DAY .. 30.January 2007
I should have gone to Denmark in a few days but sadly they cancelled the event :-(((
Got out with the winch again today. Conditions have changed a lot with +2C but still only wind after the thermals passes. Some 10-20cm snow on the ice and water below so when the line have worked the snow for a while the winch has to work hard. Typical when the snow is heavy the water comes up. So I got a little wet collecting the line but had a nice time. Flew 4 starts with the Crossover and 2 flights with the Crossfire to compare. The launches are getting better on the Crossover and I did good testing on that today. Flew with the 2,2g logger (forgot the Zlog) and here are my 4 starts: 1) 248m same setup as last time 2) Less camber and more elevator. lost power 3-4 times 3) 216m same setup first 40-50m and then half camber. 4) 241m same setup as start 1 but I did some circle towing (did not use line and did not get more power either so should be equal to start 1). Then I moved over to the Crossfire with 2 starts. 1) 208m 2) 217m. Now the line was digging low in the snow so might have gotten more power from the winch with an earlier start.
I did 3 "speed" flights with the Crossover and 1 with Crossfire. I was curious on the turns. As before the Crossover does remarkable good turns. It keeps the energy well out of the turns and have a good kick thru the whole stick travel. The Crossfire might have a better kick but one has to be careful out of the turns to keep the energy. When it comes to duration I have not found any super settings on the Crossover yet. It circles nice and indicates lift well. But in sink it does not do well yet. Might have to test a more forward CG again (don't want to but... ;)
After the session I flew the Nemo 10-12 flights just as the sun dissapeared.

• Again Krystall Cup is on after a year with nothing. Sunday 15.april arranged by SFTH

• Some problems with a new spamfilter from my provider so please use jojo@vfkm.no to email me.

• Trøste-F3J hos Vingen. Klippet fra www.vingen.no :
  Jeg vet det er mange flyhungrige seilflygere om dagen! Winter F3J i DK er avlyst, så vi trår til med nok et "trøstestevne" i Porsgrunn! Søndag 4. februar, kl. 11.00. Løse F3J-regler... Det vil si så mange innledende som mulig og ingen finaler. Påmelding til eroland@online.no innen lørdag 3.2 kl. 16.00, da vi også beslutter om det blir noe, med hensyn til været. Ring Egil (915 52 783) om du lurer på noe.

DAY .. 28.January 2007
Not warm and the sun was behind clouds but no wind so ok to fly a bit. Did a full power flip with the Diablo and broke the elevator loose (no wonder at full power really). Took out the Nemo DLG and had some flights instead. Flew Arild's "Arildmate" a spin with DA-50 and it flew very well. Nice and stable model and Arild got extreme power in it... The supplied CG is a touch too much forward but only slightly.

DAY .. 26.January 2007
Some indoor today and I flew my Bipe Flatana. Still amazed how well this model flies indoor. Also tried the Auster and the motor came loose. The small two rotor Bell heli also got a spin but needs some work and new batteries. Arild flew his Lierider in some ropes my son had taken out and got some small damage to the wing but only minor.

DAY .. 26.January 2007
Some snow during coffee time but it stopped and the sun came upon us. Me and Arild went for the ice and had a super time. He with "Arildmate" and me with "Crossover". The temperature was -6 but with the sun and no wind it felt like 0C. When thermals went thru (lots of them today) it went cold but if one just waited for them to pass (I dont wait offcourse) it was very nice. The Crossover still had some issues on elevator and I did not like it. But I changed the elevator to the bigger one (that also makes the CG move slightly forward) and I got a completely new model to fly. Now it was gentle around neutral yet still had the power to drive thru the turns and heavy zoom. In one of the windier moments I got to test the starts and circle towing was no problem. But I did feel I need to adjust the launch camber as I lost a bit of it coming up for zooming. With a lot of thermals I could fly speed and catch a thermal to go up again some times. Great to be flying sailplanes again ;-)
Some of you might wonder why I fly so much F3B planes. This is because I am on the F3B team for World Championship F3B this summer. So I need to get a lot of airtime with that type of models. I feel I need most practice on these things: 1) get a feel for the energy kept in those models I will fly. 2) Get much more practice on 150m course so I know where the bases are. 3) Adjust settings very carefully for the best launch, speed and distance in all conditions. That means turning with the right diff and get the correct elevator settings (and stay with that).

DAY .. 24.January 2007
Could not resist it and went out flying today even though it said -14C (7F). But the sun was up over the hill and with no wind it was a nice few hours on the ice. I got to fly the new "Crossover" (this name suggestion by Anders) and all went well. Will have to fine tune the CG a bit but very good kick in the elevator and it circled gently and nice. I think the 5 degree joiner is enough as it responded well on rudder. Pushing it to the limit only needed a bit more rudder and it kept on flying without spinning. As expected it did not like camber much. I am pretty sure it can be flown with tiny amounts but have to fine tune the CG first I think. Had only 3 flights but fairly good and even working thermals on the last two. The last flight I had the CG a bit too far forward. All in all a fairly good impression on the first day though I feel I need much more. Photos my my son and Arild.

