Merry Christmas!!

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a fantastic new year!
Hope Santa brings you lots of Glideriffic presents!

UK F3F team blog

The boys representing the UK at the World Champs in Germany next month have put together a blog to give their sponsors and supporters some airtime.

It's at http://f3fteamuk.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking forward to reading and seeing how they go!

Some settings for my F3F Skorpion and how I arrived at them.

 

On the weekend I finally tackled trying to improve the handling of my Skorpion and have had a couple of requests to share my settings and how I arrived at them, so here I go.

Firstly I should clarify that I am by no means an expert and any information I pass on has been gained from others at race meetings and from articles such as Kevin Newton’s brilliant ‘how to set up a racing glider’ article from his website (http://kevin-newton.blogspot.co.uk/2001/01/how-to-set-up-racing-glider.html) and Andy Ellison’s article (On The Edge Special 2010 – Setting Up A Slope Racing Glider) in RCM&E. Another clarification from my point of view is that my plane’s CofG is at 110mm from the leading edge at the root of the wing on my Skorpion F3F and I understand that most people don’t fly quite that far back so any measurements or settings need to have the twitchiness of my CofG kept in mind.

One thing Kevin’s article definitely taught me was that experimentation and tinkering are key. Although I haven’t been disciplined enough to record the results of any Tinkering and would suggest doing so to others as it saves all sorts of hassle.

Right then. On Sunday I decided to correct the handling issues I had been ‘flying around’ on the Skorp. I wasn’t comfortable with how the plane was entering or exiting the turns on simulated F3F runs especially using the reversal turn (my preferred turn style). I felt as though I was constantly correcting the plane and fighting it to stay on the course and I noticed that the nose was slightly high through the turns, along with shifting towards the slope with the application of rolling away ailerons. On the ground I checked the current state of aileron differential and they looked to be moving almost an equal amount up and down. This setting was giving me the poor flights. Using the aileron differential mixer on my transmitter I adjusted the differential to have almost zero downward travelling aileron (I was working on the theory that I will see the change markedly if it is a BIG change!). I had to remind myself before the test flight that I would have much reduced aileron authority, especially when landing and turned the aileron-flap coupling and snap flap off for landing (looking forward to getting a Transmitter that can set a landing phase with those mixes OFF at the flick of the Landing switch). Test flight time and the change was pretty extreme! The plane was now pulling away from the slope when ailerons were applied and the nose was very low in the turn. But it was WAY too much of a change as the plane was now barreling back towards me out of the turns and trying to fly behind me! Although it was only a short flight, it told me that I had changed the plane in the right direction. I had just made the adjustment too large. After remembering to flick the three switches and successfully landing I adjusted the differential slightly back towards the starting point giving approximately 8mm down aileron, 20mm up aileron and 4mm up and down flap. These eyeballed (not measured) settings gave me the results I was after on my next test flight (very much a fluke to get it in 3 flights!!) and suit my CofG and my flying style. My plane now exited the turn along the slope at a trajectory that I didn’t have to fight and it’s line was such that I hardly had to adjust it before entering the next turn.

Next up was Snap-flap (SF). The amount of flap/aileron linked to the movement of the elevator (ele-flap mix on my transmitter). Again I subscribed to the more is more school of thought and for the first test flight I tested the difference between my current settings and none by switching it off during some test runs. I hardly ever pull full elevator and don't feel like the plane is close to flicking so didn’t see the benefit in doing the three loop test. I prefer to test for energy efficiency using the reversal turn as per my racing. After practicing with your own plane and learning what is pinging back out of the turn or not, you will know what is best for your plane and flying style.

The first test flight taught me that the amount of SF I was using at the time was an improvement on not using SF as the plane slowed down less when the elevator was used to complete the reversal turn when SF was used. The plane did not maintain it’s energy as well as I had experienced before, so I knew changes needed to happen.

For the second test flight I reduced the amount of SF by half. This change was wrong. The plane lost more energy in the turn. The third test flight increased the SF from my starting point giving me a maximum of around 6mm SF with the full 5mm up elevator travel.  Again I will reiterate two points. A) I hardly ever pull full elevator and B) my CofG is at 110mm. These eyeballed (not measured) settings gave me a much more energy efficient glider which completed it’s turns giving what seemed like acceleration out of the turn.

With my broken F3B Skorpion, I experimented with having the SF on a curve to deliver the SF biased to the start or end of the stick elevator travel. I found that early SF worked better for me than late although Linear SF works best for me. I think I would like to try late SF again though for using the EM turn style.

