DAY ..
31.January 2006
- Katana 2M from
RC-Flight
- Maybe I should have been flying sailplanes today since the first
competition is this weekend and it was turbulent today on the ice.
But I could not resist and took out the Katana 2M for another spin.
"Warm" today with +7 celcius and the was a bit of water on the ice.
The model "shakes" a bit in the turbulent wind but does generally
not care about the turbulent conditions. Crosswind in the landing
was also just fun. Cool to push that rudder and sideslip like a
fullsize and straighten it out the last 10cm over the ice.
DAY ..
30.January 2006
- Katana 2M from
RC-Flight
- Got another flight on the Katana 2M in almost calm conditions
today. This model is the first ever outdoor motor plane I have had
that can do the tricks of a indoor model. Incredible how slow I can
fly and then do an outside loop within 5-10m. The reason I guess is
that this model is very light yet still strong enough for 3D
manoeuvres. I just plane love it (yet still being a motor plane and
not a sailplane...)
DAY ..
29.January 2006
- Katana 2M from
RC-Flight
- Size matters!!!! For a while now I have been flying the Mini
Katana but now I got a Katana 2M and we are now talking about a
completely different model. While the small one needs a bit of speed
my new big 2M can be flown as nimble and slow as you want. It is off
course a matter of wing loading! I have not measured yet but with
apx 5,5kg (yes incredible low weight for a 2m) on a 2M with huge wing we are talking stable and slow
flight as it should be. I have equipped my Katana 2M with the same
equipment as the Adrenaline. That means Hacker C50 14XL, 10cell
3200mah Lipo and a 20x10 APC. This gives me enough power to get out
of hover and if I can get larger diameter with less pitch I will
have that because the speed was high enough. There was a funny
situation yesterday when I mounted the aileron servos. The aileron
horns was to be mounted one spar to far out compared to the servo
bay. A quick call to the shop revealed that it was only my model
that had this. Probably the builder had a "bad day" or something ;-)
I
only got two flights today since the wind picked up. First flight
was a bit influenced by shacking hands but I tried many tricks and I
loved what I could do. Before the flight I had chosen to have the CG
a little further back then stated in the manual and a little less
right thrust than stated. This was a good estimate because after
flipping it over on the back it did not need any corrections.
Knife-edge was also with no corrections and I could have gone for a
knife-edge loop though it would have been big. Second flight was in
winds at 3-6m/s but there were no problems what so ever. Easy to fly
and very slow landings. In these conditions I could have had a more
forward CG maybe but after 5 landings in front of my feet my
confidence was high!
I hope for good weather tomorrow and more flying because this was
fun. I don't think I will change anything at all. Maybe fine tune
the throws a bit. I started out with the throws in the book but
quickly switched to double them with 50% expo. That suits me much
better.
On the field today Arild had his maiden on the Patty Wagstaff with
DA-50 and that also flew on rails. He was very happy off course and
his model is very nice. Motor started after just a few flicks and
ran smooth. Maybe a bit overpowered but he knows were the left stick
is. Kjell Arne also brought his Extra 300 with MVVS engine. The
winds were strong when he arrived and he needed some engine
adjustments. But he got a few nice flights in. So we were actually 3
pilots with 3 big models having fun today. Most of the airphotos of
my model was by my son Fredrik that also got to fly his Headwind a
flight. After the flying Arild continued getting some snow away with
Geir Atle's tractor. Much faster an better than the small one we
have borrowed before.
More pictures HERE
DAY ..
28.January 2006
- Too cold to fly or go skiing (my son goes skiing every Saturday)
so we fixed my sons Headwind and attached a "jumper". Very cool for
him today since he both released the jumper and landed himself for
the first time. Proud dad off course...
DAY ..
27.January 2006
- Indoor and some building again. I finished the servo installation
in the tail on my Katana 2m and used the servos I used in the
Adrenaline. One servo up front for the rudder and two servos for
elevator back in the tail. This is very cheap BMS-620 Bluebird
servos (from the same factory of Waypoint). They only cost 150Nkr
(apx 20EUR) and have 9kg (4,8v) of torque on 48g. They give
incredible 11kg on 6v.. and have performed great in the Adrenaline
so why not here... My son got to build some depron planes that we
brought to the indoor hall and launched with my 3DX mini. Lots of
fun for a 8 year old. Otto also visited me and Tom Olav in the hall.
DAY ..
