Scale Matters
This plaque dedicates the control-line
Scale site at the Academy of Model Aeronautics flying site
in Muncie, Ind. Cmdr. McCool and the rest of the crew died
in the re-entry breakup of the Shuttle Columbia. All
photos by Orin Humphries.
Doing the Nats
By Orin Humphries
November 2022
I had never been to the Academy of Model Aeronautics'
Muncie, Ind, headquarters, which is 2,440 miles from my
home in Lynnwood, Wash. A mistake is to think about the
large distance and worse yet, the round trip. I
accomplished this trip by breaking it up into a day at a
time.
“I am here this morning and I want to be off the road
before dinner time, so that’s right there, 400 miles.” (I
am not 35 and stupid enough to try to drive 12-13 hours a
day!) The next morning I repeated the process. I noticed
the first two segments, but after those I was very used to
it; I just got into the car and drove, no biggy. In
time, I found myself there. I also got to see a lot of new
territory along the way to keep from getting bored. So how
did I get myself and my models there? My pocketbook
settled upon driving two models in my Mustang. But which
models?
I lost my main mount, my F-84, a year ago and had only
one year to get something together. I needed to replace my
first Stearman, built from a Sterling kit, as it was just
too small for the modern world. I’d bought a plan
for a larger one so it got the nod. At that time I had not
yet decided to go for the World Team Trials. Thus, I did
not check the accuracy of the plan with a fine-toothed
comb. (I later found it to have four deviations, but I had
no alternative but to finish it.) Reading the F4B rules
(for CL World Scale) I found that they favored complex
models with operating systems. My Stearman could account
for two functions by being able to do maneuvers. In my
eight previous trips to contests at this level I can’t
remember ever seeing a Scale model do stunts.
Here you see my 45” span
N2S-painted Stearman vying for a spot on the World Team.
One difference between AMA Scale and FAI Scale is that in
AMA the cruise altitude is 5 to 10 feet. In FAI That
minimum altitude is 5 meters, around 20 feet. That would
be a major threat to a model if the wind was above eight
to 10 miles per hour. They would try to wait for better
conditions before flying the relay. (Two years ago I was
appointed to AMA’s newly forming USA F4B Board for
District 11 so this is “really getting my fingernails
dirty” in the event.)
But the engine I’d chosen for its higher power, was a
new-in-box vintage SuperTigre .45. Those had carbs that
had internal anti-backlash springs. J-Roberts bellcranks
can’t use those carbs at all. I switched to an OS 4BK carb
as it had the best fit-up in the case. It is a two-needle
design with which I had no experience in adjusting.
Practices with the model revealed the need for a tweak to
the idle stop setting. That ruined its low end operation
as I didn’t understand the mechanics of this design. Of
course, this happened just before having to get on the
road. My pitman, Jeral, and I were unable to get a usable
idle before I had to leave. (Adjusting the idle stop
setting causes the throttle barrel to move sideways in the
4BK carb. This causes the idle needle, which is
threaded into the barrel, to move deeper or shallower into
the idle metering slot in the spraybar. If you adjust the
stop setting you must make a major change to the idle
needle setting. The barrel and the needle move in opposite
directions.)
Let me say that a while back I had decided that all I
need from the Nats was simple. (1) I just needed to get
there. (2) I just needed to fly and get on the boards, and
(3) I wanted to try for a spot on the World Team; how many
people can say that they’ve done that? Just where on the
board I might get wasn’t important for this experience. So
I left with a bad carb setting anyway. Maybe I’d get lucky
fooling with it.
Three days before leaving, in a practice with my
Staggerwing for Profile Scale my right gear struck the
corner of our plastic deck sheeting and was ripped out. I
had to switch to my Fun Scale Monocoupe. The OS .25FP on
the Monocoupe has a tiny 2A carb and it is just too small
to give a fine idling performance. It is dicey at the low
end meaning it will shut the engine off when you don’t
want that to happen. This was another reason I didn’t have
to try to be King of the World and Texas at this year’s
Nats.
On Friday, July 7, we had done the static judging and
pull tests which took much longer than planned due to the
large entry. We didn’t get the first relay airborne until
around 4 p.m. The rules say that once you start a round
they have to finish everything in it or that round doesn’t
count. Pull test, etc., took a lot of time for 35 models.
It was HOT and humid in grand Indiana style; I drank
three quarts of water that afternoon. Some of us put
covers over our models for Sun shields.
