The snow’s not started to settle yet and the news for 2011 is looking great for racers and speed lovers. Spring will see the arrival of the first CROSSFIRE 2 models. We’re absolutely thrilled to be the UK distributor of this cutting edge model, as well as the other Aero-tec models. With an super slim 7.55-7.9% 2970mm wing that’s ultra stiff and light thanks to it’s use of double carbon up to the aileron servos and then single carbon. Every part of this model has been designed for performance and winning.
Available in both F3B and F3F lay-ups the 2.94m span CROSSFORE 2 is a fantastic piece of kit. The SlopeRacer models will come with bags, ballast and wiring loom included- with of course a 2.4Gig friendly fuselage.
and with that, we got a spooky, misty day for their first photoshoot... I'm not going to write much this time around - I think the pics speak for themselves - this model really is out of this world...
Thanks to some brave radar gunning from the lads, I managed to record a 292mph pass today with my Dynamic D80 at the Skirrid - a new UK record. Thanks a lot for the radar marksmanship, chaps!
It was a really wild day up the Skirrid today - very very vicious walk/ stumble/ crawl (yes really!) up to get there with the winds really pretty mega over the top. Pretty crossed off to the South as well which meant that there was a LOT of movement in the air on the back of the hill. Unfortunately this meant that some airframes were destroyed, one in excess of 250mph, but it also meant that everyone up there got a new personal best!
Adam Richardson blew the UK 60" record away completely with his Dynamic 60, clocking up a 271mph pass at the end of a beautifully judged series of laps right after one of the rain showers.
Mark Abbotts guided his Opus MCT to 283mph at the end of the day - just 1mph down on his nemesis Mark Southall!
Andy Bourne, on only his 5th DS trip to the "bigtime" ridges, howled past 200 with a 216mph with his Dynamic 80 and a 192mph with his Dynamic 60 - well done Andy - superb flying.
And Steve Forbes, returning after a bit of a layoff, eased himself back in nicely by upping his personal best with some great laps with his Kinetic 60 to clock up 204mph.
After this trip, I'm convinced that we can go well well over 300mph in the UK - in fact I'm sure that we will go over 350. An absolutely incredible experience just to be there today, which I heartily recommend to anyone!
No pictures today as it was a little too wet and wild to take the camera up, but I'll leave you with this shot of the man who has brought this incredible level of performance to all of us with his fantastic Dynamic airframes - Joe Manor - thanks man!!!
We are humbled to announce that Bill and Jason of L2 Airframes are working with us here at SlopeRacer to bring their awesome new full moulded JW60 to Europe. It promises to be everything that everyone has learnt to expect from a JW - great aerobatic handling, comfortable in a huge range of conditions, rock-solid in DS and as quick as you would expect from the world record holding DS foamie! But if you thought that a foam J-Dub was good, then check out the extra fire-power that you get with the moulded version:
Radically slimmed down fuselage
Joe Wurts has taken away all the compromises in the airfoil and wing planform that were introduced due to the limitations of foamie construction and manufacturing methods - this is the full flavour JW!
The wing is fully filleted into the fuse to further reduce drag
Top driven bottom hinged wing surfaces to keep almost all of the linkage internal, again for minimum drag.
Super-simple construction - you're looking at 3-4 hours of build time with this model.
It will be available in two versions - a frontside and light DS version at around 1450g (50oz), and a ballistic frontside and heavy DS version at 2100g (75oz).
Watch this space for more information about availability - please get in touch to register your interest as the list is already growing!
Sunday 10 October 2010
As well as being the UK’s best established international F3F race, the Welsh Open can also claim to be the world’s fastest. 3 days in the conditions provided by the Welsh Hills in the company of a very merry band of F3F pilots is enough to make a great weekend. Add in that this year the SWSA had agreed to let SlopeRacer raise funds for the Bristol Neo-Natal intensive care unit and there was no way I was going to miss the race. So at 5am, thanks to the great support of our suppliers, my car was crammed full of prizes.
Day 1.
The NW wind meant that I was grateful for the help in carrying the pilot bags to the Ice Cream slope. This is a slope that always produces a fairly large amount of variation, due to thermal and other vagaries but F3F is about making the best out of the bad air as well as the good and the cream was rising to the top.