26.January 2006
- Today we were definitively affected by Morten's white glue (the
big bottle he fiddles with on the picture) so that is why we look a
bit funny. I got a big step forward on my Katana 2M today and it
looks good. I hate fiddling with canopies and as usual one has to
cut and decide if one wants to screw or glue it on. The manual said
screws and that was easy... Luckily Kjell at
www.rc-flight.com
had tipped me about the size of the canopy so I did cut it a bit
large at first. That was a good tip!!! Other than that everything is
going well and all surfaces are now glued and sealed with tape in
the hingeline. Motor is mounted and I have to figure out were to
have the batteries and were to mount the elevator servos.
DAY ..
25.January 2006
- My Superior and bungee came out to play and I had some nice
flights although it was cold at -7. Got 3 flights. First was only
5min but the last two was good at 10min with some small thermals
coming thru. Arild was also there and it seems he got the motor on
the Harrier to finally run. It seems there was a leak in the
carburator that he now found.
DAY ..
23.January 2006
- Some building in the clubs workshop and I started on my Katana 2M.
We also cut a frequency flag to officially open it!
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DAY ..
21.January 2006
- Ekeberg Indoor - Had promised to be speaker during the pylon competition on this years indoor show in Oslo. So I started at 07:00 and just made it in time. The organizing club is the biggest and only "pure" sailplane club in Norway so I am a member there and does some work from time to time and are also webmaster for their website. I took with my my Mini 3DX and a Shockflyer but only took out the 3DX since it is my favourite. Exciting to meet lots of people again. Gives you that rush in your body that makes me "have to" talk to everybody ;-) Lots of pictures HERE Report from the event (Nor. txt.) HERE |
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DAY ..
21.January 2006
- Katana 2M from
RC-Flight
- Back home I finally got time to unwrap a new toy! I have been
thinking a bit about big 3D models and my Adrenaline was almost huge
but only big. It was not quite as big as it could have been you
might say! So when I got the chance to throw in my Adrenaline in a
deal for a huge Katana 2m I just had to! So today I unwrapped it,
weighed it and drewled all over it. I had to wipe clean the parts
after unwrapping (well almost). Parts seems very light and at first
looks strong enough for 3D flying. I might even take out some
material here and there since I am putting my thrusty Hacker C50
14XL in it with 10cell lipo. The weights are
HERE and I am aiming for a total
of 5600g. Since the wing is 92,95dm2 that means a wing loading of
only 60g/dm... Hmmm
DAY ..
21.January 2006
- A full day on the ice working the tractor. Geir Atle started in
the morning and I took over mid-day. Tom Olav and Arild also helped
a bit with our car. As you can see my son loves the enormous amounts
of snow that came in just a few days!
DAY ..
20.January 2006
- Indoor after some hours on the ice and some hours fixing the
tractor.. Very tired - but a good way to end the day ;-)
DAY ..
19.January 2006
- My club have now a workshop we can all use. We will try to meet up
atleast once a week but the key will be available for all. We have
been working on the place for a few weeks now and it is staring to
be nice.
DAY ..
16.January 2006
- Almost no wind on the ice and cloudy calm conditions in -3 celcius.
I took out my Pike Giant and flew 3 flights on the winch with apx
170m to the turnaround (old 1,3mm line with a lot of knots). Two of them were long
while the last were fun flying. First also involved some speed
practice F3B but without lead it is not the same.
DAY ..
15.January 2006
- Maybe the last time I got to fly my Adrenaline since I have been
offered to switch against a
2m Katana from RC-flight. That could be exciting ;-) It is
supposed to be a very light 2m and I think it will be fun with my
Hacker motor. I also flew the Mini Katana a spin.
DAY ..
13.January 2006
- As "always" there is indoor Friday evening and this time me, Tom
Olav and visiting Ivar Børsheim had some fun. Ivar brought a cool
butterfly while I flew my 3DX and Tom Olav the Lierider. Tomorrow I
will likely meet Ivar on the ice.
DAY ..
13.January 2006
- A storm is coming in over Norway but I did not see much of it. A
little wind coming the wrong way and turbulent conditions so I took
out the Adrenaline from
RC-flight.com
with Hacker C50 and 10S. It was not worse than that I had a good
time. Wheel covers are in for repairs since I have been rubbing them
a bit much on the ice...
Want to
try your "luck" against me?
First competition in 2006 for me is in Denmark 4-5.February
Check it out. This is THE winter competition up here
It is close to the German border so come on you
Germans and Northern Europeans!!
Read about last year
HERE (this year we will stay in an affordable hotel)
Latest
news about the season 2006:
It is soon here... What is here?
