- I must say that the Pike Perfect is really a model for all conditions. Today we started the F3J season with the first real F3J event. 18 pilots had entered and the weather was to be changing clouds with a little wind but sunny. It was raining small drops all day and heavy winds made the planes go backwards in high altitude with thermal setting. I tested a bit last night and left the ballast in the bag. It was a good choice because my Perfect not only launches just as well or better than F3B models (most of the best F3B guys were there) but also penetrates very good in speed setting. 5 second launches gave around 230m launches on winches with 150m to the turnaround. My best was with 7sec and that gave 261m. I have found that 1mm up camber makes the model penetrate well with no or very little loss. I actually circled in turbulent low thermals with this setting. I simply love it. It must be said that my model is a lightweight carbon 68 model but the only real bending I could see was the joiners. We had to use 1,35mm line and I used a little less than full launch camber as it stalled the winch on full settings. In F3J we do not want to brake any lines... Because of the rain we settled for 3 rounds preliminary that I won and 2 finals. In the first final I got many minutes on the others so in the second I could control a bit. I did get beaten a few seconds by my spotter Tor Midtlund that also was in the finals but I had lot of points on him from the first final round. Results are HERE. Sorry for few pictures. I had enough work with cleaning my models ;-) I only got 2 flights logged since I got a bad connection on the contact I think. But they are HERE (flight 1 and 2 prelim).
DAY ..
29.april 2006
- Me and Tor went for some early flying before this years
first F3J cup in Norway. A few other guys also showed up but
it rained all day. In the evening there was an opening for
us so we got 3 flights each before it was dark. Pizza in a
local restayrant and some beer at the field before we went
to bed. Tor flew his Superior while I flew my Perfect. It
was blowing pretty hard so I got to test with and without
ballast. The Perfect actually moves very well in speed
setting so I dont need ballast before 5-6m/s I think. It
will go backwards with thermal camber but that is anyhow not
the best setting in high winds according to the logger.
DAY ..
27.april 2006
- No flying even though the weather was nice.. But I did
mount the ballast tube today and the way I did it is pretty
cool. I could save 40-50g by not installing it permanently
so I had to come up with a solution that was both easy and
rigid. I think I found it.
DAY ..
25.april 2006
- A little windy and cold with 3-4m/s from the south. The
ice is not usable but I can stand on the beach with a
bungee. Today I tried some different CG's and different
camber. First I went to a slope on the beach and when I had
some nice altitude I flew out over the ice to get some good
measurements and feel for the different settings. I need to
measure without the wind to see what I found but it was
difficult to get altitude on the slope with too much forward
(Around the 91,5mm setting). It was also clear that it was
not stable that much forward. I needed more corrections than
further back! Opposite to what some think maybe..
Want a logger? Go to
THIS
site. He is a good friend that also runs this webserver.
DAY ..
24.april 2006
- It great weather outside but cant everyday can we? Well
anyhow today I did some work on my models. The Supra got new
pushrods from
Kennedy Composites that are a tiny but lighter and nice.
Etched Teflon tube with 1,5mm carbon rods were very easy to
install. They can be just laid on the boom (or inside) and a
drop of thin CA will make them stay there forever. It became
very stiff as I like it. Gluing inside fuse was not
necessary only by the servos and were they come out under
the pylon. Using these tubes inside the boom will also be
very easy gluing. But I dont want to weaken the boom were
they have to come out.
I also changed the aileron horns on my Giant today. 2mm
carbon is the stuff to get ;-) And while I was at it I made
20 horns more!
Sexy fuse or poster? Carmen Electra makes it
difficult to build in the clubs workshop. The horns are cool
also.
DAY ..
23.april 2006 -
Elektro 3x12min
- After a great evening with friendly Jespersen family I
woke up to rain (well according to Thorbjørn that were
earlier than me). But the sun came upon us and we could have
a great 3x12min elektro competition. I flew my Organic 2,5m
equipped with Kontronik 42-60, Jazz80A, 16x13aeronaut and
8xGP2000 (draws 100A). Nr.2 Thorbjørn flew his Surprise with
10 cells and 3rd went to Alf Erik Ross with Graphite also
with 10 cells (Hacker B50 7S and apx 180A...). It was rather
windy but I found thermals and think I worked them well
today. The Organic can actually fly far downwind and with a
few blips of engine you can get home if needed. I won the
competition and was happy with that because midday I had so
much headache that I had to lay down and then call the big
white phone... A little food and a few minutes on the eye
and I was strangely good again. We were 14 pilots and there
were some carnage because of high winds and other reasons.