The keeping cool under adverse circumstances award has to go to Pete Gunning, after radio failure cost him his brand new Freestyler before Round 1. Some rapid programming and work with Joel West had him up and running for round 1.
Never apparently cool but always quick, John Philips was doing the business with his Predator and led the way after day 1. Rumours that he was gluing the tails of his competitors may be a little harsh. Only a poor first round is thought to have saved Adam Richardson after he steered his Strega to a round 3 win.
Day 2
The Westerly breeze picked up through the day but not before Cedric Grandseigne had chance to sport fly his new Vampire - very very impressive it looked too. Conditions improved steadily all day and the reasons for the number of repairs on the Spanish models soon became clear - a hyper aggressive course and even more so when off the course. Flying with these lads is not for the faint hearted!
Conditions were still variable (getting my excuses in) and ballasting strategies varied from the Scott Ravenscroft ‘put it all in’ to some very cautious ‘in case the lift goes’. What was clear was that if you got the lift or not- don’t cut! One of the great sights of the Welsh Open is to see a pair of pilots happily beating their team mate after a cut, or passing on how they would have flown the last round - it’s so much easier from 10 m further back!
As the breeze picked up the Extremes really came to the fore and as confidence and ballast was increased, their times came down and down. Still, through the cuts, sink and periodic crossed wind John and his Predator were slugging it out with Simon "Golden Balls" Thornton and Joel West. John finishing the day with a full on attempt to destroy the course in order to get day 3 cancelled by annihilating the weather station with his wingtip - these Predators are tough!
Day 2 finished with a fantastic night Banquet, organised by Vic and with the MD help of Knewt raising £1,300 to the Neo-Natal Care unit. A stunning result and emotional night for myself - one that put my own racing very much into perspective. It was great to see so many of the pilots supporting the Banquet and making the race even more of an event.
Day 3
By midnight at the Banquet we still hadn’t worked out if day 3 would be stunningly quick or incredibly wet. As we sat in our cars on the top of Mickies - it was going to be both! With the wind at 40mph and the cloud low full ballast was the option and hope to cut through the rough air to the good stuff.
Again John was delivering times at the top of the round - this time with his Air One. A very quick and model that John was complaining about his lack of air time on - just before his 35! Joel and Golden Balls, now also with his Extreme, were up there still. It’s easy to miss some of the personal milestones in such a large entry. Clayton Landells PB was well and truly dropped over the weekend and by Sunday his Acacia had delivered a sub 40, congratulations Clayts! - it’s an achievement not to be under estimated with probably the cheapest model in the field that can still take on the best!
Mid way through the second round Iñaki Elizondo stepped up with his Freestyler and everything just came together, top model, great lift and stunningly aggressive flying - 29.37 - a new World record.
With the clouds coming down and Adam’s tree top landing it was time to stop and add up the scores. Congratulations had to go to John!
Results:
1 John Phillips 9095.36
2 Simon Thornton 9047.92
3 Joel West 8779.28
4 Gerardo Plaza 8735.86
5 Mark Redsell 8694.69
6 Dag Skoglund 8626.71
7 Peter Gunning 8616.64
8 Kevin Newton 8585.47
9 Keith Wood 8513.46
10 Bjorn Tore Hagen 8485.42
Once again, all F3Fers should give it up for the lads at the SWSA - particularly Kevin Newton and Andrzej Tabero - for putting on the frankly awesome, and frequently record-breaking Welsh Open! Thanks chaps!
We always like to keep everyone up to date with the progress of their model. After developements to the spar to make them even stiffer, the latest SlopeRacer Compacts are well under way and I think you'll agree they look fantastic! Here's a couple freshly hatched, pre-trimming.
I first saw the Wizard Compact back in 2002. Without seeing the model in the flesh or knowing of its racing pedigree I was hooked. “It just looks right” was written for the Wizard Compact! With the first SlopeRacer lay-up models due in a couple of weeks it’s great to see that the quality of this legendary model is still fantastic. The strength and stiffness of the Compact is always amazing but those colours are just mouth watering.
