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THE CONSTRUCTION AND FINISH COMPETITION (THE RIPMAX SHIELD) FOR 2025
The competition is held annually, the first winner was in 1971 (a certain John Campkin) but a few winners are missing, 1989 - 1992 and from 2005 and 2006 (has anyone got the details from those years?). Some members have won more than once...please consult the sidebar.
This year there were a healthy nine entries and a crowd of about 18 members cast their votes. They had to score each model out of 5:
In 9th place was this very neat Lidl glider, converted to ailerons and elevator by Barry Hawkins. It was a far superior conversion than most, with completely hidden electronics, and a super flier. 42 points
Next was Graupner Partenavia by Mark Loveder, an ongoing refurbishment and conversion to ailerons and brushless power. 47 points
This is Piers Bowlan’s Blackburn Firebrand, scratch built from a 3-view for PSS. There was a competition by the PSSA to build a model from foam and balsa in 48 hours! There were no winners, but Piers’s model was 7th. With markings and some panel lines, it looks to get much higher next time. 48 points
Chad Mofford enetered this astonishing Starship Voyager, built entirely from highly secret plans recovered from Area 51. Chad claims he plotted out all the formers but how likely is that? However, it is a superbly built and astonishingly ambitious project that we must see more of in the future. If we are allowed to...54 points.
In fifth place, and the “Not won before” winner was John Taylor’s lovely little “Veron Veronite 2” which does regular flights of 90 seconds from 900 turns of the rubber motor. Beautifully built and a real vintage model. 58 points
Fourth was a model with a long history, entered by Neil King. It’s a Tucano bought from the Bits Box for £5, built and flown by Tim xxx but restored and recovered by Neil. It won the the “Bought” category.
The Ed’s Grumman Albatross was third. Many flights off grass but so far none off water! 77 points
The scoring system tested fully by the choice between second and first. In the end one point separated the two models:
Runner-Up with 85 points was the highly impressive and superbly built Slingsby T21 Tandem Tutor, built by Trevor Hewson (fuselage and tail) and Peter Chaldecott (wings) from the Chris Williams working drawing. It’s fitted with tow release and vario. The pilots are by Tailored Pilots and the finish is heat shrink film with markings by Barry Cole.
The winner, and also the winner of the “Not won before” prize was this superb Morane Saulnier Type L, a 1915 bomber. The real thing was flown by Rex Warneford VC, who destroyed a Zeppelin with his last bomb. The model, which scored 86 points, had a miniature of this bomb on its rack, as well as the sighting mechanism on the side of the cockpit. It was test flown by Martin Delaney and subsequently by the builder, John Levelle
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