Introduction:

A printable PDF of this document can be downloaded here: SES14_Dirigible_Races_Rules

This year’s Dirigible Races are going to be a bit different than in past years. Rather than head to head races, this year your pilots will have a course they’ll have to take to an objective in 3D space. Their attempt will be timed using a manually operated digital timing device. (Sorry but the technology for automatic timing is a little out of reach for us at the turn of the 19^th century.) A Map of the room will be provided below with the course and ranges marked, as well as any intake or outtake vents, to help you plan for your run.

If you are a SES Dirigible Races veteran, you know that in the past you had to register your dirigible’s transmitter frequency with me beforehand, well this year that wont be necessary because each dirigible will be running on their own. (Make sure to turn off your transmitter and receiver when you aren’t flying) Now let’s get on with the details. . .

Buying or Building an RC Dirigible:

Ready to Fly” dirigible kits seem to be a rare commodity these days. There seem to be only one supplier and they can be purchased from Amazon, or directly through a distributor called http://rctoys.com. These are by a company called Dragonfly Innovations, but there may be one or two other brands to choose from for ready to fly indoor RC Blimps. It may take some Google expertise to find them. I must warn you though, that these Ready to Fly blimps haven’t been known to be very fast or maneuverable.

Your other choices are to either build your own from “scratch” using hobby grade RC electronics, or to use some other flying toy as a “power plant” and build it into a custom helium lift vessel. (Both were done at past Symposiums) There are flying toys that have multiple propellers for control that with a little engineering can be made to provide steering and elevation control to a balloon based airship. You may even find a way of using more than one flying toy, one for forward thrust and steering, one for elevation, or some other configuration. (Which would require teamwork to fly. . . Exciting!) If you’d like to talk to experienced builders, check out the Facebook Group “Steampunk Airship Racers”.

Note: All RC Dirigibles entered in the races and design competition must have a helium filled envelope/balloon, that is at least capable of slowing it’s decent in the case of a power loss, or a cut throttle. Basically, if you have it flying near the ceiling, and your battery dies or your motors stop working, it shouldn’t fall straight to the floor. Don’t worry if your Dirigible design doesn’t allow for a free floating blimp, just so long as it doesn’t drop like a rock with a loss of power.

Purchasing Helium: At last check, Helium is reportedly in short supply; so prices are rising as time goes on. Make sure you look for and purchase your helium tank well before the Symposium.

Dirigible Design Specifications:

The Dirigible Races will be taking place in the biggest available room in the hotel/convention center. You can expect a ceiling height of 14 feet or less. Chandeliers may hang lower than that so there are obstacles in the potential flight path. This means the race could consist of a navigation course and/or a simple race around the periphery. Due to the height of the room, we have made a restriction of the physical dimensions of your dirigibles, but we believe this size is well within any reasonable RC airship design on this scale.

1. Size: Dirigibles should be no longer than 72 inches from nose to tail (following direction of travel). They should be no wider than 72 inches. They should be no taller than 72 inches from gondola to the top of the balloon(s). Please remember these aren’t a target to shoot for. An airship that’s a 6 foot cube or sphere isn’t going to fly well in a room with 14 foot ceilings. J
2. Type: All Dirigibles should be of helium filled/lighter than air type. No hot air dirigibles, flammable gas dirigibles (no Hydrogen) or heavier than air vehicles (helicopters or airplanes) allowed. (Helicopters, Quad Copters and Airplanes can be used as power plants in helium lift dirigibles, just not standalone) This is to keep the field competitive speed and maneuverability wise, but also for spectator and facility safety.
3. Propulsion: Your primary propulsion must be through electric motors and propellers (or ducted fans). Other inventive, non-volatile propulsion is allowed/encouraged. Keep it safe. If you aren’t sure, ask.
4. Weapons: Due to the possible expensive nature of remote control dirigibles, and the amount of work that may go into designing and building one of these airships, there will be no “combat” competition at this year’s symposium. However, if you wish to design some kind of working “weapons” into your dirigible for exhibition purposes (such as for the design competition), these must be disabled or removed for the races.
5. Safety: There will be spectators in the room, and while we do our best to keep them out of the planned flight path, we all know that things can go awry. To avoid any injuries from falling parts, please make sure that all of your Dirigible’s parts are securely attached, and make an inspection prior to each flight.
6. Name: Your vessel must have a name. It may or may not match the name of your group, so make sure you let us know the name of your RC Dirigible, and if it is not the same as the name of your group, let us know which group your Dirigible represents in the competition.

The Race:- Many Bothans Died
To Bring You This Information.

If you are a fan of Star Wars, you may understand the title above. This year your dirigible will be making a run on the Death Star trench! The course is simple, from the start line you’ll be given the go by the timing judge and you must fly your Dirigible in the path outlined in the map below, you’ll need to make 2 tight turns around points marked by floating “Tie Fighters” then fly towards and ultimately run into a third floating marker to end your run and the timing judge will stop your time. For a bit of fun (this is totally optional), if you would like to provide a “Gunner”, when you complete your run you can have your gunner shoot our NERF Blaster at the small thermal exhaust port we will provide to blow up the death star.

The map of the course can be found on the following page.

Note: Due to the experiences of last year’s races, we WILL be providing you a map of all air conditioning intake and outtake vents well before the symposium. Stay tuned.

We are only guaranteeing one run on the trench until we know exactly how many RC Dirigibles are going to be entering the competition. If time permits though, all dirigibles will be permitted a second run. This means that the more ready you are, the better your chance at a second chance. So plan ahead and be ready when you are called to the line.

Best times will determine your points for the overall competition.

1^st Place – 100pts, 2^nd Place – 70pts, 3^rd Place – 30 points

Dirigible Design Competition

There will be a contest for the best design/modification of a stock RC Blimp, or an RC Blimp built from scratch for those that are more adventurous and technically capable. We want to see you make these very modern looking RC toys look as steampunk or Victorian as you can! In the past the design competition hasn’t been handles as well as it could have, so this year, please make sure to remind us if we get it wrong. J The rules for this part of the competition are simple:

1. Your Dirigible must meet all the same specifications as those used in the races.
2. Your Dirigible must be capable of remote control flight, but doesn’t have to fly well. J
3. Your Dirigible does NOT have to take part in the races to be entered in the design competition; it just must be CAPABLE of Remote Controlled flight.
4. If you design any kind of weapons into your dirigible, they must not be capable of causing injury to a person, either due to inadvertently or intentionally being in the line of fire, or by being dropped on accidentally due to a malfunction. No weapons may be used in the RACES, they may only be used as a design element, demonstrated in the design competition*.
5. Categories: The Symposium knows that building a working, navigable, well built and good looking dirigible takes a lot of work, time and money. For this reason the design competition will be weighted heavily. There will be 80 points each awarded to the two categories of:
   • Best Engineering Design
   • Best Model Building or Artistic Presentation.
6. Judging: The design competition will be judged by an objective panel to be chosen by the Games Director and Judges. We will endeavor to choose a layman, a model builder and an actual engineer to be judges, but it depends on who we can find.

In Summary, we hope to see several groups enter an RC Dirigible into the Steampunk Empire Symposium Dirigible Races and/or design competition. Please abide by the rules listed above and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. And just remember to keep property damage liability and personal safety in mind when designing or modifying your RC Blimp.

Register Your Airship for the 2014 Games