Can you help me pick a plane?

[thompsbp]

Hello folks,

So our club has been doing Club 40 Pylon racing for many years. However many of the group has passed away or aged out of the hobby. They basically struggle to get more than 4 participants in an event now when it years past they would have 10-15. They asked other club members if they would be interested in pylon racing and a lot of folks are but the cost ~$300 per plane (and you really need like 3 planes to make it a whole season) and the requirement to be glow powered is a non starter for most of us.
So I have been asked to recommend an electric plane to take the place of the expensive/ slow to build wood kits.
Our requirements are something like...
Cheap, quick, and easy to build. (people need to no be worried about crashing in a race)
Be able to sustain 60-80 mph in flight for roughly 90 secs on a 3-4S battery.
Landing Gear so they can interface with our automated launch system. (this system uses servos to release the planes in succession to prevent collisions right at the start)
Decent size so they can be easily visible at 400-500 ft away.
Would be great if it could handle the EF1 setup (big motor with 80 amp esc). The hope is that this racing is a stepping stone to the EF1 series and people can reuse their existing equipment to move to a better air frame.

So I think a flite test plane ticks a lot of these boxes. I just bought the speed build kit for the simple stick and plan to test that out soon. Looking for other recommendations tho.

Thanks.

 

[Merv]

Why limit the air frame? Let everyone chose what they want.
Just limit the building materials to foam board & BBQ squires also limit the number of cells in the battery.

 

[thompsbp]

Why limit the air frame? Let everyone chose what they want.
Just limit the building materials to foam board & BBQ squires also limit the number of cells in the battery.

The idea is to have the setups standardized. So that the only thing that matters is your flying ability. If people could pick different airframes then drag would start to play a major role.

I might have given the impression above that some things were up to preference. they really arent. once we've selected something everyone will have to use the same gear down to airframe/motor/prop/esc/battery/wheels as well as making sure they hit a minimum flying weight.

 

[skymaster]

sonds like fun, could you use the Ft edge 540 MKR2 just keep the controls as a normal plane and not a 3d flyer.

​

 

[HVB79]

Decent size so they can be easily visible at 400-500 ft away.

Define "decent size" in terms of wing span. This will help people make better recommendations.

 

[thompsbp]

Define "decent size" in terms of wing span. This will help people make better recommendations.

The planes they fly now have a wingspan of 54 inches. So somewhere close to that.

 

[Foamforce]

The FT Simple Stick (or the version by The Hangar) looks like it might do well. It’s a stick, so you know what to expect. Can be fast, maneuverable, easy to build.

For a similar but bigger option, maybe the Scout XL?

 

[Merv]

The idea is to have the setups standardized. ...

The problem I see with that, no room for innovation. I would suggest 2 classes, a standard class & an open class. The open class limited only by the building materials & battery. This keeps it cheap yet allows for innovation. If there is an improved design, then the standard class could be updated to include it next season.

This does sound like a lot of fun.

 

[L Edge]

Speaking from a former racer's viewpoint, to instill racing, it needs to be real simple to build and real cheap. Have you taken a look at Mikeys pylon racer design that is made out of one sheet of foam. Depending on motor/prop, speeds of 60 to 80mph are possible.

Trying to maintain costs, the design doesn't have landing gear, but to prevent collisions on takeoff, use the method of position 1 and 3 launch on the downstroke of the flag and on the upstroke of the flag, 2 and 4.
Also, if you use 4 different colored strips on the right wing from leading edge to trailing that will improve visibility and a good way to identify planes in the turns who cut.


Can imagine the adrenalin level with 4 new guys doing their first race.

 

[thompsbp]

Speaking from a former racer's viewpoint, to instill racing, it needs to be real simple to build and real cheap. Have you taken a look at Mikeys pylon racer design that is made out of one sheet of foam. Depending on motor/prop, speeds of 60 to 80mph are possible.

Trying to maintain costs, the design doesn't have landing gear, but to prevent collisions on takeoff, use the method of position 1 and 3 launch on the downstroke of the flag and on the upstroke of the flag, 2 and 4.
Also, if you use 4 different colored strips on the right wing from leading edge to trailing that will improve visibility and a good way to identify planes in the turns who cut.


Can imagine the adrenalin level with 4 new guys doing their first race.

I like the design. Ill bring it to the group. They do use the 1,3 and 2,4 method but its automated by servos attached to fishing line coming off the tail. When everyone is ready the starter flips a switch on the starter radio and 1,3 holes go immediately and the 2,4s go 1s later. Everyone sits at full throttle just before the start.

Here's video from Nats several years ago showing the process. They really want to maintain this for safety reasons.

 

[L Edge]

I like the design. Ill bring it to the group. They do use the 1,3 and 2,4 method but its automated by servos attached to fishing line coming off the tail. When everyone is ready the starter flips a switch on the starter radio and 1,3 holes go immediately and the 2,4s go 1s later. Everyone sits at full throttle just before the start.

Here's video from Nats several years ago showing the process. They really want to maintain this for safety reasons.

Yeah, I watched the same thing happen to the 65 % nitro Formula 1 when it died out due to noise.

 

[vhandon]

I wonder if your group would be open to racing wings? Cheaper, shorter build time, and faster speeds for the money.