Radio Control: Giant Scale
A STARS-SPANGLED Weekend. Have you ever had a perfect weekend? I just got home from one that was almost perfect: fabulous weather, good food, great hospitality, an outstanding flying site, and bevies of beautiful big birds. I'm talking about the STARS Scale Rally in Olean, NY, on July 12-13. The STARS (Southern Tier Aero Radio Society) was one of the first groups to get interested in Giant Scale, and when these guys get started, they really do it up big. They don't just build replicas of airplanes, they build replicas of whole squadrons. Their justly-famous Bristol Scout was published in Model Airplane News a few years ago, and their Fokker D-VIII is due out soon.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
MORE mail call. In one day I got both a postcard and a letter from Jerry Bockius of Colchester, CT. His card starts out: "Dear Bob, I don't build 1/4-scale RC-or RC anything. However, enjoy your column in MA. Much of interest in the `other disciplines' (FF, mostly Scale is mine). Your F9 C landing gear article in May '80 MA very interesting. In your April '80 column-Federal Standard Color Info-price noted for colour book $3.50. I zapped off my $3.50-GSA came right back and said two bucks more, or else! i.e. FS595A is $5.50."
Radio Control: Giant Scale
AIR Show Team operations. The following isn't really about Giant Scale, but I think it needs to be said. For over a year now, I've been a member of our club's Air Show Team, the Virginia Air Show Squadron. When I was first asked to join the team, I hesitated, and I thought long and hard about it. At the time, I was getting heavily involved in Giant Scale and was about ready to start this monthly column. Adding another responsibility, especially one that would commit many of my weekends, didn't look like too smart a move. In the end, obviously, I decided to go ahead with it, and that has turned out to be one of the better decisions of my life.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
REFLECTIONS on the season: It is mid-October as I write this, and hopefully we in the East will have a few more weeks of good flying weather. As for organized fly-ins, however, the season is over for me. I was lucky enough to get to four major Giant Scale fly-ins in 1980: two in the West and two in the East. In addition, I made it to Toledo in April and have had discussions and correspondence with modelers all over the country. As a result of all this, I have some observations and opinions that might be worth sharing.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
FIRST ANNIVERSARY. It was just a year ago that this column first appeared in MA. In that time, and as a direct result of my involvement in Giant Scale, I have seen a lot of new places and made a lot of new friends. I've learned a lot of new things and developed new interests that will keep me learning for years to come. I've been in contact with people all over the country-and the world-who share my delight with, and enthusiasm for, this best of all possible hobbies. There is one thing, however, that I haven't done in this past year. I didn't finish the Sparrowhawk! Not because I've lost interest, but simply because I haven't had much free time for work on it. Almost every letter I get includes a question about its progress, and it gets a little embarrassing to admit how slowly it is coming along, the F9C-2 will be finished, however, and I can only hope that its first flights will be as successful as Bill Winter's Quarter-Scale Aristocrat.
