One week of unbelievably hot temperatures around 37 oC did not give us a chance to forget the name of the place where the preliminary year of the pistacio and peanut models is taking place – Teplice (Hotplace). To avoid the overheating of modelers the event took place in ice-stadium. Our original plan to come with all the editors of MinimaketyCZ was unfortunately changed only few hours before departure and therefore after 310 km in less than 3 hours the two meters silhouette of Ruja with two tripods and bag full of hi-tech equipment followed by ISim’s silhouette with chicken box appeared on the stadium gallery. Stadium entrance was locked on the gallery, but after the examination of the stadium from all four cardinal points we finally got inside through the dark corners of technical back areas.
Hall in Teplice
We were welcomed by the hall of luxury size for peanut modelers with clean ceiling, without expected air draught and with ideal temperature for both the modelers and peanut “motors” – rubber bands.
'Static points evaluation
After the line-up under supervision of Adam Jeník (main organizer, competition director and enthusiastic competitor in a single person) the training flights were made, modelers were trimming both old peanuts from the last century (both originals and models) and new models finished during the night before the competition. The competition was divided into three categories: pistacio (3 models), peanuts (22 models) and HydroCup for peanuts of flying boats and float planes (4 models).
At 12 o’clock the judges started their difficult job, namely Adam Jeník, Zdeněk Cinert a Ivan Šimoník. With respect to the number of models and careful work the awarding took quite some time, the committee members were at the end of point awarding pretty tired and next year, when more models are expected the point awarding will have to start earlier. In spite of determination to keep the point awarding short (as the preliminary year of „Teplice F4F“ was mainly the meeting of friends) the committee often ended in longish discussions. Models were from the huge birth range of 23 years (!) so the comparison of technologies was often necessary – try to compare lozeng on Albatros by Robert Cok, when the paper covering was stamped with millimeter precision using aniline colors and stamps made of potatoes (!) with lozeng of Fokker DVII which was made using the inkjet printer. Static point awarding took 90 minutes and due to the absence of table and chairs it was also the test of judges joints.
Micromotor from Ing. Gašparín workshop
During the static point awarding Robert Cok was flying his radio controlled pistacio Nieuport XI. We can just admire not only the model but also the orientation of the pilot when flying such a small airplane model. During the flying another RC arrived, this time it was peanut Sopwith Schneider by Reiner Gaggl from Gratz. Both models are driven by Gašparín motors. Their active maker came to take a look to the competition and he was delighted with the stadium hall and with the effort of KE-PNUT team (with frontman Adam Jenik) to recover the small scale models in Czech Republic. And as it is usual with Štefan Gašparín he brought new technical miracles from his workshop. Technical details of models can be found in photographs labels in the gallery.
After the static points awarding and necessary whistle of the competition director the chief timekeeper František Mařík from Bečov occupied his chair. With the way similar to fans crying to the ice-hockey players he started to stir the modelers up to fight his stop-watch and models one by one started to make their way in warm and quiet air of Teplice stadium. Thanks to the space in the hall we could make train flights as well and red line usually separating one hockey team from the other was separating the competition and training portion of the space.
Adam Jeník brought brand new Zeppelin CS1 and after initial constrained introduction the model made nice flights. 38 seconds made in the competition is for sure not Adam’s maximum due to the potential of this model, verified not just in peanut category but in M-min as well.
Autogyro Cierva C30
Autogyro by Tomáš Vostradovský is a fascinating model. The model however did not move in the space in a coordinated way and 2 seconds time was surely a disappointment for Tomáš from a precisely built model. In spite of many extra points for the autogiro, 34 seconds flight would be necessary for the first place and that is very long time for the model of this type...
The original Waterman Gosling can tempt the modeler to simplification. But that is not the case for Petr Onemichl, he made the model excellently and e.g. scale motor inside the fuselage was awarded by the judges. In static points the model reached the same amount as Adam’s Zeppelin CS1 and as Adam was in the committee we can rule out the conspiracy.