Landings are important here with 0,5m is 75points and 0,5-1m
is 70. So landing is more important than a few seconds motor
in high winds.
Report in Norwegian HERE (Also detailed scores)
DAY ..
22.april 2006 - LSF in Skien
- I discovered that the club
Vingen
had an LSF competition today so I woke up early and thought
"what the h..." I can fly LSF today and drive to the club
Cirrus
for 3x12 electro tomorrow. The competition did not start
before 12:00 so I had good to even have a testflight before
round 1. LSF here is 3x7min and one of the rounds can be
10min. This means one only have 4 minutes to fly in the last
round. First round I was the only one with 10minutes and the
rest of the guys had 4-6min. The conditions were tricky with
90 degree sidewind in the launch and not too much thermals.
But that changed in the next rounds any the times got
better. In the 2nd round I had a mishap with my Supra so I
was allowed to switch to the Pike Perfect. I landed 0-1m
every time but lost the competition because I landed 2
seconds to early in the last one. Erik Morgan Villadsen won
(well deserved) with me on second and Egil Roland on third.
I think we were 9 pilots competing. We had 4 winches set up
with 180-190m to the turnaround and all with 1,15mm line.
There were no line brakes during the day but in the last
rounds I had to be a little bit careful on the settings and
I did not go out to the side. We should probably have had
some thicker lines but nobody bothered to change the lines.
Thanks to Vingen for a nice event. The only thing I have to
complain about was that it was reminding me about Istanbul
(the ground was wet). My yellow boots came into action again
;-)
Logs and
logs zoom and
Detailed results on the
Vingen
website
DAY ..
21.april 2006 -
Supra
- It is flown!! The Supra has been in
the air in Europe! I finished up the fuse this morning with
the stock pushrods even though some teflon tubes are
somewhere between here and US. I will probably save a few
more grams I think. I installed the tubes outside since I
would rather have a perfect elevator neutral then a sloppy
inside thing. For now I have just taped them in place since
they will be replaced. I have not glued the ballast tube in
either. Remember one thing: Do not glue in the tube before
you have installed the tow hook... The installation I did in
the cone became pretty cool. The Rx is under the servos so
all is flush and nice. I can also use long solid ballast and
even not install the ballast tube at all. This because the
servos are not in the way. You got to love Volz for having
lugs for both upright and flat installation. A small fancy
screw system will be made I think to secure the ballast.
Without the ballast tube installed I can save 30-40g. With
the recommended CG at 91,5mm I ended up on 1909g with the
ballast tube in. I will hopefully save even more with
lighter teflon tubes and maybe a Hoopes wiring system. I did
some other stuff that is not completely conventional. My
antenna is routed thru the 9 pin plug in the wing and is
routed in a "V" two ways (see
picture). This way I don't need to have it outside the
model. Remember this is NOT possible with a carbon wing. I
also did a "L" instead of links for elevator and rudder. I
used a 1mm iron wire and secured it with CA and shrinking
tube. Be sure to do this right if you copy... A loose
elevator is dangerous. One can also wrap with kevlar thread.
My rudder is also made detachable. I squeezed it on the boom
and had to cut a few millimetres of the boom because of
this. Then I made two set screws on the underside. A total
of 0,6g instead of glue resulting in a detachable rudder ;-)
Now over to the flights! It was mid-day and sunny but no
thermals seemed to be working the air. It was almost dead
quiet on the ice with only a small breeze from the left.
First I had 3 hand throws just to get the elevator neutral
in all phases. I normally also check the launch settings
like this. Most models will fly in launch settings. It
should not go hard up or down when the setting is applied. I
started with something almost similar to the Drela settings.
There is one very important issue here. The wing is made
with speed setting so when all is in neutral this is speed.
