Opening ceremony.

Greetings from England!

I'll probably be able to post a class a day going alphabetically, since that's how we're listed out on Escribe.  It's been interesting watching people walking through the hangar live streaming all the planes in every language here.  

F4C comes first in Escribe so it'll be first.

Also I'm first so here's mine again 

Daniel Boulanger (FRA) with a lovely Dragon Rapide in 1/5.3 scale.  It's electric and flew quite well, he's currently 2nd place in the flight rankings.

It has an interior with all the seats but I didn't want to shove my phone in there for a pic without him there.

Jack Buckley (USA) with his mostly new Mini Max in 1/3rd scale.  Many of you are familiar with it's predecessor, he was quite successful with it in Top Gun and some other events.  I've heard it called the Giant Killer for it's tendency to beat much larger planes.  Powered by a Saito gas engine, I think in the 1.20 size.

Fabien Busom (FRA) is debuting a fabulous Morane Saulnier MS230 in 1/3.5 scale.  I had heard about this plane beforehand but wasn't prepared for it.  The detailing is amazing and it flew really well in practice.  Hacker Q80 electric powered

Marek D?browski (POL) with a 2.6m T6.  Powered by a Saito FG60R3.

Gianluca DiMarchi (SMR) with 2 AMX Ghibli in 1/4.9 scale.  One is F4C and the other F4H.  Jetcat P150 powered

Tim Dickey (USA) and his 1/4 scale Waco UEC cabin biplane.  I think it's UMX radial powered.  You've seen this plane here before and probably in other parts of the internet.  The finish quality on Tim's plane was a big inspiration for the Fairchild's finish quality.

Jan Doubrava (CZE) and his 1/4.3 Aero L29 Delfin.  Kingtec 130 powered.

Carlos Escuder (ESP) and his 1/3rd scale Bucker Jungman.  DA60 powered

Gody Fischer (SUI) and his 1/4.5 Pilatus P-03.  

Argyris Giannetakis (GRE) and his 1/4 scale Ryan SCW, powered by a Saito 60 twin.  I have already shown this plane but I will always show more pics of it.  Hand hammered aluminum over a wooden frame.  He completely recovered the wing for this WC, both the fabric and aluminum is new.  He flew it today and did really well.

Juan Gonzalez (ESP) and his 1/4 scale Tiger Moth, Saito FA180 powered.  He's been building a DH60 Moth but couldn't finish it in time.  Not that I know anything about that  

Takashi Hanawa (JPN) and his 1/3.8 scale Fuji FA-200 Aero Subaru, powered by a Saito FG61.  I need to get better pictures of this one as it's quite nice.

Marcus Hausmann (GER) and his 1/3rd Stampe, powered by an 85cc 2 cylinder inline.

Per Iversen (NOR) with his 1/4.3 scale Super Stearman, Laser 300V.  His scheme is from an American airshow performer and is very well done.

Steve Jackson (GBR) and his 1/4 scale Avro 504K, Laser 360V power.

Rytis Kalinauskas (LTU) and his electric 1/4 scale Caudron C450.  He had this plane in Romania as a C460 with retracts.  He built a new wing for this WC with fixed gear to avoid any issues in the grass, making it a C450.  It's slick

Well, I only got halfway through F4C but it's time for bed.  I see why every one is making walkthrough videos or just posting pics without any information, this takes forever .  But I'll keep at it tomorrow.

It's been very hot the last few days but the winds have been light, getting somewhat stronger today.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be cooler but much windier and not really calm down.  Should be an interesting week. 

Ben

The Ryan is absolutely gorgeous! And... not military.

It looked to me like all of the teams looked quite tired already in the opening ceremony pics. And not a lot of smiles either. I hope it was just the photos posted, and everything is going well for you guys.  Looks like much better facilities than Romania as well. 

 Best of luck and enjoy the ride! 

However it has been a rough start for Team USA (and several of the other teams).  There have been a lot of mechanical and weather challenges, mostly engine troubles and the wind.  Many of our planes have gotten pranged either in practice or during the first round and I think maybe only Peter Fynn has completed the round without any issues.  The mechanical issues have been numerous and surprisingly varied.  I flew today in winds approaching 20mph and had to keep full throttle while flying upwind just to make forward progress.  While I've flown the practice plane in that kind of wind a lot, that was the first time for the F24.  I ended up overheating the engine and it wouldn't throttle up after the touch and go, so it ended up being a touch and go and then touch again and stop.  The engine didn't die, it just wouldn't make power.  It may have also been a bit lean but that was the setting I flew with in practice.  I think I've gotten it tuned better and it wasn't damaged so I'll try again in round 2.  I was rather happy with how it was handling the wind though.

So while the RC side of things is struggling a bit the CL side is doing much better.  They've also had their share of mechanical and weather issues, for most of their 2 rounds the wind was marginally flyable.  However, currently after 2 rounds Peter Bauer and Mike McHenry are tied with a high scoring flight each.  Static ends tomorrow so I should have a better idea of rankings after those scores are posted.

They stopped flying around 2 this afternoon due to wind, unfortunately the forecast for the next few days doesn't look like much improvement.  The last flight of the round was Mika (jylhami) and his very large Glouster Gamecock.  He turned upwind for his first maneuver and his plane pretty much stopped moving even at full throttle.  He wisely decided to land and was able to make his way down.  It's a bit windy 

Jack Buckley and I are up for static tomorrow, I think they may be able to finish up static tomorrow.

