Alameda Aer-O-Nut's
2nd Annual Walt Musciano Event
report by Jim Persson

On September197th, 2003, the Alameda Aer-O-Nut Control Line club, hosted our second west coast version of northern Virginia's famous "Walt Musciano Scientific Model Contest".

We arrived at the flying site about 8:15am, with everything wet and rain pouring down, not a very good outlook for the day’s contest. We all stood around and by 9:00 the rain had stopped and it started to clear and got better ending with the sun out all day, windy but still flyable.

There were 13 people present with airplanes. Two chose not to fly, however we still had 23 models, up from last years 16 -- considering the weather, a very good turnout The first event was the concours judging. This is done by every flyer
getting one vote with the models all lined up (all must complete one lap to qualify). This year’s winner was Dan Gomez, with his very nice Ford Flivver.

The first flying event was Stunt. We fly a modified pattern: climb, dive, wingover, 2 inside loops, and optional bonus for inverted flight, 2 lazy eights, and 1 outside loop. The competition in this event was very close with Heman Lee taking first with his StuntMaster, Bob Riggio second with a ZigZag, and Jim Persson third with a CombatMaster. These top three were only separated by three points. Dan also did quite well with his concourse-winning Flivver for fourth. Eleven planes flew in the stunt event. The judge was Jack Reynolds. Good Job.

The Proto Speed is run on 35 foot lines and the wind started to increase, however nine models flew. The times were very close, with 15-year-old Matt Frogner taking first followed by Jim Persson behind by less than a half second and Heman Lee another half second behind. All in all, great fun and very close.

For the Slow Race event we flew 50 laps with one mandatory pit stop. At the top of the charts was Heman Lee. Jim Persson seemed to have it all sewed up, except his model ran 61 laps and he still had to make one stop and one lap. So he still ended up third. Bob Frogner earned second and Randy Bush fourth. Once again, all very close. This year’s overall champ was Heman Lee with two firsts and a third--very consistent flying of his Cox-powered StuntMaster. Congratulations, Heman.

The awards were given. There were prizes for everyone who entered (mostly tools and supplies). Jim supplied three Musciano kits with wood, plans, and original Scientific decal sheets. There was a special award for the Best Non-Cox model--Bob Riggio’s OK Cub .049-powered first model Little Devil. The prize was a new Cox Babe Bee. Overall winners received Olympic-style medals and ribbons. All in all everyone had a great time and it is great for all of us to
step back to when modeling was all fun and not quiet so competitive. Most of us learned to fly on these models or others very similar, with the same type engines from the time. We hope to see more people next year, and more models. Start building now and maybe come out and join us next year and maybe feel what its really like to be a kid again.

RESULTS

STUNT

1. Heman Lee 65
2. Bob Riggio 64
3. Jim Persson 62
4. Dan Gomez 46
5. Robert Riggio 33
6. Randy Bush 31
7. Bob Frogner 25
8. Matt Frogner 21
9. Duane Roach 18
10. Bob McCarty 12
11. Tim Helwig 4
12. Peter Parker ---

PROTO SPEED

1. Matt Frogner 39.52
2. Jim Persson 40.00
3. Heman Lee 40.58
4. Bob Frogner 40.77
5. Robert Riggio 42.13
6. Dan Gomez 42.53
7. Randy Bush 48.85
8. Bob Riggio DNQ
9. Tim Helwig DNQ

SLOW RACE 50 laps

1. Heman Lee 3.24
2. Bob Frogner 4.15
3. Jim Persson 4.20
4. Randy Bush 4.26
5. Matt Frogner DNF

AWARDS

Overall Champ- Heman Lee

Concours Champ- Dan Gomez

Non-Cox Award- Bob Riggio: Lil Devil with OK Cub

DESIGNS FLOWN

Heman Lee- Stuntmaster

Bob Riggio- Little Devil, ZigZag

Jim Persson- CombatMaster, Lil Bipe, Lil Devil

Dan Gomez- Ford Flivver

Duane Roach- FlightMaster

Robert Riggio- Piper Tri-Pacer

Bob McCarty- Lil Devil

Randy Bush- ZigZag

Tim Helwig- Thunderbird

Bob Frogner- ZigZag

Matt Frogner- Lil Devil

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