The price of the Wizard Compact has always been as magnificent as the quality, but not any longer! SlopeRacer has achieved the impossible and brought the Wizard in for £695 - an incredible price for a classic. The SlopeRacer lay-up features a Carbon D box to give you the best compromise of strength and lightness and come in schemes which include one to match the yellow and white model shown here, and also the famous "McLaren" Wizard scheme. One of the ultimate slope classics, and now to be a stock model here at SlopeRacer!
Whether it was the Saturday spent carrying bags around the shops or painting the hall, but just a week before Lundy at least this half of the SlopeRacer team was given a pass to race in the Ken Philips Trophy on the Wrecker. So with just 6 days before heading to Lundy, ignoring the hill’s name, I headed off with my Wizard F3F’s shaking nervously in the back of the car. Although I was telling myself that this was a day for setting up and having fun, it’s always good to pit yourself against some expensive plastic and fast thumbs.
Remarkably the race coincided with this year’s Welsh day of Summer. And so as the race was set-up at a leisurely pace there was time to see Simon Thornton seeing just how fast the Extreme could go on that world famous slope, the answer is - VERY! Old Golden balls defiantly has the knack of turning all the available energy to speed and as the race got underway, the combination of Simon and the Extreme delivered good time after good time.
As the sunshine warmed us, the day for many pilots was one of showing what they could do when the big air came through and then giving good photo opportunities the next round. Although the long walk to the top of the Wrecker to land and only 14 pilots kept camera time and rest to a minimum it’s fair to say that Ron and Clayton’s Acacias showed their pedigree at times.
Although, like me, only claiming to be setting up his new Strega, Wooden Balls Adam Richardson had obviously applied some polish as his new Strega consistently rounded the bases at ever increasing speeds. The new stiffer wings had him on the way back from a corner apparently faster than he went in. The only delay to Adam’s progress was whilst we bullied him into launching into apparently zero wind- straight into a thermal. This consistency earned Adam 3rd place overall, where he was joined on the ‘podium’ by Simon and Kevin, all ready to kick Zim’s butt at the nationals!
My own day was great fun with the smooth handling Wizards, but the V and the cross tail version rewarded a smooth flying and even I was finding the line as the day rolled on- right until I found the forward marker post. Commitment that!
I love having a model that can be packed away in the car easily in the summer. Tucked away in the boot of my car the Air One Mini can quietly sneak up a hill at a moment’s notice. I love the responsiveness of smaller models in showing you where the lift is and turning it into speed! Just the other day I nipped off whilst the missus was out shopping for a quick blast – rigs quick, easy to carry and you’re off!
Just like the Sunbird about to be secreted in Zim’s car, the Air One Mini’s 2 piece wing has full 4 servo capability so the flying had me grinning like a simpleton and the landing was a catch (honest). I’ll try to work the camera with my feet next time to prove it!
I've had a couple of cool and contrasting DS trips lately. Couple of weeks ago, there were some decent conditions on Rushup Edge in Derbyshire and that resulted in quite a turn-out. Julian Bayley was there with his new Pace 2m, and Chris Cambrad was about with his new D40 - great to see Chris getting to grips with the little D40 doing some really nice smooth laps. Ray Manko turned up as well and turned some great laps with his Ocelot - first time for both these boys over the 100mph mark so a great achievement for them - top effort. Craig Lemon had his first visit to Rushup with flying buddy Theo and got to dip his Bat and his Mini Alex Carbon into the darkside - getting ready for his D40 experience as well!
Of course Rushup has it's own permanent monument in the guise of Graham Bridge, who gave his little Destiny an outing and reminded us all what a versatile model it is. The D80's were out in force as well, and I really enjoyed the smooooooth conditions with mine - tried a few set-up bits here and there and generally really enjoyed the way this thing handles when it gets shifting. It was the first time I tried out some basic aeros on the back with the D80 and it's great at it - that awesome tracking giving you loads of confidence in the model.
Crazy moment of the day was another session of MiniVec DS - the little thing whipped up to 125mph with no bother at all this time! Absolute blast! However the day wasn't without its mishaps. George had an unfortunate bit of unexpected gusting on the back which caught out his D40 and sent it in at around 130mph, although the only damage was a few cracks to the fuselage and tail - easily fixed by the Fu-meister. And Chris did the most awesome poundage when he got a little too inverted on his top turn with his D40, and pulled it straight into the ground at a fair old lick! I think he chipped his gelcoat and stripped a servo - all in all, D40s do help to make DS pretty pain-free - they are seriously hard to break!
