By Fred Cronenwett (clscale7@gmail.com)
The goal for the last day of flying was to get the airplanes that needed repairs flown or fly the models again to improve your scores from Saturday. There was a little bit of both going on Sunday.
We got to the flying site at 6:30 a.m. and we had clouds, rain, and it was slightly windy, but the forecast for the day said that we should remain patient because the weather radar indicated that the storms were moving out. By 8:30 a.m. we were flying again, and the flying weather was really quite good considering what it looked like when we got there.
Some people had to fly on Sunday, hoping to improve their overall score, knowing that the two best scores would be used to calculate the overall score at the end of the contest regardless of what day it was flown. In Profile Scale, Burt Brokaw had no official flight scores from Saturday, so he had to get two official flights in to be in the running with his new Macchi M.C.202 Folgore. When I looked at my flight scores for the B-29 from Saturday that I was flying, I knew I could do better than my first flight from Saturday. Burt ended up getting two official flights on Sunday and I improved my flight scores.
After all of the flights were flown, with the two best flight scores being averaged, there was 1.47 points difference between first and fourth place. Richard Schnieder got the Top Static Award for his Cassutt racing plane. There were only 1.75 points between first and fourth places with the static points.
After everything was added up, I got first place with the B-29 with only .35 point to spare, Richard Schnieder got second place, and Burt Brokaw got third place with his Macchi Folgore that was built from the Pat King kit (with modifications). Once Burt gets the bugs worked out on the Macchi, this model will be a force to be reckoned with.
Fun Scale continues to be a competitive event. Grant came back with his Macchi floatplane with the wheels repaired from Saturday. Two of the wheels broke during the second flight on Saturday, and they were replaced with foam wheels that are now located between the floats. The wheels are only visible if you look from the front, but not from the outboard side of the floats. So if you want to build a seaplane, you can add Pylon racing wheels in the floats or similar wheels. It makes for a unique and different scale project.
Burt Brokaw flew his P-51 with mechanical retracts to another first-place finish, with Joe Gilbert in second place, and Mike McHenry in third place. The point spread in Fun Scale was wider than in Profile Scale and had seven entries.
Sport Scale was won by Allen Goff flying his new Nieuport 17 biplane and Chuck Snyder took second place with his Typhoon. There was only a 1-point difference between second and third places, with Ed Mason taking third place. Ed and Fred Cronenwett were the only two pilots to fly all four flights and Ed won the Grand Champion award.
I do have one correction. Allen’s Nieuport’s aircraft is gasoline powered, not four-stroke-engine powered. The engines available using gasoline are getting smaller and smaller.
The 1/2A Scale contest had the most entries, and up until Sunday morning, Christopher DeGroff was beating his grandfather, Dave Betz, in 1/2A scale. Dave put up a better flight on Sunday to get a better overall score than his grandson. Allen Goff got first place with his B-25, Mike McHenry got second place, and Chris Brownhill from Canada got third place. Christopher’s 1/2A Scale entry was an older Brodak Wildcat that was donated to him.
Allen Goff was our event director and he expressed special thanks to all of the judges, runners, tabulators, and everyone else who helped to make it all happen. A raffle was held after all of the awards were handed out, which included a kit from Jack Sheeks’ collection of a Top Flite P-47 (gold edition kit) and items from Brodak Manufacturing. Make your plans now to get a model ready for the 2020 Nationals!
Keep your wings level and land softly.
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