Control Line: Navy Carrier
1988 NATS. If you read the minutes of the August Executive Council meeting (in the November 1986 AMA News), you noticed that the site for the 1988 Nats is still under investigation. Cam Martin reports that one of the sites being considered is Fentress Naval Aviation Field south of Norfolk, Virginia. This is, no doubt, good news for the modelers in the southeastern United States. Vince Mankowski and Howard Crispin have surveyed the site and are looking at potential layouts for the flying activities. One of the plans calls for Carrier to be flown over grass. Although some Carrier contests are flown over grass, most of these use grass because pavement is not available. The preparation required to provide a grass flying circle which will allow safe landings (no cartwheels) takes many months, and that won't happen at Fentress.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
THE SERIES on basics of Navy Carrier modeling continues this month. April's column discussed three-line control systems from the handle to the bellcrank. This month, the discussion of control systems starts with the bellcrank and goes forward to the engine. The L-R Products (7787 Archdale, Detroit MI 48228) bellcranks described in the April issue are available in four configurations. Three of these configurations are shown in the accompanying photograph. These bellcranks come with the elevator pushrod either inboard or outboard. The outboard configuration is more compact and is appropriate for installation in narrow fuselages or other confined spaces.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
PROFILE KITS. Although there have always been more kits available for the Profile Carrier event than for the Scale classes, there have been no kits designed specifically for Profile Carrier since the GS kits were available a few years ago. Sterling's Hellcat, though not designed for Carrier competition, can be easily adapted to the event. Two other Sterling kits, long out of production, are also well-suited to Profile Carrier competition. These are the P-51 Mustang, which qualifies for bonus points without any changes in configuration, and the Yak-9, which with minor modifications can become a Bell Airabonita. Both models are small in comparison to other .35-sized profile models like the Ringmaster. They are slightly larger than the 300-sq.-in. minimum wing area requirement for Profile Carrier. They build up into light models, and they have sheet-balsa trailing edges which can be converted to flaps very easily.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
PROPER CREDIT. The exhaust duct (for rear-exhaust engines, made from an elbow plumbing fixture) which I described in the August issue was primarily the work of Stan Johnson. He and Orin Humphries, the one who sent me the drawings, have been using them quite extensively with good results. My apologies to Stan for not including his name in the original description. Profile kits. I mentioned two profile kits in the last column which are remakes of the old Sterling P-51 Mustang and Yak-9. I have since had a chance to examine one of the P-51 kits and found it to be of good quality. The parts are sawn, not die-cut. The balsa is straight and light, and the plywood is five-ply aircraft grade, not the three-ply lightweight type found in some kits. Parts fit was generally good with some minor adjustments required to improve the mating of a few parts.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
1988 NATS! It's official. The 1988 Nats will be held in the vicinity of Norfolk, VA. The preliminary plans are for a gathering of all forms of modelers for competition, convention, etc. It should be quite a show if it all materializes as planned. Those of you who read about the Norfolk possibilities in the April issue and brushed them aside as being too far in the future or too uncertain to take action should think again and get out your pens. To refresh your memories, the CL site will be Fentress Naval Aviation Field. Preliminary plans are for the Carrier competition to be flown over grass, and the grass at Fentress will not be good. We need to start now to get the Carrier flying over pavement. The person to write to is Nats Manager Vince Mankowski at AMA HQ. Send your letters through me, and I will forward them.