Fast forward a week or so, and how's that for an ubercool foamy? Congrats to my flying buddy George and his wonderfully artistic other half, Chrissie on their joint effort JW60DS. George has built this one up pretty hefty, and it's the L2 Airframes DS double spar version so we're expecting great things from it. I missed the maiden flight on Rushup Edge yesterday as I was working for the morning and early afternoon, but apparently it went off fine but felt rather unstable in pitch. As it turned out this was just due to a little too much elevator movement and nothing other than that. Adam chucked off the D80 into the fairly strong conditions on Rushup and clocked a 196mph but apparently it was super-gnarly down the back with way too much west in it, so he felt that it was going to end in tears and quit whilst ahead! So as I arrived mid-afternoon, it was decided to move to another more SW DS site.
A bit of a drive and a bit of a walk later and we found ourselves on a site which we had misunderstood to be a SW site but is actually a W/ WSW! So it was crossed off by about the same amount as Rushup, and even more gnarly down the back. Still, no point trekking up a hill for nothing and Adam threw off the trusty Tank 54" foamie (currently the 3rd fastest airframe in the world and a British design) and proved that although the conditions were very unpredictable down the back, it was working.
By the end of the day, we'd all had a good old crack at it, with Adam taking the day best with an excellently flown 227mph with the D80, me trailing a bit with a 189mph and George just getting in a bunch of set-up laps with his new JW. I very nearly did a Brunel and dug a massive tunnel when my D80 got flicked almost inverted at just over 180mph coming out of the bottom turn and I only just recovered it with quite literally less than a foot to spare. Although it was incredibly turbulent down the back due to the crossed direction it was some of the most exciting DS I have had for ages - had that tight stomach and wobbly legs after both flights, as you just had to be ON it all the time to not get caught out - great fun! Z
I can barely contain my excitement at this order! Yes oh yes, we have a good sized batch of the mouthwateringly gorgeous Vampire coming to UK shores very soon. With the next generation of Pflug aerofoils, this aircraft looks to have ALL the pedigree of recent developments in F3x models, and then some new ones all of its own.
The fuselage in particular stands out, having been designed with sophisticated stress analysis software, leading to its unique chined shape that gives it unparalleled rigidity and lightness. The quality, so my European friends tell me, is of the very highest, and just look at those graphics! Of the current order, we have two of the F3B double carbon layups still available. Please get in touch if you would like to know more about this absolutely stunning model.
We're hoping to encourage new racers into the sport of F3F, so with the help of a few friends (thanks Andrzej, Jon, Mike and Ron) we've added a 2m class to the winter F3F leagues. The winter leagues are far more informal than the summer leagues, yet offer some of the fastest racing of the year. It's a great mix of having willing and expert help on offer, whilst being as competitive as you choose to be. And if you want to really have a crack at it, then the winner of each region's new 2m class will get to go up against the nation's finest F3F pilots at our annual Champion of Champion's bash at the Bwlch at the end of the winter leagues!
Have a read about it HERE and we hope that you'll give it a go - remember - ANY model under 2m will do - please don't think that you need to have the latest top gear to compete - you really don't - just come along and try it out - you'll be welcomed with open arms and lots of support and advice!
Thanks to Mike Evans for the photo of the Typhoon 2m on the base at La Muela.
It's that man Phil Taylor at it again with his Extreme F3F in Devon... Since moving to Devon Phil has found a clutch of fantastic cliff sites which I've been able to enjoy with him since making the move down myself. With the amount of flying that Phil's been putting in on the Extreme this year, I reckon we need to watch out for him during the Lundy F3F coming up soon!
And as an aside, Extreme's are BACK in stock once again - if you fancy getting your hands on one of Europe's most competitive F3F models, then give us a call.
