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The Entry Forms are available to view and download. These are in individual forms so that you can down load only those that you want. These are the Basic Entry and schedule (where you commit the money). The Free Flight and Radio Control pages are in two sheets with the specific rules on the second page. Nostalgia is on one page and you can view and download the Tomboy and Speed 400 rules

2008 SAM Champs - 7 to 12 September
at the AMA International Flying Site in Muncie, Indiana.

Electric Flying at the Champs - July Update

The new for 2008 electric LMR and ETexaco battery rule has allowed for a very wide choice.  Many of the available batteries come without manufacturer’s type or capacity labels.  Consequently the electric rules committee and the Champs CD has decided, in accordance with the rules (Section IX, 1E, 2E - B1), to examine batteries and weigh those models entered in the Electric Texaco event scheduled for the Tuesday of Champs week. 

        We encourage members with unmarked cells to present their batteries for inspection and validation on the Monday of Champs week should that be convenient, or we will complete examination on Tuesday if necessary.  Should a model with an undefined pack finish in the top five of the event we will measure the capacity of the battery by cycling it at days end.  Should a competitor be unsure about his battery we offer to measure it prior to the event.

Updated 19 May 2008

This will be a short note to update the progress of the SAM Champs and to disseminate some additional information. The Headquarters Motel is the The Signature Inn, as advertised. We have blocked 75 rooms at the group rate of $61.00 per night, plus tax of course. These rooms will be held until 22 August, then released for resale, so get your reservation in if you plan to stay there. Be sure to mention Society of Antique Modelers when you call. The phone number is (765) 240-4200. There are plenty of other hotels/motels available in Muncie, of course if you prefer another location; see the entry form for more information on them.

If you want to arrive early, be aware that there is a Ball State-Navy football game scheduled on Friday night, 5 September, so motel accommodations may be at a premium and traffic around the stadium busy. Get your reservations in early.

Those that have an RV and want to use the AMA site camping areas in lieu of motel accommodations should contact AMA directly. A quote from the web site follows:

“Members visiting overnight are welcome to stay in our primitive camp site or RV parking areas. There is a $15 charge for electric hook up and $5.00 charge for primitive camping. All campers must register. During the normal business operations, registration of camping may be done at the Administration building, during the weekends this can be accomplished at the Museum building.”

For the SAM Ladies, there will be a Craft show on Tuesday at the AMA Headquarters building. Also there is a bus trip to Bear Creek Farms on Wednesday. Meet at Signature Inn at 8:45 and return about 4:00. Details are in the March April SAM Speaks. Contact Joan Walters to ensure a seat on the 33-passenger bus (5708 Cambridge Cir. Sandusky, OH 44870) who has organized this trip. The SAM Ladies will have a table setup at Signature Inn during registration on Sunday to collect fees and dues. Thanks, Joan.

A big thank you is due Don Srull, the artist and modeler extraordinaire, in recognition of his fine design for the 2008 Champs Logo. This will appear on the merchandise that is a part of the Champs. Also, decals and lapel pins will sport the logo that shows a drawing of one of the 2008 Champs theme models, Leon Shulman’s “Banshee”. These will be included in the contestant registration packages along with your event tickets, time cards and other related items related to the Champs.

We would request that as soon as you make your up mind to go to the Champs, send in your entries so Carl Bakay and I won’t have a lot of last minute catch-up work. Any changes to your events entries, etc can be made later.

Hope to see y’all there, Jim Coffin, SAM Champs 2008 Co-Manager

Updated 28th January 2008 to reflect Special Model definitions. See highlighted text.

As has been the recent tradition in even years, the 2008 SAM Champs will be held at the AMA National Flying Site, Muncie Indiana

This year, Tom McCoy and Jim Coffin will share Contest Manager duties. Tom will handle the flying events and Jim will manage the off-field activities such as registration and the evening events at the Horizon Convention Center. Other notables involved include Carl Bakay as registrar, Abram Van Dover will be the Free Flight Contest Director and Mark Patrolia is the Radio Control CD. We have confidence that the experience and background of this group as well as the facilities available from AMA and Muncie will result in a smooth SAM Champs.

