Hi Bill and Curt,
"YIKES"!
I know that both of you are just trying to get this cleared up, and that your hearts are in the right place, so please forgive me if my frustration shows through. .... I thought this was all settled? I did not know there were still a few holdouts. I spent many hours working on this subject so that all of us CDs could move forward and not have this drag on and on and on forever. I wish you guys would have spoken up on the rule thread so it could have been addressed in the proper context with input from many other CDs.
RANT: CAUTION, PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! .....
Please take your blood pressure MEDs before reading!!
You are both confusing the two SEPARATE parts of the rule. The part that mentions ARFs right out of the box clearly means that it is NOT allowed if someone takes the ARF out of the box and installs the engine and then goes and flys. ..... This was put in the rules to appease the group that still holds on to the cherished idea that CLPA flyers should PAINT (or at least cover) their own models before we are allowed to fly. And it does what this group wants, it forces everyone (whether they have the time and/or facilities for it or not) to put a FINISH on their model. This was a good compromise between the feelings of the two factions in our little hobby.
For the life of me I can not understand why you guys would want to PUNISH someone for going through all the trouble of creating an ARC so that they are allowed to fly by both the spirit and the letter of the rule. ...... Where is your logic on this?
??
Do you really think that the people who wrote the rule intended this? What if I ordered an ARC plane from my LHS and it was delivered to my LHS as an ARF by mistake (this is what happened to me) and that I took it home and striped it down so I could then have the ARC that I originally ordered, do you think the people who wrote our rules intended that now I could NOT fly it in competition?
?? If you think that, then you are insulting those who wrote this very good " best compromise" rule.
Ex: If someone starts a company that buys Nobler ARFs, (no mass market Nobler ARC avail yet), then STRIPS them and puts good controls in them, then sells them to the public as ARC Noblers (there is such a company out there) are you both saying that if I buy one of these ARC Noblers from my LHS (or have it delivered to my door) that it is NOW "ILLEGAL" because somewhere in its travels to me it was an ARF, and as a CD YOU will not allow me to fly this plane (that now has a very unique finish, put on by ME!) in your contest?
??
Where does the rule say "how an ARC is built?" It only says that when you "start" your final assembly and finishing with unfinished components you are OK.
On a personal note. I could have built TWO of the sacred, old rule, CLPA kits in the time I have invested in designing, building, carving a complete nose section, from the LE forward, building three hatches, building internal cooling ducts for my E-motor, ESC, battery., converting to ECL, THEN striping OFF the excellent covering job done by a professional, etc. on my ARC Vector/Extra. And now you are saying my plane is ILLEGAL, and as a CD you would NOT allow me to compete in your contest?
YIKES
...... And you guys wonder why CL is dying faster than it needs to!
I would have NEVER returned to CL if it were not for the ARF Flight Streak. I have four 35% IMAC planes to fly, but like many retreads I came back to CL from the "Dark Arts" part of modeling so that I could capture some of the fond memories from my youth flying CL with Dave Gierke and others in the 1950s and 60s. As a kid I always dreamed that someday I would be able to fly like Dave and compete in real CLPA contests. My guess is that many retreads have similar feelings.
I wanted a competitive model, so the 1st thing I did was find out who the best builder was. I sent a deposit to Tom Morris to build an ARC plane for me. (this was before any masmarket ARCs were available, and under the old rules). My friends told me that this ARC plane would be ILLEGAL and I would not be able to fly it in competition. I said: "wait a min., are you saying that at $1,000 each, Tom is selling hundreds of these to only sport flyers who do an occasional loop?
??" My friends answer was "Da".
You guys will some day have to come to the realization that CLPA is a dying hobby. It will soon be gone. I feel strongly that we should try and enjoy this wonderful revisiting of our youth as much as we can while we still are healthy enough to FLY, and while CL is still around. We can prolong this hobby for our ONLY growing segment of modelers and that is "retreads", by making it "easier" for them to reenter CLPA. NOT by trying to make it HARDER by putting up artificial hurtles to BLOCK them from reentering our very very very small part of the hobby world.
I am sorry if my rant offended you, that was not my intent. I am just very frustrated that there are still those that are trying to close our part of the hobby to others rather than open it up to them. I thought this topic was settled, obviously I was mistaken. :-(
My guess is that no amount of writing will convince the small minority of holdouts on this rule. I just have to learn to accept this fact. As a contestant I will learn to avoid any contests that have these few holdouts as the CD. And I will make sure the rules are clear for the contests where I am the CD.
If you have endured this long, my hat is off to you! ;-) ..... END OF RANT!
Regards,