It is very possible that I will get to the slopes next time out and the conditions will be different and my settings will be wrong. It is also possible that I will want to fly a different turn style on a different slope and the settings I have will make that style hard work.

The best piece of advice I ever received regarding settings is to ‘just play around with them and learn what works for you’.

I hope this encourages some of you to have a play and learn what works best for you and your planes.  

Bwlch session today.

The weather played nice today and we managed to get a great flying session in on both the Westerly and normal faces of Mickey's slopes.
 
Arrived at 1030 after a nice relaxing drive and met Rog in the parking area. Loaded my gear onto my back and started the long trudge walk to Mickey's West. "Wotcha flyin today?" asked Rog, "the Skorp and Wasa...... just the Skorpion, the Wasabi is still on the bench" was my sheepish reply.

We were greeted at the slope by three keen flyers making the most of the smooth, substantial lift in the form of local boyo Mark and two Whitesheeters Graeme and Tony. Quite an impressive assortment of planes between them.
A crew from London parked themselves along the slope a little and kept to themselves for the day, although I did have a quick chat at the carpark later.
Andy arrived, said hello and then Roger and Mark were feeling a little bit clostrophobic so they upped sticks and moved to a different part of the Bwlch to steer clear of the rest of us. I don't think And's personal hygeine had anything to do with the exodus, but my nose isn't as sensitive as it used to be, so you never know.

I started to rig the Skorpion and then realised that I had left my transmitter at home, sitting next to the Wasabi on the bench!! What a div!!
I walked back to the car, drove home, grabbed the Tx and Wasabi, drove back and walked back to the slope. That took about 1.5 hours, which I would have preferred to have spent flying and chatting.

I finally got to have a few flights of the Skorpion and Wasabi. Landing on the Westerly Slope of Mickeys is soooo nice, I love the amount of room and smooth wind. Even landing the Wasabi was simple as it was possible to fly a figure of 8 until the airspeed was low enough to land safely.

While flying the Skorpion, I kept analysing it's flight, thinking that I should play with the differential and snap-flap as it doesn't quite seem right. I didn't do anything about it and kept putting it off. I am the king of procrastinators.

We ended up shifting to Mickey's at about 2pm as the wind had shifted sufficiently to the south west to make the flying uncomfortable and the rewards for moving were substantial (if you like compressed air!).

Our numbers slowly dwindled until just Andy and I were left flying and I finally decided to tackle the Snap-flap and Aileron Differential. It only took me an hour and about 4 or 5 flights, but I am MUCH happier with the way the Skorpion is flying and am now relishing the thought of competing at the Welsh open.

Andy took a quick clip of one of my flights this afternoon.
I carried my camera, a tripod and my video and didn't use them at all.

Here is the clip Andy took.




I am well worn out tonight but very pleased to have had a full day of flying with my mates.

Bring on the next session!

Font d'Urle video by Planet Soaring

Pierre Rondel uploaded this fantastic video from a recent F3F comp in France. Fantastic.


Font d'Urle 2012 from Pierre Rondel on Vimeo.

Kinetic on the Crest

Popped up to the Crest of the Bwlch today to catch some sun and hopefully have a couple of flights with the Wasabi and Skorpion.

Keith arrived just before me and we got chatting about his Kinetic while we trudged out to the Crest.
Keith has been working on his Kinetic aerobatic glider project for a while now and by the sounds of things this 2 and a bit span hollow moulded aerobatic glider is not too far away from realising Keith's dream of producing the Kinetic for public consumption.

It fly's very impressively and managed to scratch around in minimal lift looking for the thermals pretty well too.

I took some video and pics that I would like to share with you. I don't have Keith's contact details, so if any of you know him, point him here for a squizz.

Andy Evans first F3F run

My mate Andy had his first F3F run on Sunday at Slopeglide and I managed to catch it on film.

I thought he did very well and successfully recovered from a cut too (even if it was towards the slope!). Congratulations Butt!

Slopeglide 2012

Finally I have managed to compete in an F3F event! I have added my version of a race-report on the race reports page here

Thanks Clare.

Progress in the Garage/Workshop at last

I have spent the last couple of days wasting the glorious weather we have been having here in beautiful South Wales toiling away in the garage trying to transform it into a usable space as my workshop.
I have built a bench, added a few more shelves and also created a large hot-box for curing paint, resin or glue on those cold Spring, Winter, Autumn (and Summer) evenings.
I used three 50w halogen downlights on the door which also folds up to be my bench lighting while working.
I am yet to tidy up properly, but here are some pics from my mobile phone that show the progress.