There are some changes in the final schedule from that published in the advance notice included in the last issue of SAM Speaks. Notable among these is the addition of the RC Classic Texaco event to the list of events scheduled for Friday. This was inadvertently left off the schedule shown in the advance notice, an error of omission on my part as I concentrated on and was distracted by putting together and getting agreement on special rules packages for the Tomboy Free Flight event and the Wedgy and Speed 400 Electric RC events.

Once Classic Texaco was omitted in the advance notice, I then had to get agreement with others that were involved in planning the Champs that we should add it. My sincere apologies are offered to those that were upset and concerned by this error of omission. In the meantime, Steve Boucher stepped up and offered to sponsor the event with merchandise awards. Many thanks, Steve.

Another change is the date for the Concours display. Originally we had scheduled it in conjunction with the Bean Feed for Tuesday, September 9. Bucky Walters has volunteered to run the Concours and the voting and suggested that it be held in conjunction with the Swap Meet on Wednesday, September 10. This seems like a good idea, as anyone that is interested in selecting the Concours winners may not be planning on attending the Bean Feed. Thanks to you also, Bucky.

Those that plan on entering the Concours should try to get their models in place with any supporting information between 6:30 and 6:45 PM at the Horizon Convention Center. Please note that there is a requirement to fly the Concours model any time during the week of the Champs and that the flight must be witnessed and verified to the CD. This flight does not necessarily need to be in an official event.

Related to the Concours is another change to delete the “Miss Seldom Seen” category of the Concours. Apparently this category has not been well supported in the past.

Overall Schedule of Events

Flying event schedules are listed on the entry forms for the respective class of events.

The Entry Forms are available to view and download. These are in individual forms so that you can down load only those that you want. These are the Basic Entry and schedule (where you commit the money). The Free Flight and Radio Control pages are in two sheets with the specific rules on the second page. Nostalgia is on one page and you can view and download the Tomboy and Speed 400 rules

The Signature Inn, 3400 N. Chadam LN. Muncie , Indiana, 47304 will be the Headquarters for the Champs as in the past. SAM Champs special room rates will be publicized later. Registration will be there on Sunday afternoon, September 7 followed by a no host cocktail party to honor our outgoing and incoming SAM Presidents. Other hotels are listed on the entry form.

Special event models for 2008 are the Smith Mulvihill (only the 36” span version is eligible)* for FF rubber, the Leon Shulman 50” span Banshee for FF power and the Shulman 42”span Wedgy for RC power. The FF Banshee, the RC Wedgy (Gas Power & Electric Power) and the Smith Mulvihill will be flown in separate events from the usual mix of contest events. For the Radio Control people, the Wedgy event will be flown on the first four days of the Champs and will use rules similar to those used for the Fokker D VII event in 2006, i.e. two flights per day with timing starting when the IC engine or electric motor stops. In addition, there will be a speed 400 event on Friday; click here for rules.

* 1-28-08: According to Gene Wallock, the 36” span Smith Mulvihill as shown in the April 1942 MAN article is the only one approved for SAM old time rubber competition. The 42” span version shown in the book “Gollywock Saga” has not been verified at this time.

There is also a Tomboy Free Flight special event on Thursday. This will be a precision event with a target time to be selected by the Free Flight CD on the event day. The planned target time of 75 seconds may be varied depending on the weather on the day of the event. Tomboy Rules

I need to mention a couple of others that stepped forward to help. First is Glen Poole who will be working on the RC Wedgy event. This event uses rules similar to those used two year’s ago for the RC Fokker event. Information is included on the RC information page. Also, Woody Bartelt of Aero-Electric is sponsoring the Free Flight Atom Power event again this year. There were a number of good flying SAM Old Timer designs developed for the Atom, including the Baby Playboy and Frank Ehling’s Timers, Nightmare, so get those little fellows out and support this event. Thanks, Glen and Woody for your support. I will give you names of others that volunteer in later updates as they become available.

Till next time, Regards and hope to see you in Muncie next September. Jim Coffin, SAM Champs Co-manager

Glenn Poole with his 70% Boehle's Giant at the 2006 Muncie Champs at the AMA flying site.

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