I'll hand over to the man himself, Reed, to tell you about his new baby... So this is how it goes: you hear that people want a rudder and flaps and a bigger version of the design and you say, "uh, ok!". To be honest I never needed all of that, I designed the plane as it was because it was all about me, me, me and I only wanted a simple plane that would fit in my car. Besides, I had to build them myself and didn't want to spend the extra time and money to fit flaps and rudder.
But here we are, 6 years later, and I find myself standing on a ridge, holding a 70" molded version of the plane with all of these bits and pieces wagging around, up down left right and all over. Just after launch I can already feel the size of the thing. Obviously I'm very familiar with the 56" wingspan, so having those big wings driving through the air is fascinating. At 72 ounces (yours should be lighter by 6 ounces or so) I'm surprised that the plane flies almost exactly like a 45 ounce standard-size JART, though I shouldn't have been. The extra size has a more than proportional affect on the airframe's efficiency so the numbers and the experience do match in this case.
For the first few minutes I flew with aileron and elevator only, just to get a feel for the handling characteristics. I certainly enjoyed it, and all of the maneuvers in the "teaser" video are with that setup. After a few minutes I decided to add flaps to the aileron movement and suddenly the plane felt more like a standard-size JART - very crisp and decisive in lateral control and overall very tight and neutral.
Then came the biggest surprise of all: the rudder. Honestly, I only added this to the design because a lot of people seemed to want it. For a 56" version I still wouldn't bother, but for this 70" version I thought the rudder might come in handy for inland "slermal" conditions where the pilot ranges out and looks for bubbles of lift away from the ridge and could use a flatter turn. It was a shock to me, though, when I pulled some rudder in on a racing turn and the plane came leaping out of the corner with unexpected energy. What I thought would be a fairly ineffective control surface is actually a very useful tool for keeping the nose straight through the turns and creating a "grippy" feeling, especially coming back from the downwind leg.
Landing this thing is just a breeze, especially if you already know how to land with flaps and/or crow. Once I got the elevator compensation figured out, those big flaps just bring the plane down to a crawl and you can land it on a dime in reasonable conditions. Being new to the flaps game it has taken me a few flights to get it dialed in, but I have a good technique now where I set the plane up behind the ridge and then pull in aileron reflex to kill some energy. Once the plane begins to settle down toward the LZ I pull the flaps in also and pilot the plane down to about waist-high where I pull the flaps out and let the plane sit right down. I missed a bunch of landings trying to learn this method and the poor plane took a lot of abuse dealing with my learning curve. But despite all of the bashing about, I never broke anything and was able to launch immediately every time - she's tough.
There will be many more flights and I'll post my impressions as we go. Can't wait to get her out to one of our DS spots to rev her up on the dark side!
Us too - thanks Reed! Here's a few detail shots in the meantime... check out that Kevlar joiner box!
The MiniVec is generally perceived as a 60"er, which doesn't really do it justice. It's actually a 67"er but crucially with a fair bit more wing area. So rather than a small size aerobatic model, it's more like a mid-sized one, and flies that way too! I've overlaid the Sunbird panels - which is a 60"er - to help illustrate this... Z
We first stocked the Sunbird about a year ago, and whilst it was clear that it is a great 60” design, there were some aspects of it that could benefit from a little production detailing. We are now happy to announce that by working with RCRCM we have not only managed to substantially improve the airframe in several ways, but also get the price right down to £199!
We’ve had a decent weight of carbon wrap put in around the wingseat area and have also specced the front end to be 2.4 ghz friendly, and substantially reinforced with Kevlar – not just glass! We’ve also added a nice beefy incidence pin at the leading edge of the wing to make rigging easier and to ensure that the model retains its precision no matter how heavy the conditions. The Sunbirds also feature the new moulded in elevator bellcrank which guarantees perfect alignment at the back. And despite the fact that this model is superb in light air, it now also caters for the stronger stuff by coming standard with a massive 20mm ballast tube!
Radio-wise, the Sunbird now comes with mildly bumped servo covers so the servo choices are kept wide open. Battery-wise, you’re best off with your choice of 4 or 5 cell AAA cells, with the optional Sloperacer radio tray (£5) already configured for these fitments.
And of course, the most notable change – we've created a new Sunbird logo and Sloperacer scheme – some photos below – enjoy!
