F/FSport
“You can’t just wish change; you have to live the change in order for it to become a reality. —STEVEMARABOLI
S
ince its inception over three decades ago, the Flying Aces Club (FAC) has achieved world-wide popularity and continues to expand and develop as the largest and best organization devoted primarily to freeflight scale. Its larger meets such as the FAC Nationals, held every other year, and the off-year Non-Nats have been centered in Geneseo, New York—a perfect location for those flyers who can attend, but one that presents some distance and travel barriers for those located in the central and western parts of the United States. Some six or seven years ago, several of the FAC squadrons located in the western states began thinking about changing and increasing the opportunities for dedicated flyers to attend a large FAC regional meet within a closer geographical proximity, but administered to the same high standards as the FAC Nationals. Propelled by Roger Willis and a core group of modelers from the San Diego Scale Staffel, the first Western Regional meet was held in 2007 at the SCAMPS flying site in Perris, California. Subsequent to that initial kick-off event, the decision was made to rename the event the Western Regional Flying Aces Club, or WESTFAC for short, and to hold it on a ro- tational basis during the off years for the FAC Nationals. A well-represented working committee was established to flesh out the framework, and ultimately WESTFAC sites were located in Gainesville, Texas and Den- ver, Colorado to complement the already es- tablished site in Perris, California. Held every other year since 2007, WEST- FAC has now completed one full circle of sites and is now back in Perris for the sec- ond time since the inception of the event. It is scheduled for April 24–27, 2013 at the SCAMPS Field with a full slate of individ- ual FAC events and at least nine Mass Launches spread out over the three days. PHOTO: RUNE JOHANSSON
by larry kruse You can reach Larry Kruseat 18 NW Heatherstone Drive, Lawton, Oklahoma 73505, or via e-mail at
aircats@att.net
PHOTO: ROGER WILLIS
WESTFAC sparkplug, Roger Willis, is not only a leader in the western expansion of the Flying Aces Club, but a fine modeler as well. His nicely crafted Curtiss Seagull,from the old Flyline kit, is set to do WWII Mass Launch battle with its contemporaries at the upcoming WESTFAC IV competition. Details in the text.
You can find the specific details and the en- try forms on the WESTFAC IV web site at
www.westernfac.com.
Congratulations to Roger Willis, his work- ing committee, and all who have helped suc- cessfully expand FAC flying activities for modelers in the central and western parts of the country, and in the process helped make the FAC an even stronger organization through their efforts. An honorary Kanone to each of you!
A “Sorta P-38” in the making Adding a bit of international flavor to this month’s column, Swedish modeler and de- signer, Rune Johansson, wrote and sent a photo of a real cutie he’s now manufacturing that looks like a couple of kit-bashed Delta
Darts with a P-38 Lightning center pod grafted to the middle. He got the inspiration from H.G. Frautschy’s article in the August 2012 issue of FM. Note the simple stick fuse- lages and stock plastic propellers that give the little beast its go-power. Rune says the Swedish version of the Sorta
P-38 has been sold in Sweden during the 2012 Christmas season. He says it’s so simple that anyone can build it just by looking at the photos on his web site
www.ACKUS.com, but that an English text and instructions are on the way. Those who were fans of Bill Han- nan’s “Hannan’s Hangar” in Model Builder magazine may find that his web site has a fa- miliar look to it. We look forward to hearing about and seeing more of Rune’s latest developments.
PHOTO: BILL SCHMIDT
Swedish modeler, Rune Johansson, is the manufacturer of this simple to construct twin Sorta P-38(at left), which has a lot of a Delta Dartlook about it. The model plans and instructions will be coming out in English shortly. Bill Schmidt was seeing double by the time he got finished building his electric powered (L) and rubber powered (R) Piper PA-16 Clippers. Both models (above) started out as the 23-inch wing span rubber scale model published in FMback in 1998, but took divergent tracks as they were completed. Details in the text.
56 FEBRUARY 2013
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