Sidebar: NATS Free Flight: 88 contestants in...

[Dennis Moritz]

88 contestants in an event called Thermal Soaring Unlimited. Lots of others in different events. Including Wakefield. (Do those planes go up at dawn?)

I guess these are BOM qualifying planes. Maybe not. Still. This archaic event holds up. How. Where do they fly. Who builds these complicated structures that must be light and strong. Our typical stunt war wagons are clunky and overweight by comparison.  

MISTAKE: This is an RC event. Still these planes have to be light and strong. Complicated structures. They LOOK like free flight planes of an earlier era.

[Jason Greer]

RC Thermal soaring does not have a BOM rule.  Those models are pretty and very well made, but they have a price tag to match. 

Thanks,
Jason

[Trostle]

You mentioned Wakefield.  None of the FAI FF events, F1A (Glider), F1B (Wakefield), F1C (Power) and there are others, have a BOM rule.  Top level competition machines (airframes, engines, propeller assemblies for the rubber jobs) are available and are almost a necessity unless your are building those things to be competitive.  Price tags to match.   (Same as with CL Team Racing and Speed.  Purchased equipment with sobering prices are almost the rule to be competitive.)

[Dan McEntee]

  Gotta put my R/C and Free Flight hats on. Mulvihill Rubber is the free flight event that is traditionally flown at dawn, I believe. I think it's usually one flight, best time wins. Models are usually HUGE with LOOOnnnnggg fuselages to hold long rubber motors.It has always been a popular event and goes back to the 30's if I remember correctly.  I think the name may have been changed to Unlimited Rubber along the line.
   I used to compete heavily in R/C soaring, and Unlimited is/was a class with no wing span, function or weight requirememnts. During the second ever Electric World Champs held in the St. Louis area in 1988, there was a provisional event call Dawn to Dusk, where teams of 4 or 5 models each had to keep a model in flight continuously from sun up to sun down. A replacement model had to be airborn before the previous team model touched down or you were eliminated. If a model broke up in flight, you had until the last piece hit the ground, and that did happen during the event. This is much more difficult than it sounds and was quite a challenge, and does require a special, purpose built airplane for best results.  I think models were limited to 7 cell battery packs at the time, and that requirement dictated the size and weight of the airplane. Not sure if this is still flown anywhere.
    Type at you later,
      Dan McEntee

[Dennis Moritz]

Is Mulvihill still flown?

[Mike Keville]

Unlimited Rubber, despite its 300 sq in limit, was often flown with much smaller designs - like this one......Taft, 1971.  Wing & stab were from an old Coupe d'Hiver, while the fuselage was a rolled tube of 1/32" balsa.  Beaucoup strands of 1/4" Pirelli rubber.  Total time that day was 15:00 (lost OOS on its third 5-min max).

(Uh...yes, those 1970s-era "Disco" pants were red/white/blue stripes.....much as it pains me to admit that.)

[Bill Morell]

Unlimited Rubber, despite its 300 sq in limit, was often flown with much smaller designs - like this one......Taft, 1971.  Wing & stab were from an old Coupe d'Hiver, while the fuselage was a rolled tube of 1/32" balsa.  Beaucoup strands of 1/4" Pirelli rubber.  Total time that day was 15:00 (lost OOS on its third 5-min max).

(Uh...yes, those 1970s-era "Disco" pants were red/white/blue stripes.....much as it pains me to admit that.)

But you had to look "Cool" to fly at Taft! Also had to have a mini bike for the chase.

[Brett Buck]

88 contestants in an event called Thermal Soaring Unlimited. Lots of others in different events. Including Wakefield. (Do those planes go up at dawn?)

I guess these are BOM qualifying planes. Maybe not. Still. This archaic event holds up. How. Where do they fly. Who builds these complicated structures that must be light and strong. Our typical stunt war wagons are clunky and overweight by comparison.  

MISTAKE: This is an RC event. Still these planes have to be light and strong. Complicated structures. They LOOK like free flight planes of an earlier era.

  No BOM. The "big 4" events are RC Soaring, 1/2A FF, RC Pattern, and CL Stunt. I think we have only been #1 a few times but in fairly recent years we have beaten RC pattern frequently and 1/2A FF most of the time. The AMA has the statistics somewhere on their website back to maybe 2000.

    Brett

[pmackenzie]

Since we are (sort of) talking about rubber models and Unlimited ones in particular, here is a video of mine.
More than 20 years old and still flies!



BOM legal as well 

Pat MacKenzie

[Dan Berry]

Thermal Soaring is a rc event.

Mulvihill is what usta be called unlimited rubber. It has a 300 sq inch limit and must be powered by a rubber motor. BOM applies.

Dawn Unlimited is a different beast. It requires the motor to be enclosed within the fuselage. It's a one-flight event. Typical models use 4-5 oz of rubber. BOM applies.

Wakefield isn't called Wakefield except by some purists. No BOM. Planes can run 1500-3000 clams depending upon a lot of things. They use 30gms rubber.

[Jason Greer]

Hey Dan,

Hope you are doing well.

I saw your name in the nats news reports last week.  Looks like you had a productive week!  Well done.

Sure would be cool if you could make it down to El Dorado in November for our stunt contest.  You are more than welcome to fly one of my models.

Jason

[Randy Ryan]

Mulvihill and unlimited rubber are two different events. Basically the only limit in unlimited is the wing area cannot exceed 300 sq. inches.   I used to fly these events and building them is a fun time.

Just to set the record straight; Dawn Unlimited is exactly that, unlimited.. As much wing area, rubber and anything you want.

Mulvihill has a 300 Sq Inch wing area limit, that's it, its still flown and very well contended.

[Dan Berry]

Hey Dan,

Hope you are doing well.

I saw your name in the nats news reports last week.  Looks like you had a productive week!  Well done.

Sure would be cool if you could make it down to El Dorado in November for our stunt contest.  You are more than welcome to fly one of my models.

Jason

Time constraints willing, I'm gonna go. Might have my own plane by then.
Nats was a good week. Moved four times on Thursday. Finally went to the middle.