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!