Control Line: Scale
A VISIT TO Lithuania: Dave Dulaitis of Chipley FL, a frequent contributor to this column, sent in a report on a visit he made in 1997 to Lithuania-his native country. Dave's visit included attending the Lithuanian Nationals and other aviation-oriented events and air shows. The report also gave an idea of the type of struggle that some foreign model aviation enthusiasts go through in the pursuit of this great hobby. Dave noted that the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius has a small Control Line (CL) flying facility with circles completely enclosed with wire mesh for safety purposes, and that modelers fly only in accordance with FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) classes in competition.
Control Line: Scale
The Control Line World Championships, held at Swartkop Air Force Base in South Africa in April/May 1998, ended with quite a surprise: a single-engine low-wing model was in first place! The domination of the event by multiengine models has been stopped. Steve Ashby, one of last year's US World Championship team members, provided a look and some insight as to how this all came about. The great feat was accomplished by Vladimir Kusy of the Czech Republic, flying a single-engine Percival Proctor Mk IV. The prototype was manufactured in Great Britain in 1942 as a light wood trainer for communications/radio training and for flight navigators. Kusy said that the airplane had been equipped with eight 200-pound bombs.
Control Line: Scale
THE SUBJECT OF Scale model documentation needs to be explored. Many times the contestant provides too little, too much, or not the right information for the model presented in competition. In a recent issue of Replica, newsletter of the National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA), Russell Knetzger presented some interesting thoughts on Scale documentation. He stressed that the lack of flying skills is not the only thing that keeps many Scale modelers out of serious competition. Russell noted that to the serious Scale modeler, it may seem incredulous that someone would put so much time and effort into building a Scale aircraft and not bother to first obtain full documentation. Such might be the case with many sport fliers who build Scale models without competition in mind, and work only with what easily falls into their hands.
Control Line: Scale
CL (CONTROL LINE) Scale rules proposals for 1999 have gone through the final vote of the Scale Contest Board. The passing of proposal SC-99-21 provides removal of the word "Supplemental" from the "Control Line Profile Scale" heading. While the proposal did not say so, I presume that Profile Scale has been upgraded from "Supplemental" to "Official" event status. Proposal SC-99-20 also passed the final vote, and established two divisions for the Profile Scale event. "Division #1" will be for the "novice" contestant only, and is to be used as an entry level CL Scale event. "Division #2" is open to any contestant who has had previous CL Scale competition experience.
Control Line: Scale
BUILDING WITH PAPER with Ken Long of Whittier, California has been the main subject of my past two columns. I covered the types of corrugated material and card stock that can be used for more than 90% of scratch-built Scale models' construction. I also described the basics of putting such models together, and the glues that should be used. I'll conclude this series with information about covering the models' structure and applying surface details, such as rivets and access panels, as the covering is applied-something not easily done when using the more traditional methods of covering with balsa, silk, or silkspan.
