My first full F3A competion was in 1988, and the
funny thing was that I was immediately placed 4th. So I became the reserve
for the national team. And the more funny thing was this year was the year
of the world championship in America in 1989 and one of the pilots refused
to go so in my first year I was in the team and i had to go to the world championship.
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First F3A competition in 1988
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And since then I have never been out of
the team.
So you have been in the
team for 13, and you have won in Italy for the last 4 years
in a row? - (Tony)
Last year I was second
and the four years before that I was placed first and this
year I don't know as the first competition of the Italian
championship was yesterday and today.
You would rather be in
England - (Daren)
Yes
Do the scores tally up
throughout the year or is each competition its own thing? -
(John)
You have to participate
in at least 2 of the 3 competitions we have and if you make
all 3 you remove the worse score and your are judged on the 2
best scores for the final classification. So if I win the
next 2 events I will become Italian champion again. This is a
tough period for me and I like to have tough competitions.
Must be great fun though
- (Daren)
You know it is very hard
to make F3A competition, you have to be patient, you have to
love practice, you have to adore practice.
Did you find that when
you went from flying just for fun to competitions, was that
an aim of yours or a natural progression - (Daren)
Me entering competition was so different,
not normal, because in Italy we had Benito Bertilani, a legend for the Italian
people.
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Marco and Benito
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(phone rings - and in Italy we say Mamma!)
Did it take the fun out
of flying when you started with the competitions - (Tony)
I started because that
man, Benito, asked me if I wanted to enter the competition he
would give me one of the aeroplanes he was producing as a kit
I accepted because he was my God. So I started and I saw that
this was what i needed in modelling.
My father has always
been a competitor in modelling and was the world champion in
control line combat, I never thought to enter competitions
but once I did, I loved it immediately
Benito Bertilani was the
Italian champion for years and was the first Italian to go to
the tournament of champions. He lives very nears to my town
so i saw him in many times at my flying field when I was 6 or
7 years old.
So he was a very big
influence - (Tony)
Yes
But you have always had
flying in your life - (Daren)
My life has always been
in modelling. I was born in modelling, being totally involved
and now its also my work with the magazine. So its what I say
to my wife of now, when we had our first serious date, I say
listen... I am a modeller, my life is modelling, I do
competitions, this means I go all year around the world, this
means all Saturdays and Sundays I'm on the field to practise
or to fly for fun. This is my work, so if you want to be part
of my life then it would be a great pleasure for me but
remember it will not change anything.
She said I love
modelling and I want to be part of your life....
So you married her
instantly? - (Tony)
I can tell you that I
proposed to her after 3 days... this is true. 2 years ago she
decided to learn to pilot model aircraft. She has her own
plane own plane, a high wing trainer, she starts the engine,
she flys, but for the moment she is low down because she does
housework and wifely things. But sometimes she comes with
this plane and learns to fly.
Mines built one but it
was ARTF - (Daren)
In October it was my wedding day, on the
20th and there were no less than 20 models flying during the wedding party.
All electric as we were in a garden that we had specially chosen for flying
and we were all flying with the Ripmax Alliance. It was great. Then at last
with my wife with the official picture I said stop everything, give me the
radio (ZAP) and her with model and the pictures were sent all around the world.
Especially to Futaba, and the Japanese have gone crazy for this. When I contacted
my friends to come to the wedding, I said bring all your models, everybody
thought I was joking, and I said bring your models and we will fly.