Now I am off to the beach, to enjoy the rest of this great weather with the wife and kids!

BMFA league 5 2012 video by Tom Foreman

I can't imagine how excited the guys must have been to be on the hill for this event! I am soooooo jealous that I wasn't there. Check out the action filmed by Tom and his wife Mandy.

Can't wait to get back 'stuck in' to F3F!

2012 BMFA Rd5 Bishops Hill Scotland from Tom Foreman on Vimeo.

SLOPEGLIDE 2012

The following in italics is a post from BARCS forum outlining the format for the annual (hopefully) SLOPEGLIDE competition.
I've entered, woooooohooo!!, and my wonderful wife (she reads this occasionally) has agreed to look after the kids for the weekend while I go and play with my toys. I am super excited to be finally getting out on the slopes again for some competition and to catch up with friends I have not seen for a while.

The itinerary for SlopeGlide will be as follows:

· Saturday 4^th August meet 8:30am at the Ice Cream car park.

· Set up F3F course with aim to get flying started as soon as possible. Last round in progress on the first day will 3:30pm. (This will be dependent on how many enter for slope aerobatic contest)

· After the last round is completed we will run a Slope Aerobatics competition.

· Sunday 5^th August meet 9:00am with the aim to get flying started as soon as possible. Last round in progress at 5:00pm, this will be assessed based on conditions.

· Presentations

Aerobatic contest: I know there have been many competitions over the years, this is very new to me, so if you feel guidance is required after you read the following please PM or email me .

My main aim is to get the manoeuvres out there for you to practice.
Example of some aerobatics:

The contest will consist of one round per pilot:

Compulsory Manoeuvres as follows:

· One inside loop K = 5

· One roll K = 5

· Split S K = 5

· Immelman turn K = 6

· Additional four manoeuvres, selected from the following list —

Optional manoeuvres.

· Stall turn K = 6
· Rectangular approach K = 6
· Straight inverted K = 7
· Two inside loops K = 8
· Two rolls K = 8
· Three turn spin K = 8
· Double Immelman K = 9
· Three inside loops K = 10
· Cuban eight K = 10
· Vertical eight K = 10
· Slow roll K = 11
· Horizontal eight K = 12
· Three outside loops K = 12
· Inverted eight K = 12
· Figure-M K = 12
· Three rolls K = 13
· Four-point roll K = 14

Each manoeuvre will be marked out of 10 and multiplied by its K number, therefore the more difficult the manoeuvre the better chance of a higher score, but be careful if you get it wrong, you could end up way down the order.

Here is also a link to a site with the manoeuvres, as mentioned this is my first time of running a slope aerobatic competition, so I will look at the rules to simplify to uses as an introductory event.

http://www.southernsoaringclub.org.za/MGA-rules-10-aerobat.PDF
I can't wait for the SLOPEGLIDE weekend to arrive, so excited!!

Better get out in the garage and do some repairs. I'd like to have two Skorps up and running for the event, but definitely NEED at least one. Better get glassing!!

BMFA Nationals 2012

Congratulations to Paul Upton, the 2012 BMFA Nationals Champion!
Needle 124's in the first three places.

Extended version including crash

My First Rolling Circle!!!

The footage is particularly POOR but I managed to catch my first rolling circuit on video today. It wouldn't win any aerobatic competitions or anything, but I'm pretty pleased with myself!!
No Music, just wind noise!




It was great to see Chris, Ron and Mark also flying today. They were all making the most of the beautiful Mickey's lift with assorted foam, fibreglass and carbon models.

A couple of photos

I did manage to crash the Wasabi today (which I also got on video). I got disorientated just flying! I managed to do the hard bit and stay orientated! But couldn't manage to just fly without getting confused and befuddled!! Silly Git.
Anyway, due to the ever-increasing amount of glass and filler applied to the Wasabi, the only casualty was the radio tray.

I'll see how I'm feeling about putting the 'how not to land a Wasabi' video clip on the tube.

I also did a rush-job of getting the Gulp DS ready for a test flight, which it failed.

It was fantastic to get out onto a hill again.

Wrecker without Wrecking!

It's been 6 months since I last fiddled with the sticks and I managed to get up to the Wrecker this morning for a quick flight.

What a relief! 

I took a couple of photos when I got there and popped the video camera on my head, pressed the go button and launched the Wasabi over the edge of the Wrecker.

