Our Red Bull Air Race competition has come to a thrilling climax! It's time to announce the winners.
Way back in June, we announced a brand new challenge for our fantastic Flite Test community. As expected, there were some stunning entries and many people rose to the call. To everyone who entered, we thank you for making this whole thing possible. We had large planes, small planes and even some that didn't actually look like planes! Here's a look at the top four we chose as winners.
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4th Place:
Retro Racer by Mike Robey
A regular contributor to the Flite Test site, Mike Robey created this wonderful-looking vintage air racer for our challenge. With all of the style of the planes we would have seen racing around the skies in the 1920s and 1930s, this model would surely turn some heads at the flying field.
Mike says he was inspired by some of the models already existing out there at the moment such as the Durafly Slow Poke. He first designed the whole thing on SketchUp, cut out the foam pieces and assembled it. Mike also created some awesome looking 3D printed components, like the engine cowling, that really add to that retro look.
You can read about the entire design process, build process and maiden flight here. You can also download plans to the airplane along with files for the 3D printed parts.
3rd Place: RB Vee-Tail Racer by David Rosenthal
With an extremely aerodynamic outline, this pylon racer was built to answer one particular question: how fast can you make foam go?
All the plans were first hand drawn and then scanned into a computer - proof you don't need fancy software and a laser cutter to design planes! Here's what David says about how he came up with the look of this sleek aircraft.
"I believed designing the plane with a vee-tail, elliptical wing tips, and a faired in low-profile canopy would achieve the desired aesthetics. Also keeping within the spirit of past Flite Test planes the racer is built using foam board and poster board from Dollar tree."
Here's the flight video! This foam pylon racer just rips.
2nd Place: RB Bull Rider by Damian Cunningham
This wacky looking contraption is a mixture of two concepts - old and new. The builder of the project, Damian Cunningham, says he wanted to answer the question of what would a plane with a mash-up of styles turn out like. If the aesthetics weren't crazy enough for you, it should be known that this thing uses three (yes three!) electric ducted fans (EDFs).
Following a little trouble at first, after a loss of control on the maiden flight, the distinctive silhouette of the Bull Racer could soon be seen zipping across the overcast sky. Those cantilevered wings really are a unique feature!
If you want to find out more about the build process, you can check out the full project article here or watch the video down below.
1st Place: RB H-1 Racer by Hamish Mclagan
"Now I have never scratch built, never built with balsa, never cut foam core wings, never covered a plane...so in true Flitetest style, what could possibly go wrong???"
Well, Hamish, you'd never have known that from how this incredible piece of artwork turned out! Unlike many other models in the competition, this aircraft is made from balsa wood. It's also covered with Red Bull cans - you could say that Red Bull is at the very heart of this build.
The attention to detail on this thing is utterly breathtaking. The craftmanship on this build is second-to-none.
The wing was cut from foam and sheeted with balsa. You'd never have known that Hamish hadn't done much of this before.
The finished model certainly did 'wow' us when it was delivered to Flite Test HQ. It's a thing of beauty. There are certainly many tallented individuals out there in our Flite Test community with some serious building skills!
Thanks for Entering!
We loved reading about each and every project submitted to flitetest.com for this competition. Well done to everyone who entered and to the four winners. The prizes awarded to Mike, David, Damian and Hamish were tickets to the 2018 Red Bull Air Race in Indianapolis. We're going to be there and so are these planes! Come along to see us and be inspired.
Tickets: http://goo.gl/tNezpA
We hope you enjoyed this competition, well done to everyone who took part!
If you have an idea for a future competition we could run, go ahead and drop a comment down below. We love hearing suggestions!
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
Contact: james@flitetest.com
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/projectairaviation
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