DAY .. 28.October 2005
21:00 - Indoor and I wanted to try the SU-31. On the weight I am flying it is actually very good indoor. And with some negative and positive kickflap one can do whatever. Arild flew his Shockflyer and Lierider. Oh btw.. I am getting tired of hovering pictures.... too easy I guess...

12:00 - Out with the Su-31 after a long time not flying it. A nice model actually and can fly in small open spaces. Arild also got to fly it a little while I triggered the camera a few times. I also flew my Solo DLG but broke a servo gear in a catch..

DAY .. 27.October 2005
Browsed some forums yesterday about using a "throwing stick" or a small wire to the model to make a higher DLG start. So I figured why not put the stick in the ground and tension it up? I did have a 8m pole before but that was left in the states so I got out my 4m carbon fishing rod and tensioned it up with my DLG and 2m line. The result was disappointing. The reason was not the idea but that the fishing rod was not stiff enough. So I need a 8m or a stiffer rod. Other than that I think it would work ;-)
Arild took some pictures of it and afterwards we went back home to him and phoned T&K for a new motor on his Mini Katana. We had been wondering if the motor (Mega 400/15/5) could be better with 3 cells and Thorbjørn said it would. The solution was easy when we just figured out that we could make Arild's two 2S 2000mah batteries into one 3S 2000mah battery.. Result was a model with plenty of power to go vertical though he might need to step up on the controller (27A on full steam now). The CG was also changed to 90mm and a little more rudder was programmed. Full rates are now nice with 50% expo.

DAY .. 26.October 2005
Yesterday Arild got a Mini Kantana in the post from T&K seilflysport. Today it was ready for maiden flight. The set is very nice and especially when considering the price. Quality is very good and the building manual shows most of the important stuff by pictures. It is an ARF set and important stuff is in carbon or at least strong and light. Negative? Well a small warp in one aileron (Set has been in the mail so..), canopy might be easier to glue/screw on, alignment pins for wings were not correct. But this is mostly small stuff. The solutions and build quality was cool and ensures a light and strong model. Weight with 63g Mega 400/15/5 and 2x2000mah Kokam was 700g but I think we will step up to 3 cells or another motor to get full 3D. We were not sure if we had enough power for full 3D though Motocalc said so.. (We used a 11x4,7 APC and might have been to much for that motor). We were right. It was not enough. Enough for calm F3A flying but need to step up a bit for full 3D. The motor/battery were used because he already had it. Not because it is a proven setup. We both flew one flight each and it was on a football field with 30cm of snow so takeoff had to be by hand launch and landing in the snow. The model was set up with the very aft CG (94mm) and seemed to be a good and neutral CG. We might go for a little bit more forward CG and as mentioned in some forums on the net the setup of throws is very important. Be sure to use a good servo on all surfaces as we discovered our rudder servo was not powerful enough. We will probably try to tweak it a little with shorter servo horns to get more power though. The servos used were HS56HB and they are supplied with power from the BEC of a Jeti 18 esc. A better esc. or S-bec might give more power to the servos though. More pictures HERE

DAY .. 23.October 2005
First some flights on a football field but a little turbulent from some buildings made it boring. So another trip to the "slope" instead. The road is slippery were I was throwing and I managed to bend the knee after my shoes slipped. I ended up in a pile of snow though ;-) So only two flights but fun.

DAY .. 22.October 2005
One needs to be fit to throw DLG so I did a "substitute" and went up in the valley for slopeflying. It was not much slopelift but just getting up from the valley makes the thermals stronger (I fly out over the valleyside) and just a small toss makes it possible to fly a long flight. Snow is not all over us and "skegtires" are on the car already. Might have wanted more dihedral on the Solo but the long tail makes it still nice to fly.

