Designs and Kits

[aubrey048]

Ehh...i really do hope they ban kits next year.

Agreed. I think it destroys the spirit of S.O. I have never used a kit, and I will never ever use one.

[sj]

I agree. We used a kit to get an idea of how the event works and then started custom building which has given us far better results.

[lllazar]

I've never used a kit but the main reason i'm opposed to kits is because this event is NOT AT ALL just about the testing and retesting flights. The experience you get from designing your copter, any jigs, and actually building it without all the pre-cut wood and etc in kits is extremely valuable to actually getting to the heart of scioly.

Kits pretty much turn this event into a "who can afford to buy a $40-50 (not even including the winder, and other building materials) 1st place medal at most regional tournaments". Sure, one could argue that kits themselves aren't going to just fly perfectly and that you need to test and adjust things, but if the design proposed by the kit is decent, then there's really not much else to do but build well (which, with all the jigs and instructions in the kit, is fool's play) and put in a few hours testing, depending on how high of a time you want to get.

I don't mean to bash anyone who uses kits, they can be quite useful for those starting out, but they shouldn't be allowed in actual competitions is all im saying.

[chia]

At the same time, it might be sort of hard to judge exactly when something is built "from a kit" and when it isn't... how much modification has been done to it, etc. I do agree with the reasoning for banning them in competitions, but I just don't see how it can be enforced.

[thewinner]

chia has a good point. It would be very difficult to enforce that rule. At the same time, kits may be superior to helicopters at the regional levels, but at nationals I don't really see how a run-of-the-mill kit can compete. I have never seen any kit get over 2:30, and I believe the nationals times will be much higher than that. Most kits have at least one thing that can be improved. In conclusion, at the higher levels of competition, sticking with a kit design may save you time, but will probably cost you in terms of performance.

[New_Albany_Eagle]

Anyone have any idea what is the design that works the best? It's my first time on the event.

Olive

[wlsguy]

I don't think kits make a difference. The top teams will be using a custom design. The kits are for those teams who, without a starting point, may not have a helicopter. The event is more about testing and modification anyway. It is essentially a "design of experiments" where different parameters are tested to determine the best performance. The kit only provides the "control".

The argument favoring kits was actually made by someone opposed to them with the following statement.

... We used a kit to get an idea of how the event works and then started custom building which has given us far better results.

[aubrey048]

True, but I think you learn far more by figuring it out all by yourself FROM THE BEGINNING.

For my partner and I it was a very interesting learning experience drawing up a design and then making it a reality. We went through three or four different concepts before we settled on the best one we felt we could accomplish. A picture of our helicopter is in the image gallery for anyone who is interested in checking it out. (It's the blue-winged one). The only other building event I had done prior to this year was Mission Possible, and my partner had no SO experience. We tried to do the best with the skills and materials we had. By trial-and-error we learned SO MUCH this year! through our own experimentation we created a MOVING, FLYING HELICOPTER! That blew our minds. Even though we didn't win, it was a great experience nonetheless (and it takes a lot for me to say that, because I am VERY COMPETITIVE). If we participate in helicopter again next year we will already know what to do to improve our design. If not, we have a lot of useful info to give to the next team when it's time to pass the torch.

[lllazar]

Personally, i like to forget about the fact that scioly is a competition and just focus on learning and discovering new things regarding my respective events. There's no point in improving for the sole sake of winning, because you quickly forget what really matters.

Getting back on track, does anyone use the harlan prop hanger? I find it works quite well and it's not too hard to manage the mass.

[thewinner]

Is it significantly better in any way than the standard Ikara? I've never tried the Harlan hanger, but I broke the Ikara prop hook once when trying to wind on the helicopter (FAIL) and wanted to try something different.