DAY .. 22.January 2007
-13C today but Arild is hungry for flying! And I am too off course. The ice is a little more than 10cm at the "beach" but water has come thru further out so the first airfield will be near land. Cant wait to set up the winch later in the week.

DAY .. 20.January 2007
The "CrossMachine" is ready for maiden. All up weight with the heavy full carbon elevators is 2316g (lighter elevators saves 10g in the tail if I remember correctly).
Ever packed up 6 Perfect's? This is pieces of art !-)

DAY .. 19.January 2007
Long since we had a good indoor session but the Weeg family have got a good sniff on it so we were actually 6 pilots (4 with planes) this friday. Arild got his new Lierider going and Kjell Arne had a good time with 2 new planes and a helicopter. I flew my Bipe (RC-flight.com) and my old 3DX mini. The Bipe amazes me in its indoor potential. It is heavy with the equipment that I have in it but cruises around like any lighter ones I have seen or tested. Wonder how it is with light setup! Kåre had his helicopter and got his share of Kjell Arne's planes.
The ice should now soon be ready for some winching as it is -15C outside and it has been cold for a while now. My Crossrace is almost ready and weight seems to be 2250-2300 or 2350 in worst case. Keep in mind the fuse I got is a heavy layup DS fuse. But the wing is huge so I dont think that will matter.

DAY .. 18.January 2007
Yesterday I got some parts for this seasons F3B WC. A RaceM F3B wing that had some faults in the color had been rubbed down and I bought it unpainted. 4 layers of thin clear coating later and some polishing (20g each wing) and it can be used I think ;-) Each wing is 615g empty but rock solid both in bending and twisting. I have attached it to a spare Crossfire fuse I had laying around. The fuse also need some touchup but is now ready joined with the wing. Just need some fancy stuff on the wing and some servos and I am ready to test it. Earlier I have flown a RaceM with X21 X-fuse and liked it. This should in theory be a nice model.
So what will be the name? Dont know yet.. "CrossRace", "RaceCross", "Trash", "CrossVolz", "VolzCross" ???? Need to have a cool name so if you have any ideas feel free to email me ;-)
Update 24.jan: Latest name suggestion from Chris "JOJO's DREAM", from RolleRolf "Valdresflyet", Egil "Trash'mRace". Alex "RaceTheFire", Kjell-Sture "Jåssfire" and "CrossMachine", Anders Nilsson "Crossover"

DAY .. 17.January 2007
Been out flying a bit helicopter (Joker2) with downlink and tested different rpm's for lowest possible amps. Did not meassure but pretty low rpm's with my setup gave the best result with 1,7kg payload (camera 1060g, downlink apx 150g and clampmeter 560g). Meassured 22A and on full pitch/rpm 55A. That is almost 2kw ;-)

DAY .. 15.January 2007
Me and Arild were out flying our small models. I flew my Mini Katana and he his Mini Edge.

DAY .. 13.January 2007
Did try to get out on our main ice today but it was not strong enough for big things yet. Arild flew a flight with his small edge and I measured the ice (or tried to)

DAY .. 12.January 2007
Did some tests in the cold today with some older 10-12C heli cells and newer 20C cells. The cells had been in the car for 2 days with -10Celcius outside and was cold (well below zero in the car). I tested with the Diablo equipped with 5 cells and an Axi motor running 17x10prop. The older cells did not do well at all and the voltage was well under 3v per cell with half power (I have a checker with diodes in the plane). The new cells did well and I had no problems other than some glitches from a poor rx I think. The helicopter Joker2 has the same cells (10S) and I was a bit worried as I have not done many autos yet. But I did not have to worry since the voltage never dropped below 3,3v/cell and I flew apx 4-5min with full power sometimes (and with 1kg camera). So the test was successful and I think I can thrust these batteries even when it is this cold.
On the pictures also Arild's new Ultimate that we ran the motor on a week ago. He flew it in the weekend and he says it flew nice. The "Arildmate" name and other stuff is from my cutting/printing machine. The ice is now settled on the whole lake here so we have a nearby flying place a bit bigger than the football field ;)

DAY .. 5.January 2007
Erik Morgan have been here a few days and we have built a bit sailplanes and one model exchanged owner... We had a small thought about flying but ended up that we built and I flew the Joker a small flight.

DAY .. 1.January 2007
A bit cold maybe (-5C = 23F) but the first F5J eXtreme postal competition was on and I had to fly off course. It was snowing but as I got ready the clouds broke up with some huge thermals that actually made the first flight too easy.. I used a lot of seconds to climb so had a lot of excess height to burn of coming down to the 10 minute mark. Second flight I used a poor battery but still ok and the same good conditions when I found it (it had moved a lot). Last flight was a bit exciting as one aileron servo malfunctioned. I taped it and flew with one aileron only. OK but not recommended on this model I would say. Took no chances on the climb so after 25, 22 and now 26seconds climbs it is more than I could have done this day. Landings were easy with 20cm of snow but still I was a bit rusty. Last landing was the best since I had only one aileron. Missed by 5seconds and 1-2m but very happy with that. SO: 1st flight 10:01min 1-2m 25sec. 2nd flight 9:58min 0-1m 22sec. 3rd flight 9:55min 1-2m 26sec. See the progress on the postal comp HERE