Conference vmszoo::rc

    
    I agree that pattern isn't your normal aspectator sport. It can
    be boring if you don't know what's going on. If your interested
    in getting into pattern and have read the AMA book of rules then
    it makes all the difference in the world.  Most designs look
    alike to the untrained eye. Suttle differences at times make all
    the difference in the world. 
    
    Any good STRAIGHT .40 sized sport ship can get you started into
    pattern.  If anyone is interested, the line of "FK" kits being
    marketed by Mutchlers are excellent. I have a "Skyleader" and
    have just purchased a "Speeda".60 sized. The fiberglass is great
    and the sheeting is excellent. Where can you get a novice,sportman
    competitive ship that is 1/2 built for under $ 100.00
    
    The Skyleader is built with fixed gear and a como .51 in the nose
    the Speeda will also be fixed gear with a .61 and a pipe. I might
    run a rear exhaust .61 with the pipe down the side.
    
    
    No offene buy most times the manuevers done at a scale meet are
    boring but I think it's the imaginary appeal of the "real thing"
    that really helps out in the spectator aspect of the sport. People
    with no knowledge of RC or Scale can still identify with scale.
    You need a working knowledge of the pattern,racing etc. to identify
    with them.
    
    The pattern birds don't look like any real airplane because they
    are trying to optimize their horsepower.  IN AMA pattern the rule
    is to fly far out and big. To do this you need horsepower. When
    the FAI type of patten was adopted it was thought that ships would
    fly slower and because of that some flyers turned to more scale
    like designs. Now the trend is towards sleaked designs than seen
    in AMA yet at a slightly reduced airspeed. This allows you to still
    fly within the confines of the "BOX" (imaginary flight arena for
    FAI manuevers) yet have the unlimited verticals needed to climb
    straight up for 400 to 500". 
    
    Don't get me wrong, I like scale birds.  It's just knowing what
    power is I chuckle inside every time I hear someone comment how
    fast this or that scale bird is flying.
    
    I wasn't aware that the FW 190 was a dive bomber?  I thought it
    was a persute fighter. 
    
    						Tom

Re: 220.6 
    
I agree with you Tom, Pattern is definitely not for the spectator it is purely
a participant sport. The situation has gotten worse since the introduction of
the Turn Around pattern  as it has removed any personal imagination from the
competitor so every demonstration is the same. 

On the plus side I believe every modeller, competitive or your Sunday 
Sport flier should serve an apprenticeship in pattern. It train's you put the 
model in the right place at the right time and not just fly where the wind and 
the model feel inclined to take you. It makes you a SAFER more reliable pilot.

John.

(Bet you never thought you would hear a Pylon flier speak in favor of Pattern 
now did you?.)

    re .-1 . Well one could argue the Pylon is Pattern flying reduced
    to most simple expression. :-)
    
    md

    Al Casey  (RC-AV8R)
    PNO::CASEYA
    Phoenix  551-5572
    
    This is only my second day of reading R/C NOTES and I'm fascinated/
    overjoyed to have discovered it.  I'm still pretty green at how
    to use it but I'm trying.  Any/all help/advice/suggestions will
    be greatly appreciated.  I can't hardly believe I've been with DEC
    for 8-years and just now discovered this.  At any rate, rather than
    repeat myself, please see notes 4.76 and 216.10 for personal backround
    and experience.
    
    In reading the discussions on scale vs pattern vs racing, et al,
    I felt like I just had to add my nickel's worth, so here goes.
    
    First, I like ALL facets of R/C flying and respect any modelers
    right to pursue whichever one turns him on, even though it may not
    push my personal "Hot-Button."  (My personal passions are scale,
    sport and, believe it or not, old-timers.)  While I don't necessarily
    understand the appeal of some facets of the sport, I'd never knock
    them and defend to the death the right of a person to pursue them.
    I kinda' feel like we're all one large fraternity of people who
    love things that fly and being a "modeler" is the bottom line and
    the thing that bonds us all together.
    
