Half A at the 2011 Nats—Chris Gay (IL), the event director, Bob Smith (WA) 3rd, Don Cranfill (TX) 1st, Don McKay (WA) 2nd, and in front, Rylan Ritch (TX) 1st in Junior. The foamy planes are all Sonic Chickens, built as an ARF by Jeff
The main problems lately for F2D have
been the annual changes in the rules, a fuel shutoff requirement, a switch from an 8mm exhaust to 6mm (slightly quieter), the prospect of a requirement for an even qui- eter muffler and stricter noise limits for 2013. So far, the changes haven’t required major changes in engine design but if that changes it’s going to require fliers to make a big investment in new equipment. Right now there are about 30 or so regu- lar fliers with serious F2D equipment. Any
Dawson of Texas. Jeff’s design flies well and can take a lot of abuse. Easy to build, just bolt on the motor and hook up the controls. This is also a great way to introduce the sport to the younger generation.
given contest seems to draw about two- thirds of them in various parts of the coun- try. So getting to a number of meets involves some serious travel expenses along with a fairly large outlay for equipment. It will be interesting (hopefully not distressing) to see if the rules can be stabilized without caus- ing too many folks to quit. In the mean time the Miniature Aircraft Combat Association (MACA), which is the official AMA C/L Combat special interest group, is starting to organize a US Cup se-
ries of F2D contests around the country. The main idea is to make sure that several F2D contests are on the docket so people can plan ahead and get to at least a couple of contests and get in practice. While it is possible to stay in shape just flying one or two, other fliers find that going to an actu- al local contest run by the rules does won- ders. If you want to keep up with the details on this visit
http://www.maca.hobby-
site.com/3535 It looks like most of these events will include F2D Fast as part of the program. One of the pictures shows Half-A from the
2011 Nats. The event looked like a real game of chicken. Jeff Dawson, from Texas, builds a RTF foam plane he calls the Sonic Chicken. It’s a tough, well thought out de- sign for high performance Half A. That means a Cyclon or Fora (both out of produc- tion) or a Profi 05 engine for good flying per- formance. These things give nearly as much excitement as a Fast combat plane with a lot less hassle. The fact that they fly generally around 75 mph (2.3–2.4 sec/lap on 42-foot lines) make them a lot easier to fly and very durable in mid-airs, ground hits, or stream- er cuts. The Flying Lines website (News of North-
The New England Cupwent off without a hitch. Back row L to R standing: Sasha Nadein, Chris Sarnowski, Tatyana Nadein, Neil Simpson, Mark Rudner, Alex Prokofiev, Chuck Rudner, Ken Hargreaves, Muffy Rudner. Front row L to R kneeling: Andrey Nadein, Greg Wornell, Paul Kubek, Brian Stas, Pat MacKenzie, Yaroslav Melnikov.
FLYING MODELS
west Control Line Model Aviation, edited by John Thompson
http://flyinglines.org/buzz.
sonicchicken.html has a complete article on building the Sonic Chicken. Very interesting. Jeff sells the RTF plane as he builds them for a very reasonable price. He can be contacted by email at
bromi7961@aol.com.
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