The box labeled „ČSFR“ in the depot of the only Brno representative indicated that no brand new model is hidden inside. It has been 14 years since the Czech and Slovak separation and models are one, two years older. In spite of the bad condition the interest was focused on Zlin-Z50M, that is notoriously known from books of Ing. Koutny and Modeller magazine and the question “Is it the one ?” was asked over the box at least five times. Yes, that is the one. Even as the condenser paper changes in time, the model kept its settings no trimming was necessary. The reason why it was low in the competition was the different propeller and no training of the pilot. Attempts to find the proper rubber not causing the ceiling hits or the sightseeing flights in six meters failed. The second model, Renard R-31 had its competition premiere and ended up the same as in first test flight in 1992 – with loosened wing.
Viktor Lukáč with his Chilton flew fast and high. To reach one minute in the competition measured times he was missing only 6 seconds and model is surely capable of it. Another Viktor’s model, float Macchi, refused to fly well and even the assistance of Robert Cok during the test flights did not help to better flying characteristics. Viktor made his longest flights with Piper L, its 85 second flight was the second best in the competition.
Flight times after the proper trimming started to overcome one minute. The maximum of the day was 93sec of Fokker E-III by Pavel Formánek, made during its second flight. The flight was just perfect, after the contact with the ceiling the model dropped a bit to get the height back and after over one and half minute landed nicely on the ground. Thanks to this flight the model reached the third place in the competition.
One minute and one second put the silver medal on the neck of Adam Jeník. His Fokker D.VII helped him, made in color camouflage which can be made only with the covering printed with inkjet. This peanut was really the gapeseed.
Robert Cok preparing his model
Stable overminute flights were reached by Robert Cok with old, but greatly made biplane SE-5A. The quality of the model and experiences of the modeler were transferred into laconic: came, rolled, won. Let us note that Robert prepares the model all by himself, with no helper, no holder, or any other gadgets. He was the only one who put his depot directly on the stadium ground. He holds the model with one hand, steps on the roller and rolls the rubber. His first flight was enough to win the competition, so he had a lot of time which he spent by showing his RC miniscale and helping other competitors in trimming their peanuts.
Two flights out of three over one minute were made by Fike E built by Zdeněk Cinert. But he was probably happier from his float Blerior, that made the second position in HydroCup due to its 40 sec flight.
Pistacio competition had only a few models, to make and fly successfully such a small models is more difficult than peanuts. Jenik’s Bristol Brownie built one week prior to the competition was showing vicious flights and it will take Adam some time to make it fly properly. Fike E is a classical pistacio and in hands of Petr Onemichl it was the winner. Third to the marriage was Bristol Scout by Robert Pajas. It had handicap from the static points, but that did not spoil his eager to fly.
As we mentioned above, the "Hydrocup" for flying boats and hydroplanes was announced as well. The first place was taken by Zeppelin CS1 by Adam Jeník, second was Bleriot by Zdeněk Cinert and third place was taken by Macchi by Viktor Lukáč thanks to the extra points with the flight of the same length as fourth Morane Saulnier by Robert Pajas.
To trim the peanut for the competition flight is not an easy task so the main timekeeper sometimes called in vain the modelers to start and on the other hand sometimes there was a line for the measurement, which in several cases led to the “fading” of rubber and disappointment from the result. However, all the flying was made in friendly atmosphere, there were no protests and after the competition flights and fast results calculations in computational centre Adam Jeník announced the results, handed diplomas and prices for the best modelers and the competition was over. The event was successful and the next year the number of models will double for sure.
During the competition the agreement was made with Josef Kubeš, trainer of the national F1D team that trains in Teplice hall regarding the next year competition. This gives a chance to choose better date, probably at the end of June, when the ice is already removed, hall is warm and less modelers are on vacation. Next year event should be independent competition for miniscales only. But we will leave the official announcement to the hands of KE-PNUT TEAM, however the propositions will be published on this server.
Finally let’s thanks the members of KE-PNUT TEAM for organizing successfully their first Peanut competition, Josef Kubeš for the contact to the stadium owners, main timekeeper František Mařík and off course the sponsors, who made the competition possible. First three modelers in each category were awarded with “covering set” for a Peanut category model with printed camouflage by Microinvent company, one of the prices was donated by Jiří Kalina and stadium lease was partially sponsored by Ing. Štefan Gašparín.
Ruja was making the pictures for you as much as he could, resulting in gallery, where you can see the whole competition in more than 70 photographs.
Ruja & ISim