Well first of all I will soon get my two new weapons for this
season.
First I will late in this month get a Supra from
Kennedy
Composites
Then I will get a "mystery ship" that I am not going to reveal yet.
These two models will go thru extensive testing to see if they can
help me to be....
And today I am happy to say that I have come to a decision of
outfitting both planes with the best servos that can be bought for
money. Last season I was testing
Volz servos
from the new digital line on various surfaces. I have by that found I need to fit both the
planes with only those servos. What I found last year was that these
servos are MUCH better than all others I have had and that Volz have
taken a huge step forward compared to other brands the last years.
So sorry for the commercial but I think they deserve a tiny bit of
space here ;-)
DAY ..
11.January 2006
- Much better temperature today at +5 celcius but also winds coming
down in the valley making it very turbulent. So I took out my weapon
for those conditions the Pike Giant. As yesterday I took out my
bungee but instead of 30m rubber and 20m line I layed the rubber
double and made a 50m line. This gives me some extra power in the
launch since it was a bit turbulent. The altitude is the same or
better. The rubber I use is not for F3B planes but works fine for
me.
As yesterday I logged the flights and
did some testing with much more forward CG (50g in front of servo
board). This showed again a "sluggish" model that needed much more
throws to to what I wanted and indication of lift is not that good
Todays logs can be found HERE.
DAY ..
10.January 2006
- Been itching to get out with some sailplanes. So when the
temperature got "up" to -5C I took out my trusty Superior and a
small bungee. Todays task was to test out different CG's and flap
settings. The wind was blowing 2-3m/s but "sadly" it also stopped
blowing at times indicating that thermals were around. Sinkrate was
therefore nothing to look at since the flying was much more
important. but I did fly with some different settings and the last
two flights with a 50g lead in front of the servo board to simulate
a forward CG. All the logs are HERE
DAY ..
8.January 2006
- It is VERY cold outside with -22 celcius. But I just had to get a
flight in. So the Mini Katana came out and flew for 5 minutes until
my fingers got num. The Lipo battery is also a little "dead" in
these conditions. But after some hard throttle it works ok.
DAY ..
5.January 2006
- Indoor after a club meeting. Me and Tom Olav had some flights. I
flew my Mini 3DX and Tom Olav his Lierider. A good time but I was
tired after a long day.
DAY ..
5.January 2006
- Today we managed to start up Arild's Extra. Nice noise actually.
The reason why we could not start it before was that the needle in
the carburator (pump) was dry after long storage and needed to come
loose. This happens to gasoline motors that has been in storage for
a while. We also went on the ice to fly some Katana's and I flew the
Adrenaline a few flights. Nice temperature today at -4 celcius. In
the evening many of the guys in the club checked out our new
building facility and we washed it down and cleaned it up. I got to
be the first to fly indoor. I beat Arild to it since he was washing
the walls ;-)
DAY ..
3.January 2006
- To cold to do very much flying but we spent some time in Arild's
hobbyroom and do what we have wanted for a long time. We built a
bigger rudder for my Mini Katana. 15mm longer and 15mm higher made a
huge difference and it now does knife edge loop and can fly
knifeedge over the ice at half rudder throw. Pictures by Arild
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DAY ..
2.January 2006
-13 but had to fly a bit since Arild provided me with a reasonably
priced Mini Katana. It needed a few hours of work before we could
fly but it worked and I had two flights with it. Arild took all the
pictures. This is not a beginner model and has its small faults but
is a good aerobatic model in this size. As you see I also found a
nice cap today... I am now a police officer so be careful.. ;-)
DAY ..
1.January 2006
-
X5J eXtreme postal event
It was snowing really hard for round 1 but it cleared during
round 2 and 3 so I took advantage of the wind shift and did not need
the long motortimes at all. But I stuck with them to see how far up
they will get me. My logger keeps making me crazy but I got two of
the flights recorded. Round 1 10:02 , 1-2m , 18sec Round 2 10:00 ,
1-2m , 18sec Round 3 10:00 , 2-3m , 17sec 1825,7 + temp -7celcius
43,5p. Total 1869,2p
Afterwards I flew a long flight with my Adrenaline as plenty of
people had showed on the ice today. The big Extra that Kjell Arne
brought is a nice model and with a brand new gasoline engine he did
not have unlimited power but with a larger prop (when the motor have
broken in) I think he has what he need. Very stable and nice flying
model. Looks very easy to fly.
