Pete's 2018 Bmfa British R/C Nationals Stand off scale entry with a 1/6th Scale HawkerHurricane 1..

  Once again I entered the  stand off  scale class  Nationals  event  held on the 25-27th August 2018      Barkstone heath Lincolnshire RAF flight training base I took two models my Westland Wyvern  &      Hawker Hurricane  powered by a Laser 150  Having had  its  re maiden   3 weeks earlier following a major rebuild ..
 I arrived Friday  late afternoon and found we were to be held at a holding area  awaiting official hand over as training flights were still being flown..  meanwhile the heavens opened after the longest hot summer since '76  .. Sent a text to my wife to let her know i'd arrived safe,  just wrote "i'm here its raining it's Barkstone, "   at around 5-30 the weather improved   and the traffic too  was released ..  got to the scale tent area & erected my Home (Tent)..  after the usual what goes where  fiasco.. I was soon joined By Alex Kennedy.. CD Chris  Allen & Biggles His boxer dog  were already in place  Turned into a really pleasant evening ........ Tent set up, Kettle on ...Wind straight down the runway  perfect.. You Think!! so instead of my Westland Wyvern I opted for The Hawker Hurricane Mk1, in the stand off scale class,Very surprised to find only  6 had entered that class, for that only requires the minimum documentation  5 pictures  or scale drawings & is judged from  5mtrs & no touching ..  Front, Side, & plan view  have a 15 K factor  realism is higher @ 20 K Markings , colour accuracy  K10, colour & marking complexity  K 5.. tho the scores can be very subjective  from different Judges .. That is also true of the flying too ..
                                                 

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 Saturday competition day is here, early up make breakfast there is something  about a camping  breakfast  made up of bacon sausage egg & fried bread washed down with coffee seems to taste so much better than it does at home.

 Briefing at 0800hrs for all those involved with the comp, here we find out the flying order & who's Judging each class .

The Flying order and the Classes schedule was advised F4C Static Judges are Bill Dennis and Andrew Hewitt.

F4c Flight Judges are Steve Kessel and Chris Allen, Stand-Off Scale Static judges are Ian Bryant and Pat Blenkinsop. Stand off  Flight Judges are Robin Gowler and Jim Currie, Flying only judges are AlexKennedy and Geoff Brown
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                            New to the Nationals this year was the BMFA STC  Calcutta Cup 

                               

 Calcutta Cup  Awarded to the Wining team in the England V Scotland challenge for R/C Scale Flying only event  to be held at a nominated event each year ..

The event for many years had  dwindled to a distant memory until  it became just a normal scale competition( club get together for those who regularly take part).. This year the scale technical committee set out with the hope of reviving the Patriotic element to it by having a trophy for a team event between the number of Scottish  flyers taking part & a equal number of English flyers drawn at random from the English contingent..  

 The Trophy  decided on is a Quaich, for those like me who have not heard of such a thing  the Quaich is a two handled drinking cup the  draw for the Calcutta Cup  also took place at the briefing,  and was to be this year  a competition between  Scotland & England 5 pilots a side ...total marks of each team member added together  the team with the highest total score  WINS.. 

 The  Quaich  was kindly donated by Chris Allen, Who also made the base on which it is mounted,  the STC decided on the the trophy's name in the hope (and belief) that the holders of the trophy would follow the same pattern that occurs in Rugby between England and Scotland in that it would spend  most of its time south of the border .

 Flying only kicked of at 9am down the main runway  flying R-L with Dave Osborne flying  his  large Tucano ..  After the first six had flown  it was the turn of  Stand of scale & as the wind direction  had now moved though 90deg we move over to the cross runway flying left to right ..  I was 5th to fly & the wind is increasing too. Dave Knott  who  was my caller said "make todays flight count,"this was due to adverse weather forecasted for Sunday.. Flight  Started well a very good take off the  flight manoeuvres  pretty much looked like they should  although during the loop a tad too low pullout  drew a gasp!!,  landing approach ok touch down & disaster struck in the form of the r/h wheel hub  pulled apart on the unforgiving high grip runway   the Hurricane went nose down  & with it most of the landing marks..  the flight score's were posted a big surprise found I was in 2nd place to  Jim McCall's  Spacewalker 
                                                   ......  Click on any photo to enlarge ......



