1984 IMAA Fun Fly Festival
By Bob Beckman
Overview
Number four in the International Miniature Aircraft Association's series of festivals saw the Giant Scalers gather in Southern California for four days of flying, gabbing, and festivities. Some mighty interesting models were present.
The festival's success owed a great deal to the local modelers who hosted the event. They handled the myriad of nitty-gritty jobs that must be done so the rest of us can indulge in our hobby: registration, transmitter impound, safety inspection, pit supervision, flight control, flight-line supervision, PA announcements, spectator control, parking, and more. A one- or two-day local affair can be a lot of work — imagine four days, about 200 participants, a heavily populated area, and thousands of spectators. Yet things were handled — and handled well. I talked to a lot of fliers and didn't hear a single gripe.
Special thanks go to dictator Walt Clark, who organized and ran the festival. He and his committee put in the work that made the event possible.
Location
The event was held at the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin, a large area in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles. The basin is ringed by a long, low dam designed to catch surplus water and hold it until it can drain off harmlessly — there have been times when it was six to eight feet under water, though that doesn't happen often. The rest of the time, it provides a big open area inside one of the largest cities in the world.
Sepulveda has long been a model-flying site. Over the years the city developed part of the area into parks and a model flying field. As I understand it, the city provided the land and some help, but the local fliers paid for most of the improvements and did much of the work. They now have a beautiful flying site with a large paved runway, paved pit area and taxiways, picnic benches, and large grassed areas made possible by a buried sprinkler system. All in all, it was a delightful place for an extra-long weekend of Giant Scale activities.
Weather
We were spared heavy rain during the four days, although there had been some earlier in the week. What we did get was unusually high humidity. My wife, Evelyn, and I had been looking forward to the dry, 80° weather we remembered from past years as a break from Washington, DC's usual 90°/90% humidity — we didn't quite get those balmy days, but the weather wasn't bad enough to seriously affect the fun.
Attendance and flying
On Sunday morning there were 212 registrants and an estimated 250 to 300 aircraft. That wasn't as many as in past years, but it was a respectable turnout for the location. Early estimates of much larger attendance apparently were based on emotion rather than logic; a West Coast location is unlikely to draw as many as an East Coast or central location because of differences in population density.
I don't feel a big number is the most important thing. It's more important for every Giant Scale modeler to have a reasonable opportunity to attend one of our Big Bird bashes at least once every few years. Let's keep moving the Fun Fly Festival around the country and not worry too much about attendance records. In this case, the high early estimates only served to scare some people off — several modelers came only as spectators because they figured that, with the talked-of 1,000 airplanes, they'd never get a chance to fly. As a matter of fact, I heard of no complaints on that score, and a lot of people got a lot of flying done. There were seldom fewer than four big birds in the air from early morning until late afternoon.
People and social events
The real reason for going to one of these things is to meet and talk to people. Evelyn and I made some new friends and renewed old relationships. Chief among the latter were Bob and Iris Morse from Santa Clara, CA, and Jerry and Martha Rhodes from Eagle Pass, TX. Among this year's new acquaintances was Lou Proctor — I have long admired his work, and his Travelaire 2000 was one of the real standouts at this year's festival.
Two regular features of IMAA's extravaganza are the Friday evening picnic and the Saturday night banquet. We missed the picnic but heard good reports. The Saturday night banquet was delightful: the food was reasonably good and the speeches reasonably short. The one unhappy note was the announcement that Les Hard was retiring as High Flight editor. We all owe Les a lot for the job he has done and should take every chance to express our gratitude.
Aircraft in the photos — vital statistics
- AT-6; George Normington, Irvine, CA; Ziroli kit; 1/2 scale; Kioritz 2.4; Dynathrust 20-10; 30 lb.; covered with chrome MonoKote burnished with 3M abrasive pad.
- Bristol Scout; Jerry Rhodes, Eagle Pass, TX; STARS plans available from MAN; 1/2 scale; Quadra (original version) with over 105 hours of running time; Dynathrust 20-8; 21 lb.
- Bronco (OV-10A); Nick Rivaldo, Wilmington, CA; scratch-built, based on manufacturer drawings; 1/2 scale; twin 2.3 Cobras; Zinger 20-6 three-bladed props; 52 lb.; two receivers, 13 servos, working flaps.
- Cobra (biplane racer); Ralph Knight, Riverside, CA; Santich plans from MAN; 1/2 scale; Super Tartan; Zinger 20-10; 23 lb.
- Corsair (F4U-1D); J.W. Jones, Dallas, TX; Ziroli plans; 1/2 scale; Sachs-Dolmar 3.7; Zinger 22-10; 32 lb.; operating flaps added.
- Ercoupe (Erco 415C); Dick Skoglund, Lancaster, CA; Messer kit; 1/2 scale; O.S. 108; Zinger 15-6; 18 lb.
- Krier Great Lakes; Gary Pozzi, King City, CA; plans by Larry Scott; 1/2 scale; Zenoah 2.3; 19 lb.
- Mr. Mulligan (Howard DGA-5); Jack Kilgore, Layton, UT; Nosen kit supplemented with plywood and MonoKote; 1/2 scale; Quadra (original version); Dynathrust 18-8; 21 lb.
- Mustang (P-51D); Dick Smith, Yorba Linda, CA; Nosen kit; 1/2 scale; Kawasaki 3.15; Zinger 22-10; 41 lb.; many modifications to kit, including working flaps.
- Travelaire 2000; Lou Proctor, San Diego, CA; scratch-built, based on factory drawings; 1/4 scale; Tartan Twin; Zinger 22-6; 21 lb.
- WACO YMF; Jim Johnson, Oxnard, CA; scratch-built; 1/3 scale; Tecumseh 6 cu. in.; homemade 26-8 prop; 48 lb.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
