1949 Schneider Trophy Competition - IPMS Seattle 2005
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Introduction
When Tim Nelson of NorthWest Scale Modelers and IPMS Seattle cooked
up the idea of a special hypothetical model category had the British resurrected
the Schneider float plane race trophy that they had retired in 1931, he
had no idea what kind of modeling fervor it would cause! What started
as a casual email became a growing PDF file that outlined the rules for
the race, the course map, technical specifications and everything. (there
are links to that PDF file in the April issue of IM as well as the IPMS
Seattle web site)
The definition of a 1949 Schneider racer, in a nutshell, is a float
aircraft that has up to 1949 technologies. Other than that, the sky was
the limit to the number of wonderful creations that were built for this
project. Mike Millette of Snohomish, Washington (north of Seattle) completed
10 of these things, including his Me109901 which was an Me109 push/pull
combination, the Do335 Zwilling combined power (two Dorner 335¹s attached
in tandem, but with jet power pushing with tractor propellors) and many
others. I had three of these beasts in the works, but one met a fiery
death (article in this issue) while the other two made it to the contest
table; I completed a Ta154 and an F8F-2 Bearcat on floats, from Czechoslovakia
and Israel, respectively.
Tim really left nothing in question down to the correct placement of
the numbers. Regarding race numbers, Tim issued them to the entrants for
this race since
a) he wanted no duplicate numbers and
b) he had allocated blocks of numbers for various countries represented.
The tidal wave of enthusiasm for this project over ran the allocated
numbers; by the end, Tim had issued over 80 numbers! Normally in a group
build over a period of time, the enthusiam reaches a fever pitch at the
beginning. Not so with this build; the fever pitch went all the way to
the IPMS Seattle Spring Show, where they were judged. Rather than getting
the normal 30-40% turn out of completed models, there were 60 models
and two paintings on the table on April 16. That¹s over 70% completion
of issued numbers! Several modelers who had started projects but didn¹t
finish them in time for this competition have vowed to not only complete
their started projects but to continue building their concept models to
completion. This is unheard of in the modeling ranks.
I have a theory that has some traction about why this took off like
it did; car modelers are always building hot rods but aircraft modelers
almost never do. This was a chance for us to put away references to make
super performing aircraft. Also, aircraft modelers usually don¹t have
as much an opportunity to do flashy paint jobs as car modelers do. I think
that this idea tapped into some unmet need that all modelers have to get
creative and to let loose with their airbrushes.
In addition to building the models, each entrant had to have a history
of their aircraft. Each of us supplied a copy of the aircraft history
for display next to the model, then another copy put in a 3-ring binder
for the judges to use. Some of these "histories" have appeared in IM
the last couple of months.
There was one huge trophy that we commissioned Steve Cozad to design
and build; there¹s a picture of it on this page. Steve did a beautiful
job but was having some problems with the chrome for the airplane, so
Bill Osborn stepped up to the plate to put a beautiful finish on it. That
was for first place, but there were several winning certificates in addition
to the regular first, second, and third places. They were set up specifically
for this competition and reflect the light-heartedness that it is all
about.
The winners were:
First, winner of the big trophy:
.......#88 Shinden (Japan) by Mike Millette
Second:
....... #48 Yak 9 ( Hungary ) by Andrew Bertschi
Third:
....... #9 Caudron -Renault 314 (France)
by Jacob Russell
....... #95 Sea Fury (Canada) by Mike Millette
Mitchell/Castoldi Brilliance Award (best design)
.......#31 Do335 Zwilling ( France ) by Mike
Millette
Probable Race Winner (judges¹ choice of most likely winner)
.......#88 Shinden (Japan) by Mike Millette
Best History (most creative story)
.......# 22 P-51 ³Miss Chiquita² (USA) by
Tim Nelson
People¹s Choice (trophy built by Scott Kruize)
.......#71 El Horten (Argentina) by Will
Perry
Flying Flirts Favorites (Honorable Mention)
.......#71 El Horten (Argentina) by Will
Perry
.......#90 Norm (Japan) by Jim Schubert
.......#69 Me109ZX ( Belgium ) by Mike Millette
.......#39 Seastar (USA) by John Chilenski
There has already been some talk about what we can do to harness this
kind of energy again, but it¹s all about timing and delivery. Who knows
when we can do something like this again!
I would just like to thank Tim Nelson for putting this idea forward,
writing up the thorough rules etc, and keeping it all on track. Great
work Tim!
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