After the first two rounds failed to give a result by round 3 we were getting desperate. Desperate enough for a field of over 30 to register to come to Whitesheet in Wiltshire, regardless of the forecast.
I packed my Strega (now 2.4 ghz friendly) although a maiden/trimming flight was needed with the new 2.4 fuse. Whitesheet is not the highest hill but on the way to the bottom I could tell there was still noseweight to be added - I could tell the air wasn't great! Seems to be becoming a habit of mine! Still no damage done, radio worked fine, and with 10g added, she was back to the way I like her.
Whitesheet isn’t a Welsh hill, but it can be a great place to fly and will really punish mistakes with big time penalties. Although it can be a frustrating venue in some ways for F3F, it certainly provides a completely different kind of racing and helps to give the league a variety it needs.
I won’t go into great detail on the race here, as Mike Shellim gives a very comprehensive report on Mike Shellim's excellent RC Soaring site but I will say that this comp certainly shook things up. I got lucky with a top ten finish, and some big names finished well down the order. John Bennett took the honours with his New Sting, with Simon Thornton showing his ability compete successfully in any conditions by coming in second with his Extreme F3F and Ceres. John Phillips reminded us that he’s always a force to be reckoned with, coming in third with his Predator. Mick Walsh notably reeled in a seriously fast piece of air to record FTD with a time some 5 seconds quicker than anything else posted that day. Also good to see Andy Freeman competing despite having the most awful run of luck lately with having a few years worth of crashes crammed into a couple of weeks.
It was also great to see my good buddy Rocket Ronnie Lampe the Lips taking a round win with his Strega - go Ron!
After topping up my tan at the BMFA league last week, the prospect of sunshine and wind at the same time had me up early and heading for the famous slopes of South Wales and the Ken Philips Trophy competition. If you want to cut your teeth around the bases, this is a great place to start as the atmosphere at these comps is informal and very helpful. My choice of weapon for the trip was my trusty Strega F3F but I just couldn’t help packing the MiniVec as a few lads wanted a go on it – turned out to be a pretty good decision for reasons unexpected!
We ended up on the Ice Cream slope with the wind slightly crossed off to the North. I really like this slope and got lucky with some great air in round 1, more suprisingly I held my nerve and the Strega took the round win and also gave my first sub-40 second time - 39.38s. Very happy! Unfortunately I asked a little too much of the model during a desperate attempt at a cut recovery in the next round which saw me plant her HARD into the ground with nearly 1kg of ballast on board – see The DOH! Page for details... Actually I’m pretty happy with the way the model handled the impact, with the wing surviving in perfect condition.
With the Strega out of action that little Mini Vec was looking at me! So I set about getting some ballast in there, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting too much from the little bird. I mean it’s hardly designed for racing is it?! Well the first round with the MiniVec put paid to that – a 47.xx. I kind of laughed it off as good air, but the next round was a 45.xx and I realised that if I gave her some respect, I might be able to get a decent result and prove that size isn’t everything after all!
And so the comp went on for me and I couldn’t stop smiling. I got to see Knewt flying his Ceres at what seemed to me to be a completely outrageous weight but somehow still making it look light as a feather. Simon Thornton showing everyone the secret of F3F - somehow making all the air look pretty decent even when he got dealt some real lousy stuff. Martin Newnham and his Extreme continues to give inspiration to all F3F newbies - in his first full season Martin’s already had many sub 40’s, qualified for the Viking Race and only just missed the top 20 fly off.
The Extreme looked to be the model most at home in many people’s hands – it was being flown by a number of pilots - Simon Thornton, Martin Newnham and Adam Richardson – the results speak for themselves I think. Mike Evans didn’t get the best luck of the air with his RaceMx, but was given a lovely bit of air right at the death by which time he was flying his Kyril. Think that’s the fastest time for you on that model at 35.xx Mike? Well done mate… Also the fastest time of the day I believe.
One of the great things about the Ken Phillips Trophy is that it’s really there to help new guys get started out in F3F. Simon Kronfeld’s skill around the course with his Skorpion and Acacia II is just building and building – good showing from him, and Martin Newnham’s son Jacob showed us all that it runs in the family with his first F3F comp being handled with some impeccable flying and great anticipation of the bases – something rarely achieved in one’s first competition. John Treble seemed to be very at home with his new Vikos.
