You are not alone. I think the way SWRA scale judging is done is the biggest impediment to getting new people. It shouldn’t take a half day and be half your final score. I think is should be used for breaking race point ties and only those planes tied should be judged
The day something isn't controversial in racing will certainly be the day
I personally think the scale judging is a bit much. I mean, I see racers as somewhat "disposable" because they generally have a high attrition rate as compared to other forms of competition, so it's a lot of work to put into a plane that may or may not last a long time. That doesn't mean that a plane shouldn't be scale. I just feel that when it comes down to panel lines, colors of wheel wells, etc that it's much to ask for at anything but a scale contest. I know a friend that lost a ton of points because his wheel wells weren't zinc chromate. However, if one doesn't necessarily do scale judging, how do they police racing and scale airframes? This is evident from most of the non-scale judging races where the planes are essentially stretched beyond belief and one has to squint to see the appropriate outline.
4. Regardless of what you hear the CURRENT reason for the breakout is that the AMA won't issue an event sanction/endorsement unless the club can build the course in accordance with current AMA rules governing 2-pole racing for engines over .40 CID. Most clubs don't have the space to set up the course per these guidelines so it's up to the district VP to grant a per-event "waiver" allowing the course to be placed closer to the flightline and spectators. Our current District X VP will issue said waiver but requires Gold breakout.
The pylon breakout time has me baffled myself. My understanding is that the AMA pylon rules were written with the intent of being focused on the AMA rulebook events (QM,quickee,etc) and when the engine displacement/pylon distance guidelines were set up, they were based on an estimation of increase in weight, size, motors,etc. However, take this for example - We have a T-34 race series that uses OS .46 motors. The airplanes range in speed of about 85-95mph tops. It's a popular class. However, since the motors are above .40 cu/in as described in the rulebook, we have to get a waiver for the event, even though the models are 60+ mph slower than quickees. When it comes to our club's local unlimited class, there was no breakout time last year per the waiver I managed to get in hand. None of the planes present went over 150mph. 2003 may be different as I have to resubmit for a pylon waiver for the club. However, our club may be different because of the pylon to specator distance. Under our day to day conditions, the flight line is 190 feet away from the pit area. The pylons are about 475 from the spectators. Pylon judges are about 375 feet back from the pylons.
I like to go fast like Tony. It certainly doesn't make it fun when the rules hamper the speeds of the event.
IMO, there are a bunch of people who just want to get a warbird ARF and race.
Most of the ARF's are pretty good as far as outlines and do a good job at keeping things fair. The problem that I have with a lot of ARF's is that they cannot necessarily take the stresses of the gold class (or above 120-130mph) when stock. People need to be aware of the plane's limits and properly modify it if they wish to compete at higher speeds.
Michael