DAY .. 21.October 2005
12:00 - First snow today but I had to get out with my new DLG. The name is Solo built by Sotir Lazarkov and sold directly by Mibo modeli but it is also sold under the names: Radina -Japan, Highlight - Europe, Discus 150 - France, Enigma - USA. I bought it directly from the producer while I was in Istanbul and I have plenty of indoor servos so the total was low. I first tested a small Jeti 5K but needed to grab a Shulze out of my indoor model to get good reception. Might try a bigger Shulze also as I hate to have antenna hanging out of the model. It is a cheap inexpensive model but is made fairly light and strong so might fit my needs of a thermal sniffer on the slope or with a motor in the nose. For now I installed it as a DLG and with 4 servos I ended up on 307g. I think it could be lower if one cuts the long boom and use less strenght in the tail. The tail feathers are ready made and very light. Inner core is foam so the attachment to the boom needs to be good though. I wanted it to be fairly "unbreakable" back there. If you have access to some light carbon you might either make a smaller tail or cut the boom. But as supplied it will launch very straight and make easy high launches. The boom is very stiff coming from an inexpensive model. Actually testing against others it seems to be top class. Check an very interresting thread on RC-groups HERE. The conditions were not good today but I had some fun and checked out the incidence and throws. Need to get more brake and it might be that I have too little incidence since I ended up with a CG way back of what the producer says.
15:00 - Adjusted the EWD slightly to suit a more forward CG and changed the Rx to a Shulze 835. My dead air times with a normal throw is 1-1:30 in the foggy conditions. It was not completely calm but as calm as it gets here in Norway. I could have thrown higher I think but don't want to risk my back.
20:30 - Indoor as always when I have time on Fridays. I was alone sadly but flew 3 batteries = 30minutes = 1400mah of flying time with my 3DX mini.

DAY .. 19.October 2005
Of to Klanten to fly Adrenaline and Arild's Harrier. Incredible how unlucky some are. Both me and Arild have had our times but now it was Arild's turn again. His Harrier was in the air after a long time and the motor stopped when hovering. Even with 20m height he did not recover and suffered a nose in with broken firewall. Seems the fuel line inside had some problems (happened before). The model was not totalled but needs a new needle and some love and care. Should be ready in 2-3 hours work though.
So over to my Adrenaline!! As expected it was a blast. I did not get the feeling I get of sailplanes but did shake a bit on the first flight. Model is super stable and can even be landed as slow as you want - yet extreme 3D manouvers can be carried out. The snap turns are full of power like no other model I know of. The CG needs to be slightly moved rearward as it needed a bit down elevator on inverted. I had set it just in the middle of what the producer recommended and as usual one needs to go back. I had used 290mah of the battery on the first 1min+ flight, recharged and flew 5minutes (5 min of power above 20% so apx 6-7min flying). After recharge this evening I measured all cells and it seems that they are all 10cells within 0,015V. I only used 930mah and that is encouraging for the flight time since I flew normal aerobatic with big loops a bit hovering and some knife-edge. I used the APC 20x8 prop and the vertical was good but might be even better out of hover I think. So I might put on the 20x10 instead. We then headed home after only these flights. After all the feeling after Arild's head on was not super. Weather was great and although minus degrees in the morning we had to loose the jackets in the sun. No wind on Klanten airfield today and the sun was shining from blue sky.

DAY .. 18.October 2005
A few days of working in my cellar and the Adrenalin was ready. This is a model I have had for a while but never finished. It was about time... The model comes from RC-flight.com and is called Adrenalin. Span 1710mm, length 1720mm and supposed to be equipped with a 120 motor. But hey I don't mess around with fuel so instead mine has a Hacker C50 13XL with Hacker 77 controller, 10 Lipos and a 20x8 or 20x10 APC prop. It features a thinner airfoil than most 3D ships but have large surfaces so that I can fly both large manoeuvres and 3D-style. The set is very ready to go and the only small fault I have found was that I need to straighten the ailerons. But then again it has been sitting in my garage since this winter. On construction it might have been different on access of batteries. Now I have to flip it over and remove a glasfiber hatch. But I don't need to remove the wing luckily. It comes ready covered as shown and is very impressive when put together. It is a showstopper for a reasonable price. All up weight is then 4650g but I can save another 100g with S-bec instead of Rx-battery. Lets see if the sun is still out tomorrow. The weather is not supposed to be good for the weekend so I will have to see.. Oh sorry I don't have any spinner. Don't know of a red/white that is light enough for me...

