Thanks for the kind words about my dad. Yes, he did indeed get a ride in Lumley's Chipmunk. We planned a family vacation to Florida in the winter of 69 & one of the stops was Hollywood, Fl were the airplane was based to take the 100's of photos neccessary to put together the documentation package.

I was only 5 when the Skymaster was flown at the Nats but I do recall that the first flight at the Nats was also the first flight on the model, was complex in it's day with working nav and landing lights, working oleo struts and nicely made impeller shroud for the rear engine...still being finished right up until the day we loaded up for the Nats.

The P-63 had a long competitive life, and was not based on the Sterling kit as it was a good bit larger and used a ST-71 for power. Was originally olive drab but was re-finished in silver for the 69 Nats where it came second.

Sorry to have de-railed a pattern thread a bit. Dad always had a nice pattern model around (including a Sultan, Eyeball, Tiger Tail and later a Tipo) and flew every weekend to stay sharp, but rarely competed in pattern as scale and pylon (he used to build deBolt's racers in exchange for kits/radio gear) were his priorities.