Frank Tiano`s scale invitational celebrates 10 years

Frank Tiano's scale
invitational
celebrates
10 years
by GERRY YARRJSH &
LARRY
MARSHALL
Right: this
beautiful
P4U
Corsair
earned
Corvin Miller
third place
in Expert.
Powered by a
Saito 450 R3
3-cylinder,
4-stroke
engine,
the Corsair
received a
96.417
Static
score.
Lett: powered
by a twin in-line cylinder Moki, this Piper
Super Cub was entered in Team Scale by Greame
Mears
and pilot Dave Patrick. The second place Team Scale entry
also won the Best 2-stroke Performance
award.
PHOTOS BY LARRY MARSHALL. GERRY YARRISH AHD W A I T E I SIOAS
Team entry
of Mark Frankel
and pilot Richard
Pong,
this
Beechcraft
T-34 is powered by a Moki 1.8 and has a span of 99
Inches; it took 15th place In Team Scale.
Dave Piatt's newest creation:
a T-28 Trojan. Dave also won the
Engineering
Excellence award with his model; specifically,
for the operational
canopy
mechanism he built.
28
MODEL AIRPLANE
NEWS
Powered by a
RAM 750 turbine, this DH100 Vampire
Mk 1 is the
work of Kerry
Sterner.
Kerry
placed 10th in
Designer
Scale.
I F IT'S T H E month of April and you're in W e s t Palm
I
B e a c h , FL, and there are do zens of beautiful scale
I
m o d e l aircraft all a r o u n d , w h e r e w o u l d you be? If
you a n s w e r e d anything other than t h e T o p G u n scale
extravaganza, I suggest you haven't been reading
enough model airplane magazines. Sponsored by Pacer
Technology* and Model Airplane
News,
this year's T o p
G u n c e l e b r a t e d its 1 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y . A s y o u m i g h t
e x p e c t f r o m t h e e v e n t ' s o r g a n i z e r , F r a n k T i a n o , this
year's competition w a s a grand, world-class event.
For the 1998 competition, 68 contes-
day bash. T o p Gun includes three scale
t a n t s a c c e p t e d F r a n k ' s i nv ita tio n t o
competition classes: Expert, T e a m and
Beginning a day earlier than usual,
compete in the Florida sun. All but nine
Designer. Static judging t a k e s into
static c o m p e t i t i o n a n d test flights
optional maneuvers.
w e r e able to attend, a n d this brought
account accuracy of color a n d m a r k -
c o m m e n c e d on W e d n e s d a y . From the
the number of entries to 59. Even the
ings, outline and the overall quality of
start, it s e e m e d that things would be
weather cooperated this year, and the
craftsmanship. T h e four flight rounds
a little bit different this year, and there
notorious Top Gun crosswinds s e e m e d
t h a t follow Static judging are j u d g e d
w e r e n o c l e a r i n d i c a t i o n s of w h o
to abate for most
for flight realism, placement and e x e -
might have an e d g e until very late in
of the 10th birth-
cution of t h e various m a n d a t o r y a n d
the c o m p e t i t i o n .
On the wing, Dave Piatt's T-28 makes a high-speed flyby.
Dave's Vs-scafe model has a wing span of 82 inches, weighs
22 pounds and is powered by a Moki 1.8.
Left: caught at the moment of turbine ignition, the Lim-Bbis delivers
an Impressive fire plume as the Golden West turbine comes to life.
Below: one of the more unique Team Scale entries
was this
Llm-6bis.
Entered by Tad Krzanowskl
and Jim Hlller, the Golden
West-powered
model is the Polish version of the Soviet
MIG-17F.
It finished In fifth place.
Axis powers prevail in designer scale
D
e s i g n e r s c a l e i s a c l a s s in w h i c h t h e p a r t i c i p a n t m u s t
design, build and fly the aircraft entered. This year, t w o
great guys, flying two great German fighter plane models, took
first and s e c o n d in this prestigious scale-modeling class.