    With that said, allow me a few comments/observations.  Re. the Orange
    Scale meet:  1.)  Bert Baker (who I've known personally for years)
    does not and has never kitted an FW-190...more likely, the plane
    you saw was kitted by Don Lien (Riverside, CA) as his is the only
    fiberglass kit of the FW in the 75-80" wingspan range.  If not a
    glass/foam kit, it had to be a Dave Platt (another acquaintence
    of mine).  2.)  The FW-190 WAS, on occasion, used as a ground-support
    fighter/bomber and, in this role, WAS equipped with centerline and
    wing hardpoints for ordnance racks so, seeing one dive-bombing is
    not out-of-scale at all.  3.)  Having met Tom Cook at several Scale
    Masters Championships and seeing his (and several other's) F-4 fly,
    I'd have to agree it's one of the most impressive models you're
    ever likely to see.  At the '85 Masters in Mesa, AZ, Tom and Bob
    Fiorenze put on a formation-flying demo that was blood-chilling,
    to put it mildly!  The demo was capped by head-on LOW-passes (a'la
    Thunderbirds/Blue Angels) that was, frankly, heart-stopping.  4.)
    If 100+ mph with a scale jet doesn't light yer' fire, Bob Violett's
    Sport Shark/Aggressor sure oughta'.  Bob demo'd them at last year's
    '86 Masters (I finished 10th) and we had one at our March One-Eighth
    Air Force Scale Fly-In....these suckers (pun intended) do 150+ in
    level flight and will do vertical rolls literally out of sight!
    Not for me, but VERRRRY impressive.  5.)  The comments on the Stag-
    gerwing prompt me to mention that we just test hopped a friend's
    Byron Stag last weekend.  This is his secons Stag, the first one
    having met it end at last year's Byron-Ida Grove bash when it flew
    wide-open, head-on into Byron's 1/5 scale mountain...the one used
    in his Striking Back show.  Anyway, the new Stag is a carbon-copy
    of the first one...flies terrific!  Using a Q-50 Quadra makes a
    real airplane out of it.  
    
    On the subject of scale, I grudgingly admit that too many scale
    pilots do not use very difficult or spectacular maneuvers and, unfor-
    tunately, the present rules allow this to be so.  I, personally,
    disdain the use of "gimme'" maneuvers like straight flight out/back,
    procedure turn, proto-taxi, ad infinitum.  When campaigning my 1/6
    scale MiG-3 (WW-II Ruskie fighter), I use NO mechanical options
    as scored maneuvers, even though I have flaps and retracts.  My optional
    maneuver schedule contains ONLY aerobatic maneuvers, i.e. slow roll,
    4-point roll, cuban-8, etc..  We of the school that believes high-
    performance aircraft should be flown as such are hopeful that the
    day will come when flying is emphasized over static.  Not that static
    isn't important, understand...it should always carry enough weight
    to insure scale fidelity.  I simply feel that scale NEEDS to be
    a FLYING competition, NOT one for hangar queens that are barely
    airworhty, or whose pilots lack either the skill or daring to demon-
    strate them in the mode for which they were designed.
    
    Well, as a newcomer to the conference, I've bent your ears long
    enough.  In closing, though, let me add that I'll be attending the
    Scale Squadron's Scale Masters Qualifier the end of August (I'm
    already qualified by virtue of a 1st place at the Tucson qualifier
    in May but enjoy the opportunity for some practice) and the Scale
    Masters Championships in Las Vegas this October.  If there's any
    interest, I'd be glad to submit contest reports on these (and any
    other events I attend) to the RC NOTES conference...provided I've
    figgered' out how to do it by then.  (What do I do...just use the
    "WRITE" command?)        
    
    I look forward to response(s) to this reply.  Green lights and blue
    skies to all.
    
    Al Casey  (RC-AV8R)