The FAI World Scale Championship is going to take place in a few days, from 9/7 until 18/7 at the BMFA center in Buckminster UK.
This is for F4C and F4H classes of radio controlled scale models as well as for F4B control line scale models.
It is expected to be a great event with a record number of entries and countries participating.
As described above, it really does not belong in the usual contents of this forum. However, parallel to the main events, a semi-official free flight event is also planed, in order to show one more aspect of scale aeromodelling and this is the event that is of more interest to us.
The entry list has been published on the champs website, plenty of familiar names. Mostly GBR entries plus a GRE one. I will be attending the event as a static judge for RC but the opportunity to fly a free flight model there was too good to miss.
https://worldscale26.bmfa.uk/free-flight
So, this is the announcement, pictures and more will follow.
George
Looks like it will be a great event, fingers crossed for the weather.
The entry list is from May so I think there's another 4 now, myself, Andrew Hewitt, Tim Horne and John Cooper
Quote from: Squirrelnet on Jul 03, 2026, 12:15 PMLooks like it will be a great event, fingers crossed for the weather.
The entry list is from May so I think there's another 4 now, myself, Andrew Hewitt, Tim Horne and John Cooper
Great to read that, the good company is getting larger!
And on a side note, since you will be there I am assigning you as helper and responsible for ground support.
Do not worry, you have only one task, please bring a CO2 bottle for me to charge my PZL ;D ;D ;D .
The model will travel with a greek contestant by car and I cannot take a sodasteam bottle on the plane without probably getting arrested.
So, looking forward to seeing you all in less than a week now.
George
I will bring a bottle and a spare full cylinder. I was planning to bring the Bleriot anyway as a calm weather model, though if Pete brings his, we maybe over 'Blerioted' for a show event ;D So I may not fly it
Quote from: Squirrelnet on Jul 03, 2026, 01:00 PM...if Pete brings his, we maybe over 'Blerioted' ...
One can
never have too many Bleriot aeroplanes.
Quote from: Squirrelnet on Jul 03, 2026, 01:00 PMI was planning to bring the Bleriot anyway as a calm weather model, though if Pete brings his, we maybe over 'Blerioted' for a show event ;D So I may not fly it
As Lurk says, it's not actually possible to be over-Blerioted, and 15 entrants all flying Bleriots would be just about perfect.
That said, I'm not entirely sure about flying mine either. I've been tidying up my Stinson Sentinel as it's my most reliable flyer at the moment, and the Bleriot was a little off-song in Bill's contest at Oxford. I did make up a new motor for it though and take it to my field the other night for a bit of a test. It doesn't seem to turn like it used to and I very nearly parked it in the High Hedge of Uncertainty.
Hi Pete,
It is a simple dilemma, if you ask me. Bring along a neutrally looking but well flying Sentinel or a perhaps problematic but "one that everyone wants to see" Bleriot?
My preference is clear...
On a side note. Mike Smith informed me that it will most probably be possible to do some pre contest testing on Thursday and Friday afternoons when the RC competition flights are over.
Which is great, except I now need gas earlier than Saturday. I can bring my own Sodastream adapter but I still need a Sodastream bottle. Any ideas?
If no one can be found with one there from Thursday an expensive (well £23) option would be to buy one from Amazon and get it delivered to Buckminster ???
Amazon Soda stream - next day (https://www.amazon.co.uk/SodaStream-Spare-Cylinder-Sparkling-bottle/dp/B005ERICB8/ref=sr_1_4?crid=38ZP3B5AUXNAF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XzZFwwLbk1hU5l1_bJqITiqsY1AiLuyLmBbfrEpSxzX7MwjdZZzfGOI7a-Dft3_6F_65EESRFTPjEgx_B2gXOj77eLJBGauD-Xx4jYT0NOtG1o-TH-YYy6WAley03drgybiuPxJLOxDGkppnPgf0RsW5DpKOITQL8zmt-0c4Y5qJbvoF94nyIPdvkDOc99N8NGLzXNCmgMsM-DlIqalNpAG3m4jUJDYy58UQn577slM.H1XPCDx-vpmgej6yg0MbpklE-V2a_j9lwXwbn1OpQig&dib_tag=se&keywords=sodastream%2Bco2%2Bcylinder&qid=1783168074&rdc=1&sprefix=sodastream%2Bco2%2Bbottle%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-4&th=1)
[/quote] I did make up a new motor for it though and take it to my field the other night for a bit of a test. It doesn't seem to turn like it used to and I very nearly parked it in the High Hedge of Uncertainty.
