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VintageSIGhttps://www.mfnz.org/members-pilots/special-interest-groups/vintage/RC Vintage Rules have changed completely for next year.Yes, most of you who are active in RC Vintage will be aware that a major rewrite of the RC rules has been voted in and becomes active from the end of the year. You can find these new rules linked at the MFNZ Website on the Vintage SIG page. You will find a link to a PDF copy. Just click on the highlighted link you will find there.The RC rules see significant change but the Free Flight rules will not change.The new rules will be effective from 14 Dec 2025 in time for the 2026 year including the Nationals and the NDCProgramme.Most of the new classes will be offered at the Nationals based on expected support and I%u2019m hoping many of you will come along this year to the exciting new Hawkes Bay venue.The principals guiding the change were as follows:%u2022 All current models should fit a class under the new rules.%u2022 There should be significantly fewer classes. (We will have 10 in place of 16)%u2022 Classical and Vintage classes to be combined%u2022 IC and Electric should be combined where possible.%u2022 Age bonus is dropped to allow this combining and to remove a bias towards older models.%u2022 The dual RC flying skills needed to stay airborne as long as necessary and to land accurately remain.%u2022 Minimum wing loading rule abandoned. ( no more ballasting up models)%u2022 Perhaps most of all, make things simpler to understand and for fewer models to be needed to cover all the classes in the hope of improving the numbers flying each class.The significant changes are:%u2022 Vintage has just one age cut off. All models prior to 31st December 1975 are eligible.%u2022 Duration becomes one class using both IC and Electric power with a 5 minute target time. Some adjustment has been made to IC engine runs to allow for the extra 60 seconds of flight time.%u2022 Sport Cabin Texaco E and Sport Cabin Texaco IC are combined. A limitation on electric throttle use makes Electrics more comparable with fixed throttle ICmodels.%u2022 Most Texaco classes have energy allowance set by weight of the model as we had with E Texaco. This allows larger and inherently heavier models to better match the climb heights achieved by lighter and smaller models.%u2022 Spot landings are retained for Duration, Precision and most Texaco classes. The %u201cspot%u201d still has a 15m radius meaning 707 sq meters to land in, as big as a city section.%u2022 All current RC Nats Trophies are still appropriate for their purpose with relevant names. There are five of these if we include the spark ignition trophy.%u2022 Rubber and Sailplane models can be flown in Duration and Precision when converted to motor power. Folding propellers on electric motors are allowed.%u2022 Although there are 10 classes it is possible to cover them all competitively with just 4 models. Loading up the car for the Nats looks a whole lot simpler! The expectation of all this change is that far fewer models will be needed in a flier%u2019s fleet to cover all classes now. Many models will also cover multiple classes much like we find in the Soaring world.Here are a couple of examples from my own fleet:Fokker D8 built to the 1941 Earl Stahl plan. The D8 covers Precision, A Texaco and Open Texaco (2 different tank quantities) and Scale Texaco.41