So for normal flying you drop the trailing edge 2mm. Next
setting is 5mm. I did not pay too much attention to Drela's
settings as I want to figure some things out myself. But I
started with his CG and looked with half an eye on the rest
of the settings. The first launch went ok but I think there
is a lot to work on here to get the right launch camber.
Altitude was ok but it was a bit on its tail "dragging". I
had 7 launches all with different settings and hook
placements but still need more time. The wing was sometimes
bending quite a bit. Launch conditions were not super but
ok. I used 150m to the turnaround, an F3B winch and some
1,35mm line. The last launch were "F3B style" 90 degrees to
the side and up against the wind that picked up slightly for
the last flight (only 1-2m/s). I found that the handling of
the Supra is scary equal to the Pike Perfect. It is much
slower but turns just as easy with little effort. Since the
conditions were very calm and I wanted to see the "hands
off" flying I needed to go from the 2,5 to the 5 degree
joiners. With 2,5 degrees it turned a bit too much on its
own. This was better with 5 degrees joiners. The floating
abilities seemed to be good but I was not covering as much
ground as with the Perfect and did not get feedback on the
air. I also did not like that it had a little low tail and
did not fly well with much camber. I had one "reference
flight" with the Perfect just to feel the air. Times were in
the 7-8min range mostly and better at lower altitude because
one can see the flight pattern better off course. So in the
last 2 flights I took out a 22g lead I had easy access too
and was now at apx 97-98mm CG. The conditions now had
changed to a bit more differences and downwind launches. The
model now felt much better and I
could now switch back and forth with small/big camber and
get the feel for the air I am was flying in. If this is a
good setting in more active conditions is yet to be seen
off course. But the small positive air could now be worked.
Logs of todays flights HERE
So did I find faults? There was one other issue they can
work a little on. The joiners were fitting ok up/down but
sideways there was some slop on almost all my joiners (the
model comes with 0, 2,5 and 5 degree joiners. Cool!). So I will
have some glue on the sides of the joiners and try to sand
them into fitting better. There were also some
strange crack in
one tip joiner box. This might happen when the moulds are
pressed together with a slight miss on joiner end. This is
barely visible when you take a look at a new model. But when
installing one see these things.
All in all a very successful first day on a new model I must
say. It performed right out of the box and is definitively a
model that can perform in light conditions. Stand by for
windy conditions ;-)
Left: Neat installation if I
must say so...
Left: 9 pin plug and right
"half z-bend"
On the ice with my JR9303
Planform is kind of similar to the Pike Perfect
DAY ..
18.april 2006 -
Supra
- It arrived!!!!! My new model that will be a good test
against the Perfect is the Supra. The model is designed in USA
but is built by Vladimir Gavrilko in Ukraine. So my model was sent directly
from Ukraine to me in Norway in a wooden box as all
shipments from Vladimir.
Opening of the box reveals the goodies off course and what I
found pleased me so far. Very little paint (as I want a
competition model to be), all hardware included, lots of
cool functional details and very light yet seems stiff where
needed. First thing I looked at was inside the midsection. I
wanted to check the spar... YES! they used the famous
Vladimir spar that is wrapped in kevlar like the built up
Graphite's/Organic. This is what I wanted to see and gives
me confidence that it will not brake. Off course I needed to
put it together to get a view on how it looks. It comes with
3 different joiners. 0, 3 and 6 degrees I think. Just
feeling the CG with nothing installed revealed that it would
probably not need much lead. And with an empty weight of
only 1340g + hardware it looks promising. I must say that
like many F3J/B/F models around it is only sexy in some
parts and ugly in others. But there are some sexy details on
the Supra. I LOVE the pod. It is not only nice to see a
shoulder wing again but also it should be very easy to throw
this model with one hand. The elevator and rudder features
light balsa and is both light and seems stiff enough (yes
good old light balsa does the trick). The name Supra on the wingsection is also something I like with carbon showing
thru the txt. I am waiting for some special pushrods from
Kennedy. Otherwise I think I would be finished tomorrow...
So did I find any bad points? I always find something to say
if it the coffee I drink or the traffic not going smooth...
