Here's a question for you pundits about the designer scale eligibility rule. The rule (524, 1.) says, "Models that are built from kits or commercially available plans, modifications of kits or plans, or scaled commercial plans, are not eligible."
If one interprets this strictly, then designer scale is limited to plans the modeler draws himself, which means he would find an example of the aircraft to be modeled, measure it and create plans, then build a model from those plans.
The term "scaled commercial plans" rules out using ANY reference plans that are generally available, i.e., Wylam, Nieto, etc., as a basis for a model construction.
My interpretation of this is that the modeler is intended to design his own structure for the model, said structure being based on outlines and other details present in the "commercial" plans. The rule should state what is intended and the term "commercial plans" amended to say something like "pre-existing model airplane structural designs"
Another way to approach this is to drop this restriction entirely and leave it to the modeler to determine which class he wants to enter.
If the actual strict interpretation is intended then Designer Scale will have a vanishingly small number of participants.
John Witt