Regards,Roel
The level was very high! You can see in the Open Rubber class how incredibly close the end result is! Just a couple of points apart... I found it nice to see the differences between a model that might do well in static and a bit less in flying and also that the other way around can be competitive.
Asked the judges for some remarks: Overall for the Open classes when you look through the static judging forms it is obvious that quite a few people should perhaps work a bit more on their documentation! Quite a few models suffer because of this, wich is a great pity if you work on something for a long period of time... Flying wise a lot of models fly relatively tight and heavily banking turns wich make the planes speed up quite a bit. Models that according to the judges really stood out were Richard Crossley's Bermuda and Graham's Comper Swift. Nice wide open turns, slight bank, low flying speed and stable landings.
In electric the differences are a lot bigger; Derek Knight is quite a bit ahead of the competition. His Tiger Moth in the static department not only looks well but it has the documentation to match it. Flying wise it has quite a bit of realism as well! It does need most of our hall though! George's D.H.9 was very, very impressive... Looks like a real museum piece. It made two qualifying flights on sunday very nearly hitting walls and ceilings...
Peanut results show how close this class was as well; there was a tie for
first place! André Petit and Richard Crossley both had the same placing number
so the static placing decided. André finished his Fly Baby just before the
contest and already has it flying really well... When you see this model up
close you realise why it does so well in static, immaculate building with not
a wrinkle in sight. Things like thin trailing edges and attention to detail
makes this a very realistic model! In general easy to see that it still is one
of the popular classes with 37 models entered... Judges had a pretty hard
time...
Pistachio had some great models; judges remarked that the building level was
quite high; normally there are quite a few "simple" planes in between. Not so
now, all relatively complex subjects and very well built! And when looking at
the flying times more than half of them do flights of over 40 seconds!
Regarding Kit scale, obviously as an organisation we are on a bit of a learning experience here, but I did like it very much as an addition to the flying schedule. Good to see that a lot of the Kit scale models match the Open class models in flying style and quality. And funny to see that even though painting get's a reduction in points people do it anyway if they like. Also refreshing that you don't need strict documentation but still you need to do a clean and neat build to do well. And with 12 models a pretty good entry field as well. Definitely a interesting class on it's own or a stepping stone onto Open classes!
Regards,
Roel
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