Boston Found (oz14103)

About this Plan

Boston Found. Rubber sport scale model.

Quote: "This month we deviate slightly from the regular Peanut feature in order to present a model designed for an interesting new class, one that should give the beginner a real incentive. Boston Found, by Walt Mooney.

There is nothing difficult in the building of this model, if you have built any stick-and-tissue flying models, or if you have read any of the many Peanut Scale model articles that have been published in R/C Mode! Builder magazine since its inception.

Therefore, this will not be a 'put part A with part B' construction article, but will deal with the rules and philosophy associated with the Bostonian Event or more specifically, the Bostonian West Rules.

The 'Bostonian Event' was originally thought up on the East coast for simple, easy-to-fly and construct indoor models that would be scale-like in appearance and thus attract a lot of builders and flyers. Ed Whitten of New York, promulgated the first Bostonian rules in the Star Skippers newsletter. Since the Easterners, I suspect, were primarily interested in an indoor event, and had quite a few builders of the fairly lightweight 'Manhattan' at hand, the original rules called for a minimum weight of 7 grams, or a quarter-of-an-ounce.

Only in the matter of weight does the Bostonian West Event differ significantly from the original. I felt the 7-gram rule would result in models too light to be reliably flown outdoors, and too flimsy to be built easily by anyone, including juniors. Since I particularly wanted to encourage the junior contingent, I opted for a 14 gram minimum weight rule, without the rubber motor. This was a particularly fortunate guess, since models built to the rules, using plastic propellers and using 1/16 square balsa stick structure and Japanese tissue covering, tend to weigh in just about right.

So what are the complete rules?

1) Maximum wing span, 16 inches.
2) Maximum propeller diameter, 6 inches.
3) Maximum wing chord, 3 inches.
4) Maximum length from the thrust bearing to the opposite extremity, 14 inches.
5) Minimum windshield must have 1 square inch of projected forward visi-bility.
6) Model must have at least 1 square inch visibility to each side.
7) The airplane must be able to contain a theoretical box, 1-1/2 by 2-1/2 by 3 inches in any orientation.
8) There must be a suitable landing gear provided using at least two, 3/4-inch diameter wheels.
9) The model must weigh at least 14 grams without the rubber motor.
10) All flights must start with an unassisted ROG takeoff.

Are the rules successful? One can only judge by the kind of results that they have had. The first contest held was indoors and attracted 20 entrants. Top time exceeded one minute under a 25 foot ceiling. The second contest, held on the fourth of July, was outdoors and attracted 22 contestants. Top time was (for a single flight) 315 seconds. and there were lots of flights over 180 seconds.

Open cockpit airplanes are allowed, just as long as they conform to the rules, Multiplane models are also allowed, as long as their total wing area does not exceed 48 square inches.

Our approach to the landing gear rule is that, if it is at all questionable. the model will be required to make its unassisted takeoff from the position it will come to rest in, when gliding from a five-foot altitude to an unassisted landing.

The Bostonian Event has proven to be very popular, and a lot of fun. The Eastern contingent has a charisma award for additional points and is considering a double-covering-of-surfaces rule. The Western contingent has just added one-contest-only rule to insure that all entrants have a certain charisma in spite of themselves. On July 4th, last year, the CD supplied stick-on American flags (USA type) for all entrants who didn't already have them.

The Boston Found model in the photos, which were taken by Fudo Takagi, weighs 15 grams empty. It flew perfectly outdoors without a single adjustment, with a loop of 1/8 rubber. indoors in a basketball court-sized gym, it required a 3/32 [eft thrust shim in the nose block and a 1/4 by 1-inch left drag flap on the outer panel, to turn safely, clear of the walls. With an eighteen inch loop of 3/32nd rubber, its best official flight time was 44 seconds.

It appears to be a very nice flying model that should provide lots of excellent flying for even a novice builder. Bostonians are fun to fly - try this Boston Found."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article, thanks to hlsat.

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