By Stan Alexander (onawing4602@att.net)
This year the weather has played a role in everything around Muncie, Indiana. Friday dawned a bit cooler, but much more windy. The weather has turned out to be another beautiful week and we are looking forward to a sunny weekend of great competition!
Competitors are here from across the US, as well as judges and officials all to make this a great Scale Nats.
Static day we had crosswinds most of the day, but much lower wind speeds. Modelers from as far away as Arizona practiced with their scale beauties. We saw some new models, some that were returning, and plenty of friends.
Some of the more interesting models here this year include the Top RC FW-190 A6 version with a 92-inch wingspan and a custom paint job swinging a 24 x 10 propeller on a DA-70 engine belonging to Sonny Coleman of Texas.
Speaking of Texas, there are several contestants from Texas this year including Lawrence Harville AMA District VIII Vice President. Everyone from Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama pitted next to each other this year and fun has been had by all.
Another different airplane you don’t see that often was a PZL Warszawa-Okęcie Wilga built originally in the Czech Republic. The Wilga is used for Aero-towing, STOL take offs and landings on short strips, and many other utility rolls. This Wilga has a wingspan of 146 inches and weighs in at 50 pounds. The big utility aircraft is powered with a Moki 250 radial engine. We look forward to seeing Adam Grubb making flights with it Saturday during competition.
Using the grass field seems to have increased the World War I and biplane entries this year. Any tail dragger or conventional gear airplane generally loves flying off a smooth grass field. AMA has done an excellent job in field preparation on this runway. I’ve watched them cut the same area trying not to kill the grass, but cut it as close as possible for any size scale model. Thanks guys!
Carl Handley and crew are doing a great job handing the administrative and judging part of the competition. Looking forward to Saturday! See you there!
Darrell Abby hold his Marquart Charger while Tim Lovett helps during static judging.
The field of models and the pit area all on that beautiful smooth grass field.
Al Kretz’s wife, Carol holds his JU-87 Stuka built from Nick Ziroli Plans with a 100-inch wingspan.
The “Texas Boys” including Tim Lovett, Darrell Abby, Lawrence Harville, Johnny Hunt, Sonny Coleman all having a good time.
Longtime father and son team Gary and Hal Parenti preparing Hal’s Ryan Fireball which is a unique airplane powered by both piston and jet engine.
Will Berringer’s P-47 SNAFU on its takeoff roll. We’ve never seen a P-47 that didn’t fly great.
Steve Eagle’s Cap 231 on landing approach. Today was a good day to brush up on those scale maneuvers.
David Folk’s Balsa USA 1/3-scale J-3 Cub about to lift off that beautiful grass.
Another of Steve Eagle’s models the ¼-scale Fokker DVII from a Balsa USA kit painted up in Russian colors.
Joe Vermillion from Balsa USA with his Balsa USA Spad XIII at ¼ scale making a strafing run here.
Cowl and engine details on David Folk’s J-3 Cub, powered by a G-62 engine.
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