Mr. Smoothie Profile - Nocal Model - Start to Finish & Thermals

This Start to Finish film details the process of building & flying a profile model airplane, called "no-cals" by the Flying Aces Club, where it is an official flying event with unlimited duration. No-cal models are light yet quick to build, bringing speedy enjoyment as a rubber-powered free-flight model.
Filmed and flown by Tom Hallman on 6.25.22 in Wawayanda, NY, using a Canon PowerShot SX20, iPhone 11Pro & 14Pro. Music via the talented musicians at artist.io, who breathe life into my films. Additional thanks to Pete Kaiteris for his paperclip thrust bearing holder idea.
16" Mr. Smoothie no-cal plan & markings: hallmanstudio.com/Smoothie_noc...
Many short kits and supplies are offered at Volaré Products: volareproducts.com/blog/?prod...
How to make a no-cal nose bearing tutorial: volareproducts.com/blog/?page...
Aluminum no-cal bearing holders shown in film from AeroAces: www.aeroaces.com/flymodsup2.htm
Small 1/32" nylon bearing & prop shafts: www.wind-it-up.com/collection...
Folder of free no-cal plans: www.hallmanstudio.com/nocal_pl...
Badge Classic DT & spring (at the bottom of the page): www.starlink-flitetech.com/tim...
*** 10 steps to trimming a rubber model, by John Koptonak: www.flyingacesclub.com/PFFT/Tr...
Also, these tutorials from Easy Built Models: easybuiltmodels.com/tips.htm#...
For more info on free-flight rubber-powered models, check these websites:
www.wind-it-up.com (Peck-Polymers)
brooklyn-balsa.square.site
www.easybuiltmodels.com/
www.volareproducts.com/BUY/
www.flyingacesclub.com
National Free Flight Society - freeflight.org/
Mike Stuart's Flying Scale Models - www.ffscale.co.uk/
www.freeflightsupplies.co.uk
Flying Aces Club merchandise: www.cafepress.com/flyingacesclub
All profits support Flying Aces Club activities.
Center of Gravity merchandise: www.cafepress.com/centergravity

[@paulgammidge-jefferson9536]

You do not build model aircraft, you produce works of art. ❤

[@williamr3840]

I wish someone would make a full-size rubber-band powered plane that you could get in and fly! :0)

[@robertrussellmd]

No-cals are so much fun! Yours is beautiful. I would like to see how you did that prop. Maybe there could be a no-cal prop tutorial some day?

[@paulnelson5314]

Had to take a break from covering my 18” Tiger Moth, to watch. Great video, good info. Thanks again Tom.

[@Tadrjbs]

No-cals but I'm dizzy watching them fly. Always love to watch you build. Time lapse excellent. Best done I've seen. Amazing.

[@williamrobinson7435]

There's a wonderful ethereal quality to the flight.. I love the hovering tendency this has. Lots of tips and techniques for us to learn here, thank you so much Tom, and I'm so glad you got the plane back! ⭐👍

[@bokusimondesu]

Again, not only a great tutorial. But, a beautiful film.

[@davisgloff]

Thank you so much! You make the steps very clear!

[@federicopralong9350]

thanks ,i m learning from your explanations,in other way i couldn´T...I

[@XXfea]

Just what I needed when the thermometer is reading 3°F Thank you for sharing the birth of your child ❣️

[@rodrigob292]

Amazing... Thanks for share

[@fetabhelium]

Oj.. Moje mládí.. Ten pocit, když to letí jak má! Je nenahraditelný 😊

[@maxfliart]

Děkuji. Jsem rád, že se ti lety líbily.

[@Colin_Holloway]

Oh wow! This brings back lots of memories of a profile Zlin Akrobat rubber model I built from plans in the Aeromodeller magazine in the early 80s! Love your videos.

[@user-ru1th3sm9s]

Interesting simple and lightweight. What the video could demonstrate is how the rubber band is internalized / incorporated. Otherwise it's easy to see why it flies so well

[@JefferyHall-ct2tr]

Wow Tom! What a fascinating video! Was mesmerized from the build to the trimming flights! SUPERB!

[@jayjorz]

Had no idea rubber powered aircraft could do so much. Only experienced the simple sheet balsa kits sold as kids toys and never really experimented with them enough to think there were people doing this. Been working on a scratch built foam electric plane from plans for a few weeks, which is what led me to your videos. It is perspective changing.

[@ondrejdvorak6495]

I recommend searching for F1B then.

