T34 Racing Rules If you have questions call Monty Welch at 707-451-1842 or loon12@aol.com. AIRCRAFT SPECIFICATIONS   World Models Mfg. T-34 Mentor 57.5” will be the only approved aircraft.    World Model T-34 Racing Rules 1. Engine must be .46 cubic inch or less in displacement. Engine and muffler must remain stock except for removal of the muffler baffle is allowed.   Do not drill out the stinger or exit pipe of the muffler.   Nelson, Jett or similar pylon racing engines are NOT allowed. Recommended engines are OS 46AX or FX, Magnum XLS-46, Thunder Tiger Pro .46, ASP .46, Leo .46.   The Tower Hobbies .46 and GMS-.47 are allowed at  VVRC  but not recommended due to potential conflict with other club rules and the higher performance stock mufflers they come with.   You cannot mix and match brands of mufflers and engines.   Super Tigre GS-45 is allowed but due to the larger carburetor throat diameter it may be banned at a later date only if it proves to significantly outperform the other engines. 2. Plane must be stock.  Must be over 5lbs.  Engine must be mounted upright.  All hardware must be stock or of the same or heavier in weight and the same or larger in frontal surface area.  The stock spinner is too small to be flush with the cowl.   If you replace the spinner please go a size too small to maintain low quality fit of stock plane.   You may cover the inlets on the cowl.   You may cover the landing gear slots.   You don't have to put the pilots in. 3. Repaired planes may be used as long as weight is over 5lbs and frontal surface area is same or more than stock. 4. You cannot sand or roughen the surface of the covering materials.  You may paint or add additional covering to aid in knowing which plane is yours during the race. 5. Must use 5 Servos of standard size Micro, Mini, are not allowed. A battery pack must be a minimum of 4 AAA cells or larger.   Nicad or NiMh are the only type cells allowed.    Park flier receivers are not allowed. 6. Props have to be of sport style. No Pylon! All sizes and brands are allowed. 7.   A $15 entry fee includes 10% provided. 2/3rds of entry fees shall be awarded to top three pilots.  50%, 30% and 20%.  That's first place of $75 if 15 guys enter the race. Racing guidelines 1.      Consider your plane disposable.  Odds are near 100% that you will eventually encounter catastrophic crash or midair collision.  No whining .............................. bring lots of CA. 2.      No attempt may by made to collide with another airplane.  Obviously this is hard to judge.  At the end of a race if a pilot feels another plane was trying to collide with his then a consensus from all viewers, not racers, in that particular race will be taken.  If more than 50% believe that person attempted to cause a midair collision then that person will be forced to sit out a period of no less than 1 year from T-34 racing. 3.      Each Race shall consist of a field no no more than 5 planes.  The pilots must form up in a circling flight pattern.  A 10 to 0 countdown shall be provided.  No plane may cross the mid runway start line before the count of zero.  If a pilot has a start fault he must continue the race as if the start was good.  His counter must not start the count until that pilot has finished the first lap.   You cannot loop back to correct your false start.  You must complete a full lap to start your counting. 4.      When more than 5 racers show up the heats shall be evenly stacked.  In other words if 12 guys show up we will have 3 heats of 4 planes.  Not 2 heats of 5 planes and 1 heat of 2 planes.  A runoff race consisting of the winner or top 2 winners from each heat shall determine the final 3 winners.  Obviously odd numbers will interfere with keeping all the heats stacked evenly.  The event coordinator will just have to make a best attempt to create the field evenly based on skill levels.   Building Notes 1.      Be sure to put the engine mount together properly.  There are two pieces with holes that retain the front nose gear strut.  You need to put the wire nose gear strut into the pieces before you screw the whole engine mount assembly together.  If not they will not be aligned properly and the strut will not turn freely. 2.      You might want to pre-drill many of the plastic pieces for the control horns and main gear hold downs.  I found the hole to tight for the screws provided.  3.      One of the wheels is meant for the front strut.  The wire on the front strut is thicker.  4.      Locktite all the set screws in the wheel collars.  Many a wheel has been lost on takeoff.  5.      I replaced the push rod provided for the throttle as my engine had a metal arm on the carb that might produce RF noise with the metal Z bend wire provided.  I replaced with stander Ni-Rod with plastic clevis.  6.      I had to sand the joining ribs of the wings to make them fit better prior to epoxying wing half's together.  7.      I had to dremel some of the triangular stock on the engine mount to provide clearance for the mount.  I also had to dremel the mount a little for Magnum XLS 46 clearance.