Brian O'meara Top Gun 2007
Report
Just got home from TopGun.
I Ended up 9th in the Pro
category. I was lucky to stay in the top 10. The Seafury won “Most Realistic
Flight Performance”. Dino Di Giorgio won Pro. Jason Shulman was second in Pro.
He smoked his last flight. The difference between 1st and 10th was about a
point and a half. My best three flight scores averaged 95.5 Dino 97. I have
not seen the official standings as it started to rain during the awards .
.
Boy there were some fantastic pilots there.
Jack Diaz from Argentina won Expert. Team was won by a British team. The
German world champion pilot did things with the Airworld Panther that was just
unbelievable. He is only 28 years old, I found out. He loves American
Basketball.
There was a HUGE Hawk B4E from England. Egil’s kind of plane. The kit alone is
$12,000 US. About $30,000 in materials when finished. It flew so slow on
landing, the judges downgraded his realism score. It landed like a Cub. Rolled
about 10 feet after it touched down with no brakes on.
Truly the best pilots in the world compete at TG. Off the top of my head, the
following countries were represented:
Bangkok , Singapore, Beijing, London, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina ,
Budapest, Canada Mexico City, France, Belgium, Australia, Japan. Top Gun has
to be the premier model event in the world now. I talked to a guy from Serbia
that came to the US just to see the event. He spoke no English and the Germans
translated what he was saying for me. He had seen the video of the Seafury that
is on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FqjWbygAhI
that was taped in Phoenix last month.
I pitted in the German Airworld tent as They manufacture the Moki radials.
There were Italians, Korea and Brazil in the tent as well. Total Kaos with 4
different languages in one 40X40 tent. I think I am going to put the 150 radial
in one of my P-47s. The Airworld builder said he would make a cowl 1/2 inch
bigger so it will fit.
The city of Lakeland has determined that TG brings over $2 million dollars into
the city. They love Frank.
The Seafury is featured in a 6 page article in a British magazine this month,
“Flying Scale Models.” It is also on the cover. I think “Fly RC” is going to
run the same article. The article is how I did the aluminum finish and
weathering on The Princess. I had one copy, but the editor of “Fly RC” took it.
I hope I can find another.
I took the rockets off the wing because it made her shimmy. Also did not use
the tank drop as the right side took about 100 feet too long to release. I did
a “half reverse Cuban 8 with a two point roll “ instead. The judges liked it as
I got a 9.75 from each judge who saw it during my last three rounds.
There were two major crashes. The team that won last year lost their BVM F-100.
Radio locked up. This plane was immaculate. It had won team scale at the US
Scale Masters in Phoenix, 2005.
Ray Johns, and Mike Selby’s team entry of a Tucano with a turbo-prop went into
the trees the last round. He got a radio hit 4 times on his last flight. The
fifth hit rolled him in. They are an interesting team. Ray is a four star
general in the Airforce at the Pentagon. Mike is the Secretary of the Treasury
for Thailand and He works directly for the king. He is an American, but has
lived in Bangkok for 25 years. He designs and builds all of his competition
models.
I flew with a two blade, 32X12 after I nicked the three blade prop on a down
wind landing. I am going to try the 32X18 pitch. The Germans gave me one. I
have no idea on how it will perform.
Did you see the pictures of the monster red Hawk B4E from Ali Machinchy on RC
Universe? He is from London. He plans to have it at Warbirds Over The Rockies
in Sept. along with a huge Skyraider that is powered by a 400 CC radial. The
SkyRaider has a 40 inch prop. The only problem would be that the Jet
International contest is in Berlin the week before and he plans to compete in
it. He plans to ship the planes that he is not competing with. to me before the
Berlin contest
Futaba is talking to me about switching teams. I am confused about the 24 Gz
stuff and what it means to us in the future. I think there are three different
technologies now. I know Lee thinks we will have it in all of our models within
a year or so. I wonder if the AMA will be able to keep our 72 MZ frequencies we
have now. Airtronics wont have the technology for a year.
The weather was ungodly hot. 92-95 every day. Dusty. The Princess is fine and
on the way home-dirty and dusty.
Golden Voice, Sam Wright, did a fantastic job as the announcer. He really keeps
the spectators informed. He has a wealth of knowledge about not only our
hobby/sport, but aviation in general.
I have not seen the final standing for the entire event. I bet it will be
posted on Frankie’s web site in the morning. www.franktiano.com
Don’t mean to ramble on
Brian
