I am starting this thread in hopes that it will be helpful for Speedfest III teams entering the India class. India class is for high school students, and most are building RC planes for the first time. The contest plane for this year is the Tower Hobbies 40 "Dazzler." The rules for the competition are here:
http://speedfest.okstate.edu/Speedfe...les_India.html

Teams, this may be a good thread for you to share information with other teams, and also ask questions. There are many people on the forum with lots of experience building airplanes.

Hello Poke!

I've been asked to mentor and fly for a high school in OKC.

I have some questions about the race itself:
Scoring: Ok we get 1 point for each pylon turn completed in a two minute period. Since the instructions state a 1 second staggered take off when does each teams two minutes acutally start?

Flagging and cutting turns: The AMA guide book and your paragraph on cut judges implies the team flagger cannot anticipate the turn, they must wait til the plane crosses the turn line. Is this correct?

Course dimentions: Your final diagram indicates it will be 675 feet from the spectator line to the pylons. What is the absolute minimum distance from the pilot stations to the pylon line?

Will all take offs be south towards the first turn even if this is a down wind take off?

'Nuther question. I realize the goal of is to compete with a student built airplane, but what happens if there's an accident with the student built plane? If we can prove we built and flew one, may we show up at the competion with a Dazzler ARF as a back up plane?

This thread is more intended for building tips and questions about building the Dazzler. You will get a better response to rules related questions here. SpeedfestAERO(at)gmail.com

Thanks!

Dan

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We are so glad to hear that you guys had fun last year. Our goal was for this to be a fun learning experience. I look forward to watching your progress.

Thanks!

Dan

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You're doing a great job. I personally love to see progress build photos. I've been watching.

I like to use a "V Tool" carving knife and a small gouge to carve the relief for elevator joiners. You can also use a short length of the music wire that you are using for the joiner too. Just grind the end of a scrap of music wire to an angle to sharpen it. Cut a guide groove with an exacto blade and then use the sharpened music wire to clean up the groove. If you have the V Tool and gouge it works much better though.

I personally appreciate the time you're taking planning and posting your build photos. I will be watching.

Where are the students? My team has never built an RC model and the ONLY thing I've done as a mentor was to join the wings and shape the leading edge.

Any one ask Top flight why they gave us a 48 inch long box wich would have held 48 inch long spars, then they make you build and joing two 24 inch long wing panels. I think one wing built around 48 inch spars and sheeting would have been easier and better.

Hi guys I'm L82fly, the other mentor for the Yukon Millers Team. Last year was a great time for both Dbot and myself but more importantly we saw a super group of kids from all the schools associated come together showing great sportsmanship and comrade. This year, like last we will be building a primary racer and a secondary bird just in case of an "unplanned landing". We currently have a YHS Science teacher and 4 students on board but are looking for more to share the experiences. Dbot is teaching the students some basics of construction and we will document the builds as they progress. This week we will put the final touches on the rudder, elevator, stab and start to frame the wings. Also on the board for this week one of our students will demonstrate how to fix a problem with the O.S. 46LA engines that plagued all last year, so Stay tuned!