The Supra might have stiffer tips I think but that would
probably result in heavier model and less turning
performance. I also found small faults in the paint but I
will NEVER be able to produce something near this even with
time and equipment. Don't think many other producers are near
this either. And last since the model is so ready and nice
it could be a point that the guiding of the pushrods in the
fuse and boom was ready. There should also be a ready hole
in the midsection for the wing connector. Small stuff as you
see.
Follow the building and flying
HERE
DAY ..
17.april 2006
- Amazing conditions on the ice. Thermals anywhere and
strong ones too. 5 pilots on the ice today. Some were not
happy with thermals flying by as they then made some wind
;-) Had 4 flights with my Perfect.
Logs HERE.
Later I worked on a built up Graphite my uncle had a brand
new wing and tail for. A repaired fuse will make a spare F3J
model.
DAY ..
16.april 2006
- I could have been there... Or something like that. Espen
has been on a trip again.
Read it HERE on his
ET-AIR.com
pages
So where will I go on international level this year? In
February I was in Denmark and earlier this month in Turkey.
3-4.June Eurotour F3J
DAY ..
15.april 2006 -
F5J eXtreme postal
- VERY interresting day. It was cloudy and a small breeze
came down into the valley so there was very little lift to
find. I would say it was negative air with maybe a wave on
one side of the valley. I flew 8 flights on the winch (Pike
Giant and Pike Perfect woth 100m to turnaround) and one test
flight with the Organic electro early in the day.
Logs of the flights with Pike
Perfect and Pike Giant HERE. I think I found that the
Perfect and Giant can perform very similar in these
conditions. Might be surprising to some... When you look at
the models in the air the Perfect flies calm and circles
nicely. The Giant does not circle that pretty and flies
faster but still hangs in there when we look at the times
and overall logs. As always controlling the camber and
flying speed is very important on both models. The Perfect
likes camber though it looks good in the air with neutral
also. CG used was: Perfect apx 110mm, Giant 119mm
I wanted to wait with the
F5J eXtreme postal for tomorrow but drinking a coffee at
the local pub and reading the paper showed that tomorrow
would be snow or rain... So I went out again and charged my
Organic. I know the MH32 airfoil is not the best in sinking
conditions so I had to work hard with the camber to find
some descent settings.
Did not take any chance and used 20seconds of motorrun that
was just not enough for full time in round 1 (missed by only
12 seconds). I must say that a 2,5m almost 400m up (1300ft)
and 45 degrees to the side is VERY small. Second flight I
flew in another direction with also 20 seconds motorrun but
that was only enough for 8min so a relight was needed. I did
not charge and that was stupid since the batteries were now
cold. Ended up with no landing points offcourse but a ok
24sec motorrun. 3rd flight I had went the same way as 1st
round and with a fresh battery I finally found the wave. I
was so high as I have ever been with the Organic and lost
orientation one time (grey light today). Sadly the logger
was full as I think this was VERY high. Landed ok as all
flights on 1-2m and 20sec motorrun.
1st round: 588s + 27p - 19p (20s) = 596p. 2nd round: 600 +
0p (27p) - 22,8p (24s) = 577,2p. 3rd round: 598 + 27p - 19p
(20s) = 606p. Temperature points 24p (+6C). Total 1803,2p.
Log HERE
DAY ..
14.april 2006
- Windy today but sun was up and with the right clothes it
was a good practice session with ballast in the Pike
Perfect. Loaded up 400g in the tube and found a few thermals
that made the way home very long. Think I have the distance
settings well figured out and did 2 flights without the
Zlog
altimeter and then some lead to simulate the extra nose
weight. There is actually a difference as I have now found
the edge of the CG (did not meassure). I did this mistake in
Istanbul not having the altimeter in on the morning flights.
I think I want two of them. One for each model.
DAY ..
13.april 2006
- Should I go? Or should I not go... That is the question!
For what? The worlds first "Soaring Masters" are coming up
sept.21-24 2006 and the entries are limited to 150 pilots.
This means that if one wants to be there for sure the entry
needs to be in the mail on the 1.may. I have still not
decided...
DAY ..
