Signup: Inaugural Bringing Back Man-on-Man Slope Racing Event

[Wayne]

Where do I find info on the 60" printed racer???
Pauly

It was posted up in this thread.. I thought. Did it get removed?

 

[Twyl]

It's in the other thread. Here's the first post I think for the 60" from Geode https://forum.alofthobbies.com/index.php?threads/bringing-back-mom-racing.4803/post-63418

 

[Wayne]

Cooking some parts in the sun.

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Have a great time, guys - I hope the wind gods cooperate.

Pics pics pics!

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Wayne]

First off - Thank you everyone for coming! Was great to see some new faces and hang with old friends.

The word for the day would have to be "HEAT", when we left at 4:30 the truck was reporting 105 degrees. And if you spent much time in the sun you sure felt it. For a site that has no natural shade, it was essential to drink a lot and stay under the shelters.

The day started off with electric flights, and final build outs and tuning for the new racers. The lift was coming and going, but in a different direction. We were told the wind would shift, and it did eventually swing around. While waiting for the winds we had our pilots meeting and explanation of the rules and procedures. Finally it was decided to start the race and we had enough pilots to race 4 up!! Woohoo, it has been a long time since we have seen a MOM race with 4 planes in the rounds.

I was up in the first round, and as soon as it was time for the first launch the lift had vanished. The first plane out simply made it down about half the course and had to land. A few minuted later the wind felt good enough to throw out so I gave it a go. Nope, nothing. A quick downwind landing in a printed plane.. Never a good idea. I was afraid my race was over right there, but plane was fine. A bit later and lift had returned and the first round was launched. I had a great start (lucky) and was the first through the lights. Woohoo! I had zero time on the actual course, and only a 5 minute shake down flight for the new plane, so I was on top of the world, but quickly all of the other race planes caught and passed me due to a lazy turn at gate B, OK - No worries, fly YOUR race and keep your focus. On my second lap at gate B I made another lazy turn, but to my surprise I also made a very nice landing into the grass! What the heck, this was not my plan. I was devastated and embarrassed. I had chosen Mike R as my race spotter, and he had been telling me to fly out further, and I think to make me feel better he seemed also surprised that I had suddenly found the ground.

The second round of racing was able to launch, but don't think the count down was able to start as the lift cut out and I think all planes landed. I think one of the 3D printed planes (This an old PLA unit) was wrecked, and we were a racer down. That sucked. Then the lift popped back up and the next round flew, from now on, the lift was pretty reliable and the flying was pretty clean.

Mike R asked me to spot for him, and I'll tell you what, I get really nervous when spotting for someone as I do not want to mess up their race. While I have attended many fun races and a couple serious races, I will say I am a rank beginner! Ok - I suck at racing. So, anyhow, it is an honor to be asked to spot for someone with Mike's skills and I do my best. He is flying something like an old M60, a plank! I didn't think it had a chance as he was the only foamy and the other planes as I recall were all pretty darn nice. Well, right off the bat Mike starts at a different angle to everyone else. He was flying the path he was trying to explain to me. Not even flying at gate B! What the heck? He is wildly slow getting to gate B, all the other planes beat him, and they beat him by what I felt was a race ending amount. Finally we get our light and he flicks the M60 around and flies back to us at gate A, and to my surprise he beat all of the other planes. Well, that must have been a fluke. Make starts lap 2, and once again takes his way out there line, and again the other planes beat him to gate B, but not by much, and by the time Mike is back at gate A he is well ahead. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty darn sure his plane is slower than the others. It is the flight path he is taking that is more efficient. You see the wind is at an angle to the course, and he is flying perpendicular to the wind. So yeah, the race down to gate B is down wind if you follow the slope, but when you make your turn, you are now flying into the wind. This is a genius move! Thinking the other spotters must have seen this outcome, surely they will be changing their pilots path? Nope, they are focused on their plane and pilot, and Mike ends up a lap ahead at the end of the heat. 1 full lap!

The interesting thing is no one else seems to have noticed what happened. Maybe it was the heat of the day, but I don't recall anyone else flying Mike's line. When my turn comes up again, I make sure to fly Mike's line and I win my heat with ease. I was probably the slowest plane, and probably the slowest pilot, but I got the win. This round was much better for me. I got enough time on the course to now predict when to turn for gate B, and I finally was feeling like one with my 3D printed airframe. I will say I was having a hard time keeping sight of my model at gate B for the last 2 laps, I think my brain was heat soaking. When I landed I pulled my flaps up when I was about 3 feet above ground, but I had let the airframe get to slow, so when I pulled my flaps she dropped in harder than I'd like for a printed model. I thought my race might be over as I did not have a backup model. But happy to report she was just fine. This would be the last race heat for me. But I did fly a bit more at the end, and let Jarron and Rafael fly it some as they had both killed their 3D printed planes earlier, and they had both helped greatly in getting mine together for the race. I think they had some fun flying her knowing the race was over, they could relax and not worry about hurting the plane.