We squeezed in a second relay as the weather for the next
day was to be impossible. On this day I did two relays of
F4B with my Stearman, and the one with my Monocoupe, It
was 9:15 p.m. at dusk when I headed to the hotel and there
were still two flights to be done at the field behind me.
Though the Stearman had no ground game, it really wrote
its name in the sky for the high flight and the wingover!
No other model did a wingover and those that tried the
high flight struggled with it.
The pilots had built for realistic speed and sound, a
points getter, which meant they weren’t powered for these
maneuvers. The floor of high flight is 45° and the ceiling
is 60°. No one other than myself could sustain 45° (until
the Nieuport later). They were around 35° and only one or
two bumped 45 briefly. My Monocoupe had held 45° and I
tested my Stearman at 50° on the first relay. It was solid
up there. On my second with the Stearman I held 60°.
The Nieuport had gingerly felt out its line tension in
two previous flights, working up toward the 45° floor. On
its final flight it maintained 45°. It got second on the
World Team.
(Note: there are three hard requirements for doing the
High Flight. 1) be above 45°, 2) Don’t fall down, and, 3)
DON’T SHOWER THE JUDGES WITH BALSA SPLINTERS!!! This
physically is the hardest maneuver CL Scale can attempt!
You see, way up there, your effective circle radius is
SHORT! Your angular speed is like, oh, Hurricane Category
Two. I get myself around that fast by leaving my left toes
on the ground always and pivoting my body around that
spot. Mucho rapido!
The next morning it rained and blew like you see on TV in
the weather reports, so we stayed in our rooms. The storm
was over by noonish and we headed for the field. The wind
was up, around 7 mph whereas yesterday it was calm.
I went for relay 2 with my Monocoupe. Again, it wouldn’t
do a standing start though it taxied, and as the model got
around near to wind-on-my-face, disaster stared me in the
face. The wind blew the small model in from the periphery,
slackening my lines; I had no control. I could not step
backwards to get the lines tight as my caller, Lynn Boss,
was sitting on the ground right behind me with his back to
me. Visions of past similar experiences flashed over my
mind.
If a line caught a pebble in the blacktop, the model was
going to head for us with the throttle going to high
speed. Time slowed down to a crawl. But…
I noticed that the model was tracking along a straight
line, a shortcut across the arc. If nothing bad happened,
it would get to the edge of the circle in a bit, restoring
tight lines. The gods were watching over this vintage
little bird. My lines got tight again and I was out of
danger! The model moved another couple of feet and now had
a slight angle of tail to the wind.
Yep, the wind smartly ground looped it, taking a smidgeon
of paint of the tip of the rudder as it slid to a halt! I
still was under the time limit for becoming airborne and
the judges looked at me for my intentions. No way on this
planet! I was intent on bringing my models home again in
one flyable piece each. I scratched.
Enter, The Rules, again. You
must get in two flights as your score will be the average
of the two. With only a single flight, my score was
divided by two. That put the Monocoupe at the bottom of
the final results. As said, I was on the board that that
was enough.
Team results: The team trials worked out as
follows. Pete Bauer took first with his B-N Islander and
Alan Goff’s Nieuport got second. Mike McHenry’s NE-1 Cub
got third and Ed Mason’s B-29 got fourth for the
alternate. My N2S Stearman came in fifth.
We all got the same world team T-shirt.
Looking over the top three models, the Islander had flaps
and landing lights. I don’t know if the lights were
in-flight operable. The B-29 had three extra engines. The
Cub and the Stearman had no operating systems. You don’t
need a biplane with flying wires. To wit: the full-size
referent for Pete Bauer’s Islander has a fuselage that is
a long, square cross-section box fuselage with a simple
wing and a tail stuck unceremoniously upon it. It doesn’t
have retracts. It flew to first position on the World
Team.
So, if you have thoughts of trying for a team spot in a
future cycle, this is pretty much your competition. Let us
say that under the new FAI rules for World, you do not
have to have a super-duper ultra-Scale bird. Look at
these planes in the photo coverage and have go at it! We
were told by Pete and Alan, “Don’t put anything on your
model that cannot be seen at 5 meters, 16.4 feet.”
Interviews
Totally unexpected, four different people from around the
country recognized me from my picture in this column head.
They walked up to me and said, ”Thank you for all the tips
you’ve given us and the help (in your column).” Hmm. I
guess it’s worth the time, then. Later it occurred that
they had all began with the word, “tips.” That must be
what I put in Model Airplane News’ “building tips”
page now and then.