The paint w a s barely dry on Jeff Foley's Me-109E when he
rolled it out of his trailer this year. Gerry and I were in love with
the model, though, a s both of us like the
E model of this classic fighter, and Jeff has done ft in just the
right size for our transportation limitations. In 1:4.5 s c a l e , t h e
wingspan o n this 22-pound craft is 86.6 inches. It flies like a
dream—at least, when Jeff is on the sticks—and, with the exception of one crosswind landing that gave Jeff a bit of trouble, the
narrow landing gear just wasn't a problem during takeoffs and
Roy Vaillancourt
and his
FW
190A8.
Roy uses
household
latex paint to
finish
landings. Jett powers the model with
a Moki 1.8, and it d o e s n ' t lack for
p o w e r . R u m o r h a s it t h a t J e f f i s
going to offer this plane a s a k i t
Roy V a i l l a n c o u r t b e a t b a c k t h e
Allies t o t a k e s e c o n d p l a c e . L e s s
behind Jeff, Roy put in
a solid performance with h i s
FW-190A8. He told us that the functional and s c a l e air-cooling fan o n
t h e front of t h e 190 really s o l v e d
s o m e overheating problems h e ' d h a d
his models.
Q u a d r a 6 5 . After h a v i n g t h e c o l o r
chips matched, R o y painted the model with household latex,
a n d h i s 190 is magnificent. R o y sells everything n e c e s s a r y
(except for his modeling talent) to create your own FW-190.
So if you're up flying your Spitfire or Mustang, w a t c h your six,
as you might just find Foley or Vaillancourt trying to increase
their kill total. Congrats to both of these fine gentlemen.
Top G u n ' s Number O n e s !
T h e r e a r e three c a t e g o r i e s of competition at T o p G u n : Expert c l a s s is w h e r e m o s t of
the solo participants c o m p e t e ; Designer c l a s s is for people w h o h a v e d e s i g n e d the
airplanes they fly; a n d T e a m S c a l e is a n opportunity for a builder t o
find a pilot and c o m p e t e a s a t e a m . " M r . T o p
G u n " is a w a r d e d to the p e r s o n w h o h a s the
F i r s t p l a c e Expert
highest total s c o r e , r e g a r d l e s s of the category
a n d M r . Top G u n :
in w h i c h h e c o m p e t e d .
Charlie Chambers
Model: P-61 Black Widow
Plans/kit: Don Smith Plans
Scale: 1/8
Span: 100 in.
Weight: 38 lb.
Radio: JR
Engine: Webra" 1.20s
Prop: Zinger* 15x8
First place Team S c a l e :
Mariano Alfafara (right)/Dave Pinegar
Model: J-3 Clipped-wing Cub
Plans/kit: Mike Gretz plan
Scale: 1/4
Span: 86 in.
Weight: 12 lb.
Radio: Futaba"
Engine: O.S. 1.60
Prop: Master Airscrew" 15x8
Brian
O'Meara
beautiful
Sea
O.S.
Fury.
plans,
competed
Built
from
the model
and Gene
with
300-powered
Jerry
has an 82-inch
Barton
his
Hawker
Bates
span
retracts.
ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW
T-33A for several years and
T h e r e w a s a f l o c k of n e w ,
placed
never-before-seen models in
Expert. J e f f ' s
the running. A big change of
choice this year was his own-
pace
Garland
design M e - l 0 9 E - 7 . W i t h a
H a m i l t o n , w h o traded in his
wingspan of 86.6 inches and
came
from
third
last
year
in
weapon
of
turbine-powered Lockheed DT-
powered by a M o k i * 1.8 glow
33B
a
engine. J e f f s composite-and-
G r u m m a n F 8 F Bearcat built
wood Messerschmitt is simply
from
plans.
gorgeous. Kerry Sterner can
drone
Jerry
director
Bates
for
Spanning 78 inches and pow-
always be counted on to have
ered by an O . S . * 300 4-stroke
something different, and this
engine.
model
y e a r , he entered a turbine-
engi-
powered D H - 1 0 0 Vampire.
neered, scale set of articulating
Entered in the Designer class.
