I had a look at the thread, and I think that you should do rather well in sport scale or Pro-Am if, as I said above, you fly it within the scale envelope. You would need to be able to provide a published 3 view if you were going to try a higher classification.

Scale contests are not about you competing against someone else. You actually only compete against yourself. You provide a published 3 view and other documentation that is relavant. You must build your plane to the documentation, because you will never find documentation to match what you have built.

If you built an RV-4 that was absolutely a perfect model of an existing plane, and could fly it well, there is no reason that you could not become the winner with a plane such as that. The problem that we see for the most part is sloppy documentation, and a model that disagrees with the 3 view.

I go the extra mile when judging static outline. I normally ask the modeller to orient the model so that I can see the profile that the 3 view shows. I trace the outline that the 3 view shows, paying attention to all the lines, but especially transition points, and cross sections. If the 3 view shows a semi-symmetrical airfoil, and the model has a Clark-Y, guess who just lost some points. The same goes for things such as canopy transition angles, antenna's shape, size and placement. Scale exhaust location and shape get's a lot of folks. Landing gear stance is another area where a lot of people fall short.

I next ask the modeller to orient the model to where I am looking at the head-on view. I will ask them to raise or lower the tail so that the view that I have of the model matches what the 3 view shows. Again I follow the profile of what the 3 view shows vs what I see on the model. Things such as airfoil thickness and tail group thickness get a real good look here.

Finally I ask them to orient the model so that I can look at the model from the top. The same thing happens here. I get to see the control surface shapes, sizes and hing lines. I also get to look at the fairing shapes (especially the wing fairing and Horizontal stab fairings). Transition shapes are important here too. If the 3 view is a split view for the top/bottom, I may ask to see the bottom of the model as well, again checking outline and transition points, landing gear mounts and placement. Remember, I am 15 feet away from the model at all times.

If you think that your model has what it takes, by all means enter it in a local scale contest, and give it a try. You probably won't have to satisfy a judge who knows exactly how to do it, and you might get lucky. You can't just walk in and enter Top Gun. It is an invitational contest, and you have to be asked to enter. Come see it this coming year. The view is worth the climb. No matter how good a model builder you think you are, you will receive a good education in what a scale model should look like. It is a humbling experience for everyone. For the spectator is shows you what is doable. For the contestant, it is for who you are in competition with. for the Judges, it is for these kings of modelling to offer their best for us to pass judgment on. Their Best is far above what the average guy can produce. It is a completely different level. You owe it to yourself to attend at least once. A general warning is in order here. Top Gun is very addictive. If you go once, you will come back.

Bill, AMA 4720
WACO Brotherhood #1