DAY .. 29.May 2009 -
Xplorer 3800 from
Nan models
OK here we go. Jojo got the chance to fly Nan
models Xplorer 3800. Jojo was a bit loud on the
airfield in Istanbul and the "Pike-man" as some
might call him has to go and do a real flying
session with the Xplorer. Love it. I have not
signed anything for anybody and this is a good
opportunity to fly yet another of this years
best models that money can buy. Looking forward
to be able to flip a coin when I look down in my
flight box or if so pick whatever suits the
conditions.
OK. Received two models in a double cardboard
box. Both is full carbon and supposed to have a
fairly strong spar and suitable for most
conditions. Weights are as follows for nr.1
ready (dry/ready grams): joiners 43g, elevator
with pin 50g, left tip 252/286g, right tip
251/286g, midsection 542/632g, Fuse (a little
lead in nose as dry) 401/680g, Total 1539g ready
1963g with CG at 112mm.
Did my own paint scheme with gray and faded red
top and some black/white bottom. Very little
epoxy and paint used so no un-needed weight here
thank you. Model is fairly finished and with
nuts installed in wing (though subspar needs to
be drilled) and links provided. Wire harness and
wing covers needs to be made by yourself or
bought somewhere.
First flights was done at high altitude on the
summer farm in the evening. 100m to the
turnaround and F3B winch in 5-7m/s conditions.
Used most of the day to dial in the throws and
check launches, landings, etc. Some thermals
around and easily circled them way downwind but
had to put in some ballast to be safe (3 bars
provided about 200,400 and 600g). Launches were
constant above 200m means
well above 100m zoom
and that is fine) and the initial settings seems
fine (10mm camber and equal ailerons. almost 2mm
down elevator). Still need to fine tune the hook
for faster rotation. CG was slightly changed
back and forward. Did not manage to check were I
was but found it did not matter much in today's
conditions. Time and different conditions will
tell more about CG but got an idea. In
distance/speed mode flipped inverted it slightly
goes nose down with today's CG. Two joiners
types were supplied. Today I only used the small
dihedral since it was windy. Had no issues
turning downwind fast. Need to get slightly more
aileron throw. Rolls are fairly fast but can be
better. Differential is very little for almost
straight rolls in medium speed (how I like it).
Need to fine tune the distance/speed mode more
if I can.
About 15 launches and some of them short flights
before my mother (she took the photos of me)
said dinner was ready. Fantastic evening on the
mountain. So far a nice model that has much
similar flying to the Supra and the Perfect yet
still is different in many ways. Competition on
Monday...
The Xplorer
auction 2009
Purchase the NAN-Models “Xplorer” by auction
and help young people!
For the season of 2009 Philip Kolb together with
Genc Hayat (Young Lives Foundation –
www.genchayat.org ) want to sell a state of
art F3J-plane by auction: A NAN-Models Xplorer
in full carbon build-up. The money collected
will be fully donated to Genc Hayat for
supporting their work and projects in the field
of social and educational work for young people
in Turkey.
Download Flyer and how to donate HERE
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DAY .. 24.May 2009 -
Pike Perfect ET
2 hours thermal / slope flying today with my
son. We each took our turn on the Pike Perfect
ET and there were stupid lift all the time. One
could fly aerobatic all the time. Nice and hot
spring day. Fredrik got some nice shots on the
camera.
DAY .. 24.May 2009 -
X
These pictures should give you a clue.
DAY .. 21-23.May 2009 -
AXN Floater
3 days in row now we have been flying (me and my
son) the AXN Floater from Hobbycity. Great fun
for low price. Fredrik loves to fly fast and low
(lower than dad likes sometimes...).
Received 2 new models yesterday also. Started to
mount them. Stand by... Good I am free to fly
whatever I feel like ;)
Should have been at Lillehammer today but health
stopped us.
DAY .. 18.May 2009 -
"Vårlige vinder 2009"
Anders Hauge have made a great video from "Vårlige
vinder 2009". This is a laid back event on the
North West coast of Norway (Molde). 30 pilots
flew for 5 days and had loads of fun. See
29.april to
2.may in the diary for
more
Video HERE (HD quality also coming soon)
DAY .. 17.May 2009 -
National day of Norway
The class of my son had the responsibility of
the National celebration on the local school
this year. Every year there is fun for the kids,
simple food and ice cream. We all walk a few
kilometres to visit the old ones and the music
play while we walk. I took the opportunity
together with my son and Roar Steine to do
something extra. My son and Roar took care of
two simulators and over 100kids got to fly. I
took some pictures of the walking and also flew
3 hours on buddy cable with Easyglider and AXN
Floater. Over 35 kids got their wing pin. Very
cool way to celebrate the National day.
