By Jessy Symmes
The 2026 AMA RC Scale Nats runs Thursday, July 9 through Sunday, July 12 at Site 4 of the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana. For everyone who could not make the trip this year, here is a preview of the week straight from the people running it. We put a few questions to Contest Director John Boyko to help kick things off.
Boyko is no newcomer to running big contests. He has been involved in national-level competition since 2003, when he served as facility manager for the Scale Masters Championships at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. He flew his first Nats in 2002 in IMAC aerobatics, attended his first Scale Nats in 2005, and took over as Scale Nats Contest Director in 2016. In the years since, he and his crew have made steady changes to improve both the contest and the competitor’s experience.
Ask Boyko why a modeler should come to the Scale Nats and he points to two things. “First is the flying itself. The event is built around replicas of full-size airplanes, and the sheer variety on the field makes a day here feel a lot like taking in an airshow. Second is the culture. Everyone is competing against one another, yet the place runs like one big family, with pilots helping each other and smoothing out the bumps along the way.”
This year Boyko expects around 40 airplanes. One reason that number is not higher is a good one. Several of the sport’s top competitors are in England this week, representing the United States at the FAI F4 World Championships, which are running at the same time. The traveling squad includes Tim Dickey, Ben Andrus, and Jack Buckley in F4C, Keith Numbers, Peter Fynn, and Mike Barbee in F4H, and Peter Bauer, Mike McHenry, Orin Humphries, and Kathy Bauer in F4B, with Jeremy Arvin serving as team manager.
The RC Scale Nats schedule is straightforward. Thursday opens with processing at 9:30 a.m. and check-in at the farmhouse, static judging around 1 p.m., and the field is open for practice all day. Friday brings an 8:30 a.m. pilots’ meeting, static judging through the morning, and Round 1 near 1 p.m. Saturday starts with a short 8:30 meeting and Round 2, with Round 3 around 1 p.m. At 7 that evening, Site 4 hosts the banquet catered by Smoking Meats BBQ, where awards for both Control Line and RC will be handed out, alongside this year’s AMA Hall of Fame inductions. Sunday closes with an 8:30 pilots’ meeting, then Round 4, and the awards ceremony around noon.
Boyko is quick to credit the people who make it all run. This year’s judging panel includes Juan Cruz, Carl Handley, Dave Houk, Ted Strickler, Jeff Grant, Jeff Foley, and Dave Voglund, with Dave Marenburg keeping score. NASA is also running two raffles, one that helps cover the cost of the Scale Nats and funds a grant program for local clubs hosting scale contests, and another supporting the US team at Worlds.
For anyone thinking about making the trip themselves one day, Boyko’s advice is simple. “Bring an airplane you are completely comfortable flying, have your routine worked out ahead of time, from the maneuvers listed in the AMA rulebook, and above all, have fun. It is a competition, but at the end of the day the fun is what matters most.” Follow along here all week as the 2026 Scale Nats unfolds.
