F3B workshop

The day of the first F3B workshop dawned bright but rather windy! Quite a few pilots arrived, it was decided to have a few demonstrations of speed runs and then practice runs by the new pilots.

Sunrise, rather windy!

Javelin and backup "heavy" Xplorer ready for action

I did 2 quick test flight with the Javelin to check the now more forward CoG and to see if the added color helped with visibility. The plane was flying well and I can now really see it well!

Easy to see in the air!

Soon there were quite a few planes assembled and the fun started!

A few of the planes present.

Lots of interest in the launch!

Away she goes!

The electric launch proved to be a huge benefit! I could easily do 3-4 practice speed runs from one launch!

All you need for some  F3B practice, an electric launch plane, TX and some batteries.

I am looking forward to the next workshop. The plane is really flying well and it will join my F5J fleet for those really windy days! I wish I had it during the Nationals, my light planes really suffered but the Javelin would have been perfect!

F3B Javelin electric conversion

In an attempt to revive the F3B class in South Africa it was decided to have a few F3B workshops. Since F3B was my first love in RC soaring I am quite excited about this!

I do have a few F3B planes in my hangar like the Trinity and Europhia but I decided for practice an electric launch F3B plane would be perfect! The easiest conversion turned out to be a F3B Javelin I acquired a while ago. It did not need much work to re-position the radio equipment to make space for the motor/ESC/battery. The nose is also wide enough to take the Turnigy Glider Drive 840KV motor that I had "in stock" so the decision was made.

I decided to run the motor on 2 x 3S 1300mah packs, the reason I chose these packs were because I could make them fit, I needed the weight to balance the plane and they could supply the current needed. To get more power out of the Glider drive than I normally do I decided on a 15x8 prop rather than the usual 14x8. This produces over 800W (the motor is rated for around 850W) and as it turned out was enough power for a decent rate of launch even if the plane was a bit heavy at 2.7kg.

The first flight was exiting! The plane was a bit tail heavy and a lot faster than my other planes, it turned out to be very responsive and needs to be flown all the time, great fun!

Ready for the first flight!

On the ground and in one piece!

A short video clip of the first launch. Thanks Frank!

I decided that I needed to move the CoG a bit forward and add some color to the wing. The day of the test flight was a dull overcast day and I struggled to see the plane far away!

Ready for the first F3B workshop!

To F3B or to not F3B, that is thy question....

Way back in the late 1970's and early 1980's I was a keen F3B competitor. Those were the days when we built our own aircraft mostly from balsa and spruce with a bit of fiber glass reinforcement.  The speed run was a one lap (2 legs) task and duration was only 6 minutes.

We had lots of fun and you could be quite competitive with your home-brew plane. Then we started building planes from glass, epoxy and kevlar, adding a bit of carbon here and there. Soon the guys with the high tech molded planes were winning all the time. Around this time, in 1982, I turned my attention to RC power flying. I was a poor student and could simply no longer compete.

 

Photon I and II, pre-1982 mostly wood F3B planes

Now roll forward 34 years. I was keen to get back into RC and specifically gliding. For me the easiest way back into RC gliding was with a simple electric launch plane. Once that was flying my attention turned back to competitive flying. The natural progression was to F5J so that was the way I went. It is a lot of fun and I am learning every time I fly.

My slow climb up the score board has begun, but....

As much as I have fallen in love with F5J I still love the idea of F3B multitask flying. Locally there are very few guys still flying F3B but I think there are enough, with a bit of encouragement to get a competition circuit going again.

So now for me, and it is a personal question, is do I get stuck into F3B flying again or do I concentrate on F5J?

Well, my decision has been made, I want to give F3B a try again, even if it means I have to use that pesky winch again (lol) and I have to kick a few guys into F3B gear!

So here we go, I have started looking for, and acquiring, F3B planes that I can use as a newcomer. For now I do not need a top end plane since I will only be competing on a local level (for now...) If it works out I can always upgrade in the future. I also believe that it would be good to have an electric launch F3B plane. I know in the UK they allow electric launch F3B planes to compete but even if I cannot compete with it locally it would still make a great plane to practice with and get the most airtime.

I found the following planes on the local market at reasonable prices. None of them are perfect but with a bit of work they could all be used to get back into F3B.

1  Shongololo - It is an older locally produced, hollow molded F3B/F3J plane. I managed to get my hands on 2 samples. The one needs servos and receiver to be installed and would then be ready to fly. The second one needs work on the wing center section and the fuselage is really "grotty" but can be cleaned up.  I think this could be the first plane for me to get in the air.

Shongololo

2 Eish - It is also a locally produced, hollow core molded plane, a bit larger than the Shongololo and maybe more suited to F3J but it would still be useable for F3B practice and initial contest flying. It would also be a candidate for electric launch conversion. It needs a bit of work but it is mostly cosmetic other than the installation of a new stab. It did come with the new stab.

Eish, not yet the correct stab

3 Nkwazi - Again a locally produced, hollow core molded plane. It would be suitable for F3B, at a intro level, as well as F3J. This is a brand new plane and till needs one flap and aileron cut out as well as a full radio installation. The nose has been cut on the fuselage already so it would be an easy and logical conversion to electric launch. I think it would also make a nice windy weather F5J plane!

Nkwazi, this one should be fun!

4 Trinity - This is an older, but still quite competitive, imported, molded F3B plane. I think locally it could still do quite well. It only needs a bit of cosmetic work and the installation of a receiver. I might also replace the rudder and elevator servos as the previous owner simply poured epoxy over them to secure them! Yuk!!

Trinity, ballast can be loaded via the top of the wing

5 Javelin - This a a hollow core molded, imported F3B/F3F plane. I do not really know this plane but it appears that it would make a nice F3B plane. It seems to be in a good condition and I only need to install a receiver and it will be ready to fly.

Javelin after some cosmetic work

6 Europhia II - This is a very nice hollow core molded, imported dedicated F3B plane. The version I have actually belonged to a Swedish team member so it does have some world championship experience already. I just need to add an receiver to get it going.

Europhia, should be the fastest plane in the hangar.

So I have a few planes to start with. We have a local F5J league contest next Sunday, 20 March, so I am concentrating on that but as soon as that is over I will make a serious effort to get one or 2 of the F3B planes in the air. At the moment the logical choices, because it would take the least effort, would be the Shongololo and the Javelin. I would also like to get an electric launch plane going as soon as possible. The Eish will be the least amount of work but the Nkwazi is also an option.

Roll on the Easter long weekends.....