[/quote]
Well that's another great flight from the Bleriot and would have qualified ... Mine will struggle to out fly your very well trimming one ...would we get extra points for formation Bleriot's
That said the long term forecast looks a tad breezy so I'll bring the Bleriot but a few alternatives.. and if the weather's crap the Cessna 170
Thanks both, that's encouraging, and you're right, George- I really ought to give the Bleriot a go if the wind's at blerioable levels on the day.
George, I have a couple of sodastream bottles, but am not sure how full either one is and I'm not planning to go to Buckminster till the Saturday. One possibility would be to ask Steve Jackson if he can bring them down for you. Conveniently, he lives in my town. Would you like me to ask him?
Pete if you weigh them it will show how much co2 is in them .
A full Ali sodastream bottle is 1214g without an adapter
-425g of co2 789g empty
Hi Chris,
You beat me to it, exactly what I was thinking.
Pete, if you can find the heaviest of them and give it to Steve Jackson that will be great.
I only need to test fly so duration is not the biggest concern. For Saturday I will take advantage of Chris's offer.
Thanks to both!
Ok, the heavier bottle weighs 1033g and Steve's happy to bring it, so hopefully you'll have enough gas to trim with.
Your main job, however, is to calm the wind down for Saturday. (We don't care how you do it.)
Hi Pete,
That sounds like a more than half full bottle, so quite sufficient for my testing purposes.
I sent pms to both of you btw.
As for the winds, the best I can think of is to make an appeal to the greek vod of winds, Eolos as his name is in greek.
If I go as far as making a sacrifice to appease him has yet to be decided...
George
Lucky me, I'm not coming!!
I would be the goat in this case......
I've been watching the BMFA daily videos on YouTube. Here's the latest.
https://youtu.be/tMrqyWTAQC4?si=hw5tDZfr1U9NJqUS
I hope they give some minutes to the FF event - and that Friday's wind moderates for that event!
Thanks I'll check the link tomorrow.
Yes we got to fly the FF Event. It was quite windy and blustery too but we thought , well you only get one chance to fly at the World Championships.
It was of course as flying FF usually is, great fun despite the wind, very much reminiscent of the old Nats of days gone by where you had to fly what ever the conditions
I have loads of photos , mostly of the RC scale in the tent and a short video of the people furthest away from me in the FF Flying order but that's all for tomorrow
Congratulations to the winners and we have a new FF Scale (Not Really) World Champion - Mike Smith ;D
Thank you for the briefing!
Did you take any videos during the FF contest?
It was good fun. It wasn't particularly windy but the turbulence off the upwind wood was prodigious and lasted the full width of the site. The WC itself is astonishingly well-supported and Buckminster looks superb. What an effort by everyone involved and many thanks to those who organised the FF. And thanks George for being my 'stooge'!
Quote from: billdennis747 on Jul 12, 2026, 09:47 AMIt wasn't particularly windy...
... nor particularly calm!
I agree though, that it was terrific fun. Andrew Boddington took lots of photos which means I should be able to do quite a nice write up for Aeromodeller. I put the Bleriot back in the car and flew my Stinson Sentinel, which just about survived though is now approximately 85% superglue. Congrats to Chris for his 3rd place finish with the Cessna, and to Bryan Lea who very impressively got a good flight out of his dainty little Velie Monocoupe to take Second. Bravery award has to go to George though, for flying his beautiful CO2 PZL in conditions that I doubt it has flown in before. Still qualified too!
Here he is, stooging for Bill's Bucker.
QuoteQuote from: billdennis747 on Today at 07:47 AM
It wasn't particularly windy...
... nor particularly calm!
Ok I admit to being a bit molly coddled - it felt was windier than have been flying in , around 8-10 mph with gust but yes it was the turbulence that caused the problems with some interesting and sometimes entertaining flying. The French team were very congratulatory after my model nearly hit them during one round , they thought it was all great fun
As Bill says it was great to have a chance to fly there so huge thanks to everyone that made that happen and Paul Hoey for CDing the event.
