2004 CL World Champs: Bulletin 2

Bulletin 2 for the 2004 CL World Championships has been placed on the
web site:

http://www.2004CLWC.org

A lot of good information is there.

Regards,

Bill,
Thanks for the link. I have two questions.
1) The competitor entry fee is $250. Is it the same for F2D mechanics?
2) I see you are going to use plastic streamers. While I prefer the high quality Czech paper ones , plastic is a reasonable alternative. I do have serious concerns about the string however. The european "Sisal" is much better than the white string used at the last US trials and at the spring contests in Houston. The white string breaks far too easily (turning cuts into kills), winds up to make the streamer shorter, and can get very tangled up in the motor/plane/lines of downed models. It is just not stiff enough. I have used Jute twine available here in Canada and it is nearly as good as the Sisal. I would request that you please ( pretty please! ) consider buying some real sisal string from Thomas.
Thanks,
Pat MacKenzie
F2D team member, Canada

Has anyone measured the breaking strength of Czech string? I'd always thought the Czech string was way too strong. Did the American string break when you hit the string with the wing, or did it break when you hit the paper? Unless it breaks when you hit the paper (or plastic), then it shouldn't be considered too weak.

I'd be leery of using Czech string for Fast Combat, though it works fine for F2D (where leading edge kills aren't something someone aims to get). It'd probably saw through the spars of a Fast Combat plane. AMA Combat rules mention breaking strength for string, I don't know if the F2D regulations do.

The string can break when you hit the streamer right in the middle, especially if it is hit with the
lines. You are then left towing the whole streamer (plus some of the snapped string) folded in half on
your plane or lines. This is far less common with the real Sisal string.
We use the Czech streamers for both F2D and speed limit if we have enough. Last year I was short
and substituted plastic/jute streamers with the cloth reinforcement and they worked very well. The
only downside is that in some cases the cuts are "silent" with the plastic ones. Cuts with the Czech
streamers are usually very audible.
Pat MacKenzie

Hi, Pat;

1) F2D Mechanics fees are $50. That was overlooked in the bulletin. OTOH, when your NAC fills out the forms online, it is properly reflected there.

2) We are getting "sisal" string from Europe to use for the WCs.

Here's an excellent document that is buried on the 2004CLWC website:

http://www.2004clwc.org/Bulletin_2/TravelRecomendations.pdf

It's AMA's document describing how to travel with modeling stuff.