Control Line: Aerobatics
AT LAST, some of the conservative control liners are getting up the resolve to attempt some contest promotion that could take control-line flying out of the "dirty fingernail-toy" planes on Sunday category. Thanks again to the RC boys for showing the way with their Contest of Champions held at Las Vegas, and the Winter Nationals #8 held at Tucson. With Las Vegas prizes of $7,500 for first, $3,000 for second, and going down to $125 for 23rd place how can anybody help but want to go to that kind of contest?
Led by Tom Baffer and Chris Lella, and with some help from Gene Schaffer, Fred Miles and Bill Simons, the New Jersey–New York stunt group is working on a Fall, 1976, Tournament of Champions with as much as $1,100 in prize money. This contest for precision aerobatics only will offer $500 for first place, $200 for second, $150 for third, $125 for fourth, $100 for fifth, and further money down to $50 for tenth place. Plans now are to hold this contest on Labor Day weekend with flying on Saturday and Sunday, two patterns each day. After Saturday's flying the field will be cut to the top 20 fliers, based on the sum of the two official flights. Overall winners will be determined by the sum of all four official patterns.
Site of the Tournament of Champions will be either Flushing Meadow, NY, or Pelham Bay Field, NY in the Bronx. According to the promoters, a sincere effort is being made to attain some Midwest or Southern judges to complement the Eastern judges in an effort to balance out the judging. And, there is a distinct possibility that Gene Schaffer and Bill Simons may elect to judge at the contest in order to help promote it rather than fly. Since two Nationally ranked fliers would be certain place finishers, it is an outstanding contribution to precision aerobatics for them to elect to judge. This has already stirred up so much interest that retired former Nationals champion Bob Lampione (the Don Rickles of the stunt world) called up Rene Mechin to see about getting back the United to start flying again. For further information write or call Tom Baffer, 29 Gleason, Thiells, NY 10984; telephone: 914 354 5790.
After some prodding by the Pampa Crusader — nervous Wynn-FAI team member Les McDonald and fellow Miami member Don Scott are exploring the possibility of hosting the 1977 FAI tryouts on beautiful Key Biscayne at Crandon Park. With some excellent possibilities for sponsorship, cash prizes, and outstanding media coverage, this could be the most outstanding control-line contest since Jim Walker flew the Fireballs in Rockefeller Center. Well, Bill Winter said he did. More on this spectacular possibility later.
If you are getting ready for the Half-A Stunt event at the 1976 Nationals then maybe you didn't know that M & P Enterprises has had a very good looking little Half-A kit out for about six months. The "Skyfire" is a 28-in. span foam wing stunter that can be very competitive. Designed by the Lone Ranger, Larry Renger, this kit has a Cox foam wing, and is a profile-type airplane. For contest work you will have to modify the landing gear so that you have a conventional two-wheel gear. This little kit retails for $6.98 and if your hobby shop doesn't have one then you can order one from Orange Blossom Hobbies, 1975 N.W. 36th Street, Miami, FL 33142; telephone 305 633 2521.
Three more Mid-Western contests have decided to run the PAMPA category system during 1976. The National Junior Air Races at Cleveland, Ohio, July 10, 11; the Dayton Buzzin' Buzzards contest June 6; and the Queen City Controliners, Cincinnati, Ohio in September will be using the four PAMPA Categories of Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert. That's over a dozen contests this summer using experimental PAMPA categories. Looks like it's catching on.
Are you running a Super Tigre 46 this summer? If you are, here are some ideas that various fliers around the country are using to achieve that final fine tuning, or to just make it run a little better. If you want to shim the engine up to change the mixture, you can use either brass, aluminum or, surprise, plywood. Yes, while a Max will change violently with a very little change, you can go with 1/32" ply for experimental purposes with the Tigre.
Having trouble keeping the muffler on using the one tapped hole in the exhaust port? Purchase a "Helicoil 4-40 set," which taps into the existing hole. However this may be hard to find so there are two people who can do this for you. Write or call Rich Tower, 3 Beverly Court, Belleville, NJ 07109, telephone 201 751 1341; or Art Adamisin, 22454 Fairfax, Taylor, MI 48180, telephone 313 291 5079. If you have a ST case with the new two lugs on either side of the exhaust port you would probably be better off using them.
How about the muffler situation? Probably the biggest favorite is the Adamisin muffler, when available. It's light, durable, and relatively quiet, and bolts right on. After that it gets kind of tricky. Bill Wergan has used an Enya M-200 muffler, but it has to be reworked to fit the ST 46. It is lighter than the stock ST muffler and is held on by two bolts through the lugs on the side of the ST. Incidentally, this muffler is listed as a 35 size but is used on the Tigre.
Some people may still be able to obtain the Super Tigre muffler for the 46 engine, which is available sometimes. The New York-New Jersey crew prefers the old-style Max muffler adapted to the center mount ST-46, if you can scrounge up one of the antiques. The Du-Bro MU-795 strap-on muffler can be used but needs to be re-drilled and reworked for the ST 46. The Murphy "Maxi" uses a spring to hold it on, and needs an adapter, but can be used. The Semco 202-F or 203F can be used after adapting it to the ST. You must use a Semco 203-ET 46 adapter for the ST 46. This muffler uses a strap hold down. Semco is supposed to have a new muffler coming out specifically for CL stunt using a single bolt in the center of the exhaust, but it was not available at this writing.
The Air Foil muffler from J.C.M. Specialties is stainless steel and is a bolt-on type. The small or medium can be adapted to fit the ST 46 engine. And the writer has successfully used a Merco muffler (looks like the old Max type) with a strap that fits in at 46 grams, but they are virtually non-existent. Sometimes you can get them from shops by special order. More about them next month.
Question: What long-time modeler who has been competing in the Nationals since 1957 has this record: four first places, one second place, two third places, three fourth places, two fifth places, and two sixth places? First person to answer correctly wins a PAMPA decal. Send your answer and any correspondence to Wynn Paul, 1640 Maywick Dr., Lexington, KY 40504.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