11.april 2006
- Not very warm but calm conditions and a chance to go back
in time and fly a famous rudder elevator model. The Cirrus
was 1400g (with CG on the aft limit of the instructions wich
was 78-90mm) but needed another 50g to fly like this
old-timer should. Hook was far back what was stated in the
manual but seemed fine were I had put it. Flew it on a
bungee and the previous owner (Geir Atle) also got to fly
it. He also took some pictures. I also flew one flight with
Organic 2,5m electric while Geir Atle flew his Edge. Amazing
how far the evolution has gone.
DAY ..
10.april 2006
- Great day for flying since it was calm and above zero. The
sun was up and lots of thermals around. My Pike Perfect was
out again and I am now finally getting used to not touching
those switches. There is simply no point on this plane other
than the speed setting. I loaded 600g of ballast and then
the camber works. The model is designed to not use any
camber though when the speed increases one can use a little.
This means that when circling tight or with ballast I use a
little. Log here
For a couple of days I have also worked on a oldtimer
project I got my hands on. Some extreme new covering just
for fun and hopefully I will be flying the legendary
Graupner Cirrus with only elevator rudder tomorrow or
atleast this week.
BTW I will attend Eurotour in Podhorany 3-4.june!!! Meet me
there ;-)
DAY ..
6.april 2006
- Cold wind today but had two flights with the
Organic and another propeller. 16x13 is just cavitating in the
release but grips the air after a few meters and gives a better
climb than 17x10 (I was expecting that). Also if I start the prop in
horisontal flying and then goes vertical after a second the climb
rate is higher (second last climb in the
log).
DAY ..
6.april 2006
- Today I both flew a Graphite that is to be sold and the
Organic. Sunshine and +1 celcius on the field so I enjoyed it. The
Organic goes like a rocket on steroids with only 8xGP2000.
Log Graphite (10xCP1700,
Kontronik 42-30, only 60A) and log
Organic (8xGP2000, Kontronik 42-60, 100A). Had a cool catch on
picture as you see... I was also in the local newspaper today.
Copy HERE
DAY ..
5.april 2006
-
Last week I cleaned my uncle's hobby room and today I just had to
fly an
Organic electric i collected from it (my uncle died). He had set
up a very light Organic and I had almost forgotten how nice these
things fly. I don't think there are many 2,5m that fly that well as
electric or sailplane. 15minutes flying before dinner was nice ;-)
I also downloaded the logged flights from Istanbul. Sadly the logger
went full on the 7th start so I only have logs from round 2-8 and no
finals. I did not bring a cable otherwise they would have been
there. Some starts were 5seconds and the low ones 3 seconds. As you
see the conditions on launching were not good in Istanbul. This is
because the field is not producing andy good air but is a "feeding
area" for the thermals around. So first 4 flights were saturday and
last 3 were sunday.
Download logs here
DAY ..
4.april 2006 -
Pictures from
Istanbul Eurotour F3J
-
A bunch of photos HERE (not either cropped or rotated much).
Corrected results from Winfried de Vries
DAY ..
3.april 2006 -
Going home from
Istanbul Eurotour F3J
- So how do I feel about the Perfect? As I have mentioned it
is better than the Superior but still need lots of testing on
morning flights. To get those last seconds we need to find the best
gliding speed. Flying too slowly clearly is not good. The Sharon is
still a good plane but the Perfect will be there with more testing.
The morning flights of Philip, Mustafa and Murat was very good and I
still have a few % to go on to reach that. In the high winds it
seems to cope well even without ballast. I was a little afraid about
that but it has better glide ratio than the Superior on distance.
Not quite up with the Giant but good. I need to fly against others
clearly. Maybe I should check my bank account or take out a credit
card to visit some more competitions...
The last day was spent together with our President Mr. Pimenoff and
his wife. We had a great boat trip in Istanbul and visited a market
for some local shopping. After that I ate lunch in the
workshop/clubhouse of the Soarist club (amazing 2 floors with
moulds, planes, resting area, everything you need) and later stayed
in the Harem Hotel. Late dinner with Croatians and Slovenian (Primo
Riner) was
good at a local restaurant.
There will be a lot of pictures out soon. I need to get home and
transfer first ;-) Attendants might ask for CD offcourse (apx 950
pictures total) at jo (@) grini.no . Big thanks to the
organizers, my friends, Samba, Volz and Horizon Hobby that makes
this trip worth flying further!