DAY .. 16.October 2005
National team F3C training on Klanten airfield so me and Arild went up there to watch. Impressive helicopters and impressive precision on their new F3C FAI-program but personally I think it is a bit boring. I think it is too much "sticks" and not enough "air". But what can you expect from a sailplane pilot? We flew a bit Shockflyer and 3DX and the helipilots got to fly my 3DX a bit before we went home.

DAY .. 14.October 2005
For a brief moment the wind died so me and Arild went out with our Depron stuff. But the wind came back and Arild captured me in many funny situations... While my wife have started a full production of local stuff in the garage...

DAY .. 13.October 2005
Since I had to change radio again I needed to set up my Giant again and get everything sorted out. All seems well after 12 flights and the only settings I did not fix today was speed settings with ballast. The weather looked like rain but just a lot of moist in the air and some wind. 10 Celsius was ok and even some weak but huge thermals came thru. The launching conditions were so good that one did not need to step on the pedal at all (even at only 2-4m/s wind). Just waive one time take of camber early for a huge zoom. Maybe a bit boring pictures but I wanted to see that my elevator settings were ok.

DAY .. 11.October 2005
Nice colours in Norway right now and I probably should have been out DS'ing but some Depron had to the thing today.
My trusty 3DX mini with Klepaker had some nice flights by the water.

DAY .. 10.October 2005
Pictures from Istanbul open 05 (zipped packages) http://www.alberon.cz/grini/istanbul05/
Thanks to Jan Kohout for web space

Part 2 of yesterday: On my way to buy new parts to fix my wipers on my car a concrete lorry threw a rock at my window... New window is 2000Nkr even on the insurance. Cant wait to see the next move in my life ;-)
 

If you feel like helping me get on top again and would like me to continue writing my diary (I know 100+ persons read it every day) you can send me a few EURO or Dollars on my paypal (oh yeah I can even provide you with my bank account...)

DAY .. 7.October 2005
Fixed my motor and attached another spinner. Worked like a charm. I think I know why this happened also. Earlier this summer my newly bought battery was poorly soldered so there was big off's and on's. With 150A the rotation force is huge and since the gear is screwed on it "unscrewed". Anyhow it all works again now and I am a happy man after 30-40min of flying. Conditions was calm with small differences and I amused myself flying with "Kolb" CG. That is 102mm on the Superior. Very different from my CG (118mm) and turning have to be careful. The model becomes slow on the "trigger" but still manages to work lift off course.

DAY .. 6.October 2005
A few days just relaxing and doing nothing but on Sunday it is the last competition this year so I better get ready. It is a 3x12minute electro competition so I found my Pike Superior in the basement and charged the battery. After just 30m climb the motor parted from the gear so it was a shirt trip. Just to do it complete the set-screw that holds the spinner in tight and broken... Good thing I check my stuff before a competition!

DAY .. 4.October 2005 - Istanbul Open
I had plenty of big pictures and I have sorted over 800 pictures and got them to the web.
So 191 pictures by me HERE - Other links: Mibo pictures - Soarist.com - Some of Jim McCarthy's pictures
The rest of mine might end up for download soon as one batch
You can also find a lot of pictures at www.stootkop.nl (he also has all of my 900+ pictures)
NEW: All my originals (zipped): http://www.alberon.cz/grini/istanbul05/, Thanks to Jan Kohout for web space

Today the newspaper was filled with Turkey applying for EC union. They will go for full membership. The newspaper mentioned a lot about different cultures, etc in Turkey compared to EC countries. Well yes Turkey has different culture than Norway but I did not find Turkey to be much more different than France, Spain etc versus Norway. though I agree that the distances is off course big in many issues. I would think that Turkey in EC will be a natural thing to expand EC. Though I might ad that I did not see all of Turkey and can only apply for what I could see and all the Turkey people I met. BTW Norway is not a member...