Ben

Still in F4C

John Ranson (GBR) and his 1/5.4 scale DH103 Hornet F MkIII, twin Hacker A60 electric motors with a sound system.

Burkhard Reinsch (GER) and his 1/3.2 scale DH60 Gipsy Moth, Valach 70cc power.  It's a rather lovely plane and the wings fold back

Anders Remar (SWE) and his 1/5.33 scale North American NA16, AXI 5323/24 power on 10S.  The NA16 is the predecessor to the T6 and looks very much like a fixed gear Texan with a corrugated tail.

Vladimir Rynes Sr (CZE) with a Bolkow BO 208C Junior in 1/3.5 scale, AXI electric power.  This is a neat plane with a very unique wing arrangement.

Kristen Thorrud (NOR) with a 1/4.5 scale Gloster Gladiator MKII, not sure about power.

Antonio Tirado Carmona (ESP) with a 1/5th scale Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago", 100cc equivalent electric power.  This is a giant biplane and I really expected it to get carried away by the wind but it handled it well.

Bert Van Eijk (NED) and a 1/3.6 Bowers Fly Baby 1B, Laser 150 power.  I had to look up the registration to confirm that it was actually a Fly Baby, whomever built the full scale did a great job of disguising it as a 1930s biplane.  And Bert did a great job modeling it.

Hans Dieter Wahl (GER) and a 1/5th scale Grumman F8F Bearcat, Roto 85 power.  Another bad picture of a nice plane

Yamashita Ichiro (JAP) and his scratch built Fuji T-1B jet trainer, Merlin M100 jet power.  The Japanese are set up next to us so I've spent more time with this plane than many of the others.  A very unique subject and very well built.  The cockpit details are fantastic.  It has a scale inlet and ducting, you can hear it when it's running.

Ok, that's finally it for F4C.  As I said before, some planes I have more pictures of or know more about than others.  Some I only have bad pics of and don't know anything about, but this certainly isn't a commentary about their quality.  

Ben

Peter Bauer (USA), Current World Champion, and his 1/8.4 scale Islander, electric powered.  This is a new Islander for this WC with a much different paint job from the last one.  A VERY last minute rule change eliminated the Twin Engine maneuver but I think it's been protested by another team with a multi engine.

Kathy Bauer (USA) and her 1/16.25 scale Twin Otter, electric powered.  This is a Hangar 9 arf that was converted to CL.  I think this is Kathy's first comp but she's been doing a great job of flying a little airplane in some big wind.

Heiner Borer (SUI) and his 1/6th scale Albatros DVA, Eflite 46 power.  A very nice model and one of 2 Albatrosses on the Swiss team.

Danny Fenton (septic) (GBR) and his 1/6th scale Chipmunk, Turnigy 4240 power.  Danny loves Chipmunks and has a "couple" of them.  This one is very well detailed and flies nicely.

Oleksandr Grytsenko (UKR) and his 1/6.2 Cessna 185, OS MAX91 powered.  There is a lot of detail packed into a pretty small plane (70").

Graham Guest (GBR) and his 1/6.85 Gloster Gladiator MkI.  Another very well detailed model, it even has flaps on all 4 wings.  It's always surprising to me how much detail CL guys can pack into smallish models, although theirs can tolerate more weight than an RC model.

Jaromir Hoblik (CZE) and his 1/4.4 RV-4, AXI 5320/18 power.  The Czech team has 2 RVs and they both fly really well.

 

Orin Humphries (USA) with is 1/8 scale Stinson Reliant, 2 stroke glow power.  I think Orin is the oldest competitor here and this his first WC.  

Zenon Kowalczyk (POL) and his 1/4.5 L4H, OS FS-95V power.  One of 3 Grasshoppers in F4B and definitely the largest.  Photo stolen from his escribe profile

Mike McHenry (USA) and his 1/6th scale L4, Saito FA82 power.  

Wolfram Metzner (GER) and his 1/6th scale Zlin Z-226B, not sure about power but I think 4 stroke.

Vlasimir Novotny (CZE) with a 1/5th scale Aero C104S, OS FS91 power.

Roman Radionov (UKR) and his 1/6th scale Polikarpov PO2, I think 4 stroke powered.  Photo stolen from his escribe profile

Tomasz Klowikowski (POL) with his 1/6th scale L4, OS FS56 power. 

Vaclav Stastny (CZE) with a 1/4.55 Fokker DVII, OS FS91 powered. 

Lucasz Szeptycki (POL) with his 1/8 scale Fairy Swordfish, OS powered.  

Oleksandr Vengeruk (UKR) and his 1/10 scale Antonov AN-14, electric power.   One of the most unusual planes here, it has the same high build quality as the rest of the Ukrainian planes.  Oleksandr is one of the 2 junior competitors. 

Elmar Wibmer (GER) with a 1/8 scale Bucker 180 Student, electric powered.

Benedikt Wibmer (GER) and his 1/16th scale Focke Wulf FW200 Condor, electric power.  This a fairly large CL model and is really neat to watch fly.

Ben