Ok here's some pics
During the day while the RC flying was on there was a display of the models in the back of the static judging hanger, some of brought more than one model so we could decide on the day. Both Bleriot's stayed firmly in the hanger
Mike Smith's DH4 and Parnell Elf
Mike's new Provost and winning Tiger Moth
My Cessna 170 and Miles Falcon
Pete Fardell's Stinson and DH Sparrow
George Kandylakis' PZL
Martin Pike's ABC Robin
Martin Pikes Porter
Bill Dennis' Levente II and Jungman
Richard Falconer's Lightning and Comper swift
At about 6pm we gathered to wait for clearance from the RC event CD
Richard Falconer with his Comper
Last minute adjustments for Pete
The competition was flown to running order -Bill waits for his flight
The models flown reflected the conditions...apart from a very brave George with his indoor PZL. It faired well in the conditions
Martin Pike readies his Pilatus
Bryan Lea's Velie Monocoupe placed a well deserved 2nd
The Rc models were very impressive too. Here's a handful of my favourites..
A few more from the Marquee
The Finish Gloster Gamecock was my personal favourite of the meeting
Some Gamecock cu's
Underneath the dummy engine is a 5 cylinder radial
Perhaps not the nicest subject but it's not just FF modellers who have 'incidents involving the ground'
This Southern Marlett caught my eye too, especially the pilot. It's a rendition of UK Scale modeller Richard Crapp !!!!
Martin Fardell's wonderful Blackburn ?
That's my photo's I have some video of the FF comp which I will get up on Youtube shortly ....
Thanks, Chris- a lovely selection of pics.
For the record, my dad's model in the last photo does look rather Blackburnesque but is in fact a Hawker Horsley. (No, me neither till he built one!)
Thanks Pete. Hawker Horsley I should have known that, or at least looked it up a bit more ... ::)
There's a video now of some of the flights from the ff flying rounds at the World Scale. Not many I'm afraid as I was flying myself so as ever they are the contestants furthest away from me in the running order and from rounds where I wasn't repairing from the last round
Thank you for sharing! Really nice!
What a lot of lovely models. Thanks for the snaps & film Chris, almost (Almost!? Aye, right.) makes up for not being able to go.
QuoteThanks for the snaps & film Chris, almost (Almost!? Aye, right.) makes up for not being able to go
Funny you should say that as during the day I finished off a roll of B&W Fuji APX100 in my film camera... I love film but I could never keep up with the ease and speed of the iPhone with this stuff
It is very impressive to see, some of the models are extraordinary. The Dragon Rapid in Royal colour scheme had fully fitted interior with leather seats!!!!...sorry forgot to do that one on the iPhone
Thanks Chris, quite the effort to Fly, Fix and Film.
What a great selection of models, well done to all the flyers.
With apologies to dputt7, THB, Maris Dislers, and many others, there are some times I wish I still lived in Cleethorpes. Mike.
Some good flights despite the weather. Much better video than the BMFA ones. We saw plenty of flying and no silly music on a loop.
Is it possible to see the current RC scores, and maybe the FF? If I start looking, I end up in facebook and Instagram hell, neither of which I intend to use.
Bill
After a lot of going round in circles this the results website
https://bmfa.escribe.ch/events.aspx?event=9862&Lang=EN&tab=funktionaere (https://bmfa.escribe.ch/events.aspx?event=9862&Lang=EN&tab=funktionaere)
Click on the 'Ranking' tab for current results in F4B F4C and F4H
Thanks Chris. I don't understand the results - two flights and one discarded; what's that about? And 1000 scored by the leaders? I confess I haven't been keeping up with the rules; I'll have a look now
Just checked - only two rounds? What are they doing all this fortnight?!
The scores, static or flying, are normalized in the end, meaning that the top score is considered 1000 and all other scores are modified in analogy.
In flying it is the average of the two best flights, so the system removes the worst flight.
Since they are still in round two, some have not flown yet so 0, those that have lose their worst flight, so you see even 0 strikes out.
A better and more correct idea can be had when the thirs flights commence and even more when completed.
Marc Levy having led two roundss already is bound to be the winner of flying. If his score in static is good enough and the others are not better by the difference from him in flight, he wins.
In theory he does mot need a third flight with two 1000s
Quote from: billdennis747 on Jul 13, 2026, 09:12 PMJust checked - only two rounds? What are they doing all this fortnight?!
