Scale
Mike Stoft
AT THIS YEAR'S Nationals we flew under some new rules intended to give the contestant more points for the flying portion of this event while the static points stayed the same. This was designed to bring the AMA rules closer to the FAI rulings. As you may know, in FAI the amount of available points for static judging is equal to the number available for flying.
Like last year there are already some new rule proposals being petitioned to improve upon what we have now. Listed below are the new rule proposals brought forward by Mike Gretz of Montezuma, Iowa, the 1976 National Champion in CL Scale. I feel Mike has come up with some pretty good ideas and would like to take this opportunity to give his proposals my endorsement and support. I think his ideas will help clarify some longstanding misinterpretations and will try to close any existing loop-holes.
So read these rule proposals over and let your Contest Board representatives know about your feelings on them.
- Add to section 48.2 CL Scale: "The builder and flier of a CL scale model shall be one and the same person. There shall be no team entries." This is intended to avoid any possible misunderstanding of the applicability of regulations to flying CL Scale. It would clearly state that the builder and flier of the model must be the same person, with no proxy flying and team entries allowed.
- Add to section 48.8: "Other flight functions not listed... 0 to 20 points should be typical of the aircraft modeled. The contestant may be asked to supply evidence that this function was performed by his subject. Points for unlisted functions will be based on the relative skill, ingenuity or effect as compared to the listed items." This proposal would allow a contestant to demonstrate a flight function typical of his aircraft even though the option isn't of a mechanical nature. It would give the simpler airplanes (models of high wings, light planes, biplanes, home-builts, etc.) a better chance to compete with fully mechanical-optioned airplanes such as fighters, bombers and transports. AMA CL Sport Scale and FAI Scale allow nonmechanical flight options in their rules at the present time.
- Delete section 48.11 and rewrite section 48.6 as follows:
48.6 Contest Schedule. a. It is suggested scale judging take place before official flights. If this is not possible or desirable the Contest Director may hold part or all of the official flying before scale judging. Any damage caused to the model by flying before scale judging will be disregarded and not counted against the contestant.
b. Contestants shall be permitted three attempts to make two official flights. Any flight which has progressed beyond takeoff and level flight will be called an attempt. A flight will become official when it has progressed beyond 5 laps continuously airborne with at least one engine running.
c. After a contestant has been notified that a flight area is available, he shall be given three minutes in which to get his model airborne. Time starts when the contestant begins cranking the engine. In the case of multi-engine models, two minutes for each additional engine shall be given in which to get the model airborne. An attempt will be charged to the contestant if he fails to get his model airborne within the time limit.
The purpose of this proposal is to clarify some misunderstandings in these areas. The Contest Director may reverse the usual order of static judging and flying competition, if he feels that it is desirable to do so. In regard to the qualification flights, Mike feels that the rules are somewhat heavy-handed in that section 48.11 states that the qualification flight, at the CD's direction, consist of as little as 5 level laps, which section 48.6 states "will become official flights for scoring purposes." Since only two official flights are allowed in CL Scale, these two rules could take away half of a competitor's opportunity to obtain a representative flight score.
- Delete present rule 48.10 and adopt in its place the following two sections:
48.10 Flight Scoring. It is recommended that a panel of two or three judges be used to score the flight competition. The flight score will be determined by adding the Flight Points (section 48.7), Scale Operation Points (section 48.8), and the Bonus Points (section 48.9). The flight score from each judge will then be averaged with the flight scores from the other judges to give one Flight Score.
48.11 Official Score. The Official Score will be determined by adding the best single Flight Score (235 max. possible points) and the Scale Judging Score (450 max. possible points). The maximum possible Official Score is 685 points. Scale judging shall be done according to the provisions of the Unified Scale Judging Regulations. Itemized point scores will be posted or otherwise made available as soon as possible after each flight.
This proposal clarifies the existing rules on scoring and outlines the commonly used, but unwritten, procedures for scoring. It does not advocate any methods that are not already being used and accepted as being correct.