However, all was not perfect, and there was a bit of carnage here and there, most notably from Andy Freeman – he experienced possibly the worst way to crash a model, which is to loose sight of it whilst walking back to landing. Sorry mate! But I’m pretty sure that you’re going to be VERY happy with the Breta Furio that you’re picking up to replace it. Adam Richardson also had an unfortunate bit of damage to his RaceMx nosecone which was a complete mystery to all given the perfect landing that preceded it - sulky face in the photos! By the way, thanks to Adam for snapping the photos of the MiniVec whilst I was flying...
So as it turns out I just missed beating our great leader, Tom Satinet, with a MiniVec. So close! But never mind – what a great day, and to cap it all off we had a ball with the MiniVec passing the tx around after the racing finished.
Come and have a go – email us for details and we'll put you in touch with the right people if you’re fancying a go at F3F but you’re not sure how to start – you don’t even need a 3m racing ship to have a go, as I unintentionally demonstrated this weekend!
1 Kevin Newton 12132.74 (1000) 2 Martin Newnham 11979.77 (987) 3 Simon Thornton 11368.74 (937) 4 Adam Richardson 11274.75 (929) 5 Dave Rumble 11065.33 (912) 6 Mike Evans 11034.76 (906) 7 Tom Satinet 10614.62 (875) 8 Warrick Smith 10587.08 (873) 9 Mick Walsh 10553.54 (870) 10 Simon Kronfeld 10182.56 (839) 11 Jacob Newnham 10113.94 (834) 12 Clayton Landells 10083.07 (831) 13 John Treble 9800.16 (808) 14 Andy Freeman 2339.11 (193)
The Extreme is possibly the hottest European model available today, with glowing reports coming from the Viking Race 2010 in France being backed up by some great flights in the UK.
After a bit of a slog up to the top of a tasty DS ridge in Shropshire, George Pilkington, Adam Richardson and I were greeted by the sight of Mike Evans smoothly carving his Vector III through some aeros in the light thermic lift.
Adam and George bolted the wings on their D40’s in short order and had them whizzing round the back within 5 minutes of arriving. The conditions weren’t there for big speeds – only just enough for continuous DS - but as usual this little model didn’t disappoint and provided plenty of entertainment.
Soon enough the MiniVec was launched off too and I quickly had the confidence to start trying to remember my (limited!) aerobatic repertoire. Mike and Adam joined in with their big Vectors and with George on the camera, some fun was had trying to get all three Vectors in the same shot at the same time – the models ended up flying around on crow for about 10 minutes!
After some more larking about I landed the MiniVec as, in keeping with other Hammond designs, this one seems to be quite happy with less throw than you would expect, so she was rated down a bit on the ailerons, and duly launched off again. With a total of about 2 hours continuous flying time, it was pretty clear that there was plenty of fun on offer from the Mini. Meanwhile Mike and Adam were trying to loop around each other’s Vectors a bit further down the slope – sounds like a mid-air waiting to happen, but in the end they just had a lot of fun and no tears thankfully!
No Sloperacer test flight is complete without a bit of DS to test the strength of the model, so I sent the MiniVec down the back and after a bit of getting used to how hot the throws feel on an aerobatic model going faster than it was designed for, the light conditions pushed the MiniVec over the ton to 101mph – and not a mm of flex anywhere – passed that test then! It’s always interesting landing a model on a DS ridge, but the MiniVec has lovely handling on crow, so thankfully that proved to be an anticlimax. All in all this model does everything you would expect it to, with excellent energy retention, accuracy and tracking. It has lots of power from both controls at the back end too, so if you’re into violent flicks and tumbles, then she’ll serve them up no bother. All in all, what’s not to like? Great looks, plenty strong, doesn’t need masses of wind, flies beautifully on the front or the back, and is a peach to land.
By now the DS was starting to look a little bit more tasty so Adam got his Erwin DSS up. That seemed to be going round pretty well, so I decided to get my Strega F3F up for some acro DS – I’m really enjoying this kind of flying at the moment with an F3F model – they are a LOT of fun in light DS! Now I’m not one to brag (much) but I’ll just say this – Erwin DSS 102mph, Strega 107mph – sorry Adam! I don’t beat him at much so when I do, I gotta get the news out!
