the PAMPA rules indicated that I must provide proof how do I get a set of plans dated before 1969?
Fred Q
I think proof of the design would only be required if there was any kind of question or protest. People often say that they built this or that, or modified a design, but say so isn't enough. You need documentation. John Simpson designed the Cavalier back in the late 1960's and it has has been proven by him and others that it existed. There is probably other written documents and photographic proof also. I got a set of plans from John way back in the mid to late 1990's I think and they are dated. I think PAMPA has the Cavalier in their plans listing and is shown as Classic legal. In other words, it has been around long enough that is it common knowledge that it is legal. Now, having said that, I have a set of plans for a .60 size green box Nobler. If I ever get my act together and get it built, and show up at VSC with it, I better have the plans and other documentation with me to prove it. I met the gentleman that built the model at the SIG contest one year, and he had it with him, and I got to hold the original model in my hands. He had other photographic proof also. Not only that, but Jim Lee was there, and when he heard what we were talking about and saw the model, he jumped up from his perch in the grass and declared that he remembered seeing that airplane at a contest in 1964 I think it was. He got home, found a photo of it dated back then, and sent me a copy. There was another guy named Jan Rummery, I think, who we often saw there, who hand draws model plans and restores old plans, and he remembered seeing the model back in the day also. The builder was Jerry Jack, I think and he got with Jan and described how he used simple high school drafting procedures (which were commonly taught in high schools back then) to enlarge the kit plan, so Jan drew up a fresh set of plans to the existing model's dimensions and included the affidavits from himself and Jerry Jack on it's history and also included a copy of the photo that Jim Lee had provided. That's quite a bit of proof and evidence but I'll bet there are some models put there with quite a bit less than that and have been allowed in contests. If you have a slightest bit of doubt and no proof, don't build the model or at least don't enter it in a Classic contest. I'll play the devils advocate here again and say that I think the N-30 class is a joke anyway, not in the spirit of flying vintage model aircraft, and needs to be eliminated . Including N-30, that makes 4 classes of vintage C/L stunt, which are OTS, Classic, Super 70's, and N-30. There really isn't enough participation to warrant all of those. The question gets asked all the time, is this model or that N-30 legal by people who are just looking for some sort of edge and get the most "modern" design they can to fly in a "vintage" class of competition.. I think most would agree that just about anything designed after 1980 is as competitive in modern stunt, at least in a regional level, as just about any other design coming off the drawing board today. A perfect example is what Joe Gilbert can do with a Ringmaster. Joe and some other can fly the drawing boards or the boxes that the kits come in better than the rest of us can fly our best airplane! The airplane doesn't make the pilot fly well, the pilot must take advantage of the airplane and learn to fly it well. So in short, I say eliminate N-30, and put a cut off date for super 70's at December 31, 1979, just like the powers that be at the time were smart enough to do and decided the cutoff for Classic at December 1969. You will have three distinct eras of the evolution of C/L stunt with more than enough designs to keep the fewer and fewer of us who participate happy and occupied.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Topic: Is the Cavalier NOS 30 legal? (Read 1499 times)