The breeze was very light with thermals giving excellent energy as they rolled through. After about 5 minutes of wobbly flight (it's been a while!) the camera made the tell-tale noise that let me know that I hadn't started recording because it turned itself off.
Bummer.
I had promised Roger that the next time I put a video of the Wasabi on the internet, it would be painted. Lucky then that the video didn't work.
After 15 minutes my fingers and face were getting a bit chilly (NE wind-chill) so I decided to land. As I was making my way to the road to cross over, the lift just died. Woohoo! that meant I could land at my feet and not have to hike up the hill!
One successful launch, one successful flight and one successful landing. What more could you possibly ask for (except for a whole day of flying)?

Here are a couple of photos, just to prove that I didn't imagine the whole thing.

Progress? kind of.

Bit of an update on the Funnel-web page

The Spring Cup 2012, Poland

Here are a couple of fantastic videos from Poland's World Cup F3F event, The Spring Cup, held this weekend.


The first clip is by PitPlane



and the second clip is by SpecyfickRC



I enjoyed both clips very much, and am quite tempted to try to get to the Spring Cup one day.

Another corker of a video from Chris Studley

Local lad does it again! I really enjoy Chris Studley's videos. I also really enjoy watching Roger Brown fly aeros.
Here is a vid from this weekend just gone. Really wish I was an eye-witness.


Roger aka CliffHanger goes through the routines flying his home brew "Jedi" at Mickeys slope, The Bwlch, South Wales.
The wind was SW - absolutley on the nose of the slope, and 25-30 mph.
Filmed with a Panasonic SD600.

Updates on Funnel-web and Redback pages

A little bit of an update on the pages about the Redback and the Funnel-web


Nothing physical yet, just mental!!

Welsh Open

It might be blind optimism and sheer pig-headedness, but I have entered the Welsh Open F3F for September this year.
The wife is in a particularly good mood today so I might raise the topic of me rewarding myself with 3 days on the Bwlch for finishing the ODP training (presuming I do! hehehe).


Fingers crossed! Got a bit of repair work to do before mid September now!

Not too long to go now! Woop Woop!

Two presentations done ...... Two presentations to go...... Followed by three exams and some portfolio tidying up.
Then I will be free (FREE I TELL YOU except for family and home improvement commitments ) to tackle this

So that I can start on the own designs, but first some repairs.
I think I am going to start on the aerobat, after repairing the Skorpions (yep, I've got two BROKEN ones ;-( )
Looking forward to having a tinker.

F3F World Champs. Aussie Team?

I hope there is an Australian team going to the World Champs for F3F in October.
I offered my services as there is no public selection process as yet but they (my services) were declined and I was told it is all in hand by the MAAA (Controlling body for RC in Australia). It was also made pretty clear (understandably) that to compete as an Aussie, I would need to qualify in Australia.
If the governing body back home had entertained the idea (if no-one had shown any interest) of me representing Aus at the F3FWChamps, I reckon I could have made an exception to my self-imposed exile and found a way to compete.
Licencing and insurance are ridiculously expensive back home so all future International comps that I attend will be attended as a Brit.
I am still quite a way off from getting back into F3F but I do have every intention of returning.

I even have plans to 'roll my own' F3Ffer in the next couple of years while my participation is restricted to the garage.

Anyway, I'm just procrastinating.

I am supposed to be studying. I've got 10 weeks until all my uni work should be finished, YAYAYAY!

Hope the guys and girls in the UK that read this are enjoying the weather lately. Back to the books for me.

Welsh F3F blogspot

Andrzej Tabero has created a great blogspot for posting his news and reports from the Welsh F3F scene.
I have always really enjoyed reading his excellent race reports and I'm stoked that they are in one place now.
http://welsh-f3f.blogspot.com/ is the address.

Wasabi clip from Rhossili

I managed to squeeze out a quick vid of the Wasabi from Rhossili.
Forgot to credit the music to Muse. The song is Showbiz. Hope you enjoy it.

Dorado flown by Roger

Was great to get down to Rhossili for a great morning of flying and catching up with Roger and Andy on Friday. I got a little bit of video from my day out but only of two planes, Rogers Dorado aerobat and my Wasabi. It is amazing how much the cold effects the battery for the video camera.
Here is the clip of Rogers Dorado looking smooth and graceful (mostly).




I had the wrong setting on the camera for the majority of the day, so it looks a bit .... Blue!


Video of my Wasabi coming up later (When I finish it)

Bring on 2012!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's hoping that the wind blows favourably on your slopes and in your lives this year.

All the Best
Clayt