Barnyard Buzzards Combat 2004 Many thanks to Scott Curtis for organizing the event again this year. We had 7 pilots and many different designs flown in the event. Sandy did the grill work and provided lunch for the 27 attendees. Pilots arrived early to set up their plane for the competition. The weather was cooperative the whole day. Some showed up to work on building their own plane. Randy should be ready for the next event! Ron Swift brought the predator that one of our neighbors returned after being lost for over a year! Ron rebuilt the model for this combat session. It features a Magnum .36 2 stroke engine, Hitec HS77 servos, and JR radio system. More of the early preflight setup. Checking the settings, making final adjustments, and in one case, rebuilding the entire model! Whatever it takes to keep the competition safe and fun! Preflight safety inspections were required and many pilots shared "speed secrets" about their various models. Brian shows his electric model, which he flew several times during the day, especially when there were delays in the competition. We put all the available tables to maximum use. It seemed that each of the pilots had at least one backup plane (just in case). This is a couple of the combat planes in action. There were four heats with two pilots competing one against one. If any part of the 20 foot streamer (or the 20 foot lead string that attached it to the model) was cut during the engagement, the other pilot was declared the victor with a "kill" worth 2 points. If there was no kill, the pilots did a spot landing, the victory of one point awarded to the pilot with the spinner closest to a designaed spot on the runway. In the foreground is an example of one of the designs for this competition. When not competing in the event we all watched the competition of the other pilots. I was suggested that we take a photo of the pilots and planes while all of the planes were still intact. This was in the middle of the competition. Later, a couple of the planes did suffer some slight damage, forcing backup planes to be used. More preparation of the models was required after lunch. All of the models survived the first two rounds. Lunch seemed to divide the event, as engines seemed to be effected by the higher heat and some models suffered some slight damage by not landing on the runway. This is Scott Curtis' Combat Gremlin. It feaures a OS 40FX engine and a moose can custom muffler. Probably the fastest of the models. Dean was the eventual 1st place winner. He had two "kills" and won 1st by three points. Brian's combat gremlin is is the foreground. Scott is making some last minute pointers as two pilots compete for points. Here are our event winners: 1st place - Dean (far right in the photo) 2nd Place - Mike from Nimitz (second from the right) 3rd place - a tie... Brian (far left) and Scott (second from the left) Our guests pilots put on quite a show with their U-Can-Do 3D models. The event was completed by 4:00. We all learned a lot and had fun competing in this very different event. Last Updated 8/15/04 Photo Gallery Barnyard Buzzards Home Page