| Al Casey (RC-AV8R)
PNO::CASEYA
Phoenix 551-5572
This is only my second day of reading R/C NOTES and I'm fascinated/
overjoyed to have discovered it. I'm still pretty green at how
to use it but I'm trying. Any/all help/advice/suggestions will
be greatly appreciated. I can't hardly believe I've been with DEC
for 8-years and just now discovered this. At any rate, rather than
repeat myself, please see notes 4.76 and 216.10 for personal backround
and experience.
In reading the discussions on scale vs pattern vs racing, et al,
I felt like I just had to add my nickel's worth, so here goes.
First, I like ALL facets of R/C flying and respect any modelers
right to pursue whichever one turns him on, even though it may not
push my personal "Hot-Button." (My personal passions are scale,
sport and, believe it or not, old-timers.) While I don't necessarily
understand the appeal of some facets of the sport, I'd never knock
them and defend to the death the right of a person to pursue them.
I kinda' feel like we're all one large fraternity of people who
love things that fly and being a "modeler" is the bottom line and
the thing that bonds us all together.
With that said, allow me a few comments/observations. Re. the Orange
Scale meet: 1.) Bert Baker (who I've known personally for years)
does not and has never kitted an FW-190...more likely, the plane
you saw was kitted by Don Lien (Riverside, CA) as his is the only
fiberglass kit of the FW in the 75-80" wingspan range. If not a
glass/foam kit, it had to be a Dave Platt (another acquaintence
of mine). 2.) The FW-190 WAS, on occasion, used as a ground-support
fighter/bomber and, in this role, WAS equipped with centerline and
wing hardpoints for ordnance racks so, seeing one dive-bombing is
not out-of-scale at all. 3.) Having met Tom Cook at several Scale
Masters Championships and seeing his (and several other's) F-4 fly,
I'd have to agree it's one of the most impressive models you're
ever likely to see. At the '85 Masters in Mesa, AZ, Tom and Bob
Fiorenze put on a formation-flying demo that was blood-chilling,
to put it mildly! The demo was capped by head-on LOW-passes (a'la
Thunderbirds/Blue Angels) that was, frankly, heart-stopping. 4.)
If 100+ mph with a scale jet doesn't light yer' fire, Bob Violett's
Sport Shark/Aggressor sure oughta'. Bob demo'd them at last year's
'86 Masters (I finished 10th) and we had one at our March One-Eighth
Air Force Scale Fly-In....these suckers (pun intended) do 150+ in
level flight and will do vertical rolls literally out of sight!
Not for me, but VERRRRY impressive. 5.) The comments on the Stag-
gerwing prompt me to mention that we just test hopped a friend's
Byron Stag last weekend. This is his secons Stag, the first one
having met it end at last year's Byron-Ida Grove bash when it flew
wide-open, head-on into Byron's 1/5 scale mountain...the one used
in his Striking Back show. Anyway, the new Stag is a carbon-copy
of the first one...flies terrific! Using a Q-50 Quadra makes a
real airplane out of it.
On the subject of scale, I grudgingly admit that too many scale
pilots do not use very difficult or spectacular maneuvers and, unfor-
tunately, the present rules allow this to be so. I, personally,
disdain the use of "gimme'" maneuvers like straight flight out/back,
procedure turn, proto-taxi, ad infinitum. When campaigning my 1/6
scale MiG-3 (WW-II Ruskie fighter), I use NO mechanical options
as scored maneuvers, even though I have flaps and retracts. My optional
maneuver schedule contains ONLY aerobatic maneuvers, i.e. slow roll,
4-point roll, cuban-8, etc.. We of the school that believes high-
performance aircraft should be flown as such are hopeful that the
day will come when flying is emphasized over static. Not that static
isn't important, understand...it should always carry enough weight
to insure scale fidelity. I simply feel that scale NEEDS to be
a FLYING competition, NOT one for hangar queens that are barely
airworhty, or whose pilots lack either the skill or daring to demon-
strate them in the mode for which they were designed.
Well, as a newcomer to the conference, I've bent your ears long
enough. In closing, though, let me add that I'll be attending the
Scale Squadron's Scale Masters Qualifier the end of August (I'm
already qualified by virtue of a 1st place at the Tucson qualifier
in May but enjoy the opportunity for some practice) and the Scale
Masters Championships in Las Vegas this October. If there's any
interest, I'd be glad to submit contest reports on these (and any
other events I attend) to the RC NOTES conference...provided I've
figgered' out how to do it by then. (What do I do...just use the
"WRITE" command?)
I look forward to response(s) to this reply. Green lights and blue
skies to all.
Al Casey (RC-AV8R)
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