CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Author
Rich von Lopez 8334 Colegio Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045
History
This year marked the return of the once-popular Los Angeles Money Nats contest. Pete Athans pushed for the return of the original "big money" meets. The Money Nats began in 1988, when Steve Hills, Pete Athans, Chuck Rudner, and I agreed to host a big-money triple-elimination contest to promote AMA Fast Combat. Steve Hills came up with the idea of offering $1,000 for first prize and the "Money Nats" name. At that time, the only other big-prize contest was the (now dormant) Bladder Grabber.
The Money Nats helped pave the way for the Houston Combat Classic, the Tucson Top Gun, the Chicagoland Duke Fox Memorial, and the Central California Coyote Valley Bellcranker (held near San Jose). These events would make a nice contest circuit if they were offered every year. In 1992 the Money Nats were cancelled due to the Los Angeles riots; the event was dormant for two years.
Safety and fuel shutoffs
The big change for the 1995 contest was safety related—fuel shutoffs were required. These were tested before each match, during the pre-start engine warmup period, to ensure they were operating as designed.
Fuel shutoffs address one of our major safety concerns. Several of us have been reluctant to have our names associated with contests (as sponsors or directors) because of the fear of accident-related litigation. Over the years many ideas for making Combat safer have surfaced, including the use of .021 lines, limits on nitro, and restrictors to slow the models. Outlawing .36 engines in favor of .15s was even suggested. The use of fuel shutoffs is viable and they don't affect the quality of flying.
We've also been discussing how to refine the first series of shutoff units. The main discussion centered on making them out of nylon, with threaded rods of various weights. I am convinced we will come up with something inexpensive that will work every time. Our collective brainpower will solve this problem.
The Clay Parker shutoff
Modelers are creative, always trying to outdo one another and come up with a better mousetrap. Clay Parker developed a new type of fuel shutoff with help from the Top Guns of Tucson. Clay's invention has a cylindrical spring-loaded bellcrank mount with fuel tubing running through it. When there is line tension the fuel passes through the tubing; if line tension is lost, the spring pushes the tubing closed. It works immediately and positively.
Clay was selling these units for $25. They seem both bulletproof and foolproof. Contact Clay at: 543 East 27th Street, Box A, South Tucson, AZ 85713; Tel: (520) 798-0848.
I included two photographs that clearly show how these units operate and how they are mounted on a model. During the contest there were several instances when the control lines went slack and the fuel shutoff stopped the engine quickly. Currently the only drawback with this type of shutoff is that it only operates with external-control models. It probably won't be long before someone adapts these to work on internal-control models.
Contest report
The Money Nats drew pilots from all over the country.
- From Louisiana: George Cleveland (a former Money Nats winner)
- From Texas: Richard Stubblefield, Mike Wilcox
- From Arizona: Gerry Capuano, Vince Capuano, Jeff Hanauer, Gary Perkins, Dave Stewart, Steve Stewart, Tom Thompson
- Californians: Max Boyd, Ron Cash, Allen DeVeuve, Russ Graves, Roy Heppenstall, Greg Hill, John Keneally, Rich Lopez, Greg Machen, Terrence Mergan, Mark Rudner, Frank Tomicich
All of the engines were Fox or Nelson units. There was nothing new in the way of models—AllenPlanes, Arrowplanes, Russian-designed models (store-bought through the Czechs), and a few other home-grown designs.
#### Round results Round 1 winners:
- Terrence Mergan
- Jeff Hanauer
- Roy Heppenstall
- Frank Tomicich
- Richard Stubblefield
- Russ Graves
- Mike Wilcox
- Allen DeVeuve
- Greg Hill
- Steve Stewart
- Mark Rudner
Round 2 winners:
- Dave Stewart
- Greg Hill
- Mark Rudner
- Tom Thompson
- Russ Graves
- Roy Heppenstall
- Vince Capuano
- Allen DeVeuve
- Mike Wilcox
- Terrence Mergan
- Rich von Lopez
Round 3 winners:
- Jeff Hanauer
- Russ Graves
- Terrence Mergan
- Greg Machen
- Roy Heppenstall
- Greg Hill
- George Cleveland
- Tom Thompson
- Mark Rudner
- Rich von Lopez
- Max Boyd
The first pilots to drop out were Capuano, Ron Cash, John Keneally, and Gary Perkins, each finishing 0-3.
Round 4 winners (nine wins divided among):
- Rich von Lopez
- Tom Thompson
- Dave Stewart
- Mark Rudner
- Steve Stewart
- Allen DeVeuve
- Russ Graves
- Mike Wilcox
- Richard Stubblefield
After Round 4, 1-3 records went to Max Boyd, Capuano, George Cleveland, Greg Machen, and Frank Tomicich.
At the end of Saturday, 13 of 22 pilots remained; Russ Graves and Mark Rudner were sitting on clean 4-0 records. Sunday morning Rudner, Thompson, Hanauer, Stubblefield, Hill, Graves, and Cleveland flew matches to determine the top three spots.
#### Final results and prizes
- First place: Mark Rudner (14 years old) — Fox-powered model; $600 and a pewter first-place mug.
- Second place: Greg Hill — Fox-powered model.
- The top five finishers received engraved pewter mugs; the mugs for first-, second-, and third-place finishers contained cash prizes.
Mark has had a stellar year, winning the Gold medal in Shanghai, China last October and first place at the Money Nats.
Organization and miscellaneous
There were some organizational concerns about the strength of the streamer string. The rule book calls for 16- to 20-pound-test cotton string; the contest string broke two or three pounds short.
On the positive side, large multicolored round cards were used to indicate match pairings, circle assignments, and streamer colors. These cards were laminated and can be reused for many contests.
Keep your eyes and ears open for the 1996 Money Nats announcement. By the way, Whittier Narrows has been in terrific shape due to an abundance of rain.
Miniature Aircraft Combat Association (MACA)
The Miniature Aircraft Combat Association (MACA) is recruiting new members. MACA is AMA's official Special Interest Group for Combat. The MACA newsletter keeps members up to date on happenings around the country and includes technical articles, construction tips, how-to articles, contest reports, and ads for hard-to-find Combat items.
Annual dues:
- $15 (U.S.)
- $18 (Mexico and Canada)
- $25 (everywhere else)
Send checks to: MACA Treasurer Ross Leighton 307 Pirates Cove, Aurora, OH 44202.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