I tried to think about new things in Istanbul but not extremely much. There is new things coming for next season off course since there are a lot of producers out there now. For the first time I could see the Vision and the Experience Pro in the air. Vision: The Vision is a halfway copy of the Superior since it has the same airfoils in the wing and also the tail. For now it is only available with V-tail but the weekend before they had tested X-tail. Handling looks very (at least in those hands I could see) and the quality looked good. Biggest difference comparing to Pike Superior is that it is not used UMS spar and another ballast system to save weight. The wing also looks more like a Soarmaster but is smaller than Superior in size.
Experience Pro: Sadly I did not watch this model too much and the launches I could see in final 3 was not good. But it might have been the setup.
Ghost: I also looked at Michael Vagner's Ghost and that is a enlarged Eraser but with better handling and bigger wing it seemed though I have not checked up properly yet. I did not think it had extremely well travelling speed but as always with MH32 it launches well and climbs well in thermals.
Europhia 2 by Tony Vale: Tony Vale from UK have been at Webershock in Germany and bought a Europhia 2 mould. He have managed to squeeze a 1900g model out of it that is stiff and looks good. We wish him good luck.
Espada: Although not new to me I was impressed how Jaro Muller flew his own in the contest. It flew very well in his hands. You will also soon see a much bigger Espada from Jaro. Should be interesting.
Supra: This one is not new either but Tom is stepping up on both his flying and settings. He did not do well in tricky and windy final one due to light model but with lead it did the tricks. Model goes up on a farth without lead but with no dihedral on inner wing and aft CG it needs some stick time I think. I personally don't think it is the dihedral or lead who is worst but Toms settings (CG mostly) that needs to be tuned still in windy conditions compared to calm. This model will be available in production soon. Although maybe not as light as Tom's (1600g)

Left: Interesting fairing on an Experience Pro.
Right Some of my team. Me, Vagner and Kohout.

DAY .. 2.October 2005 - Istanbul Open    Txt updated with extra and corrections 17:15 3.oct
Just a short report in the morning (07:00). The clouds give us some rain so we wait in the Hotel for a few hours. Most were in bed by 24:00 but some pilots reports 1 hour sleep...
23:00: Another short report before we continue to party and leave at 04:00 for the flight back home.
24:00: I did a huge mistake in the only round I flew today. Right after the start I felt something on my left wingtip and slided to the left. It was good and all others was sinking to my right. But I did not stay there as one of my helpers (yes former WC champion ;-) had an idea of a slope that worked two years ago on that wind direction. I was in the right direction and had the chance to get away from the others so I took the chance and went for it. It was ok for 3-4 minutes and the winds were strong (well 3-4m/s) but then the model started to go faster and my mind thought it was a thermal moving backwards. It was not... It was a rain front with high winds in front and nothing after. So I had to go backwards to the others and some of them had enough to complete 10min. I landed too early and the whole competition was blown unless we got a 6th round in. We did not, as the rain continued for a long time but cleared just enough to get 3 finals in (without me). So the basics is that I was in the finals after all 4 first rounds yesterday but lost it all in one flight today.
Results from preliminaries and finals (.pdf) provided by Winfried de Vries on my USB plug. He has all detailed results HERE. If one looks closely many strong names got a hard beating and fell out of the finals. BTW I was proud to help a team that worked almost flawless. I was mostly a "nr.2 spotter" and took times, throwing models and helping out as good as I could. But I think they listened to me sometimes ;-) The team was Czech team 1 with Jaroslav Vostrel (34), Michael Vagner (3), Jan Vacha (4), Jan Kohout (21) and myself (51).

