growing in the last few years. The Perky model is a vintage airplane that can be powered with any .15 engine of the modeler’s choice. First place in the event is awarded to the flier who comes in closest to the average of all of the flights flown at the contest. Second, third, and forth place are awarded based on the speed turned over a 10-lap flight. This event will be flown again after official flying today. Vintage Speed was also flown. The rules for Vintage require modelers to fly engine-airplane combinations Steve and Becky Wilk start a .21 Sport Speed drawn from an extensive list of equipment model for their daughter, Ashley, a Junior and designs compiled by Steve and Tom contestant. Wilk. This event will also be repeated today. —Dave Mark

6 CL Stunt

Pat Johnston brought his Lew McFarland-designed Shark 35 to Muncie for Classic. Note the Shark paint scheme to enhance the name of the model. Pat always has fine-looking models.

Bob Brookins promised me some numbers from the Intermediate results and I am pleased to say that he kept his promise. Love a guy who will do that! (Don’t take that statement wrong; I appreciate anyone who will attempt to keep his or her word.) Thank you, Bob. Mauro Rodrigues led yesterday until Antonio Mazzarino hooked some good air in the flyoff and ended in first place in Intermediate. His 516 was the polish on the apple in a win over Mauro’s 495.5. Norm Liversidge had been in the middle of the pack but forced a 492 in the flyoff round for third with his Sig Magnum. Tales Freitas took fourth with a 482.5 and Thomas Case Jr. captured fifth with 469.5. Ronnie Thompson, Fernando Monteiro, Scott Harners, Les Byrd, and Luig Dutra placed sixth through tenth in the Intermediate flyoff. The plaques and prizes in the event were sponsored by John and Buzz Brodak of Brodak Manufacturing. Old-Time Stunt and Classic Stunt were run yesterday. Old-Time included 13 pilots flying models designed, published, or kitted before the end of 1952. Charles Reeves with his Fox .59 and his Big Job model, was crowned champion with a 297.5 score. This is Charles’ third national championship title in Old Time Stunt. His other years were 1998 and 2000. Second went to Dale Barry with 290. Dale was the 2005 and 2006 OTS Nats Champion, flying his PA .40- powered Humongous. Third was taken by Allen Brickhaus (275) and his Humongous and Double Star Todd Lee prepares his Trixter AB Profile Twin for Old-Time Stunt. His .50 for motivation. pit crew included his son Alexander James (A.J.) Lee. Todd placed fifth Fourth was Dee Rice (274.5) with an O.S. Max 25 in OTS.

7 Ringmaster and in fifth place was Todd Lee (272) with his Trixter AB Profile Twin. The next pilots in order of finish were Jim Lee, John Paris, Wes Eakin, Scott Condon, Michael Schmitt, Bob Brookins, Wesley Dick, and Watt Moore. I had to leave early to write this article and can only report on the first round of Classic. Bruce Wieder, flying his Cavalier, was in solid first with his 526.5, while Gordon Delaney scored a 521 with his Dave Gierke-designed All American Eagle. Only seven pilots out of 32 scored above the 500 mark with the brisk winds that began to blow around the middle of the first round. There were a few crashes in Beginner on Monday because of the Indiana “trade winds” as well as a few mishaps in Classic. Wes Eakin lost a nice Jim Silhavy-designed, full-bodied Magician with a moderately slow needle setting and the quick air velocities on site. Today is the day that the top dogs take their turn at the four circles at the “L” pad pavilion area. Advanced and Open fliers are separated by class but will be divided into four groups of pilots and given the opportunity to make two flights Wednesday and two flights Thursday. Their best score from each day is totaled and that will determine who will go on to “Top Twenty” day. The top five scores on Thursday Above: Scott Condon from the Muncie area really shined from each circle will move with his Bob Palmer-designed Venus in OTS. A the pilots on to the next step venerable Fox .35 serves as power. in the matrix fly-off. Left: Master Chief Warren Tiahrt works the pits to Many of the pilots determine appearance points for the beauty portion of have served as helpers and the Classic event. Thirty-two models and pilots entered workers in other events on the Tuesday morning competition. Monday and Tuesday. Others have been competitors in the Old Time Stunt or Classic. Still others have been burning in successive flights in order to be sharp for the qualifying days. The Nats could not be successful without the volunteer efforts of so many dedicated Stunt pilots and their families and friends. I extend kudos to all who help to make it such a wonderful experience each year. —Allen Brickhaus

Above: Jim DeYoung of South Holland IL recreated the Bill Werwage-designed USA-1 and took Pilot’s Choice in the 2006 Nats Classic Stunt event.

Right: Jim Lynch from Memphis helps another Tennessee pilot, Louis Rankin, with his Dee Rice Oriental in Classic Stunt.

8 Bud Wieder, a retired teacher, inspects his John Simpson-designed Cavalier after his first round high score. It is good to check all items for tightness and fit after each flight. Do not assume that all is well in Stuntland.

Above: Kenny Stevens (L) waits for his first-round flight while John Gladfelter and Eric Taylor help keep Kenny’s nerves calm in the pending windy flight. Kenny is flying a Bob Hunt-designed Caprice.

Left: Oregon’s Don McClave checks out the circle during the first round of Classic Stunt. Don is flying a Bob Palmer-designed Thunderbird.

Below: (L-R) Mike Scott, Dale Barry, and Derek Barry watch Charlie Reeve’s second flight in the wind at Muncie on the Tuesday of Old- Time Stunt.

Scores and Standings 331 F2D Combat 1 O P CARTIER HUMMELSTOWN, PA 2 O DON S SOPKA BROADVIEW HTS, OH 3 O HOWARD M RUSH BELLEVUE, WA ?? O JOE B KRESNAK GRAND RAPIDS, MI DNF 317 Scale Racing 1 O JAMES E RICKETTS SIOUX FALLS, SD 03:10.2 2 O STEVE EICHENBERGER CHANDLER, AZ 03:17.8 3 O WILLIAM R LEE CHANDLER, TX 03:04.4 4 O ROBERT J OGE HINCKLEY, IL 03:17.0 Please note that all scores posted in this edition 5 O DAVID O BETZ WARSAW, IN 03:19.6 of NatsNews 2007 are unofficial until final 6 O JASON W ALLEN SINKING SPRING, PA 03:23.8 tabulation has been made. 7 O JIM W RICKETTS SIOUX FALLS, SD 03:47.0 8 O DAVID A HULL MANHATTAN BEACH, CA 05:41.8 ?? O RONALD D DULY BURBANK, CA dnf 9 Len Mount’s Scout is a strong contender for the top prize with a year of flying and almost 200 more hours of detail to show off. Michael Ramsey photo.