July 14, 2024: RC Scale

By Gerry Garing

A great time was had by all at the banquet held at The Clubhouse Muncie Saturday evening. There was plenty of catching up that occurred, and war stories were shared among both RC and Control Line (CL) Nats participants. Plenty of great food was served buffet style, and there was plenty of time provided to enjoy it! 

The program for the Saturday evening banquet traditionally includes the formal announcement of the latest inductees to the AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame. Looking over the names of those already in the Hall of Fame, you soon realize what an honor it is to be inducted. This year’s inductees include Jerry Bates, Pete Bauer, and George Rose. You can read more about their lifelong accomplishments and contributions to the hobby on the AMA website.

Finally, the drawing for the UMS 160cc radial engine and ignition occurred. Proceeds from the raffle are used to support the FAI Team representing the US in CL and RC Scale. The lucky winner was Mickey Breunig from Versailles, Kentucky. Congratulations! Another National Association of Scale Aeromodelers raffle will be used to support regional and championship contests throughout the year. Those winners will be drawn during the 2024 Scale Classic in September. Visit https://nasascale.org/ to purchase tickets or learn more.

We had another nice morning; however, the breeze was picking up by 9 a.m., just in time for the start of Round 4. The plan this morning is to complete Round 4, followed by the awards ceremony. Round 4 began at 9 a.m. and finished up by 11:30 a.m. The breeze was stiffer this morning. At this point of the contest, pilots are more interested in the scores of others, trying to calculate what they need to fly to beat out the other pilots. I’ve always wondered about that—does this mean that you’ll only fly as good as needed? Or, if you can’t place better, is there no sense in you flying at all?

Pilots were waiting in nervous anticipation as the scores were held secret until it was time for the awards. The final score sheets will appear in the summary report later this week.

Below are the standings in each event:

High Static

Sport Scale Expert: Dale Arvin—Fokker D.VII

Sport Scale Sportsman: Brian Peterson—Kraft Super Fli

Designer Scale: Keith Numbers—RA FE-8

Team Scale: Brian Taylor—Spacewalker

Open Scale: Dave Marenberg—Fokker D.VII

523 Open Scale

1. Will Bernenger—T34C
2. Jeffrey Pike—Savage Cruiser
3. Jeff Thomas—F 86

520 Pro-Am Sportsman

1. Helmut Schmitter—RV 4
2. Jack Satterfield—MXS
3. John Pasquale—PT-19

520 Pro-Am Pro Division 1

1. Steve Petrotto—FX-3 Club
2. Mike Barbee—Stearman 
3. Art Shelton—Sopwith Pup

520 Pro-Am Pro Division 2

1. Dan Landis—L39
2. Mike Wolvin—F9F Cougar
3. Steve Petrotto—MB 339

511 Sport Sportsman

1. Randy Adams—Nieuport 17
2. Brian Taylor—Nieuport 28
3. Brian Peterson—Kraft Super Fli

512 Expert Sportsman

1. Dale Arvin—Fokker D.VII
2. Ron Pound—Stuka
3. Jack Buckley—Mini Max

515 Designer Scale

1. Keith Numbers—RA FE-8

522 Team Scale

1. Berringer/Barbee—T34B
2. Wolvin/McDevitt—FG1 Corsair
3. Schurick/Eagle—SE5A

Note from AMA: Do you have photos from the Nats that you’d like to share? If so, email them to Clarissa Poston at clarissap@modelaircraft.org. Please include a brief description in your email, naming any individuals pictured in the photo(s), the name of the event that the photo(s) were taken during, and the name of the individual who took the photo(s). Your submission(s) might be posted on AMA’s Flickr page, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/albums!