- Add to section 48.3: "The engine
CL Scale/Stott
must be equipped with a muffler or silencer to limit noise output. Ducted pan installations and electric motors are exempted from the muffler or silencer requirement. This proposal concerning the use of a muffler or silencer is a very controversial one. But it should be noted that even though a silencer may detract slightly from the appearance of certain scale models, our hobby is in constant jeopardy in some parts of the country because of the noise problems. In most cases, if handled properly, a silencer can be effectively used to route the exhaust out of the engine compartment in a more scale-like manner. FAI scale rules give special ingenuity points for effective handling of the muffler installation. The popularity of Sport Scale has brought about several adaptable manifold mufflers in recent years. The requirement for the use of mufflers in CL and RC Sport Scale has obviously not decreased participation in those events.
Mike F. Stott, 118 E. Wheeler St., North Mankato, Minn. 56001.
Control Line: Scale
AT THIS YEAR'S Nationals CL Scale flew under some new rules intended to give contestants points for the flying portion; static points stayed the same. The changes were designed to bring AMA rules closer to FAI rulings. As may be known, FAI amount of available points for static judging equals the number available for flying. Like last year, already some new rule proposals are being petitioned to improve upon what we have now. Listed below are new rule proposals brought forward by Mike Gretz, Montezuma, Iowa, 1976 National Champion CL Scale. I feel Mike has come up with some pretty good ideas and would like to take the opportunity to give the proposals my endorsement and support. I think the ideas will help clarify some longstanding misinterpretations and will try to close existing loopholes. So read the rule proposals over and let Contest Board representatives know about your feelings.
- Add section 482. CL Scale builder/ flyer. CL scale model shall be built and flown by the same person; no team entries. Intended to avoid possible misunderstanding of the applicability of regulations to flying CL Scale, this would clearly state builder, flier and model must be the same person — no proxy flying or team entries allowed.
- Add section 488. Other flight functions. Points for listed functions should be those typical of the aircraft modeled. The contestant may be asked to supply evidence that the function was performed; points for unlisted functions will be based on relative skill, ingenuity and effect compared to listed items. This proposal would allow the contestant to demonstrate a flight function typical of the aircraft, though the option isn't mechanical in nature. It would give simpler airplanes — models of high-wing light planes, biplanes, home-builts, etc. — a better chance to compete with fully mechanical-optioned airplanes such as fighters, bombers, transports. AMA CL Sport Scale and FAI Scale allow nonmechanical flight options in the rules at the present time.
- Delete section 481.1 and rewrite section 486 as follows:
486 Contest Schedule. Requested scale judging should take place before official flights when possible and desirable. The Contest Director may hold part of the official flying before scale judging. Any damage caused to a model flying before scale judging will be disregarded and not counted against the contestant.
b. Contestants shall be permitted three attempts to make two official flights. Any flight that has progressed beyond takeoff or level flight will be called an attempt. A flight will become official when it has progressed beyond 5 laps continuously airborne with at least the engine running.
c. After the contestant has notified the flight line that the area is available, he shall be given three minutes to get the model airborne. Time starts when the contestant begins cranking the engine. In the case of multi-engine models, two minutes additional per engine shall be given to get the model airborne. An attempt will be charged if the contestant fails to get the model airborne within the time limit.
The purpose of the proposal is to clarify some misunderstandings in these areas. The Contest Director may reverse the usual order of static judging first and flying competition first if he feels it desirable regarding qualification flights. Mike feels the rules are somewhat heavy-handed: section 481.1 states a qualification flight as the Contest Director's direction can consist of little more than 5 level laps; section 486 states when a flight will become an official flight for scoring purposes. Since two official flights are allowed in CL Scale, the two rules could take away half the competitors' opportunity to obtain a representative flight score.
- Delete present rule 4810 and adopt in its place the following two sections.
4810 Flight Scoring. A recommended panel of two or three judges is used to score the flight competition. Flight score will be determined by adding:
- Flight Points (section 487)
- Scale Operation Points (section 488)
- Bonus Points (section 489)
Flight score from each judge will be averaged with the other judges' Flight Scores.
4811 Official Score. The Official Score will be determined by adding the best single Flight Score (235 max possible points) and the Scale Judging Score (450 max possible points). Maximum possible Official Score is 685 points. Scale judging shall be done according to the provisions of the Unified Scale Judging Regulations. Itemized point scores will be posted or otherwise made available as soon as possible after flight. This proposal clarifies existing rules and scoring outlines commonly used but unwritten procedures. The proposal does not advocate methods that are not already being used and accepted as being correct.
- Add section 483. (text not shown)
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
