I love it when somone pushes the boundaries to set new standards in a competition class, and in my opinion, that was just what Richard Crossley did with his fantastic new rubber-powered Douglas Dauntless. The detailing and finish of this large model (1/19th scale) are well up to his usual standard, but that was not the outstanding feature. For the first time (to my knowledge anyway) we were able to witness a rubber powered free flight model take off, retract its undercarriage, cruise around, lower the gear again and land. The current flight bonus system allows 10% to be added for undercarriage retraction, and another 10% for it going down again. 20% is well worth having, and makes the model competitive with multi-engine types.
The system works on an electronic timer, and a miniature servo powers the wheels smoothly up and down. The timer is triggered by a thin wire that hangs below the aircraft, in contact with the ground. When the plane takes off, the wire is free to move down and sets the timer running. After wheels up, there is an adjustable delay before the wheels move back down again.
I felt privileged to be part of the "advisory team" (doubling as catchers) who spent a late night session in the Sports Hall on Saturday helping Richard trim the model out. One of the complications he had to overcome was the trim change caused by the gear going up, giving a cleaner airframe. He thus had to rig up a method of adjusting the elevator trim slightly when the wheels came up, then putting it back to where it was when they came back down again. Getting the amount of movement just right was rather tricky. The first successful flight when everything worked (at 9.45 pm) was a joy to behold, and there was much rejoicing!
Richard sensibly put the model away, and flew it in the same trim for his first competition flight the next day, when everything functioned perfectly - this time with a sizable and enthusiastic audience. A really outstanding achievement!
Tonda Alfery's superb foam Tigercat was probably the smoothest flying model I saw all weekend. It is made of cast foam, complete with panel detail engraved on the surface. The light weight made for a realistic flying speed, and the tricycle undercarriage allowed very realistic take-offs and landings. Flight scores were thus very high, even before adding the 10% twin engine bonus, and the model finished up worthy winner of the open rubber class.
Mike Hadland had built a fine new open rubber model for the competition, this time an Aero C.104. In case you think this looks rather similar to a Bucker Jungmann, that is because it is in fact a license built Czech version of that aircraft.
This was a relatively large model, but built extremely lightly, so that the flying speed was most realistic. The model really floated around the hall after a gentle take-off from its realistically sprung undercarriage. The only factor that prevented the model getting even higher flying marks was a slight tendency to give a little wobble just before touch down, as it ran through its own slipstream. I guess the very low wing loading probably makes it more susceptible to this than a heavy, faster flying model.
Another beautiful new open rubber model built for Interscale was this Southern Martlet by Andre Petit, from France. The real aircraft has been restored and is based at Shuttleworth – I saw it flying at a display earlier in the year, and very pretty it was too. Below is Andre's example in action.
The model was extremely well detailed and finished, and he got a very high static mark – even beating Divs Masters’ Sopwith Triplane, which does not happen very often! Due to the fact it was only just finished before the event, there was not too much time to trim the model, but it nevertheless put in some solid qualifying flights. There is more to come though, and this model will be a potential class winner when it is fully sorted.
Another of George Kandylakis's delightful models was this exquisite Avro F which he entered in both open rubber and peanut. The model features an opening hatch so you can install the pilot. He managed several qualifying flights, and with a good static score finished 8th in the open rubber class.
Bernard Bruins from The Netherlands was the youngest competitor at Interscale (17 years old), and here is his rubber powered Volksplane. The model was not trimmed before the event, and Bernard worked very hard throughout the weekend to achieve the required 15 second qualifying time. When he finally made it in round five, everybody watching was delighted, and there was an enthusiastic round of applause.
lovely workmanship evident in Ge Brouwer's rubber powered Nieuport IV G. This was a model that was proving very tricky to trim, and despite a few good attempts, could not quite manage the required 15 seconds.
Arguably the best flights of the whole weekend were made by the little peanut sized Dixon Special, entered in Open Rubber by Chris Strachan. He reeled off six consecutive high scoring qualifying flights, all of which were fast, smooth affairs with superb take-offs and landings. I can only think a lack of bonus features kept the static marks down, because the model is beautifully painted, otherwise it would have finished higher up the rankings than 6th.
Kevin Wallace brought along this Sopwith Bee to enter in both the open rubber and peanut classes. Loads of wing area for a peanut, but also a rather chubby fuselage to drag around. Model looked good in the air, though flight times were not particularly long. Kevin just failed to register a qualifying flight in open rubber, missing the 15 second target by just 0.2 seconds.
Mike Hadland has got his latest Jungmeister peanut really going well now, and broke the magic minute mark from a take off during the competition. Light weight is definitely the key to success here, as you can tell by the flying speed and long motor run. To get such a well finished, conventionally constructed and fully painted model to fly for that long is a marvellous achievement. A very deserving class winner.
Nicely finished Breguet 14 peanut by Jean Claude Bourdeaud'Hui from France. Best flight time was 40 seconds, and the model finished 9th in class.
Gert Brendel, from The Netherlands, entered this Renard RSV in peanut, and got some very good flights, with a best time of 62 seconds.
Richard Crossley finished second in Peanut scale with this new Nakajima BN5 Kate made from blue foam. The worn appearance and simulated bare metal areas were very convincingly done. Model included a bomb slung underneath, also carved from foam. Best flight was a very impressive 86 seconds.
Unusual subject from George Sneed, who entered this model of the Handley Page H.P.5 "Yellow Peril" in the peanut class.