Dave Pound has been burning the midnight oil to take account of the many and varied suggestions for improvements to our scale competition scoring system. His latest cut of the changes is below, and all members are invited to review it and either let Dave have their views or attend the club meeting on 3rd April where they will be tabled for final discussion and agreement.
W.R.C.S. scale competitions
Rules
The points score be out of a total possible maximum score of 100 basic points plus upgrades for each entered aircraft. The breakdown, now, will be:
1) A maximum of 10 points for take-off and another 10 points for landing. One designated attempt at each only, and on the same flight. An abort (other than one forced by another aircraft) means that the points for that take off, or landing, are lost
The take-off and landing will still be a designated flight - that means you only get one attempt at this and you have to tell the judges that "This is my designated flight for the scoring of the take-off and landing". As usual, this adds an element of risk, and also rewards the pilots that can deliver a consistent and scale-like take-off and landing. The judges will, though, take account of issues such as fixed tail-skids – they’ll know that a WW1 biplane handles less cleanly on the ground than a 2010 Cessna!
2) The flight component score will be out of a maximum of 40 points -the 40 points break down to 10 points for landing 10 points for take off (designated the judges must be alerted) and 20 points for the flight and included in the flight score will be up to 3 possible manoeuvres that you have elected and nominated in advance. These will be on the judges score sheets for them to judge you on and you can pick any manoeuvres that the full size aircraft was capable of performing eg you could pick, roll, inverted and spin and the judges will be looking out for these manoeuvres during your flight or flights. If you don’t elect specific manoeuvres for the judges to focus some attention on, they will judge your entire flight for scale realism.
As in the past you can have as many flights as you wish to try and improve your flight score up to the maximum of 20 points, but only one attempt at the designated take off and landing.
3) The scale detail component in the contest that will now be out of a maximum of 60 points for “scale detail”. That means that if you strip an ARF and put a lot of work and time into the scale detail, then that will be taken into consideration. The judging of this part will be by a selected panel of judges who know what they are looking for. They’ll be judging your effort and the scale impact of the plane. They won’t be counting rivets but they will be rewarding finish and “rightness”. They’ll probably do all this judging during the lunch break, so pilots will have had an opportunity to catch their eye with the flight appearance before they allocate their scores. The judges will each come up with a score, out of 60, and the average will be used. Naturally, no individual will judge their own entry!
We’ve tried to even-up the scoring so that all aircraft get fairly judged, and the judges will be able to recognise both the building and the flying elements of the aircraft.
There are four categories on our scale days:
· Under 7kg civilian
· Over 7kg civilian
· Under 7kg military
· Over 7kg military
You can earn 5 points for entering each of the four categories (so if you enter all four categories and fly in each then you will get the maximum of 20 points towards the annual club competition, increased, of course, if your aircraft gets one of the top positions in a category).
BUT, you only get the five entry points if the aircraft flies (no points for hangar queens) so as long as the wheels get off the ground on takeoff, you will be awarded your five entry points for any category you enter, the landing well that’s up to you.
The idea behind this change is to encourage more aircraft, and more people entering more categories.
To summarize:- "Take off max. 10 points."
"Landing max. 10 points."
"Flight max. 20 points, including assessment of 3 nominated 3 manoeuvres.”
"Scale detail max. 60 points"
You will be eligible for 5 entry points for every category entered (but you don’t get 10 points for entering 2 aircraft in one category, nor do you get 5 points for flying someone else’s aircraft if they have already entered it).
1 There will be a possibility to gain an upgrade on your aircrafts final points. Scratch or kit built aircraft will get 10%
2 Multi engines 5% per engine does not include electric
3 ARF modified 5% (awarded by the scale points judges)
4 Bomb drop, parachute etc or any unusual scale action 5%
These upgrades are compounding, so a scratch-built aircraft with 4 engines and a bomb drop would get basic score (out of 100) X 1.10 (add 10% for scratch) X 1.20 (add 5% for each engine) X 1.05 (for bomb drop) – a maximum of 138.6 points.
Some FAQ on what is eligible for the upgrade:
ARF. Assembled and flown gets no upgrades unless other work is put in to improve the scale detail
A kit or scratch built flown buy the builder gets 10% upgrade
A finished bought kit or scratch built aircraft - no upgrades as it is an ARF in the hands of the buyer
A part finished bought scratch or kit built aircraft that has NOT FLOWN PRIOR TO YOUR PURCHASE and is finished and flown by the new owner is eligible for the 10% upgrade (this must be confirmed by the scale points judges and the C.D.)
A bought crashed, kit or scratch built aircraft that has flown. Repaired, upgraded and flown by the new owner will be eligible for the 5% upgrade but the rebuild must be comprehensive. This to be confirmed by the scale points judges and the C.D. This is in the modified ARF category
An ARF that may have a bomb or torpedo drop, parachute drop, flaps, retracts or other complicated scale working points. These will be taken into consideration by the judges. Naturally the same for a kit or scratch build.
A rebuilt ARF without adding scale detail is still an ARF - no upgrades.
There will be a new annual trophy for the best Modified ARF and that will be decided at the spring scale event in November. This will be awarded at the same time as the Wal van Heekeran trophy that’s given for the best owner scratch or kit built aircraft. These two trophies are separate from the main contest and do not attract entry points for the annual Club Championship.
An ARF is described in our contest as any airframe or aircraft that the owner has not built themselves. To give an example you can buy a scratch built aircraft built by someone else but that falls into the ARF category or buy a scratch built aircraft as a wreck and rebuild it, that comes into the modified ARF category, or buy a Top flight P40 ARF strip it and refinish it that would come into the modified ARF category.
To win the modified ARF trophy you will be expected to put in a lot of scale detail, as an example maybe strip the aircraft to the bare bones and refinish with new covering, sliding cockpit, rivets, pilot, gauges, panel lines etc.
The awarding of this trophy will be decided on by the scale points judges and confirmed by the contest director. It may be the case that the trophy is not always awarded and held over for a year. The idea behind this trophy is to encourage and promote a high standard of skill in the finish. The hardest part of scale aircraft building is in building the airframe and putting in the components and the test flying. By buying an ARF this has already been done for you but that leaves the refinish and that can be taken to a very high standard as well and is possible by all club members.
The Wal van Heekeran trophy is presented to the best owner scratch or kit built aircraft that flies in the spring scale contest. This is awarded at the spring scale contest and the new winner generally chosen by the previous holder.