All of these suggestions make perfect sense. But there is a big problem. A-6 is a well established event. A number of people have spent considerable effort in developing models that meet the current rules and perform extremely well. Any radical change to the rules would immediately obsolete those models. I think the result would be an event that might draw in some newcomers but also might lose some of the people who currently fly the event.
I think Marty's suggestion of introducing either modified A-6 rules or a totally new event at the club level probably makes the most sense, although the process would stretch into years instead of being a quick fix.
As far as A-6 being a step backward from Wright Stuff - in my opinion getting a Wright Stuff model to fly competitively is a heck of a lot easier than getting an A-6 to fly competitively. It's very easy to build a WS model underweight and very easy to get one to fly well. Building an efficient 1.2g A-6 takes a lot more effort, care and ingenuity.
Enough on the soapbox today!
----- Original Message -----
From: ki0mz
To: Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:11 PM
Subject: [Indoor_Construction] Re: A-6 rules change
I think we need to define what kind of beginner these rules are
targeting.
If the new blood comming into the hobby (if ther is any new blood)is
from the ranks of the Sci-oly or other facets of the model airplane
community then rules which are step backward in terms of modeling
skills and materials make no sense. Allow film and remove the 1/16
stick requirement.
If we are targeting beginners with no previous modeling or building
experience then the rules need to be somewhat different.
Any true beginner event which requires the purchase of anything beyond
what a well stocked hobby store has available is a big mistake. The
last thing a person who wants to try-out the hobby to see what its like
or a parent purchasing for his child is having to buy a $10 piece (+$5
shipping) of contest balsa.
I believe the original intent of the A6 rules was that a person could
walk into the local hobby store grab a bunch 1/16 sq balsa sticks, a
sheet of 1/32 balsa, a piece of music wire, and a sheet of tissue paper
(forget the condenser paper)and build a competitive model.
The rules as currently written dont really allow that and I think the
minimum weight should be raised to allow a hobby shop build as
described above.
If you want to build a 1.2 gram model then build an f1L or F1D.
Steve Smith
Castle Rock, CO
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