Garland's
included a beautifully
Kerry's twin-tail jet has a 96The
Team
and
Tom
very
well.
and
weighing
model
took
Scale
entry
Kosewskl,
With
this
Fokker
a wingspan
14 pounds,
was powered
12th
of Glenn
Torrance
E.V
of 82
flew
Inches
the 1 / 4 - s c a l e
by an O.S.
1.60
and
inch span and is powered by a
R A M * 750 kerosene burner.
T w o other n e v e r - s e e n before models (each turbine
place.
p o w e r e d ) w e r e entered in
landing
gear.
Corvin
Team Scale. Albert
A d a u j o and R e i
Miller, whom everybody
Gonzalez teamed up with a beautiful 1/8-
knows flies nothing but
scale Dassault Mirage 2000. Their delta-
civilian Globe Swifts,
wing jet has a wingspan of 65 inches and is
showed up this year with
powered by the R A M 750 turbine. T h e
a modified Z i r o l i * F 4 U
other team entry was a Lim-6bis (Polish
C o r s a i r . P o w e r e d by a
designation for the M i G - l 7 F Fresco C.) by
Saito* 450 R 3 3-cylinder
T a d K r z a n o w s k i and J i m H i l l e r . T h i s
radial 4-stroke engine,
unusual Soviet-bloc fighter had the most
Corvin's
Navy
unique harmonics signature at the meet.
fighter sported a f l a w -
Whenever it flew, the Lim-6bis sounded
new
less, high-gloss finish
like it was growling! Power comes from
duplicating the paint job
the Golden W e s t * turbine for this 56-inch-
of the full-size restora-
span, 1/7-scale model.
tion he copied.
Another jet jock who
traded in his jet for a piston-powered fighter was
Jeff Foley. Jeff has flown
a Jet Model Products*
Toned down a few notches from the
Top Gun
Nick Ziroli Jr. prepares
to deliver
a scale
torpedo
with his 1 / 5 - s c a l e Grumman
Avenger.
Power
comes
from an Eagle
4.2 gas engine
for this 108-inch
span,
49-pound
Navy
torpedo/bomber.
lends a hand in
the pits to get
those powerful
fire-breathing
turbines was Canadian Jean
2-stroke
glow
engines
run-
ning properly.
Chevalier's '/3-scale R y a n S T M primary
As in all competitions, mod-
trainer. J e a n has been flying a 1/4-scale
els do get damaged at Top Gun,
R y a n S T for several years and wanted
and
something new for the 10th anniversary.
always available with various
Pacer
Technology
is
He enlarged the plans for the old kit and
Zap*
scratch-built his larger version. Powered
repairs. It is truly amazing to
by a Quadra* 52 and spanning 120 inches,
see a badly damaged model
the S T M was very realistic and stable.
resurrected at Top G u n to fly
With the model weighing 36 pounds, how-
again.
ever. Jean said he wanted to fit his Ryan
with a larger, more powerful engine.
products
to do
field
A relatively new sponsor at
Top G u n is Jerry Connelly of
Tom Polaplnk
placed
third
D-llla.
Tom's
WW I fighter
powered
by an O.S. 1.20.
in Designer
has a span
Scale
with his
Pfalz
of 74 Inches
and Is
Wildcat F u e l s * . This year.
GROUND SUPPORT
One
thing is for sure if you compete on
Jerry donated all the glow fuel
for the event. One contestant
that field of green in West P a l m Beach:
who was very pleased about
you will meet some of the big-name manu-
this was Robert Benson, who
facturers. B o b Violett is a l w a y s on the
teamed up with Geoff Combs
flightline. and he gives his support to all
to fly his T - 3 4 C . Robert had
B V M * jet pilots. Bob and Silvia Walker of
been having a lot of difficulty
Robart M f g . * are also usually on hand.
with his engine overheating and
Bob has. on several occasions, helped trou-
had
bleshoot retract problems and has even
rebuilding it to get it to run.
replaced damaged retract parts so a pilot
J e r r y suggested R o b e r t try
could finish the event.
some Wildcat fuel, and that did
tried everything short of
W h e n it comes to M o k i engines. J i m
G e r a r d of G e r a r d E n t e r p r i s e s * often
Turbines are tough!
