<div>Bill,</div> <div> </div> <div>Thanks for the kind words.</div> <div> </div> <div>I agree with you, I think a lot of the pattern planes are ugly. Kinda reminds me of the old Buck Rogers rocket, hanging on a string, sparkler up the tailpipe. I like planes that look like a real plane, that is why I flew a Cap21 for two years in pattern. And, FWIW, I LOVE the looks of the Focus. It looks like a stretched Cap.</div> <div> </div> <div>All this talk about a P51 in pattern. Hmmm, I've thought about a stretched P47 myself. Invasion stripes -- how appropriate!!!</div> <div> </div> <div>Speaking of IMAC, I'm going to fly at my first IMAC contest this year. Not sure yet what I will fly. I've toyed with the idea of flying in Basic, just so I can fly a pattern plane. :-) I've got a 27% H9 Extra 260 I'm working on. No 40% models in my future.</div> <div> </div> <div>Bob R.</div> <div><BR><BR><B><I>Bill Glaze <billglaze@triad.rr.com></I></B>
wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">I flew a CGB Sukhoi for a long time in IMAC until they decided to go to <BR>these outsize "models." Thanks to Bob Richards and John Ferrell I got <BR>interested in Pattern flying at one of Bob's Pattern Primers. I went to a <BR>couple of pattern events, and got turned off by the airplanes that I felt <BR>were "ugly." In fact, I wasn't going to go any further until I saw a Dick <BR>Hanson Excess, (Extra 300 semi-scale.) So, I became highly interested in <BR>pattern, but I felt the airplanes didn't look good, (except for Hanson's <BR>design) and I'm a sucker for a good looking airplane. (No smart remarks, <BR>please!<G>)<BR>I even took the Sukhoi to Muncie in 1997 to the Pattern Nats', and did <BR>better than I thought I would. I truly loved flying the Sukhoi, (still do) <BR>and had the opportunity to ask Dave Patrick how he came up with such a great <BR>flying design.
His answer: "I just drew it up, and then I stretched it <BR>until it looked like a pattern model." Hmmm......... O.K.<BR>Than, after a serious talking-to by Gary Harris and Ed Bailey, I was <BR>convinced that a full-blown pattern ship was required. Fortunately, Dick <BR>Hanson had brought out his EMC^2, and with a lot of help from John Ferrell, <BR>it was ready for the 1998 Nats.' Even now, I prefer flying a pattern plane <BR>for just "fooling around" at the local field. Why? Because they fly so <BR>much better, and are much easier to fly well.<BR>If we could get somebody who is truly a prospect to fly a pattern airplane, <BR>(and I don't mean for 5 minutes or so) out at the local field, it would go a <BR>long way toward inculcating him with our sport and our sporting appetites. <BR>O.K., I agree:some who evidence interest do so out of politeness or mild <BR>curiosity. And, as it has been said, some won't be interested; the "gallon <BR>of fuel a year" types will tend to think we're
kind of crazy, (which we <BR>probably are)<BR>One thing I learned as a salesman: You've got to know who is truly a <BR>prospect, and who is "just looking."<BR>Thanks for reading my ramblings.<BR><BR>Bill Glaze<BR></BLOCKQUOTE>