The bulk, of course, is here in Flying Lines.
Fred Cronenwett said to me on our first day that he would
like to make two video interviews with me before we all
left. We got together after flying on the afternoon of the
second day. The first video was, “Who is Orin Humphries,
what is Flying Lines, and what does he write for
it”? I am afraid I was unrehearsed and a bit rough at it,
then.
The second video was about vacuum forming your own
canopies. Fred wanted to try that for a current project of
his and had brought along the canopy plug he had made for
my inspection and advice. It was a “good” example as
it was still too rough, so I could emphasize that the plug
has to be glass smooth or imperfections will be magnified
by the plastic film. This is the second person to miss
that level of smoothness that I know about. (“Glass
smooth” means as if a glass blower had fashioned it. It
does not mean, “Glassy wood grain rippling out.”)
Perhaps my saying that the plug still has to be
micro-rough or the hot plastic will stick to the plug and
not slide over it is being overshot. There is no way in
print to communicate the level of that. “Send your plug to
Ziroli Plans for vacuum forming your first effort and let
them adjust the surface for a reasonable fee.” Study the
plug as to how the surface is when it comes back to you.
(Back to the timeline.)
The dinner
Then later in the evening we gathered in a hall adjoining
the model museum for the contest dinner. There were 99
attendees, which included some wives and family. This is
the 100th year of the Nats, which first occurred in
Moscow, Idaho. This milestone was commemorated. An auction
was held to raise funds, and our end of our table shared a
bottle of fine wine that one had bought. Then Grant
Heistand was installed into the AMA Hall of Fame! Grant
and I, being from the NW Regionals over the decades, met
up at the Scale sight on the first day.
Sunday
On the third day at the site a man from AMA found me and
said he would like to interview me. He had heard about how
far I had driven to be there and wanted to do a piece for
Model Aviation on the farthest-traveled pilot.
The great city of Muncie
Muncie is not a city, but a very large town. Google Maps
and GPS struggle! Your route does not usually show you
that one of your streets to be taken on your route is a
Wrong Way. Changes have been made to streets that
have not been updated in the maps. Inconveniently, Muncie
sees no need to have street signs on about 30-35% of its
intersections. One major intersection does have a big
sign. But it is facing the oncoming traffic, not you.
All of the states along the southern edges of the Great
Lakes sit upon an ancient Ice Age lake bed. That is, the
ground is at least moist, clay, which does not bear load.
Where the railroad runs through Muncie streets, that
blacktop pavement looks like a scale model of the
Appalachian Mountains. I slowed way down when crossing the
tracks as my Mustang has sport suspension vs. family car
suspension and would shake my models in the back quite
hard. Local residents following me were not happy. Also,
the pavement on the rest of the streets within the town
look like someone is practicing to repave the Moon
someday.
Let me be very careful to say that this is not a
criticism of the Good People of Muncie. The ground is
clay. They are stuck with it.
Personal note: My wife of 56 years, Jan, is very
ill now. She sent me on this trip as her going-away
present. Hmm. The afterglow of the whole thing sits like a
cape. All the people you meet in this hobby, all the
sharing you do of personal and hobby things. Friendships
that last for a lifetime. Lifelong dreams fulfilled…There
is no worldly measure.
Wow.
The Models
This shows all of the CL and RC Scale pilots together. We
were told at the time there were 35 CL Scale pilots
entered. Not all of them were here for the photo. I
am in the middle wearing a brown sun hoody. I wanted to go
to the Nats once again as it’s been since 1989 in
Richland, Wash. Also, a life’s dream has been to try for
the USA World Team. There hasn’t been a CL Scale
contingent to those games since 2010 because the level of
authenticity, the detail building, had gotten way out of
hand. No one wanted to put that kind of time into a model.
To fix the problem, the FAI changed the judging of Scale
models from at-hand to 5 meters away a la Sport Scale
philosophy. The games are scheduled for Romania next year.
I am 81 so it might be now or never.
Of the distant trees, the middle line of
them are 60-foot tall hardwoods and are at the north end
of the field. The field is a mile and a half north to
south and a half mile wide! There are seven competition
spots within there and LOTS of practice room. The Model
Museum has every single cubic inch of space occupied and a
warehouse full of other models that would like to be
displayed. Scale at the Nats was to be over three days,
starting with combined static judging on the morning of
the first day, July 7. The static judging started with the
CL planes, arranged in three rows in front of three
judges.
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