Anyone have some plane suggestions for starting back in scale? Did some scale stuff back in the 70's and  none since . I know things have changed a lot since then. Types that fly better than others? Low wing, high wing, biplane? Any input would be appreciated, thanks. Ed.

electronic controls are the way to go to control throttle and other options. You can still fly 3 line if you want. R/c planes can be converted to c/ l. I converted a .40 size piper cub that I bought at a swap meet for 40 dollars. I made it electric and flew it in a scale contest this year.  I will be doing a p51 that I got for free soon. It will also be electric. Fred cronewett has some videos on you tube that explains some of these things and he had an article that explains how to do things as well.

As Chuck correctly pointed out, tricycle gears are a BIG challenge to make work in CL scale, thus further limiting the viable subjects for competitive models.

There are several airplanes that I would like to model, but like most "modern" airplanes starting with the P-38, P-39, and B-25, they have tricycle landing gears that effectively prevent modeling in a size that works on control lines.

One way to deal with this would be rules changes that do away with the PENALTIES levied against fixed gear models.  Given the fact that most contests award near perfect scores to the top three models, even a one point penalty is death.

I am attaching an article "Getting Started in Control Line Fun Scale".  The Fun Scale event (AMA event 526) is probably the easiest way to start flying scale again, and converting an RC ARF is pretty straightfoward.  There are many choices from various manufacturers, so pick your favorite.  It is great to have retracts, flaps, etc. all built in the ARF.  And since Fun Scale scoring is heavily weighted towards flying (versus static scoring), an ARF that is flown well is very competitive in contests if you want to compete.  Pete's Bearcat in the article won 1st place (Fun Scale) at the 2024 AMA National Championships.

Going beyond Fun Scale into other scale events (Sport Scale, Profile Scale, Authentic Scale, 1/2A Scale, FAI F4B Scale) takes more thought and consideration as the other commenters noted.  If you are interested in these other events, the starting point is to read the rules thoroughly. 

Looking forward to seeing what you build at the 2025 AMA Nationals in Muncie (July 2025).

Beware of rules that not only give high bonuses for retract gear & flaps and also penalize models for NOT having retracts & flaps.

If you want to win build a twin motor electric with retracts & flaps.  Then you would have five out of the six options in hand without doing anything: flaps, retracts (2), multi motor, and "throttle ops". 

Biplanes & other complex subjects are a lot of work with no extra points.

I get your point, but....The only time a model could be penalized for not having retracts and flaps is if the original aircraft had them.  And while most do have flaps, there are tremendous numbers of aircraft that did not have retractable gear.  In these cases the model would get full points without them.  You can gain points with retracts on a model if they were on the prototype, but that is not the same as penalizing a model of a PT-26 for not having them when the real one did not either.

Gary

When you have a Multi-engine model with retracts and flap these are possible options:

1) Throttle control
2) Multi-engine
3) Flaps
4) Retract gear
5) Extend gear
6) Taxi lap

You only get to pick 6 options, with a Multi-engine model with flaps and retracts you finish off 5 of the 6 options after the 10 level laps. You could take off, fly 10 level laps, then land and do a Taxi and you are done.  I would rather do these 6 options.

1) throttle control
2) Multi-engine
3) Retract gear
4) Extend gear
5) Touch
6) Go

Then land. Remember that touch/go and retract count as two options that is why it's on two separate lines on the judging form.

As for Tri-cycle landing gear models I find them them easier to fly compared to a tail dragger. The reason why is that after you land you apply full down elevator to stick the nose gear on the ground. A tail dragger has to be managed so that you throttle up on take-off you have to use the elevator to keep it level and then climb out smoothly. The tri-cycle gear model should lift off gently if the wings have some incidence to lift off gently. When landing a tri-cycle gear model you slow down and apply some up elevator to get the nose up, then work the throttle to descend until the model touches down on the main gear. Soon as the main gear touch then apply full down to stick the nose wheel.

Fred

Recently I ran across a a set of detailed scale drawings for e cool observation plane, the Douglas O-46A.  Its unique, guaranteed you wont have anyone else showing up with another one. Look it up

Ed,

You might want to give an Ag Plane a look. The basic plane is straight forward and should fly well. There is plenty of information readily available for documentation. For instance, the pics I posted came from the Air Tractor web site.

    Check out this thread;  https://stunthanger.com/smf/open-forum/trimming-session-at-buder/msg410378/#msg410378

      I built a profile stunt/scale model of Dusty Crophopper from the movie "Planes". They had the world premier of the movie at Oshkosh in 2013, I think it was, and there was a full scale Air Tractor pained up like the character there also and that got me to thinking about the project. I had the airplane built and flying in about 4 weeks and added small details as I went. I have a small box that holds the 2.4ghz throttle workings on the outboard side, of the fuselage, and when I want to fly it in stunt, that all comes off and the appropriate venturi and needle valve go on. It's done well in both types of competition and the stunt capability gives you some other seldom seen flight options. Dusty presented some challenges for finding documentation. Plenty of pictures of the airplane on the internet plus what I took at Oshkosh, but I could not find a three view anywhere. The airplane started out as a wreck, originally powered by a radial engine. The owners of the spraying company were contacted about building the airplane and they used this hulk to start with, and then upgraded everything to a more modern specifications but retained some of the original outlines. I contacted Air Tractor and the owner of the spraying company and they were a great source for details on the construction. The airplane was used to promote the movie, but after those duties were completed, I'm not sure what was done with the airplane, but maybe the fittend new spraying equipment and put it back to work!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

Funny that the crop dusters came up. This has been in the back of my mind for some time-Snow S-2.

Mike MacCarthy entered his Call Air A-9 in Authentic Scale at the 2016 NATS. Words are difficult to describe the level of detail of this plane. It also flew very well. 

Funny that the crop dusters came up. This has been in the back of my mind for some time-Snow S-2.

Leland Snow's legacy pretty much defines Ag planes. The Snow went on to become Thrush. Snow also founded Air Tractor. Both firms are still in the business.

Piper and Cessna also did their part.