Don't wait until you think your ready enter any of the Fun Fly levels use an ARF if you have one. It gives you a chance to observe first hand. Ask a a lot of questions and your learning curve will accelerate tremendously. Don't take yourself to seriously enter to have fun, learn and make some new friends.

I know most rule books will allow a static prop for judging and allow you to swap it out for a flight prop. Beyond that you are expected to fly it as presented to the static judges.

That being said the judges and CD have a certain amount of leeway in what they can allow. A lot of this will depend on the level you are competing at. The higher the level the more stringently they stick to the letter of the rules.

I was part of a world championships and when the judges changed the direction of the flight line to compensate for a change in wind direction everyone who flew before lodged a challenge and wanted to fly over again. The competition stopped. The judges conferred and the challenge was denied.

A control line competitor who was in first place throughout the competition and had used a non recognized maneuver as part of his routine was challenged after the last flight. The maneuver was disallowed which knocked him to fourth or fifth place. He had a multi engine Antonov the prototype which was capable of backing up under its own power. He could reverse the props on his model and also back his up. The second place guy had allowed him to use this maneuver without objecting until the last flight which gave the poor guy no chance to recover. It cost the guy the world championships that year.

Be prepared to drop those bombs if required, bring a less detailed set if they allow you to swap them out or don’t drop them pick a different maneuver. You have to be able to adapt to all kinds of situations there is no next week.

As a scale competitor I can tell you that you can believe you have thought of everything and the darnedest thing will crop up out of the blue.

Dennis