T
urbines are the n e w kids on the block w h e n it
c o m e s to powering model aircraft, though the
modeling community n o w h a s several y e a r s of
safely using them, a n d w e ' r e c o m i n g to
expect great reliability from t h e s e
power systems.
R e i Gonzalez of R.A. Microjets did
a little experiment at T o p G u n . During
takeoff with his Mirage 2000, p o w e r e d
by a R A M 750 turbine, his turbine ingested a
hunk of W a y n e S t e w a r t ' s P-47 (may it rest in
" p i e c e " ) . T h e chunk of balsa m a d e its w a y through the
(continued on page 34)
Jim
Sandqulst
(right)
and Wayne
Slewart
hold
Wayne's
P-47
Thunderbolt
while pilot F r a n k Tiano demonstrates
the
retracts
for the flight judges.
Wayne
and frank
entered
Team Scale
this year with the mighty
Jug. The 1/6-sca/e
model has an 82-inch
span and is powered
by a Brison
4.2.
turbine, shutting it off, a n d w a s ejected out the
b a c k of the plane. W h i l e this c o s t R e i a n "attempt"
(an attempted but failed flight),
it didn't prevent him from c o n tinuing to c o m p e t e , a s h e
w a s quickly in the air to
put in his s c o r e d flight,
in fact, R e i a n d his
buddy Albert
took third
p l a c e in
team
scale.
The people who make it happen
A
decade ago, Frank Tiano had
a dream. H e wanted to show
off scale modeling to the nonmodeling community. He dreamed
of bleachers full of parents, with
their kids, watching some of the
best modelers in the world fly
museum-quality scale models.
B e c a u s e of w h o he is, Frank has
made his dream c o m e true and
because of it, h e ' s caused many of
us w h o are scale modelers to c r e ate dreams of our o w n . Often these
dreams involve the atmosphere and
prestige that is Top Gun, but always
they are centered on our next scale
project To say that the modeling
community h a s benefited from
Frankle
Gun's
T. (left)
10-year
and Herschel
Worthy
Frank would be the first to acknowledge that he hasn't done it
all on his o w n . Herschel Worthy of P a c e r Technology, one of the
principal sponsors, helps Frank in
s o m e of the organizational affairs
that are required to put together
Top Gun. W e at Model Airplane
News try to help in our way, and
we're really proud to have been a
major sponsor of the event for its
entire 10-year existence. The
many other sponsors w h o help
out by defraying costs and providing prizes a r e very much a part of
what makes Top Gun a s good a s
it is. The folks at the W e s t P a l m
B e a c h Polo Grounds are also to
be applauded for providing an
The hard-working
Top Gun judges
unbelievable facility for Top G u n ' s
standing,
left to right): (Chief Judge)
Mareckl,
(FJ) Charlie
Beer,
(FJ)
participants a s well a s for its
Bacon,
(SJ) Jim Parker,
(FJ) Harry
spectators.
One of the icons of Top Gun is
S a m W r i g h t S a m h a s been the
announcer for Top Gun since its
(SJ)
Lee
(Head
Jim
(FJ) John
Henderson,
Score
Semonlan.
Deverna,
Smith.
Front
(Captain
Keeper)
Not
(FJ) George
of
Top
Sam
Wright,
Golden
"The
Voice
of
G u n , " Is always
but seldom
has
seen.
announced
Top Gun but
Top
heard
Sam
every
one.
spectators. He'll tell you that he h a s
the best view in the place, but he also
works harder than anyone else to maintain a level of interest and
excitement throughout the event, and Top Gun wouldn't b e Top
Gun without him.
run.