                                                                           Photo Bob Fletcher 

 Going you can just see part of the hub going & Wheel cover flexing as seen in the RCM&E.

 Photo by Dave Blake Reposted from f/b

 Because the the forecast for Sunday was forRain & high winds mid morning Chris the CD told us that we would fly a second round  straight after the F4c class had flown .. this meant I had little time to affect repairs   3 cheers for super glue , & remembering to put spare 5mm steel pins in my  spares box..  I had just got things together again the Hurricane was called for static Judging .. A very subjective subject at the best of times, as when I did see the score for that I was very disappointed as its to Dave Knotts drawings  and as  had scored well when first judged in a previous nationals  Ho Hum,  Ok back out to the flight line  we were Flying still down the alternative runway  this time L-R  My flight take off  in to wind this time was good & straight  the manoeuvres  looked ok, landing in to wind called as  approach this time was now at 40 deg to the runway  & meant a very tight turn  to avoid the crowd line & tall pole  wind direction ribbon  "WoW" really close to that !!  not a bad touch down  and a straight rollout, this earned me the Highest flight score of the class....As it happened  Chris's call was the right choice for standoff.. SO  after the hottest summer since '76 right on que Sunday the Heavens opened at 10.30 am the the rain fell in torrents winds blew with some really violent gusts,  I had to bail out my tent  living area as did others because the wind had changed round and was blowing though my front door now,  Tent now tied to my car .. the rest of the days flying was abandoned  the  weekend was turning into  weather wise                ....................The Good, Bad, & downright Ugly ....... So  some  flyers took to a walk around any trade venders that were still open, while the rest went into the  scale hanger where  Chris Allen held an impromptu  seminar to discuss scale matters  that got some quite animated, although I did spot Dave nod off 💤 . 😀
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 Round one of F4c took place on Saturday,  club mate and friend David Knott was fielding His Beautiful new Hawker Hurricane Mk1, fresh back from the world championships held in Switzerland, this 1/5th super scale model has taken Dave 10 years Building  on & off.. After his Static Judging  we took to the flight line,    David's first flight went very well giving him a good  flight score  that added with the Highest static score put him in first place,  Dave's second round flight did not fair well as his engine was  running  very rough in the air  forcing a early retirement the engine was very hot too, this left the door open to others ..  Then on Monday the 3rd round was cancelled  most of the competitors  scratched  because of very bad  conditions  this meant that first place  went to defending  National Champion  Dave Knott,   Richard Crap Westland wessex 2nd, Dave Womersley 3rd ..

DaveKnotts Hurricane below this is in the latest colours the real one being repainted several times
   

 In action.. photo's Bob Fletcher

 Dave readying to go int action (note the flag )

Up before the Judges (or is that behind)

On approach 

 Dave posing beside his Hurricane Monday  he has taken the front cowling off  should he have to fly the 3rd round because of the overheating problem encountered during the 2nd round .

 Dave & Chris Foss Chatting 

 Monday morning  final day of the competition started with the Flying Scale  boys  (a few less now as some had scrubbed )  on the main runway again flying R-L  but  there was a stiff breeze  blowing  making  it  hard to maintain a smooth flight particularly the biplanes,  Not one to Buck a challenge Martin Fardell  With his DH 62 giant moth  electric powered  had valiant  try ...                                    The 3rd  round of stand off was  by now between three  only  as the other entrants  pulled  out because of the by now strong  wind  Jim McCall went first & landed a good score  in the poor conditions, Steve Jackson  after watching  the Spacewalker  flight  withdrew the Bristol F2B ..  So I was the last to go,  Taking off I accidentally flicked the retract switch just as the Hurricane left the ground  but did a good climb out,  followed with  a good flight  (well you could  make out the manoeuvres) the landing approach was very good as was the touch down thought i'v done it,   BUT again fate had gremlins waiting to twist the right wheel and I nosed over again **^% with that the vital marks, fixing the wheel I found a grub screw loose from the first wheel hub loss  repair  .. 
              