HERE is a Norwegian report and lots of pictures
DAY .. 16.May 2009 -
Local newspaper facsimile
Facsimile from the local newspaper 16.mai 09
about the 100 year celebration of Norwegian
flying.
See it HERE (0,2mb .pdf)
Pictures and text by Toril Meisingset and others
DAY .. 10.May 2009 -
F3J
Norwegian Cup and 2nd qualifying competition for
the WC F3J 2010. 19 pilots entered and 18 showed
on the field for this competition. New guys as
CD and computer and they did a good job with
both getting so many pilots entered and keeping
the event relaxing and nice. They need to learn
more about details but I think they will do well
in the future. Thanks to Stein and Leif.
4 teams (means 5 slots with 18 pilots) and all
launches on winches. We use the F3J rules as
they are except the winches (150m to
turnaround). Prepared 5 spots for the finals.
Interesting day since the conditions were
changing all the time and we got everything from
a little windy in altitude to dead calm air
after a small rainshower. Very good pilots got
some serious bad scores in some rounds just
because they were a bit too late on a thermal or
went the wrong way. My team did very well and
got 3 pilots in the finals. Me and Tor both had
4000p after the preliminaries but I got him in
the finals. I did most of my launches on 1.55mm
line but in dead air we used some 1.35mm. We had
a long lunch and two breaks for small rain
showers. Could possibly have flown 5 rounds if
we had started earlier and not had any rain but
this is relaxing and always with 5min
preparation time.
Results and details is HERE
Finalists and best junior. Right: Stein Jaksland
the CD
Left: Stig m. Olsen. Right: Tor Midtlund and new
girlfriend
Left: Jostein and Kenneth in front. Thorbjørn
and Stein in the back.
Right: Leif Bjørgo a happy man after he
discovers himself in the finals.
DAY .. 9.May 2009 -
Practice
Came two days early for Norwegian Cup F3J. A
good night sleep and woke up to windy conditions
that got stronger thru the day. It is so great
to so some heavy launching. Did some logging of
the launches and was
at 250-302m varying if the wind picked up or
not (150m to turnaround and F3B winches). We had
constant 9m/s with gusts above 12m/s and
probably much more a bit higher! This is
normally not a field for the best launches since
the wind below 20-30m is a bit turbulent. But
today it was good as long as you got the model
settled quickly. I had 20 launches atleast with
both normal (4 launches) and ET tips (about 16
launches) for my Pike Perfect. I pushed the
limit a bit much on the ET tips when I wanted to
go for extreme launches in the end. The tips are
only very light version and when I broke a
linkage the tips got some damage in the zoom.
Need some love and care but will fly again soon.
We were 7-8 pilots on the field and had a good
day before we went to bed. Stig Magne did a nice
thing flying with a youngster he brought. Good
to see people helping the juniors.
Wind. Middle: Alf Erik launching Jojo. Right:
Stig M. Explorer
Stig magne helping a new junior
DAY .. 4.May 2009 -
new field
In the local club we are trying to plan a new
field. We have most of the finance in order but
needs a little bit more and the support of all
the members.
Here is a video (10mb) I took with a simple
EPP model and a Flycam2
DAY .. 2.May 2009 -
"Vårlige vinder", Molde
Saturday and my 4th day of flying. We went to a
nearby slope of the camping and the conditions
were sloppy in the beginning but peaked at
around 15m/s later in the day. I managed to find
a ridge nearby to fly DS on. It was very
turbulent but as soon as I got it on step I
could get some very good speeds out of it.
Punched out sometimes to about 300m above the
slope with my Pike Kobra DS. I also flew my
Predator but managed to hold back when the
conditions went really good. Thanks to Gudmund
organizing this event. I think we passed 30
pilots.
I have my pictures *(originals) HERE -
Anders Hauge's pictures HERE -
Gudmund pictures HERE -
Jan Inge Grøneng pictures HERE
Pilots friday
Left: Opus and Eagle. Right: Thomas enjoying EPP
pillow
Me flying DS with the Predator
Predators friday (not included Gudmund's the
designer who is laying in front)
Pilots friday
DAY .. 1.May 2009 -
"Vårlige vinder", Molde
3rd day of "Vårlige vinder" in Molde and Gudmund
have managed to get a lot of pilots here. We
went again to "Skalten" and even though the
conditions never really took off we enjoy
ourselves and fly both front and on the back
(DS). I flew Skymax4, Predator, Kobra DS and
some foam stuff. Made a lot of good onboard
video. Anders Hauge will implent that into a
good video later. Me and Thomas also did some
double DS (both flying the same circle). That
was cool. Finally someone daring ;)
Left: Me and Kobra DS. Right: Me and Thomas
flying double DS
Jojo flying Skymax 4
Me flying MPX Fox and right Kobra DS
Some pilots thursday