[@Lee-qp6gf]

LOL, I use to build models like this when I was a kid from plans in Boy's life magazine. Easiest thing to build and flew great. I never saw this.

[@neilmchardy9061]

My friend and I made two old Reno racers he made this pss Pearson Williams mr smoothie and I made a Folkerts speed king pride of lemont pss. Both were pretty spectacular flyers on the slope. Nice to see this rubber version.

[@maxfliart]

Cool! Do you ever film them?

[@neilmchardy9061]

@@maxfliart sadly I will only have some printed pics but heaven knows where, I found this online as I gave it to a magazine as a free plan outerzone.co.uk/images/_thumbs/plans/12078.jpg

[@neilmchardy9061]

@@maxfliart isn’t the internet fantastic I found Alan’s plane and mine www.pssaonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/744.jpg www.pssaonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/743.jpg

[@maxfliart]

@@neilmchardy9061 Great...thx. I've only ever seen rubber versions, so these must've been fun on the slopes.

[@UguysRnuts]

Simple magic.

[@TheMendipman]

Amazing! Noel

[@aeromodeller1]

Copper wire is softer than brass or iron. Brass is expensive. Iron wire from grocery store ties is easy to get and holds trim better than copper. Remove the paper and roll it under a block of wood to straighten it. The tailplane is in the downwash from the wing. That alone gives up pitch. There are various theories and calculations for setting decalage, but unfortunately some of the aerodynamic characteristics needed to do those calculations are not available for our models. We have some estimates, which may be good enough for a first try, but trial is necessary for final trim. One of the challenges of free flight rubber is that the trim conditions for glide and power are not the same. It is rarely possible to achieve both. The goal is maximum duration. Maximum duration in glide is minimum sink. Maximum duration under power occurs when the motor turns all the way to the ground. So trim should favor power. Power is changing all the time as the motor runs down. As the power runs down, trim requirements approach those of glide. A compromise must be sought. The trim point for power is apogee; the condition at maximum altitude when the plane is flying level. This is the turning point between climb and descent. The criteria for trim is minimum power in level flight. In glide the criteria is minimum sink. The two are different because thrust introduces pitching moments not present in glide. Trimming a model is complicated because there are so many things involved; decalage, thrust line, CG, torque, dihedral, power, rudder. Testing all possible combinations of those is tedious and impractical. Trimming is a skill learned through practice. One of the things that keeps us interested is that we are always improving our judgement of what must be done. A complication of nocals is that the motor and thrust line are offset from the centerline. When flying in drift, the model should be launched crosswind with the center of the flight circle upwind. That maximizes the available length of drift for the flight circle. In drift, the drift velocity increases with altitude, approaching a limit at some altitude. Model drift will be less in climb and descent and greatest in cruise.

[@mjkluck]

Good stuff, Bubs.

[@pjcarter8230]

Super model. Do you pre-shrink your tissue? Also do you use a lacquer to damp-proof the tissue?

[@1freedlander]

What fun! Does the wing, inside of the turn, have slight washin? Thanks Rudolph

[@maxfliart]

Thx. I enjoy these nocals. I checked the Smoothie, and both tips are flat. At first after ur comment, I thought the inboard probably does have a bit of wash-in...but not so. It's easy to get a warped wing with these nocals, but that simple truss action has really helped.

[@barryandbonnievandergreft2265]

Your videos have soothing quality about them. I've been watching them for a couple of years now, two questions; Have you ever considered making an auto gyro? Is it posable to make a rubber powered helicopter that will fly well? I really enjoy your builds and flights, keep up the good work.

[@maxfliart]

Thx. I've not seen rubber helicopters fly all that well, although some have had success with auto gyros...but I have't had the urge.

[@tedrussell8720]

Great video and model. One question. You say the motor stick is glued to the fuse uprights. Yet in the video showing the winding stooge. The motor stick does not appear to be attached to the fuse. Is the motor stick removable or is it an optical illusion of some sort?

[@maxfliart]

It's an illusion. The thin whitish line next to the stick is the 1/16" thick fuselage. I somehow managed to photograph the model directly above. Ha. I hadn't noticed.

[@daviddavids2884]

7:12 you may know that the use of thrust offset at the prop results in more drag, than does building the necessary angles in the the wing mount and the horiz-stab. d

[@hdvades]

Never thought of that, good idea.

[@836dmar]

Quite true. Indoor endurance planes exhibit this openly. Building this into scale or even semi-scale models looks really wonky. Everything in engineering is a trade-off.

[@michaelgillespie1206]

I had always thought the name had something to do with northern California, just goes to show how wrong an assumption can be.