Many models and a lot of wind.
And still well ahead of schedule.
Thanks George - I think I understand!
Just to add, that if you click on someone's flight score you'll get the judges' breakdown for each manoeuvre too.
The discounting of the top and bottom scores is interesting. It means a judge knows if he scores too highly then he's likely to be the discarded one. Leading to a disinclination to give 9s and 10s perhaps? I do see the logic of the system though. It happens in some Olympic sports too.
A slight delay in the FF results due to an error in the scores. Luckily, CD Paul Hoey let me take photos of the individual score sheets so I could write up the event for Aeromodeller. At the time, both Chris and I were very surprised that we'd finished ahead of Bill, particularly as his flights with the Bucker had been pretty good. Certainly better than mine. This mystery led me to later compare his score sheet with mine, and it very soon transpired that he'd accidentally been done out of a few hundred points on his total. To be fair to the judges, they were working for us at the of a long hot day of intense RC World Championship judging so I'm not surprised the error crept in. I'm amazed they could even stand up.
Anyway, here are the corrected results. It's very pleasing that Bill and Bryan had identical scores, so came JOINT second, and so Chris is still there in 3rd. I'd also like to point out that although Richard Falconer didn't quite qualify, hats off to him for trying to trim his model DURING the contest itself, in conditions that were not exactly conducive! And it did fly, but not quite for long enough.
RESULTS
1st Mike Smith- Tiger Moth (ic) 1590
Joint 2nd Bill Dennis- Bucker Jungmann (rubber) & Bryan Lea- Velie Monocoupe (rubber) both 1500
3rd Chris Brainwood- Cessna 170 (ic) 1480
4th Martin Pike- Pilatus Porter (rubber) 1330
5th Pete Fardell- Stinson Sentinel (rubber) 1300
6th George Kandylakis- PZL24 (CO2) 1130
Richard Falconer- Comper Swift (rubber) DNQ
I know there was also a scale FF contest the last time the World Championships were held here in the UK (Woodvale 1978).
Does anyone know who was there and with which models, or if the FF action was written up in Aeromodeller?
Bill?
Yes, Pete, the FF Scake comp was reported in AM October 1978. W.Dennis is recorded as coming second to Eric Coates!
Quote from: Pete Fardell on Jul 15, 2026, 03:14 PMI know there was also a scale FF contest the last time the World Championships were held here in the UK (Woodvale 1978).
Does anyone know who was there and with which models, or if the FF action was written up in Aeromodeller?
Bill?
AeromodellerOctober 1978
From page 36:https://rcbookcase.com/data/media/6/10AeroModeller_October_1978.pdf
(https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/media/am78-jpg.277476/full)
Cheers, Ramses
ps. I see Jmk89 was faster ;)
Perfect! Thanks both!
There are so many interesting comparisons and coincidences there, as well as two people who are present at both events, that my AM report is practically going to write itself!
Eg. Bill second to Eric Coates in 1978, and Bill second with an Eric Coates design in 2026.
It also explains why Richard Falconer was there on Saturday and had his Lockheed Lightning on the display table too.
I'm also slightly blown away by the fact that both Bill Hannan and Walt Mooney were there in '78.
And now that Ramses has given me the link I realise I do have that edition of AM. The cover is quite a good clue.
Ah, have read it now- some proxy flown models in '78, so Hannan and Mooney not actually there in person. Still a great line-up though!
Pete
That report takes me back. As you say, many models were proxy flown. I'm pretty certain that Bernie Sinclair flew F1C in those days, his models had distinctive candle flame decoration on the fuselages. Tom Stark's Loening was flown by Bob Underwood who was in the US RC scale team with his Sorrell Hyperbipe. He looks suitably puzzled by a ff model!
I can still see Terry's Blackburn; I have his sketches for producing his beautiful spoked wheels, and the metal panelling was excellent. He produced the panels in aluminium and then dangled them in the vats of chemicals to etch them to paper thickness. These were giant VATs at Blackburns used to etch fuselage components for the Buccaneer.
The flying left something to be desired and as Alan Callaghan said, it was a shame more UK flyers didn't support it. The prizes were generous, if inappropriate. Eric won a 40 RC glow engine and I staggered off with some big radio kit which yielded some useful balsa. Finally I was amused by Alan's dig at Eric's poor colour documentation!