Frank's efforts is far too much of an understatement, a s Top
Gun has done more to improve the public's view of model
aviation than anything else. E v e n within our o w n ranks, it h a s
b e c o m e a rallying cry; a point of reference for the upper crust of
scale modeling.
Volght,
arc very proud
inception, and
he does a
remarkable job
of bringing the
flying to life,
explaining the
maneuvers
being flown
and talking
about the
details of the
aircraft themselves; he is
the connection
between the
pilots and the
It takes a lot of judges to properly deal with all the static and
flight judging, and Frank h a s always been fortunate to get good
people w h o are willing to give of themselves to make it a fair contest. While
s o m e of their
expenses are
paid, these guys
don't do what
they do for the
money; they just
love model airplanes and scale
contests.
and
Bill
crew
Tom
row,
Static
Rosella
Curry,
shown:
(Asst.
(back
Holland,
Kozel,
Andren,
Mike
(FJ)
Mike
(scribe)
kneeling,
Judge)
(FJ)
row,
(FJ)
Cliff
Chief
left
to
Bob
Dick
right:
Curry,
Tacle,
(FJ)
Judge)
Bill
Jenkins.
Sepp
Ulberlacher
Tempest
83-Inch
Top Gun's
top
dog,
A n d then
Jake.
there's J a k e ;
J a k e is the cornerstone of Top Gun. Without him, I'm
sure Top Gun would be less than it is.
J a k e is Frank's dog, and when Frank
starts feeling frazzled because five
people need him to be in five different
places, Frank c a n turn to him for support. J a k e , keep up the good work so
that w e c a n have another 10 years of
Top Gun.
flew
to fourth
fighter
place
Is powered
this
beautiful
In Designer
Hawker
Scale.
by a M o k l 1.8.
The
Top Gun
(continued from page 32)
the trick. Robert went on to finish in seventh place in Team Scale. O f course, the
event itself could not be what it is today
were it not for the generous contributions
of all the sponsors, big and small, who support T o p G u n . A l l are to be thanked for
This Ziroli
flew
their help.
HOT ENGINES
One of the major challenges in any competition is maintaining a reliable engine to
very
P-38 Lightning
well
until
was flown
an electronic
by Greg
glitch
Hahn.
put it into
Powered
a nearby
by twin
pond.
Zenoah
Greg's
G-38s,
comment:
the
"It
Lightning
happens!"
get you through the event. If you are to finish first, first, you have to finish. Engine
fiights. and the stakes are very high when
it comes to making thrust.
problems cause the majority of incomplete
F l y i n g his beautiful, a l l - s i l v e r B - 2 9
Top Gun halftime show is super
This
year,
scale
Bell
Mac Hodges'
B-29 was outfitted
with
a
X-1.
E
ach day at Top
Gun, there is a
halftime show.
Orchestrated by
B u b b a Spivey of
Lanier R C * . the
s h o w is a super production, with almost
no d o w n time and
Bubba
yet
a large
Spivey,
the ring mas-
ter of the Top Gun halftime
variety of m o d e l air-
show,
works
very
hard
craft w e r e exhibited; make it all happen.
everything from turbines breaking the scale sound barrier to guys
to
flying R / C combat. B u b b a and his buddy W a y n e put o n a
team aerobatic show that always excites the c r o w d , a n d
J a s o n Shulman puts his Extra through its p a c e s . Geoff
C o m b s also w o w s the c r o w d with his very large Extra.
For the last couple of years, Chip H y d e h a s put in
some show-stopping performances. His superb p o w e r
management abilities allow him to fly very low and very
slow, and it's a real treat to w a t c h him fly. This year. Chip
w a s doing low-level 4-point rolls with his 42-percent
Ultimate. The neat thing
w a s that h e did them
less than half a wing
length above the
ground. T h a t ' s right; n o
typo here. H e would
enter the maneuver in
level flight and w h e n h e
rolled to the first point,
he would increase altitude just enough to
clear the wing a n d then
drop back d o w n o n c e
he rolled inverted. T h e
procedure w a s r e peated to negotiate the
third point of the roll.
