Mike, Paul, thanks for the kind words.  The carrier jetcat event was a lot of fun, although it took place on the final day of the contest and I was scrambling to get my flights in before the cutoff time.  Rich Adams won the event with an A-7 flying consistent 18-19 second flights.  I was in the middle of the pack.

Nothing really precise about the event, launch down the deck and the model lands wherever it goes.  The swept-wing F-111 insisted on hooking around and buzzing the pits regardless of launch direction - just happy it didn't spear anyone.

The markings were printed on Esaki, white areas colored with Prismacolor pencil, then shrunk and doped on a frame.  The neat thing was that the dope rendered the unprinted/colored tissue nearly clear, which disappeared against the grey and white surfaces much like a waterslide decal would.  Drawback of this method was that the markings didn't adhere well to the painted surface and kept curling up.  Eventually locked them down by flooding with dope thinner, at the expense of some damage to the paint.

Mike

Those look great! cool vid to  I believe I have a couple of the west wing kits in my stash
Paul

The theme for this October's WestFAC meet is carrier aviation.  For jetcat there will be a special carrier launch event where the gliders will be launched from a fixed catapult attached to a deck (folding table).  Participating aircraft types have to have been flown on and off aircraft carriers.  My entry for this will be a pair of F-111Bs, the short-lived Navy version of the F-111 and progenitor to the legendary F-14 Tomcat.

Starting with the Estes/West Wings kit I built one basically using the kit wood (with  the addition of a 1/64" ply core in the forward fuselage and substituting a 1/16" sheet fin for the two slabs of oak provided in the kit.  Using the kit parts a templates I cut a second one, but instead of copying the kit's swept-back wings I cut new wings in the full-forward position shaped in plan view as if the flaps and slats were deployed.  Both were sanded up, assembled, sealed, airbrushed and marked-up with printed tissue insignia.

The kit version came out at almost 25g, the approach-configured copy is more like 18g.  The kit version took just a bit of balancing then flew well the first day out.  The approach bird seemed to do the same, but there was a problem lurking in those very thin and shapely wings.  The first time I tried to fly it off the table, the wings snapped.  Reviewing video from the day, at launch those wings were fluttering!  A strip of carbon fiber epoxied under the wing resolved the problem, and both jetcats are now flying smoothly off the deck.  I hesitate to say they'll be competitive, as typical flights are 12-15 seconds, but they're a lot of fun!

Video at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQcNM345AwM

Mike