1998 Quest

1998

Combatants Quest

General Rules:

Last one in the air wins!
Design-Build-Fly
Can't use existing designs or plans, must be original.
Will be judged on three categories: Design, Strength & Flight. Up to 100 points for Design and 100 points for strength. Flight will decide victor.
Must design and build within these guidelines:

Wing not to exceed 48"
Fuselage not to exceed 34"

Design options which will score points:

15 pts. No external control linkage.
15 pts. Misc. mechanics (i.e. bomb bay door, sliding cockpit canopy, etc.)
10 pts. Wing loading; less than 6 oz or more than 13 oz.
10 pts. Swept wing, bottom wing or mid wing
10 pts. More than two (2) control surfaces (spoilers, flaps, ailerons, rudder, elevator)
10 pts. No fiberglass
5 pts. Sectional wing
5 pts. Bolt on wing, permanent wing
5 pts. T or V tail
5 pts. Full stabilizer
5 pts. No Lead (no weight added for CG trimming)
5 pts. Plane name (i.e. Bill Muncher, etc.)

Strength options which will score points:

100 pts. Pass 5G test. (Place 5 times the weight of the plane in center of wing.)
10 pts. Fail 5G test

COMBATANT #1 (LOSER)

Plane Name:
'Mayhem'

Link to additional graphics

COMBATANT #2 (LOSER)

Plane Name:
'Prosecution'

Link to additional graphics

Color Scheme:

Black/White/Red/Balsa

Color Scheme:

White/Purple

Owner/Designer/Pilot: Dave Reaser
Radio Freq: 72.390AM Chnl 30
Scores: 15pts (lowest since the contest started) 0pts 5G test.
Design: 2 channel (elevator/rudder), 22oz total weight, approx. 300sqin wing, dihedral, 9.62oz wing loading, Tube tail.
Features: Balsa/ply/fiberglass/brass, sheeted fuse, 32" long. Built up wing using several different materials balsa/spruce/
dowel/aluminum/music wire, two wing styles were considered. First one was a swept back wing the second was a straight, flat bottom wing, 40-48" overall length. The wing was never completed so another wing was borrowed. A 36" dirhedral flat bottomed wing. A most unusual tail section was designed. Two tubes with a diameter of about 4" each. They worked!
Comments: Built small prototype and test flew it. Experimented with rocket assist on prototype but not developed for the final plane. There was no secret weapon revealed at the contest.
Contest Notes: The Mayhem never did get completed 100%. However, it did get built enough to borrow a wing. It's maiden flight demonstrated a need for a larger rudder. It was rebuilt on site and flew OK. The conditions were poor and there was not enough updraft for the likes of the Mayhem. It's tail feathers suffered substantial damage and grounded this bird quickly.

Owner/Designer/Pilot: Wes Ulrich
Radio Freq: 72.150FM Chnl18
Scores: 165pts. 65pts for design and 100pts for 5G test.
Design: 2 channel (elevator/rudder) canard, 22oz total weight, flat mid-wing with 7.5oz wing loading, a standard rudder and awesome rocket assist.
Features: Balsa fuse, 33" long. At the end of the fuse was a built-in C size rocket engine. The engine could be ingnited in flight from the radio. A Built up wing for mild and extreme wind conditions with overall length of 46". The wing was very flexible. The 5G test bent the wing drastically but it did not break it.
Comments: Built an awesome rocket assist on plane. Found that the rocket assist required a larger battery pack to ignite the rocket engine than what was anticipated. Fired off engine while on the ground since the plane was hammered. Also had several lights functional on plane.
Contest Notes: The Prosecution never really took flight. It looked nice before the contest and scored lost of points, however, the plane nosed into the lava rock each and everytime it was launched. The first wreck severed it's left stabilizer and things went down hill (literally) from there.

COMBATANT #3

Plane Name:
''

Link to additional graphics

Graphic

COMBATANT #4 (WINNER)

Plane Name:
'Grave Digger'

Link to additional graphics

Color Scheme:

Orange/White/Purple

Owner/Designer/Pilot: Not Competing
Radio Freq: ??
Scores:
Design:

Features: To be announced.

Comments:

Owner/Designer/Pilot: Bill Reaser
Radio Freq: 72.350FM Chnl 28
Scores: 135pts. 35pts for design and 100pts for 5G test.
Design: 2 channel (elevator/rudder), 26oz total weight, 432sqin wing, dihedral or flat wing, 8.67oz wing loading.
Features: Balsa sheet construction fuse with plastic boom (pod and boom design)... 31" long. Build-up wing (balsa/spruce/ply) sheeted with 3/32" plywood...48" long. Balsa sheet stabilizer and rudder. Covered in MonoKote.
Comments: Started construction on February 27th. Additional engineering was needed after (yellow) prototype model was flight tested. Prototype model weighed-in at 38oz. Model shown weighed in at 26oz at flight weight.
Contest Notes: The Grave Digger flew well considering the flight conditions for the day. Also, the hill which was selected was very treacherous due to the many large lave rock formations. The plastic tail boom was not as durable as anticipated. The boom broke with each landing.

Schedule

February 28th, 1998.....Basic information about plane is due. This information may change and is not set in stone. List information about your plane, this too can be a mind strategy game on your competitors. You should have mostly true information, some fibbing here will not hurt. Keep it believable. Size of plane and description of plane will work, sketches would be even better. Plane name if you have one, any of the other options listed in the rules that you may plan on doing, etc.
April 20th, 1998.....Construction pictures are due. This would include and or show a wing and a fuselage in construction or a completed plane. If you have some unique feature that you do not want to reveal at this time, cover it in the picture or obscure in some manner.
May 11th, 1998.....Test flight. By this time you should have a plane completed enough to test fly. A photo of this would be most excellent! Please supply any notes or comments on how the plane performed in it's test flight and if there will be any modifications to the original plan. For you diehards who have built a prototype and are now ready to build the real thing, remember you only have about four weeks.
June 7th, 1998.....Last date you can do any test flying. This is to prevent anyone from crashing their masterpiece and not allowing for enough time to fix the plane.
June 22nd, 1998.....Submit photos of completed plane. As much information as you are willing to part with is due at this time as well. Pretty much we need to know everything except your misc. mechanical feature.

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