Just in case anybody wants to know what these planes look like, here is an archived version of Dick's webpage with the pics of the pattern planes: http://web.archive.org/web/200212132...s/pattern.html

The Zlin is here (this one is identical to my Dad's plane, but his has a YS 1.20 - WAY too much power): http://web.archive.org/web/200308250...dels/zlin.html

To my eye, the EMC2 is still one of the best-looking planes ever designed.

As I recall, the Elite and Elan designs were essentially design iterations of the Tiporare design. He basically stretched, squished, and tweaked it a bit.

In the meantime Dick designed a very scale-looking Dalotel Viking, and had good success with it (Chip Hyde flew it in the Nats around '84).

The Runaround was effectively a combination design, blending some of the elements of the Tipo series (fin/rudder, elevator/stab) with the force arrangement, some of the fuse lines (relatively aftward canopy, sloping turtledeck), and taildragger setup from the Dalotel.

Good stuff.

The Zlin used a wing and stab that was extremely similar to the Runaround, but with a beautiful scale fuse. It is an excellent flyer.

The EMC2 was a 2 meter version of the Runaround, with a wider fuse profile. I believe it would be pretty competitive today (at least through Advanced), despite being a 15 year-old design.