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Marco and Serena
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The wedding or was it a flying show
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Lets talk about your magazine for a while
- (Tony)
Yes, the magazine is the
oldest in Italy and one of the oldest in Europe. The first
numbers went out in 1956 and I started to work in the
magazine in 1988 with small articles on flying then in 1997
the old owner says "Stop! I want to retire." and me
and my father decided to buy the magazine it was in Florence
and now it's in our home town, Viareggio, our office is 800
meters from the beech, so its perfect and I'm very happy
obviously because in Italy we don't have many modellers, no
more than 25,000. You know Italy I call a republic funded on
football. It's hard for Italy as everything associated to
aviation is also associated with fascism. So during the war
aviation was one of the highlights, so after the war
everything that was one of the highlights of the fascists or
connected to the fascists was putting down the culture, so we
don't have an aeronautical culture. In England I understand
that when you say "plane" everybody cheers because
you were saved by the planes in the Battle of Britain so its
normal, but you know in Italy its different. So when you talk
about modelling people always look at you as if you are
talking about toys. So its a very difficult market, but we
are very happy because we sell each month 11,000 copies. We
are happy because right after we bought the magazine people
saw that something was changing because the old owner was
never present on the flying fields and never seen with the
flying people. My results have helped me a lot at work
because people say if Marco is a good pilot, when he writes
an article about flying it must be correct. It's reached a
point now that when someone produces a new model, they ask me
to review it, because if people don't see me write about it
then they wont buy it. So I am very happy with this and also
very proud that my readers are so confident.
We have a copy of the
magazine at home as when I was in Italy I picked up a copy,
but I can only look at the pictures and the prices in the
adverts - (Tony)
Its like me, when I see
the Japanese one I also only look at the pictures. Its quite
normal because every time a magazine is produced a copy is
sent to other magazines around the world. I sometimes think
that if i had some of our articles translated into English
then maybe I could enlarge our market and sell magazines across
Europe, but to do this would be very difficult.
If a lot of magazines
were to do this then modellers across the world would welcome
it, as they would see the way modelling was carried out in
other countries. We have had a very good response from the
states who are always very interested in seeing how we do
things over here. Notably we have had a lot of contact from
ex-airline pilots in the US - (Daren)
Yes, that's why we
publish a lot of articles from foreign countries, because
before we only published Italian events and Italian products
but I said "No, we must show our Italian readers
products from Europe.
Can you tell us about
the models you have designed - (Tony)
Of course, the first one was the Snap 45,
the base idea was to create a very cheap model that everyone could afford,
and get the feeling that F3A pilots would get from an F3A competition or from
normal practise but without the expense. Because F3A models fly so well and
they are so easy. So we said ok lets do a smaller for the best selling engine
in Italy which is probably the Super Tigre 45. So we said we would design
the model around this engine. So everybody has one at home even if they have
an MDS or OS in them. At the time I was flying with the ZN Line Top Line model
and we said ok lets do something that flies like this. I chose the airfoil
with a suitable thickness for low landing speeds, very easy to fly even for
someone who is used to a high wing trainer that's why it has so much success
and we are now thinking about a 2002 version. Over 800 of these models have
been sold in 3 years.
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Marco with his own design call The
Snap
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What's the name of the company that sells
the kit - (Tony)
The name of the company
is Eurokits, very classical kits, fuselage, balsa wings very
simple kits and very light and very cheap, because at its
release it cost less than £90. So everyone says "why
not", because the normal fliers that watch the F3A
pilots say I would like one of these but I cant afford them,
they are difficult to setup, this sort of things. We said try
it you can afford this kind of thing and you can fly it. We
had a similar demo like Sandown but in Italy in a fantastic
place with nothing around, 2 km of runway. We decided to
present the model there and after 2 flight I said on the
microphone anyone that wants to test my model can right here
right now, I passed the radio the queue was 100 meters and we
had to make 7 flights for everybody, 7 tanks of fuel. There
were 100 kids on the field for 2 hours it was like a bank.
Because I hate when people say this model flies well because
you are the pilot, you hide your mistake with the model, I
say OK you see this you try it. They said wow its so easy to
fly, no knife edge mixing but the hard part was to convince
who was flying to give the computer radio back.
