New addition to the fleet, Xperience Pro

Since I was contemplating entering the F3J as well as the F5J category in the National championships I urgently needed a ready to fly F3J plane. I was fortunate to get my hands on a very nice Xperience Pro but with only 1 weekend before the contest I did not have much time to practice on the winch!

XPro ready for early morning test and trimming flight.

As things turned out I never got a chance to practice winch launching as the times I could go to the flying field the club winches were not there. I did manage to build a bungee and get a few launches but it is not quite the same!

 Practice, a few bungee launches

Pike and XPro, final pre Nationals practice.

The final practice session went well, the Pike was flying well and I decided that it will be my primary F5J plane as well as the backup F3J plane (with prop removed) as it still has the towhook!

Round four of the 2016 South African F5J league

Round four of the 2016 South African F5J league was held at the GEMS field on the east Rand.

The weather prediction for the day was for cloudless skies and almost no wind, and that was exactly the way it dawned and stayed the whole day!

I was there early, as usual, I prefer assembling my planes and having a quick flight on each before most of the people arrive. It allows me to concentrate on what I am doing, when the other competitors then arrive I have time to chat to them.

Because of the weather prediction for little wind I assembled 2 planes, the new Pike Perfect ET I wanted to test in it's first contest and the trusty Supra as a backup, just in case. Today the Osprey was taking a rest.

A few quick test flights, and practice landings using RC-Timer Pro on my phone showed that all was well.

Supra and Pike ready for action.

Soon the other competitors arrived and we started flying. Round one went well for me, I did not manage a max but nobody else did either, landing last and getting close to the spot gave my my first round win and 1000 points for the day.

I flew round 2 immediately after the first round, this time I managed to find lift and even though it was still early and the lift was not strong it was an easy 10 minutes. My landing was again good for the second round win and 1000 points. Now the pressure was on, if I could keep this up.....

Round 3 was exciting, I could not find lift only sink so finally deciding I must land and at around 4 minutes to at least get a decent landing. Fortunately I found a small bubble on the base leg that I managed to work, winning some altitude and then loosing some again while I was trying to find the core of the thermal. At around 7 minutes the thermal finally broke away so I rode it up for a few circles before heading back to land. Another round win and 1000 points. This time I had to work really hard for the win!

Round 4 was almost a mess for me. At about a minute before launch I did a final control check only to find to my shock that the right flap was vibrating at around the 60% down position, it did not go down any further and refused to go up at the first try, only after a few cycles.

Since there was no time left to change to my backup model I decided to just fly carefully and avoid using the flaps. The result was a rather nervous flight, I found a good thermal but started coming down sooner than normal, loosing height with some aerobatics. The final approach was also not fun, keeping low and not too fast. As I got close to the spot I was still a bit fast but at least low so I managed to plant the nose to prevent a slide on the hard ground. I ended up landing a bit short, 3m from the spot but the landing along with the flight was again good enough for a round win and a 1000 points.

For round 5 I changed to my trusty Supra. I managed to find lift early in the launch so this launch was my lowest of the contest. The lift turned out to be weak and just about overhead and right in the bright sun. It was not moving since there was no wind so just about the entire flight was flown right above me! Not comfortable but since the lift was weak I was low so I could not really go look for other lift. I managed to hang onto the lift, despite my neck's complaints for the full 10 minutes. A decent landing gave me a round win and 1000 points. Getting this round win was rather painful!

Starting the last round I realized I have a good chance to win the contest, maybe a bit over confidant I did not really try to read the air before the launch as I normally do. I soon saw the errors of my ways as I launched into huge sink. The whole, very short flight was a battle to stay higher than the competition in my slot. As it turned out the other guy landed at 4:02 and I landed at 4:04, really terrible times but my 50 points landing over his 5 point landing gave me the round and a final 1000 points.

So I am happy to report, 4 months after starting to fly RC gliders and F5J, I managed to win my first contest with a perfect score of 6000 out of 6000.

We are now two short weeks away from out National championships, I am hoping I can get a bit more practice in before then!

