2004 Virginia Fun Scale Championship
&
Sport Scale Contest

17 July, 2004

The 2004 Scale Meet hosted by Newport News Park RC Club may be the best attended Sanctioned contest we have had thus far! We had thirteen registered contestants with five from North Carolina, one from the Richmond area, and one from New York. Three of them flew in both events, which meant sixteen flights per round. It was a real treat for our club to host contestants such as Jeff Foley and his famous ME-109, David Hayes and his really neat Thrush crop duster, as well as Bill Lepley with a beautiful big Bearcat. We really were treated to some first class flying! Thanks for coming, fellas!

There are a lot of photos in this report. I tried to get the file sizes down and still not loose too much detail. It may take a few minutes to download this if you are on a dial up modem. Please be patient.....it's worth the wait.

Members started showing up before 0800 to set up. We began
 static judging at 1030 A.M. and had four contestants in Sport Scale.
Twelve pilots were entered in the Fun Scale Category. This was divided into
Division I (first time scale contestants-three pilots) and Division II for any one who had
competed in scale before. The Fun Scale event only awards five points for static score
if the paint scheme can be documented. Only three pilots did not have the documentation.
As you can see in the above photo, there were a lot of tents to provide shade.

This is David Hayes putting together his Thrush crop duster. Billy Johnson, right, is a member of the 95th Squadron, the group that came up from North Carolina.

Pete Rawlings brought a nice looking fleet of models and flew the yellow Moth in the background. He was the last to fly in the first round, and by then the wind had begun to pick up. The lightly loaded moth suffered as a result.

	Another shot of Pete's lovely Ryan. Pete Dixon photo
	Julian Harris and Fred Jones share some shade and displayed several beautiful models.

This photo gives you an idea of the amount and quality of models we had attend. At the lower right is Jeff Foley's fantastic ME-109. Jeff just recently won the Pro-Am class at Top Gun with this model!

	This is looking from the other end of the tent line. Just about everyone came prepared for the heat. Pete Dixon Photo
	These are a few of the fun scale models that were flown. ARF's have certainly come a long way in the last several years!

This is Bill Lepley's big Bearcat. I believe it is from Zaroli plans.

Bill flew this Newport in fun Scale. It was interesting to hear him "blip the throttle" to simulate the sound of a rotary engine being controlled by just turning them on and off. They didn't have a throttle, you know........you did know that, didn't you?

The Newport in flight. Pete Dixon photo
Fred Jones flew this nice looking Focke-Wulf Fw190 in fun scale.

Another view of Jeff's ME-109

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                                                                                                                         Photo by: John Philbrick
Jeff and crew starting the engine after a shortened first flight. The engine quit
shortly after takeoff and he made an emergency landing. Luckily it suffered only
minor damage in the flip over when he went into the high grass at the edge of the mowed
runway. He said the carburetor had not been reset since his last flight on a much cooler day.

                                                                                                                         Photo by: John Philbrick
It sure looks real to me!        

	Don Kohlman and Phil Greasley watch Owen Dwire's Cardinal as they wait  Don's turn. Peter Dixon is calling for Owen.
	This is Owen's Cessna Cardinal as it makes the Fly Past maneuver. Owen had the highest flight score in Fun Scale and was only .12 points below David Hayes flight score in sport Scale! He was one of the three who did not have any documentation. The five points would have put him in first place in Fun Scale.                                              Photo by: John Philbrick

Here it is on the "duster pass" just inches off of the runway. He made a very
low level "crop duster turn-around" after this pass and repeated this in the
opposite direction. Yes, that is real dust being laid down behind the model!

                                                         Pete Dixon photo
This is another shot of the Thrush making a low pass. Apparently he had already shut off the 
dust at this point.

No contest like this would be possible without the judges. This is
Ed Silvers and Ken Combs watching a flight. Thanks for your time
and efforts!

The other two judges, here scoring Owen Dwire, were Dave Fisk,
and Jay Taylor. Peter Dixon is calling for Owen.

Bill Lepley is being assisted by his wife as he starts his big Bearcat.
She also called for him while he was flying. It's nice to see wives
involved in hubby's hobby!

This is Whitney and John Philbrick. Whitney has the distinction of
having come the farthest to attend our contest. New York!

So - WHO WON?

After over forty flights, and the dust had settled, and the CD had a chance 
to tabulate the scores, the results were as follows................Drum roll please>>>>>>>

In Fun  Scale Division  I

NNPRCC President Owen Dwire presents 
Julian Harris his 1st Place Plaque.

Whitney Philbrick came in 2nd.

Pete Rawlings was third. He left early and was not 
around to receive his trophy.

 In Fun Scale Division II

Jeff Foley was in 1st Place with 95.0 points.

David Hayes was 2nd with 94.75 points!  Talk about a close finish! 

Hunter Sizemore came in third with a very respectful 91.75 points! 
Hunter was also awarded the first place award for the Senior age group 
for the entire contest. 

Sport Scale

Jeff Foley won 1st Place in our first Sport Scale division contest. His ME 109 
had a static score of 100 points. And I told the judges to be tough! (JL)
His overall score was 191.38 .

David Hayes was a very close Second with 190.5 Points. I'm sure
he and Jeff are probably used to very close finishes!

Bill Lepley was Third with 182.88 points. Bill had to leave after 
the end of round two, so I don't have an awards photo. 

Here are the winners and the Contest Director,  Joe Lupton, on the right. 

Speaking now as the contest director rather than web master, I want to thank everyone who came, whether you came as a competitor, to help with the contest, or just to watch. Any meet like this is all about sharing our love of model aircraft with others with a similar interest in the sprit of friendly competition. We certainly saw that here today! I think all who were involved made new friends, learned a little more about scale flying, and surely had a good time. We had two of our youngest competitors and they both made a fine showing of themselves. Regrettably, Brad Foley had a gear problem after his first flight and could not continue, but his first flight score was very good! 

I also want to thank everyone who pitched in to help make this go as smoothly as I think it did. The condition of the field looked great! Thanks, Peter and son! Thanks to every one who helped set up the food tent and helped in that area. It was truly a club effort and I think we came together to do a great job. Next year should be even bigger and better!

Joe