By Duncan Hutson
Once again the Cotswold RC Society based at Aston Down Airfield, nr Stroud, have decided to run the Cotswold Scale Masters and this year will be held on Sunday JULY 8TH. Yet again DH has the job of promoting and running this event. Perhaps I must be doing something right as this will be the 5th year this event has taken place and has proved very popular indeed.

With the previous events there had been two classes with the Club Flier class open to anyone who has not made it to the top five at the British Nationals. This was particularly aimed at the beginners or club fliers who were not looking at quite such a serious class to fly in as a typical scale BMFA meet. Also the static judging requirements in this class were a little more relaxed than usual. The Masters class was run basically to the normal BMFA scale competition rules and attracted many a serious scale modeller. This even included Pete McDermott’s World Championships winning Sopwith Triplane last year. In fact last year the Masters class was far larger than the Club Flier.

I felt that perhaps a change might be worth looking at this year and have decided to go for DESIGNER scale and CLUB scale. Designer scale will be open to anyone who has designed and built their own model from scratch even if it does incorporate some commercial parts such as wheels, machine guns etc. Club scale will be for anyone who has built from a commercial plan even if it has been enlarged or from a commercial kit. The static judging requirements for Club scale will be somewhat reduced basically requiring only one photo of the actual aircraft and a three view drawing with some form of colour description. Obviously more documentation will be to the competitors advantage.

My thinking behind this change has been brought about with the discussions going on around the scale competition circuit over the last year or so concerning the down grading or down marking of aircraft that are built from kits or have a number of commercial parts on them such as glassfibre cowls. With Designer scale all the modellers will have built their aircraft from scratch so will all be judged equally – likewise the Club scale modellers it will be assumed have a number of commercial parts so there again all be will judged equally.

Both classes will fly exactly the same flight schedule with the normal descending circle being dropped and only four optional manoeuvres required. The ideal behind this is to hopefully speed the flying rounds up a little with the option of holding a fly-off between the top three or four models within each class if time is permitting at the end. This could make a more exciting final as the top three competitors would then be flying against each other under equal weather conditions. In Designer scale half your points will come from flying whilst the other half from static. With Club scale two thirds of your score will come from flying whilst the other third will come from static making this yet again a more relaxing class to fly in. Hopefully this will also encourage new people to come and fly.

In the past it has been nice to see the number of modellers who have turned up on the day to watch some of the top scale models at close quarters not only statically but flying. Equally they will be more than welcome again this year. Aston Down airfield is between Stroud and Cirencester on the A419. The airfield can be entered from the crossroads signposted to Frampton Mansell and alongside the Texaco petrol station and the White Horse pub. As Aston Down airfield is owned by the fullsize Cotswold Gliding Club we can only fly models weighing approximately 12kgs and jets be they turbine or ducted fun power cannot be accommodated on this flying site.

For anyone who has not been to Aston Down airfield we have a good tarmac runway flying site. If you wish to compete you will need to pre-book giving me your frequency and the £6 entry fee although this can be paid on the day. Toilet facilities are available on the airfield at the control tower. Dogs are to be kept on leashes at all times. There is a 30mph speed limit on the perimeter tracks.

I can be contacted on e-mail or by telephone 01242-572451.

Contributed by Duncan Hutson
www.duncanhutson.co.uk