U.S. scale master championships

Model Airplane News, Mar 2000 by Nelson, Jerry

To many scale modelers, the U.S. Scale Masters Championships is the most prestigious of all the RC scale competitions held in the U.S. and Canada. The Scale Masters isn't intended to be the biggest scale competition-just the best. Obviously, this sentiment is greatly accepted because the event has been held annually for the past 20 years.

Run by volunteers, currently chaired by Earl Aune and based in Portland, OR, the U.S. Scale Masters Association's championship is so prestigious because its contestants must qualify regionally to earn the right to compete. In 1999, 21 regional qualifiers were held around the country. (Any club with scale contest experience may host a regional qualifier.) During these qualifiers, each of the pilots--not a particular airplane-vies for the chance to attend the Championships, and only 30 percent of the experts and 20 percent of the teams who compete are able to advance. In addition to the qualifiers, the top 10 finalists from the previous year's Championships are automatically invited to participate. This time, slightly more than 100 pilots were eligible; 42 competed. The Championships was supposed to be held at Mile Square in Fountain Valley, CA, but a local property dispute forced the event to be moved. With only 81 days until the event, the Sun Valley Fliers volunteered to host the competition in Phoenix, AZ.

Contest director Michael Peck ran the event perfectly; one would think the SVF had planned to host it all along. Even the weather was excellent, if a little hot (1100 degrees) for this Northwesterner.

Two events are held each year at the Championships: Team and Expert. The Team event allows the builder to have a more skilled pilot fly his aircraft. In Expert, the builder is also the pilot. Eight teams and 31 expert contestants participated. Individual awards for both events and many special "best of" awards are given out.

For modelers who have not attended or competed in scale competitions, here is a brief overview of the event rules. The actual competition (Team and Expert) is composed of two parts: static judging and flight performance. A perfect score is 200 points. The static judging is done before the actual flying and lasts all day. A perfect static score is 100 points (40 for accuracy of outline, 30 for color and markings and 30 for craftsmanship). Contestants must provide 3-view drawings as well as photos and color documentation of their subjects.

The flying portion is also worth 100 points. Pilots must perform nine maneuvers, five of which are chosen by the pilot from an extensive list, and each maneuver is scored from 1 to 10. Typically, the chosen maneuvers are those that the full-scale aircraft was intended to do. An additional 10 points are given for realistic flight.

The flying site was excellent. The sun was always behind both the pilots and the judges. There was a long, paved runway and a dirt runway, which often works better for tail-draggers (and is what they were designed for, anyway). The wind was minimal but caused a few problems because it would change as much as 180 degrees from time to time. There were four flightlines organized by radio frequency, so four aircraft were usually in the air at all times. An air boss constantly monitored the air traffic and radioed takeoff and landing instructions to the chief judge of each flightline.

The Sun Valley Fliers organized a noontime airshow each day, and various types of models were flown. The crowd really liked the air-streamer combat models, and Greg Hahn flew his magnificent B-25, too. He dropped his bombs right on target and made several 2-foot-high, full-bore passes. The crowd really got an impression of what scale flying is all about.

A tradition of the U.S. Scale Masters Championships is the public viewing of the models before the noontime airshow.

All the models are lined up on the middle of the runway with the pilots next to their aircraft so they can answer questions, and the spectators can take photos up close.

The stats, table and photos tell the story of who was there, who flew what and what happened, but for those modelers who are into scale competition but couldn't attend, here are some highlights.

Only one jet aircraft was entered because the Superman Jet Rally was held in Ohio on the same weekend. Shailesh Patel flew his magnificent AMT* turbine-- powered F-86 Sabre. The density of the air at the 3,000-foot altitude seriously affected his takeoff and landing roll, but he was able to fly his model to a respectable fourth place, although he used every inch of the runway to do so.

Of the three Championships I have reported on, this is the first at which it really didn't matter which kind of scale aircraft was entered; any well-prepared and -flown design had a chance to win. High winds normally affect the WW I and Cub/Taylorcraft-type of aircraft quite seriously, so it's almost impossible to get the high flight scores needed to win. The judges do their best, but the advantage usually goes to the high-wing-- loading aircraft-typically WW 11 aircraft. But this year, the wind wasn't much of an issue. Dick Hansen earned the second highest total flight score and the highest single flight score with his 10-year-old Proctor* Albatros! His total flight score was only 0.83 behind Greg Hahn's winning Dauntless. The highest static score99.5 points-went to Joe Topper's Fokker D7. Gary Parker's Albatros tied for second with Ken Walters' Dauntless; each scored 98.5. Overall, the top five consisted of two Dauntless models, a 1/3-scale Waco biplane, an F-86 Sabre jet and a Fokker D7. Only 3.833 points separated first place from fifth.