CL Scale Documentation help
 

My daughter and I are building a scale P-40 that she would like to compete with next year. This is her (our) first attempt at a scale plane and neither of us has any compettition experience. I know that the documentation is supposed to contain a three view drawing, but other than that I'm not sure what to include.

Does anyone know where I can obtain a three view drawing to include. Also any comments on what else we should include would be appreciated!

thanks,
Tom

RE: CL Scale Documentation help
 

Along with a good 3view you will want to have some pictures or drawings of the specific aircraft that you are modeling. I'm talking THE aircraft with it's markings and proper pilot name, kill marks and other stuff like that. It's not enough to model just a generic type of model you want a specific pilot's aircraft and details of the markings. And get a good sized 3 or more view drawing. A little 2x3 inch 3view with thick lines won't get you any points. You want a proper documentation drawing that has rivet lines and sections on it so they know it's an actual P40 and not some generic shape with curved wintips... :D

Along with that it impresses the judges if you have a special ruler with you that has the regular inches for the model and a reduced scale that matches the scale dimensions of the drawing. If the model is 4x larger than your drawing the ruler would have a custom scale that is 1/4 inch to the foot so they can reference measurements between the model and the drawing without doing any math.

Other than that I think you may find documentation minimums in the AMA rule bookfor each class.

RE: CL Scale Documentation help
 

Tom,
Contact AMA and get a free rule book!!! Everything you need to know is in there. I have been competing in C/L scale and judging for several years. I have flown a C/L P-40 sport scale model for several years and done reasonably well with it. It has not gotten high static scores at the Nats, but then it was not originally built as a competition model. However it has gotten the highest flight scores at the Nats when I flew it there. There is actually sufficient information in the phamphlet type books from the "In Action" series. The "P-40 In Action" should be available at the Air Force Museum book store or your local book seller or maybe hobby shop. If you can find an out of print "Aircraft in Profile" of the P-40 it will be very helpful too. I used the "In Action" 3-view in my documentation and found a color scheme in the "Profile" booklet. Bob Banka advertises in the model magazines. He is a source for three-views. Color accuracy is probably one of the toughest things to document. However at your daughter's level of competion, duplicating the paintings in the booklets will be very competitive. If I can be of further assistance please feel free to send a PM. And make sure you get a free rule book from AMA!!!!
Chuck Snyder

P>S

RE: CL Scale Documentation help
 

Tom,

I have a book that I wrote on CL scale competition and electronic controls. This is a huge subject and documentation can make or break our score.

For 3-views and pictures of actual full size airplanes - www.bobsairdoc.com

E-mail at [email protected] if are interested in a copy of my book.

Bottom line your documentation should have 8 pages of information

1 page of information about the model, yourself, and maybe a half page of info on the full size plane

1 page counts for your 3-view regardless of how many pages it contains...hint if you have a 4 page 3-view it only counts as one.

5 pages of pictures of your subject aircraft...remember if a detail shows up in the photograph do not include this photo in the documentation you show the judges. In other words don't prove to the judges that your model is wrong!

1 page that proves color....typically pick one photo that represents the color or use color chips

do not confuse the judges and only show them documentation on ONE airplane, not a typical airplane. Many people have put typical information (photos) in the doucmentation about multiple airplanes and in the end the judge has no idea which particular airplane you are trying to document. I would highly suggest getting a 3-view from bob banka, pick up a photo pack of ONE particular airplane. copy that paint scheme to the letter and only show pictures of that ONE airplane.

also look at www.scaleaero.com, this is more aimed at RC scale, but you can use the same rules for documentation that the guys use for RC sport scale. they probably have information in there somewhere that shows how to put docmentation together.

Good luck,
Fred Cronenwett
proudly flying, judging and running CL scale contests for over 12 years