There was some attrition of planes here and there. I'll let any pilots share their stories that would like to.

After the second round of 60, it was time for some unlimited laps. This is always great fun to watch the big planes battle it out. I was a turn judge for gate B and I was judging Red. I expected some good stuff from Red, but pretty sure this was his first time on the course with a judge to mark gate B. His first 2 turns were learning the course, everyone was going pretty far past the gate, but by lap 3 these pilots had figured it out and were hitting gate B pretty darn tight. Best seat in the house is usually at gate B. One of the rounds of unlimited had a pretty good sized mid air between 2 of the 3 meter planes. One plane was out, and the other seemed to be fine.

I'm sure I am missing plenty. Please add your stories. Sorry this is so long winded.

Thank you everyone for attending and putting up with the short notice and heat. I had a great time!

 

[Dominic Bayani]

 

[Dominic Bayani]

 

[Dominic Bayani]

Mark Allen ask about the weight of my Composite 60” racer. I flew it empty at 22.5 ounces. I did not fly it before the race. It was way out of trim. I kept flying after the race and made some big trim adjustments. Huge improvement. It was really fast.

 

[Twyl]

First off - Thank you everyone for coming! Was great to see some new faces and hang with old friends.

The word for the day would have to be "HEAT", when we left at 4:30 the truck was reporting 105 degrees. And if you spent much time in the sun you sure felt it. For a site that has no natural shade, it was essential to drink a lot and stay under the shelters.

The day started off with electric flights, and final build outs and tuning for the new racers. The lift was coming and going, but in a different direction. We were told the wind would shift, and it did eventually swing around. While waiting for the winds we had our pilots meeting and explanation of the rules and procedures. Finally it was decided to start the race and we had enough pilots to race 4 up!! Woohoo, it has been a long time since we have seen a MOM race with 4 planes in the rounds.

I was up in the first round, and as soon as it was time for the first launch the lift had vanished. The first plane out simply made it down about half the course and had to land. A few minuted later the wind felt good enough to throw out so I gave it a go. Nope, nothing. A quick downwind landing in a printed plane.. Never a good idea. I was afraid my race was over right there, but plane was fine. A bit later and lift had returned and the first round was launched. I had a great start (lucky) and was the first through the lights. Woohoo! I had zero time on the actual course, and only a 5 minute shake down flight for the new plane, so I was on top of the world, but quickly all of the other race planes caught and passed me due to a lazy turn at gate B, OK - No worries, fly YOUR race and keep your focus. On my second lap at gate B I made another lazy turn, but to my surprise I also made a very nice landing into the grass! What the heck, this was not my plan. I was devastated and embarrassed. I had chosen Mike R as my race spotter, and he had been telling me to fly out further, and I think to make me feel better he seemed also surprised that I had suddenly found the ground.

The second round of racing was able to launch, but don't think the count down was able to start as the lift cut out and I think all planes landed. I think one of the 3D printed planes (This an old PLA unit) was wrecked, and we were a racer down. That sucked. Then the lift popped back up and the next round flew, from now on, the lift was pretty reliable and the flying was pretty clean.

Mike R asked me to spot for him, and I'll tell you what, I get really nervous when spotting for someone as I do not want to mess up their race. While I have attended many fun races and a couple serious races, I will say I am a rank beginner! Ok - I suck at racing. So, anyhow, it is an honor to be asked to spot for someone with Mike's skills and I do my best. He is flying something like an old M60, a plank! I didn't think it had a chance as he was the only foamy and the other planes as I recall were all pretty darn nice. Well, right off the bat Mike starts at a different angle to everyone else. He was flying the path he was trying to explain to me. Not even flying at gate B! What the heck? He is wildly slow getting to gate B, all the other planes beat him, and they beat him by what I felt was a race ending amount. Finally we get our light and he flicks the M60 around and flies back to us at gate A, and to my surprise he beat all of the other planes. Well, that must have been a fluke. Make starts lap 2, and once again takes his way out there line, and again the other planes beat him to gate B, but not by much, and by the time Mike is back at gate A he is well ahead. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty darn sure his plane is slower than the others. It is the flight path he is taking that is more efficient. You see the wind is at an angle to the course, and he is flying perpendicular to the wind. So yeah, the race down to gate B is down wind if you follow the slope, but when you make your turn, you are now flying into the wind. This is a genius move! Thinking the other spotters must have seen this outcome, surely they will be changing their pilots path? Nope, they are focused on their plane and pilot, and Mike ends up a lap ahead at the end of the heat. 1 full lap!

