O.F.F.C. Dimescale Contest

[kittyfritters]

At the end of every year the members of the O.F.F.C decide the schedule of monthly contests for the coming year. The contests are held in the Stonehurst gym on the last meeting day of the month, currently Wednesdays. The March contest was Dime Scale, and I was "volunteered" to be the Contest Director (One of the benefits of coming to a meeting late.) This category includes many old Guillow's kits as well as those from Comet, Megow, Hi Flier, Burd, and the whole host of companies that existed during the 1930s and 1940s heyday of stick and tissue modeling.

Now we are a casual group and the full complexity of FAC contest rules are a bit much, especially for a contest that must be completed in 1 hour and 45 minutes of a 2 hour session, so, as in all of our contests, the Contest Director is free to come up with a 'relaxed' set of rules for the event. The rules I came up with for this event are attached.

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The reference to reproduction kits upgraded with plastic parts is to include things like the Hi Flier dimers, re-released in the 1970s with the original 1930s plans and printwood, but some had additional blown plastic cowls and wheel pants. At today's flying session a Comet Taylorcraft, a Megow SE5, and a Megow P-12 were flown for trim. Judging by the way they were performing by the end of the session this should be an interesting contest.

More later.

[kittyfritters]

OOPS! The file didn't attach. Don't worry, I will take care of it later.

OK. Got the rules in.

At the Wednesday night Black Sheep meeting (O.F.F.C is a sub group of the Black Sheep) there were two enlarged nickle scale models for the contest, a Comet Stinson and a Comet Fairchild (PT-19). Looks as though this one will be well attended.

Howard

[kittyfritters]

There were a few models at this mornings O.F.F.C. meeting for trimming flights. The contest is two weeks away.

There was a Rearwin (Don't know the source of the plan).

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a Comet Stinson (enlarged nickle scale),

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Comet Fairchild (enlarged nickle scale),

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[kittyfritters]

Here's the rest of today's pictures.

Piper Cub (Where the builder went full F.A.C on the documentation),

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a Hi-Flier Boeing P-12,

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and a Megow SE5 (enlarged nickle scale).

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The trimming flights show promise. Haven't posted the videos to YouTube yet.

The Saga Continues!

[kittyfritters]

OK, now I have some videos...

https://youtu.be/DwHSEMuhf_c

https://youtu.be/xLsilVKdVM4

https://youtu.be/2LcMyrSs1ME

More next week!

[kittyfritters]

Had a few more models to trim at the flying session this morning.

Added to the potential entries are Comet Farman 400,

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two Comet Howards

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and a Bristol Brownie. I believe the latter was from a neo-dime plan. I know that another Bristol Brownie and a Farman 400 are on members building boards, with rumors of a Hi-Flier Monocoupe and a Comet P-26 coming also. There was an error in a previous post, the P-12 was from Megow plans, not Hi-flier.

And, a few more videos.

https://youtu.be/r9TatP6KdmA

https://youtu.be/KVX37JSvoMA

https://youtu.be/HBVHBD1jkXE

https://youtu.be/j-5b-TvZ-h8

Next Week, the contest!

[kittyfritters]

The contest took place yesterday and the winner was a real surprise. Dave Gee showed up with a 1944, Guillow's, Curtiss Robin made from an actual kit he purchased on eBay.

Now the Guillow's dimers were particularly difficult to build. I doubt that any tween aged boy could have built one and gotten it to fly without experienced help. but a middle aged man with decades of experience is another matter. If you can finish one they are quite light, this one being 8 grams. It floated around the room. He initially had some trouble getting it to turn left in the room, so he trimmed it to turn left and got flight of just under a minute. With the R.O.G. flight bonus and a fair appearance score it was enough to win the contest.

Second place was Joe Whiting with his Comet Howard DGA 8 which also got flights in the 50 to 60 second range, but he didn't R.O.G. although he had a better appearance score.

Third place was Don Butman flying a Comet Porterfield 65.

There were 12 models entered, including a couple that did not show up for last weeks trimming session, another Comet Farman 400 and a Comet Fokker DVII. Oh, and another error in attribution, that Stinson 105 (See previous post.) is a Hi-Flier plan, not Comet. As with all indoor contests, especially in this venue, the winners managed to trim their turns tightly enough to stay away from the walls and obstacles.

Apparently, a good time was had by all and I got complements on the smooth running of the event.