          Found a Pic on BMFA f/B taken by a Dave Blake  re posting here of  1st flight fast fly past  ..

     
                                                          Three pics by Paul Brewer  Friend & clubmate.of mine

looks real to me 

underside view

 waiting my turn 

 Third round  takeoff  Unintentional Wheels up  far too early        photo Bob Fletcher

 above flyby

The landing approach

face plant again !!

I don't believe it 

 Above  Steve Fish's  Lavochkin La 5 FN In the last round   very poor conditions he made it look like calm day & made a even higher flight score 

  Steve Fish (left) looking very pleased with his well deserved Win flying only 

left  Ben from SMC visited the Nat's
 Dave Knott  is to the rear with his Hurricane  talking to Chriss Foss  you can just see his left leg ..

  Alex Kennedy  having a late afternoon  food intake  ( he is HaPPy)  Alex was a Flight f/o Judge, He had also entered  this  beautiful Tiger moth ..  screen shot below 

Oh and not Forgetting the Calcutta Cup was won by ENGLAND This was the Scottish team reaction on the news of there loss having held it for some time  

 The Team for Scotland was Jim McCall, Mick Henderson,Alex Kennedy,Jim Currie, David Fisher
For England it was Tim Ruck, Steve jackson,  David Osborne, Andy Bowman & Peter Fullard (me)

  Stop press  update on my static score  we found  in April '19..    it would appear this has been entered incorrectly  it should be 1665.0 my score sheets have been passed on to the s.t.c for confirmation  + all depends on the  winner to send in his score sheets (if he still has them ) & positions could change .. !!!

Well the STC had a meeting re the scores mix up  & agree there is a discrepancy.. BUT i'm not being  upgraded  as i did not challenge results  soon enough,Well at the time  I was not aware there was a problem  why would I  ..  It only came to light when Dave Knott  wanted to check my model  for the reason of my low Static score  as it is built to his plans   previous  static has been 1770 & 1700.....

 Moral  of story is to check  score sheets  asap 

I have now taken this further  and have lodged an official  protest  appeal  against the decision  to uphold a known error and am awaiting the  outcome of the tribunal as of Dec 2019

 Great News

The result of the 2018 standoff scale has been reversed   As of December  10th 2019   the BMFA convened appeals panel have upheld my protest unanimously there for it is official I  am  the stand off scale champion  along with my Hawker Hurricane  2018.. 

Above revised results posted  as of 16th Jan 2020

 A dismal Monday morning  some of the flying only models

A cool windy  Monday after the flying was over  Robin Gowler  Neil Tidy & Pete Fullard   we are  looking at  Bob Fletcher Flight line photographer..

(CD) Chris & Biggles
 Great Job done by Chris & his crew,  Good decisions too Thank you . 

 Models starting to be stored in the Hanger Overnight 

John Elington's  Cessna 150 slow fly past 

 Petes Hurricane  looks like a twilight fly past 

  As a post scrip an over heard conversation  from the  behind the ropes .. "we have two members in our club who are better than this lot & could fly rings round anyone here," " well that maybe true  so why are they not here !! was the reply, "

It is one thing to fly in a free style manner at a club no pressure,  Than to do set manoeuvres in the same place each time  remembering start & finish calls in front of your peers & being Judged to boot  by  an all knowing crowd of watchers 

 ask those  who have done the A-B test   So Please give scale flying a go  at a area competition  near you A new class of Light scale is being looked into   so keep an eye on the BMFA scale page .. ..  

 More photos to follow when I get them from Bob  Fletcher  of other  competitors & of mine and Dave's too 

Martin Fardel's DH62 Giant moth  flew well 

 screen shot below BMFA F/B page 12-12-2018  & its my Hurricane 

photo Dave Blake

😀