Flying Aces Nats
IT'S A TRIBAL GATHERING, a family reunion, and a time machine all rolled into an exciting, fun-filled, action-packed weekend. The Flying Aces Club Nationals, which takes place every other July, was hosted this year by the prestigious D.C. Maxecuters and held at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, NY, site of the FAC Nats two years ago. It was attended by a couple hundred of the most intrepid birdmen ever to twist a gumband, with a collective past dating from the Golden Age of model aviation to the present.
Free Flight: Sport and Scale
ADVICE FOR NEWCOMERS: Follow Aristotle's advice. Okay, you've decided to build a Free Flight (FF) Scale model, but you can't decide what size is best to start with, or how heavy to make it. Follow Aristotle's advice and seek The Golden Mean. A model of about 36 inches is ideal for FF Scale. It's a nice compromise between huge crowd-drawing models, such as Don Munn's giant rubber-powered racers (which require special logistics to build, transport, and store), and the wee eight-inch-span Pistachios, which tax building fingers and sometimes get sat upon. The best advice for someone starting out in FF Scale is to blow up that Peanut plan or reduce that Jumbo plan to the magic 36-inch span (give or take a few inches). If you can build it to weigh less than four ounces (rubber-powered) or 16 ounces (gas or electric), you are almost guaranteed success in the air!
Free Flight: Sport & Scale
EXCITEMENT! Yes, there are a number of things in this life which set the blood coursing through a man's veins. Beautiful women, fast cars, and Wacos rate up there pretty high, but I think the ultimate excitement for a true modeler is seeing a great plan, balsawood, Japanese tissue, and all the things necessary to produce a great Free Flight Scale model! It's like visiting a real old-time fireworks stand where you don't see the fireworks themselves; rather, you see the promise of what they are going to do. Wow!
Free Flight: Sport & Scale
NOW that the baby's born, what shall we name it? The letters on the sides and wings of a Scale model can make it or break it. Purists would not dream of putting on a fictitious registration, but there are a lot of modelers who don't enter contests and want to have fun with their models in more ways than one. American registrations are pretty dull, as they consist of letters and numbers. Foreign registrations, however, offer a wide latitude for making statements, as they are all letters. In some states people pay to have personalized license plates on their cars. You can have a personalized model in the same way-and for no cost at all!
Free Flight: Sport & Scale
FLYING ACES NATS, The Home Movie! If all of the coverage of the fantastic 1988 FAC Nats in Geneseo, NY has you eager and ready to get into the air, you will want to get a copy of Dean McGinnes' (Flying Aces Swamp Squadron) coverage of the biggest Flying Scale event in history! I just finished watching it for the second time, and despite all of the usual problems inherent in home movies (i.e., an occasional rear end blocking a model shot, overlong coverage of trophy presentation, etc.), I thoroughly enjoyed it. For those who were there, it's a great souvenir. For those who weren't-what a gold mine! Dean has "atmosphere" shots, close-ups of models, mass launches, and clips of most of the modeling greats of the movement. You can see Don Srull's incredible 12-prop Dornier DO-X electric-powered flying boat in the air, Dennis Norman launch his superb rubber-powered Lancaster, Gordon Roberts competing with his legendary Chambermaid, Bob Thompson in his Captain Midnight getup, Walt Mooney, Allan Schanzle, Fernando Ramos, and on and on.