DAY ..
2.april 2006 -
Last day
Istanbul Eurotour F3J
- I did have a small hope and guess what it happened!!!!
After 8 rounds and some small mishaps I just managed to slide into
the finals. I think they checked my overflying of the safety
corridor and the official timer could not confirm it. I must say that it was a slopeflying final but I already
had dialed in the Pike Perfect for fast launches and very accurate
landings. I also had super helpers in the finals with Jane and Vlastimil
as runners and Jan Kohout as caller (Not to forget I had Jane and
Karel Koudelka as runners in most preliminaries). Jan urged me to go off the line at
2 seconds and so I did in 3 rounds. We might have used 3-4 seconds in one
start but it was anyway fast. The altitude achieved was probably apx
120-150m and in the landings I had dialed in 100degrees flaps to
stand still over the mark while waiting for the tone. I did a
mistake in final round 2 and pushed a little too hard to a 95p.
landing.
I ended up in 3rd place after a very happy Colin Lukas (Pike
Superior) and Philip Kolb (Pike Perfect). Philip was extreme and had
14:57,2 (reflight round 1), 14:56,1 and 14:56,3 so I could never had
taken first place without launching beside him.
We had no idea of how the other flyoff pilots was doing.
A very nice thing also happened during the price ceremony. I got the
"Fair Play Price" for telling that I might have flown under the
safety height (3m) over the corridor (the official timekeeper had
not seen or marked this on the scoring card and could not confirm it
when they asked afterwards). This is where we
launch from and go in/out from pits. We sometimes have to fly over
it to land since the landing spot is only 15m from the corridor.
Corrected results from Winfried de Vries
DAY ..
1.april 2006 -
Istanbul Eurotour F3J
- First day is finished. It was a long day but we got 5 rounds in
very different weather. We started with cold and wet morning air at
08:30 and I flew my first round to a 1000p with only 6:46 flying
time. Yes it was very difficult in the first slots. Then the wind
picked up so a nearby slope worked for some and now and then a
thermal came thru. The sun came out after a while and we could put
our shorts on but the ground was a bit wet on some places. At least
half the field is walking around in yellow boots from the local
shop. I think he made some money on us ;-) There were no lunch break
but all teams have free rounds to enjoy the great food served by
chefs. Organisation runs very smooth though we pilots tend to do
some crashes that causes some reflights as always. I had one 90p
landing but had very good points until the landing in round 5. The
wind had changed and I did not want to risk coming in to land in
3-4m/s downwind. The landing spot is only 15m from the safety
corridor so me and Jan discussed to come in high. Sadly I was a bit
late so I speeded up and forgot all about the corridor... I did not
get a penalty marked on my scorecard but I know many could see it so
I asked for a penalty afterwards. I landed outside the landing spot
also so only 850p for that round. This gave me -100 points on the
final score so I am probably out of the finals :-( The funny thing
was that Philip flew against me but was low and could not get over
the safety corridor without penalty. He landed in his hand on the
other side instead... Pitty as I was now in 4th place of 72
competitors. 12 is going to the finals. I am flying together with
Jan Kohout, Karel Koudelka and Vlastimil Vostrel. The team is
working well and Jane Vostrelova is our key runner. She does not
have boots (like many others) and was extremely wet but still
running! Today we also flew together with hundred of storks. Amazing
to be in the same thermal. They outfly us for sure!!! In the evening
we had a great barbeque and some bull-riding on the field. Great day
and I am so happy to see all my friends on the international
arena!!!! My boots was even on direct national television today :-O
I flew my Pike Perfect all 5 flights and are happy with it. In most of
my flights I have been the highest one though I needed to adjust the
hook a bit for downwind launches. It is surely better than the
Superior though still not sure if my flying style is sometimes
better with Giant. There is little or no thermal
activity on the field and we had many downwind launches. I have logs
but forgot to bring my cable to download.
Top 20 after round 5 (without
penalty). Be sure to also read the march diary.
I am sorry if there are any files missing. I can only get dial up
and transer is in the range 0,5-07kb... So I cant even answer
emails!!
