Event Report

The 2008 Scale Masters Championships

Hosted by the Sarasota RC Squadron

Sarasota, Florida

October 9-12, 2008

By Oscar Weingart

(Please note that these event reports were originally prepared for use in the Riverside RC Club monthly newsletter, Prop Talk, and are not intended to be comprehensive coverage of the event. Rather they are reports, for our club members, of my personal experiences and perceptions.)

Scale Masters Championships Report

September 27th. I drove to Ron Peterka’s home near Ramona in my Aerostar minivan, loaded with the 1/3 Scale Ercoupe and its support equipment. Ron has a Class C motor home, which has a forward sleeping area above the driver’s seat. There is also a regular bedroom, so Ron and his wife don’t use the forward area for sleeping. In fact, I have never met any Class C owner who actually sleeps up there. It has low headroom, and one has to climb a ladder to enter or leave, sort of like the upper sleeping areas in a Pullman railroad car. Also, if the inside sleeper in the double bed has to get up in the middle of the night, he or she must somehow climb over the outside sleeper. I guess it might be fun for children, especially as there is a window in front. But it sure makes a nifty airplane hanger, and, after careful twisting and turning through the RV’s side door, the Coupe fuselage and wings fit in nicely. My first RV was a Class C motor home, and I kept my Lazy Ace on floats up there in that same area. I flew that sucker (the Lazy Ace, not the motor home) on lakes and ponds all across the country and also in Canada. Ron chose this particular style motor home because it has a huge basement compartment behind the rear wheels. This compartment must have at least a 4 x 3 ft. cross-section, and it goes all the way across the vehicle, about 8 ft. Ron will transport his Stinson back there. There is a hatch in the floor of that commodious compartment that leads to another large compartment, where we put my starter, toolbox, radio box and spare parts boxes. Ron is also transporting a large trophy to the event for the Scale Masters. What blows me away is that Ron also competes in the Team Scale category, so in helping me, he is helping a serious competitor. (He took 5th place in Team Scale in last year’s Championships in Hemet, where Carl Lindou and I took 4th place.) RC modelers tend to be friendly, helpful people, and Ron is a sterling example. He is driving all the way to Florida and back, and he will camp at the flying field during the Championships. Ron’s team pilot, Curtis Kitteringham, is flying out from California.

October 7th. Doris and I sleepily boarded our flight to Tampa at Ontario Airport at 6 AM, and we got to Florida about 3:30 PM, after a stop in Denver. We drove a rental car down to the home of Dick and Rhoda Bobb, old friends from Riverside who now live a short distance from the Sarasota flying field. Dick is a RC newbie, and he is a member of the Sarasota RC Squadron, host club for the Championships. He and Rhoda graciously invited Doris and me to stay with them during the event. Doris and Rhoda will do girl things, while we boys play with our toys. Dick and I drove to the field in Dick’s van, where we helped Ron to unload the Ercoupe and other stuff, and we took the plane back to Dick and Rhoda’s garage workshop, for check-over, prep and charging.

October 8th. We met our team pilot, Anthony Greco, Jr., and my old Brooklyn Sky-Scrapers buddy, Charles Yuster, at the flying field early in the morning, so that Anthony could fly some familiarization flights. Charles is the one who put Anthony and me in touch. Anthony is an expert pilot, who has flown in Top Gun and the Joe Nall. He is a member of Team JR. These guys live a fairly long distance from Sarasota, Anthony in Cape Coral, and Charles in Ft. Myers, so I really appreciated their commitment to helping me out. It is a 1-1/2 hour drive, about 77 miles, from Cape Coral to Sarasota. The Sarasota RC Squadron field is on county property, and is quite nice, with green grass surrounding the 500 ft. paved runway, lots of shade, etc. Things were going so smoothly that I wondered what could go wrong. I soon found out! The first familiarization flight went very well. The G62 started up easily and ran smoothly. Anthony quickly mastered the airplane and by the end of the flight, he was doing some awesome spot landings. Shortly after the second flight began, the G62 suddenly speeded up and then went back to the commanded speed. Anthony said he did not command that speedup, so we decided that he should immediately land the airplane. During the landing approach, the engine again speeded up and the plane climbed and then nosed down steeply into the runway. Anthony said that he totally lost control. The airplane was completely demolished. We did not find an obvious cause for the loss of control and the radio appeared to work properly after the crash, with a good range check. We salvaged the reusable parts and threw the rest of the airframe into the trash. For me, the 2008 Championships were a short and expensive experience, (both financially and emotionally.)

October 9th. This was the first official day of the Championships. Registration and Static Judging were held in Robart’s arena, not far from the flying field, so the planes could be indoors in case of rain. (Remember rain? They have lots of it, and also thunderstorms, in this part of Florida. They also have hurricanes – gulp!)

October 10th - 12th These were flying days. Five flight rounds were held, with awards on the 12th. There was a Barbeque on the 10th and a Banquet on the 11th. The weather stayed beautiful. Ron Peterka won the trophy for the best Golden Age airplane, as well as first in Team Scale. In addition to these trophies, the first place earned Ron a brand-new Futaba 10C radio