A BIG THANKS to the organizers and all that made this possible. To get so many rounds in with that weather and so many competitors is very rare and worthy a country that wants the WC in 2008. Especially when we take into account all the other stuff happening here. Every little detail was taken care of. Even flowers on the table and strict security of our models each night. So a big thanks to all of Turkey. I am glad I got to know you.

When it comes to all the attendants I am pleased to say that I can call them all my friends and that they share the same affection for a special and unique part of the hobby. F3J is the name of it and there is nothing like it!

Tim Kiesling with Supra nearest and Karl Hinsch the latest model 0,6sec later apx. Yes just "on" the horn.

Left: Top 3! 2. Adamek 1. Wiedeman 3.Vagner . Right: A good Kiesling tow consists of Larry Jolly throwing (the hardest wind up at the contest I think) and a Australian world champion as anchor before the launch.. Actually the Supra did not pull extremely hard since I could see they were running.

DAY .. 1.October 2005 - Istanbul Open
First competition day of Istanbul Open. Be sure to watch the first days in September HERE.
Sunshine, 2-4m/s winds, hot and 128 of the best competitors and personalities from all over the world. You will have to get invited to get here but by luck or something I am here. The flying field has some slopes but is huge and it was difficult in the morning flights. During the day it became a landing competition and I know I can if I want. We flew 3,5 rounds today (I completed 4 myself) and I am currently in 13th place by loosing only 13 points I think (14 in finals). One have to fly 9:54 and 100 to get to the finals but I got one bad flight that might be a little off target. But we still have one day to go so much can happen. The top of the list can be read HERE. Again the food is marvellous and everything around us is prepared and organized in an extremely well manner. This is a World Championship worthy! Turkey is applying for WC 2008 I think together with USA and maybe Australia. They are all countries that have a possibility to get it, though I have never been in Australia. May Turkey get WC soon or am I partial because I write so soon? I don't know... As mentioned we will be 14 pilots in the finals but are now 11 pilots in each round with only 2-4 minutes prep time to keep things moving. But since most teams have 5 or 6 members things seems to go well. After the last start we had a huge party with Turkey food (it is world class for sure. Any Hotel in Norway would be.....). A big band played for us and the smiles were all over when the busses brought us to the Hotel at 23:00. 

Jaroslav Tupec landing his Superior. Right: Morning starts with Experience Pro close

Turkey and lot of models. Right: Very nice timing system in both ends. And big Norwegian flag..

Left: A skeg made for the Superior/Brio/Giant fuse. Made by Samba and for sale NOW. Right: The wife of Mustafa had to help the big band. Seems like a nice and smiling partner to share the life with.

Left: Jaro Muller ruled the dance floor together with Samba's Jane (not pictured)
right: Mustafa Koc knows how to run the drums.

January 2005 - Winter is on but good flying on the ice and indoor. 6 days with sailplanes, even some slope flying.
February 2005 - Got some good days with winch on the ice, tested synth rx and first big competition in Arnborg.
March 2005 - Indoor season stops soon and outdoor is on. I tried high power 3D model and it burned down to ashes..
April 2005 - Two F3J competitions and new JR radio in testing. The electric Superior is in the air also.
May 2005 - Lots of F3F, some F3B and Yellow Eagle Throphy in Sweden. Tested the Taifun Supersport.
June 2005 - Summer is here with good temperatures. F3J win and F3B good results. Tested a SU-31 electro model.
July 2005 - DS, friends visiting and the biggest of the year: Nats USA
August 2005 - Super month with Nats, National champion F3J and the new Giant in the house
September 2005 - Nordic Championship F3J and National championship F3B. Practice days in Istanbul.
October 2005 - Istanbul Open, Adrenaline electro
November 2005 - Started editing
December 2005 - Later..

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