stunthanger.com
General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: peabody on May 08, 2018, 11:52:51 PM
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https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3003M/lots/414
Beautiful!
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I agree ,that's one hell of a job!
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Certainly an incredible model. Have to wonder if it ever actually flew, or if the engine even ran!
Doesn't really matter I suppose but it's supposed to be a CL scale model airplane!
Randy Cuberly
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It is claimed to have a Roberts (3 line?) system, but also some sort of power down the lines from a battery.
Clearly a Nats C/L scale winner, but the new owner does not get BOM status.
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The most significant thing here in my mind is that this item was treated as an objet d'art, which is actually quite a big deal for an item that nearly all non-modelers associate as an adult toy, not sculpture, not a 3-dimensional canvas or what it is--an amalgamation of artistic skills in a most difficult form. A form with the overarching requirement that it is functional, and even more difficult, meeting the weight limitations to fly. There is lots of functional art out there which is fascinating, but it can be made out of wrought iron and cast metals and lots of wonderfully heavy stuff.
This acceptance might be an interesting follow-up to Brett's co-worker's opinion that building model airplanes is just a waste of time. Rather, they can be art objects when executed as such. The auction house believed so, and certainly the buyer did! By extension, one could say that original oil paintings are a waste of time. After all, you could snap an image with your iphone and upload to a commercial color printer and get any size you want, quick and cheap, so why bother spending untold hours with a paint brush? I'd love to hear that conversation....
Note that well executed ship models (think Flying Cloud, etc.) have been built, sold and treated as art for a long, long time. Another example, perhaps closer to home, was a Vought Corsair that captured the coveted spot on the back cover of Fine Woodworking magazine years ago. A magazine famous in its mission to interpret "wood furniture" as art, with juried shows and more. FW treated the Corsair as a scale sculpture in wood. If sold (I do not recall the details), it would have been sold as art, not "a model." Note that one of the defining elements of art in my mind is the act of commissioning. If an artist is commissioned to create a handmade object, it seems this perquisite causes it to be accepted as art. Another is time. This is getting fairly old for a model airplane. But long term desirability is a hallmark of good art as well.
So are we just attempting to validate our passion? Perhaps, but the truth is that it really is art, at the highest levels of execution!
Note that deeper in the item description from the auction, it states that the P-47 won the 1964 Control Line Scale Nationals in Chicago. That pretty much proves it flew then, unless everyone else didn't bother to attempt flight?
I would expect the statements in the auction catalog to be almost certainly factual, since auction houses that provide provenance that is in error would likely have difficulty staying open. They specifically point to the historical documentation of this model--because this adds desirability (and value!) to art.
I wish we knew the construction details, especially the planking type and finishing methods and materials. It is a beauty!
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Well said Dave Hull. I agree.
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Was there a separate scale nationals? 1964 was Grand Prairie TEXAS Naval air Station. My first Nationals.
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Doc has got his finger on a mystery.
The Glenview Nats (Chicago) were in 1962 and 1966, not 1964. This according to the AMA records.
As far as the open scale winner in 1964...it is really hard to find out! From various sources on the web, it might have been Don Yearout with a P-38. There is some inconsistency here because he was also credited with a win using a P-38 in 1963 and 1965? I suspect one or more of these is a reporting error, but just can't tell.
But I had no luck finding a P-47 Nats winner in the 1960's.
Does anyone know if a list of Nats winners by year exists somewhere?
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Hi gang,
I love my old model magazines. It just happens, that I have the November 1958 issue of Flying Model,
where it talks about Burke's P-47. Well, he did not win the CL scale event, because he proceeded to
crash the plane. The article says the model was "badly wrecked", so I am a bit surprised that it was repaired
to fly again, and then show up in an auction site for sale years later. ??
When I get time, I will scan the article for you so you can read the details. I'll keep my eyes open for a
1964 issue of any magazine that might provide information on who won the Nats then.
Cheers.
Warren
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Could it have been he won high static points and wrecked it in a flight? I remember a period where guys would take great pride winning static top points.
Chris...
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https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3003M/lots/414
Beautiful!
Hey Peabody! Just curious? What's the possibility of having a scale event over there as part of the fall Stunt and Fun contest?? Any possibility of and event in Indiantown??
Jim Carter
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Lots of good info, guys!
Now we're pretty sure it was Ernest Burke, not Berke. But we don't have proof of it winning anything in 1964--or any other year.
We did get more info on the construction, but what do you suppose "...plastic aluminum covering which was worked and buffed..." actually is? Aluminum foil laminated to balsa?
Here is some more info that I found on the sale:
https://thehotbid.com/2017/04/28/skinner-clears-a-one-of-a-kind-mid-century-model-airplane-for-takeoff/
Perhaps this sale was feasible because he was a recognized artist in "more traditional" forms...? I wonder how the auction bidding went--the auction house gave it an estimated value of $6k to $8k and it exceeded that by over 40%. And now I'm curious where it ended up. In a museum or a private collection?
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Oct/Nov 64 FM. National highlights.
Thanks Ty for this memory. Upper right corner picture of Wayne Meriwether with his scale plane. He was Junior National Champion in 1964. He quit control line the following year. When his Dad passed away I had that plane in my procession for a while. I got enough nerve I was going to restore it. Cleaned the engines, anchored the plane an fired up the engines. Did not run them long as the plane was starting to come apart. Pulled the engines and sold them on the bay for him and destroyed what was left of the plane. Guess my bad for not keeping it in one piece. D>K