Note also that h e w a s
flying s o slowly that
this entire s e q u e n c e
w a s done in l e s s than
the length of the runway. Magnificent!
A crowd-pleaser h a s
Lett:
scale
through
Chip
Hyde's
Ultimate
a 4-point
42-pcrccntbipe
halfway
roll; verrry
low!
always
been
Mack
H o d g e ' s large B-29 that
he flies like a n aerobatic
plane, doing point rolls and low inverted p a s s e s .
This year he and his buddies added a n e w twist: they
dropped a n X l from the wing and glided it d o w n to a
landing. J u s t before touchdown, they fired a solid
propellant rocket and powered it up in a spectacular
fashion, doing a few victory rolls o n the w a y d o w n the
second time.
The spectators really enjoy the halftime show, and it's
a good time for the competitors to relax and enjoy the
show themselves. A s G r e g Hahn said, " T o p G u n is a
five-day fun fly with a few competition flights thrown
in." H o p e you c a n m a k e it next year.
Eighth place In Designer
Scale went
Slbllle with his Piper Super Cub.
to
Phil
all that can be achieved in the world of
scale modeling. For some, Top Gun means
victory, while for others, it means more
hours spent at the building board. But for
all w h o attend, it is a time for fun and
recognition. For even to be invited
to West
Palm Beach means you are the best.
The only really good way to understand
all the elements and personalities that go
Jean Chevalier
Expert.
flew
this
scratch-built,
'/3-scale
Ryan
STM primary
trainer.
Jean
placed
12th In
into this thing called "Top G u n " is to experience it yourself. We can only hope to
the event in which the very best of the best
scratch the surface and show the very obvi-
in scale aircraft modeling compete, adapt,
ous points here. Summed up, Top Gun is
endure and prevail.
*Addresses
are listed alphabetically
of Manufacturers on page 142.
in the Index
Free flight at Top Gun
T
o p G u n is n o t just a n R / C e v e n t ; it's a s c a l e
e v e n t , a n d d i e h a r d s c a l e m o d e l e r s d o it a l l .
This year there w e r e t w o free-flight events. The
first, s p o n s o r e d by Herr E n g i n e e r i n g , w a s a t r a d i t i o n a l , r u b b e r - p o w e r e d s c a l e e v e n t . A s t h e likes
of B a r b e e , S i e w e r t , P a r e n t i , Piatt a n d o t h e r s took
t h e field, t h e r e w a s a lot of l a u g h i n g , j o k i n g , a n d
having f u n . But w h e n t h e w i n d i n g s t a r t e d , pilots
b e c a m e serious, a s t h e c o m p e t i t i o n h a d b e g u n . In
t h e e n d , W a y n e S i e w e r t s h o w e d all t h a t h e w a s
king of t h e hill w i t h his F o u n d .
But t h e revelry didn't s t o p t h e r e . Rich Uravitch
is n o w s p o n s o r i n g a J e t e x scale
event, so rather than winding
r u b b e r , t h e s e g u y s w e r e lighting f u s e s . It w a s clear f r o m t h e
results t h a t it h a s b e e n a while
since these guys have flown
J e t e x , a s t h e r e s u l t s w e r e less
t h a n stellar. But t h e r e w a s that
a d d i c t i v e s m e l l of p r o p e l l a n t
b u r n i n g , t h e P s s s s f ... s o u n d
t h a t m a n y of us used t o love to
h e a r , a n d e v e n c r i e s of " D o n ' t
t o u c h t h e motor!" that w e used
to shout, m i d - g i g g l e , at t h e e n d
of a flight. R i c h , y o u ' v e g o t m e
h o o k e d ... g o t t a g e t m y s e l f a
J e t e x p l a n e a n d start building.