I checked the flap servo on the Pike when I got home, looked like a stripped gear on the Graupner/JR DS 3210 servo but when I opened it up it looks more like a faulty, misshaped gear that must have come like that from the factory. Anyway, the servo was replaced and the plane is functional again.

Early morning trimming and practice session.

After the recent successful test flight of my F5J Pike Perfect ET I decided I need to play around a bit with things like camber, CoG and crow compensation before I could be sure that the Pike should be my primary plane for the next F5J contest.

Setting up just the right amount of camber for minimum sink for those dead air early morning flights is best done when there is no wind or thermals, so best time is just after dawn.

Sunday morning dawned absolutely quiet and quite cool for this time of the year, I was at the field assembling the plane just before the sun rose, after the very hot summer we had the 10C was really refreshing but I knew the temperature would soon rise to the predicted 30C.

The Pike ready to go, the grass was sopping wet from dew during the night

The first few launches was spent getting the launch trim right, the plane seems to climb best, at around 10m/s with neutral elevator trim. The best climb angle, after the initial vertical zoom, is around 80 degrees. A quick bit of down elevator before switching off the motor allows the plane to transition nicely into level flight. The Pike needs 20-22 seconds, depending on the wind, to get to 200m, during contest conditions the motor run will be seldom more than 10-12 seconds, when conditions are good it could be 5 seconds or less!

Checking the battery, a 3S, 1300mah 45-90C pack, shows that I can get 3 full launches and 3 10 minute flights on a charge. I change the battery after every round during a contest but for practice this is great.

Between flights, resting the pilot!

Trimming for minimum sink, using a FrSky Vario feeding telemetry back to my Taranis transmitter, showed  that for level flight around 2-3mm of camber provides the lowest sink rate. When in a thermal turn a bit more, 3-4mm, works best. The vario is a really useful tool to get to know your plane and getting the settings just right.

More club members arriving to enjoy the perfect conditions.

Soon the sun was a bit higher in the sky and the first signs of lift appeared. I love flying in marginal conditions since it is really challenging to keep the plane in the air working every little bubble of lift.

It soon became obvious that the Pike is really great at low level scratching, once setup she can turn really flat and the bigger wing span, 3.8m, is an advantage in marginal conditions. It did not take long for me to decide that the Pike will be used in the next contest! The powerful flaps also make precision landings easy, I just need to get used to how the plane just stops in the air with full flaps!

Launching 150m into sink and then working some weak lift.

A 75m launch into very light lift.

After a few flights I can confidently say that the Pike can scratch as good and even better than the Supra. The lighter Osprey might still float a bit better but the Pike's better speed range allows you to search far and wide for lift.

Pike waiting for the next flying adventure.

With a bit more practice I am really looking forward to flying the Pike in a contest, next round of the F5J league is on 16 April....

Round three of the 2016 South African F5J League.

Round three of the 2016 South African F5J league was held at SGC flying field.

The day dawned with some cloud and a rather wet field due to all the recent rain. There was very little wind predicted so everyone was looking forward to a great day's flying.

Dawn at SGC

Soon the competitors started arriving and assembling their planes, the usual bunch was there plus a few new faces, always great to see more guys starting to fly F5J. The flying field was nice and busy as the South African national F3J team was also there for some official practice.

My Supra and Osprey ready to go.

A few of the competitors did some last minute test flights and then we started with round one group one. For a change I was not in group one so I could relax a bit. In the past round one has normally been my worse, and thus throw away round but not this time. The trusty Supra managed work some weak lift giving me a score of 993.8, if I did not miscalculate, due to the lack of wind, and land a bit early it could have been a 1000 but it was a good start for me.

Ivan flying, Piet timing.

Round 2 was not so great for me, I gambled and flew out far looking for lift but it did not work out, I did not manage to make the 10 minutes and ended with a score of 746, this would eventually be my throw away round.

Gordon showing us why he is always the guy to watch, he always seem to find lift when the rest are struggling!

Round 3 I managed to get some good lift and also a good landing giving me a round win and 1000 points. I must say my landing practice is starting to produce results, my worst landing of the contest was 6m and the rest were a lot closer with a few 1 and 2m landings.