The interesting thing is no one else seems to have noticed what happened. Maybe it was the heat of the day, but I don't recall anyone else flying Mike's line. When my turn comes up again, I make sure to fly Mike's line and I win my heat with ease. I was probably the slowest plane, and probably the slowest pilot, but I got the win. This round was much better for me. I got enough time on the course to now predict when to turn for gate B, and I finally was feeling like one with my 3D printed airframe. I will say I was having a hard time keeping sight of my model at gate B for the last 2 laps, I think my brain was heat soaking. When I landed I pulled my flaps up when I was about 3 feet above ground, but I had let the airframe get to slow, so when I pulled my flaps she dropped in harder than I'd like for a printed model. I thought my race might be over as I did not have a backup model. But happy to report she was just fine. This would be the last race heat for me. But I did fly a bit more at the end, and let Jarron and Rafael fly it some as they had both killed their 3D printed planes earlier, and they had both helped greatly in getting mine together for the race. I think they had some fun flying her knowing the race was over, they could relax and not worry about hurting the plane.

There was some attrition of planes here and there. I'll let any pilots share their stories that would like to.

After the second round of 60, it was time for some unlimited laps. This is always great fun to watch the big planes battle it out. I was a turn judge for gate B and I was judging Red. I expected some good stuff from Red, but pretty sure this was his first time on the course with a judge to mark gate B. His first 2 turns were learning the course, everyone was going pretty far past the gate, but by lap 3 these pilots had figured it out and were hitting gate B pretty darn tight. Best seat in the house is usually at gate B. One of the rounds of unlimited had a pretty good sized mid air between 2 of the 3 meter planes. One plane was out, and the other seemed to be fine.

I'm sure I am missing plenty. Please add your stories. Sorry this is so long winded.

Thank you everyone for attending and putting up with the short notice and heat. I had a great time!

Thanks for the long winded report Wayne, just the magic needed to allow others to feel like they were there as well. Despite what sounds like some grim heat, I'm still sad I missed the event. Hopefully I'll have a plane or two ready to fly as well as an open schedule by the time the next event is held.
-Jonathan

 

[MarcusT65]

In spite of the heat, it was still a great day! A nice opportunity to see and fly with old friends, meet and fly with new ones, and just fly. Thanks to Red, Ollie, Wayne, and everyone else for putting in the time and effort …. It was well worth it!

Mark

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Doc.

 

[Red]

BTW I did watch Mike R run the longer course out to the point but more perpendicular to the wind. I saw what he was doing and slowly reeled in and passed the other planes. Great race craft! I kept quiet during the heat, but pointed it out to a few others afterward. Good job!

I stopped by Grass Mountain on my way home from Los Banos yesterday and caught their F3F race. The next MoM race will likely be at Grass. I was happy to see the road up is in great shape. I am working with the F folks to maybe make it a 2 day event. MoM on Saturday and F3F on Sunday. This might work to gather more interest. I'm also working with the folks at the SLoT to do the same.

Lets keep the momentum going! Next race likely late August.

Red

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Good deal!

Doc.

 

[Wayne]

Love the Spyder! She was so light, always a favorite airframe, have not seen one in many years. Please take good care of her.

Jonathon, we did miss you! For sure get your butt up to Grass Mountain.

The MR60 3D printed plane actually is a pretty nice flying plane. Mine was not fully trimmed, but I'd say it competes well. The one odd issue was my flaps seemed to keep needing the subtrim adjusted. I suspect it may have been a result of the heat on the airframe. Once the race started I didn't want to risk doing any programming changes, and just flew it. Didn't get to try snap flap to see if it helps any. I thought the plane overall felt nice and well planted and seemed to have a good lick of speed. If you have a printer, print some and see what you think. Dom, thanks for those great pictures of her!

 

[Wayne]

Photo dump!

 

[Wayne]

 

[Wayne]

Please post your photos - and lets share them to other sites with pilots.

 

[gnichola]

What is the light stand looking thing next to the pylon?

 

[Twyl]

See the picture with the 3 dudes in it clumped together? I'm guessing there are actual 4 guys (i.e. someones got to be taking the photo), and they all have a hand held triggers like you see the guy in the foreground is holding. They are the judges for that pylon, and each judge is assigned to one glider in that heat. When the glider they are judging goes past the plain created by lining up the light stand and the pylon they pull the trigger and it lights up a light that is associated with their glider indicating to the pilot that it is free to turn around and go back to the other pylon.

 

[Red]

What is the light stand looking thing next to the pylon?

That would be uh..........lights! Lol seriously you can use lights or flags to let the pilots know when they pass the pylon. Fortunately Bill DelHagen loaned us his lights.