And the other model -
(Tony)
The other model was a fun fly, the 'No
Limits 3D' this was born straight after the first fun fly Christophe made,
the 3D demo. Its the classic fun fly you find here normal fuselage and huge
wings. Hard to knife edge though and that is why now we are all steering our
interests to the F3A models with huge control surfaces so you will have the
F3A simplicity in flight , the F3A stability, plus the manoeuvrability of
the fun fly and I am very keen to work on this kind of model for the future.
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Marco with his own design call 'No
Limits'
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No Limits Hovering
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Do you find it difficult finding a wing
section because there are a lot of snap manoeuvres in aerobatics that's still
soft enough - (Daren)
Yeah, the problem with
the new schedules now are that F3A are becoming more
difficult with a lot of snaps so especially now I am flying
with an all moulded model, for 2 years I have been flying
this model and for the new schedule I am changing the wings,
I've made wings of my design, smaller to have more snap
capabilities.
You've had a good look
around the show, which kind of models did you think were
good, that you liked - (Tony)
I like everything,
everything that flies with the radio control, when I see a
model flying, doesn't matter what kind of model it is, I'm
always happy.
Did you see the little
Piccolo flying - (Tony)
Yes I have a Piccolo and also the MS Hornet
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Marco with the Piccolo in his office
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Have you found a difference between the
original Piccolo and the improved one - (Daren)
Yes there are a lot of
improvements, but the problem for me is the you cant fly the
Piccolo without the Piccolo board and not many people can
afford this, Hornet is not like this because it is a normal
helicopter with normal transmission to the tail, it can use 3
small servos, a small receiver and a small gyro, a small park
fly radio setup, so I think it is the best in flight, a lot
of difference.
What are your plans for
the future, continue with the competitions - (Tony)
Yes because I can't see
my model flight with competition, I need a target, you know
something to look for, but I'm used to a target for each year
I don't look 3 or 4 years, I say to myself this year I want
to do this. This year is a very tough year for me because in
the end of August I will be in Spain for the European
championship. The last time I placed 3rd which was
incredible, that was in 2000, and I was on the podium with
Christophe finishing in 1st place it was unbelievable.
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Top 3 in the European Chamionships
2000
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Marco placed 3rd
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Then it will be a very hard end of season
because right after the European championship I will be in Las Vegas for the
tournament of champions. That is a dream on one side and a nightmare on the
other side. Its a different kind of model for the tournament though and I
tested the first of my Extras and I will receive the second one next month
and you know the schedule is so different, the judges use the same judgement
on full size aerobatics so it is very different from F3A, you have to switch
you head and think in a totally new way. Also there is the freestyle with
music to prepare, then comes the unknown manoeuvres. The best thing is the
simulator, I come home after the flight, switch on the computer and with the
Real Flight G2 which is made by Great Planes, music inside and try the freestyle,
try all the different manoeuvres.
Do you find this a very
good tool - (Tony)
Yes definitely, I've
just received the add-ons volume 3 and there is the Extra 330
inside and I can even make the colour schemes match my model.
Although the perspective is strange I practise the manoeuvres
and try to find if the music is right.
It would be good if the
software could import the music into the Real Flight -
(Daren)
Yes you can do that with
Real Flight G2 and there is also a function to be able to
record your flight and watch it as a spectator because it is
totally different being a pilot to watching as a judge. You
can even turn on a smoke system.
Are you actually going
to use smoke at the tournament of champions - (Daren)
Yes because the worse
part of the freestyle competition is that there are no rules,
so the judges look at your imagination and your choreography
and it is so subjective. For example if you have 10 judges
that are all 70 years old and you take off with techno music,
you may as well land immediately. So we try and imagine which
type of music will be appreciated by the judges and we tend
to use a lot of classical music.
Is the tournament of
champions purely invitation only or can the public watch -
(Daren)
No its purely invite
only, it's a private competition. If you are placed 15 or
higher in the world championship you are invited, they also
invite 10 American pilots and then 11 other foreign pilots
from all around the world.
Marco we thank you very much
for your time in giving us this interview and wish you very much success for
this year and the future.
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Marco at Sandown 2002 with his Majestic
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