R/C Hydro Modeler Contest

[David D. Williams]

The Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum has a lot in common with the R/C Scale Hydro Community. Both communities are passionate about the sport of unlimited racing. Both groups have a keen interest in the history of the sport, and both groups owe a huge debt to Roger Newton for playing such a big role in getting us started. That is why the Hydroplane Museum is proud to announce our new R/C Modeler Contest! This unique contest creates a win, win, win situation that gives you the opportunity to do something good for yourself, good for your club and good for the sport that we all love so much.

The first step in the contest is that the newly created $50 “Model Maker” Museum Membership category, which gives you all of the normal benefits of Museum Membership (free admission to the Museum and select events, Membership card, button and 10% discount in the store) but it also gives you exclusive, unlimited access to our incredible collection of 45,000 hydro photos and free printing of 10 glossy 8x10s of the boat of your choice! Wouldn’t you love to have great detailed shots of the cockpit, engine or paint scheme of your favorite boat before you tackle your next scale model?

The second part of the contest is that we will allow each participating club to hold a free event here at the museum during our normal business hours (as long as the venue isn’t already booked for another event) We’ll give your club tables, chairs, cups, napkins, silverware, video projector, videos to watch and anything else they need to have a great party. (You just need to bring food, drink and your members.) Your club can use the party in any way they want. They can bring in a speaker, charge admission, and hold elections or anything that benefits their mission.

The third part of the contest is that we will offer a free ride in one of our vintage unlimiteds at Lake Chelan in October to the winning club.

The winner of this contest is the R/C club that has the highest percentage of museum members by the end of August 2013.

If your club wins the contest, they can use the ride in any way they want. They can sell it  or auction it to raise money, they can award it as a High Point Championship prize, they can give it as a “Sportsman of the Year Award” or anything else they would like

$100 Memberships get a DVD and 30 photos

$200 Memberships get 3 DVD’s and 50 photos

[Phil Lampman]

David,

This is a terrific idea. As you know, I'm not a modeler, much less an R/C guy, but I never miss any of the shows of these magnificent scale hydroplanes. They are works of art and offer a comprehensive look at many of the Thunderboats not on display in the museum.

My friends and museum members Jim McKeon and Brent Edinger have provided me with the opportunity to actually "drive" one of these boats and it was truly exciting. Possibly even a near-religious experience as Jim more than once invoked the name of our savior several times as I went wide in the turns and approached some local aquatic flora at Twin Lakes. These are some serious models and capable of some dramatic racing.

This ain't slot-car racing, Marigold. This is fun to watch, but the shows allow me to get up close to these huge models and appreciate the detail and work that went into the construction of each.

Thanks for promoting the hobby - indeed, sport.