Getting ready to launch

Round 4 was an interesting round for me, initially I found some lift but it soon disappeared and the sink that followed was not fun! Soon I had to start thinking about landing as the Supra simply fell out of the sky before I could escape the sink. 

As I was positioning the plane for landing I noticed a slight bump and decided to try one circle, well the one circle became a second one till eventually I spent around 7 minutes at low level, seldom above 40m, it was hard work but great fun, I also noticed I had a few spectators, including some of the F3J guys, watching this lot, I think they were waiting for me to fall out the sky and miss the landing! Well, I did not and managed to make the 10 minutes and a decent landing giving me another round win and 1000 points. This was an extremely satisfying flight!

Chris Adrian concentrating, he was the eventual winner pipping me by a few points!

Round 5 was easier with weak but consistent lift, at one point we had quite a few planes circling in the same area. I unfortunately messed up the landing a bit costing me the round, my final score was 947.7

Round 6, the last round, I managed to get some good lift but so did just about everyone else. I did get close to the time but again I was a bit fast and landed too early, I need to work on this forcing myself to land later. My score for the round was 980.  

Results for round 3 of the 2016 F5J league

When the scoring was complete I ended up in second place by less than 6 points out of 5000, not bad! I noticed that if we did not have a throw-away round I would have won. Now I just need to work on my timing during the last few seconds.....

The results for the 3 rounds we have flown so far shows that I am in first place overall despite the fact that I did not win a round, my consistent scores helped a lot! I am happy with my progress, a few months ago I started with a little foam plane and now I am giving some guys a run for their money.

2016 F5J league results after 3 rounds

 The next round is on 16 April, I am hoping to have a new plane, the Pike Perfect ET, ready by then, if conditions are weak again like the last 2 rounds the longer wing should help a bit.

Pike Perfect ET F3J to F5J conversion

Just a quick note on the Pike Perfect ET conversion that I have been busy with on and off between other projects.

I finally got around to finish the job and test flew the plane this morning. I am more than happy with the results! The plane needed no trim and the CoG position at 110mm from the leading edge seems perfect.

Ready for the first flight, exciting times!

The Powerline 1025 motor driving a RFM 16x8.5 prop powers it well with just about vertical climb capability. Using a 3S, 1300mah 45-90C battery I can get 2 full (200m) launches or 3 to 4 lower F5J style launches.

Chopped nose with 30mm spinner and 16x8.5 RFM prop

During my early morning session there were not many thermals around but I did manage to find one and she circles well, a bit of camber, about 3mm, helps to slow things down in a thermal turn and helps with the rate of climb.

I also managed to ride some ridge lift and it looks like she might well have a lower sink rate and higher LD than my other planes. I will install a FrSky vario to get some telemetry feedback on sink rate. It makes setting up the plane for marginal conditions just that bit easier.

Back after the really successful first flight!

Now I need time to practice with her before the next F5J contest that is just 3 weeks away. She lands well with really efficient flaps making energy control easy during the landing phase so she might be a good contest plane.

If I am convinced she has an advantage over the Supra and Osprey she will become my primary plane for the next contest.

The fun of scratching for lift at low level.

I think one of the most satisfying things about thermal soaring is working hard scratching for lift at low level and then finally managing to get the plane to climb to a decent altitude.

During a F5J practice session last Sunday I had a few flights where I ended up really low. Below is the download from the Altis log showing a flight that initially started in huge sink and then for many minutes I was at around 20m altitude and not gaining. With some careful flying I managed to keep the Osprey from descending any further, hard work but very satisfying when you get it right.

I slowly worked my way around the area trying to find the best air. I must say the Osprey is really superb at this, you can circle tightly at low level without any fear of dropping a wing. Careful adjustment of the camber also allows you to fine-tune the plane for the condition.

Eventually the thermal broke away from the ground and I managed to climb up to about 130m. After that the fun was over and I brought the Osprey down at high speed listening to the distinctive sound a hollow molded glider makes at high speed!

The more I fly this Osprey the more I love it, I think I should keep the second one.....

The hero in this story, the Osprey!

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.....