Now it’s not like we’d had a boring day up until this point, but George decided that we all needed a wake up and when we landed we found him putting his Dynamic 80 together in the pits. Still blowing only between 10 and 15mph, this was a close call decision, but George isn’t one to shy away from doing something daft. So off she went! That DS wing section always surprises us with how well it soars off in light conditions, so George got a little bit of height on and started carving her round. Admittedly these aren’t the conditions that D80 was designed for, but she got going pretty nicely nonetheless and took the fastest speed of the day with 112mph – hey I know it’s not fast, but when you’ve pulled that out of not a lot of wind, it’s a satisfying feeling!
Still not satisfied that he had entertained us enough, George then demonstrated that the conditions were dropping off by treating us to a couple of D80 cartwheels across the top of the slope. Neither George nor the D80 were in the least deterred by this, and she was launched off again, sent round the back, where again the conditions had just dropped off too much and George once again demonstrated how to use the wingtips, nose, tailfin and elevator as landing gear in a cartwheel that Louis Spence would have been proud of. We were all a little worried about a D80 getting two arrivals like this, but fair play to the model – it had a tiny crack in the top fuselage seam, and that’s it – since fixed with cyano to no detriment at all. Thumbs up Joe Manor!
Thanks to George for getting some shots of the MiniVec and the Strega whilst I was flying – here’s a few pics to browse through…
How about this for summer, the new mini Wizard 1.2m span.
Light weight with aileron and elevator control (elevator servo even comes fitted) for those light summer thermals on the slope. But this little beautie comes with ballast and a 100mph capability so you won't have to put it away when the wind picks up.
This little Wiz will be on a slope very very soon!
Yep, they've flown and are proving to be in the wizard mold of flying quality.
The ballast carrying gives it a great wind and speed range. Coming with a servo already mounted in the fuselage and fitted to the tail, the mini wizard only needs wing servos fitting.
Thought I would take a few pics of the pimpin' new Vector III schemes. All colours in stock now - click the full screen icon on the slideshow for the full effect!
Zim
PS This scheme is available on the MiniVec as well, but it must be pre-ordered - drop us a line for more details. Stock MiniVecs will come in the RCRCM scheme
Just back from one road trip and there's Lift ticket to Norway on the doorstep!
Should have slept but there was a DVD to watch! You might expect me to say this but it's great! From the best locations to fly I've ever seen to some amazing shots and flying. I can remember being so inspired to get out and rip the slopes up after watching the original Lift Ticket - the second one gives you the feeling you get after those perfect summer days flying.
Yes it looks good in the pictures. But they just can't convey how beautiful this model is. I honestly can't even begin to describe it well enough to do it justice - it is absolutely gorgeous!
Lots of thanks to RCRCM to getting this one done for me in our new Sloperacer scheme - it's already with Adam Richardson getting built ready for the weekend.
Notable things about the model - it is STRONG! The joiner is seriously beefy, and there is no discernable flex in anything at all. The construction is beautifully done - all of the internal joints inside the wing are tidy and well matched and all the panel weights are within a gram of each other side to side. The all moving tail is butter smooth and has absolutely no slop once assembled - quite unusual as one expects a little lateral movement in any all moving tail set-up, so thumbs up there. And the paintwork from RCRCM just seems to get better and better...
And now for the fun stuff - ballast!!! This model takes ballast in the wing, with some rather cute little tubes already installed right on the CG. But it also comes with a 20mm ballast tube for the fuselage. After some headscratching on the best way to use this, we decided to cut it down and use it to carry 5 x 34mm brass slugs. The beauty about using this arguably oversized ballast tube in the fuse is that it actually bridges the width of the fuse at the rear and at the front of the wingseat, effectively acting like two formers, but considerably easier to install!
Servo-wise - again - some nice surprises here - my favourite little digital, the Savox 0255MG fits everywhere an absolute treat! So it couldn't be simpler - 6 of these gets you sorted for £100 on the servo front.
But for now, enjoy these hastily taken pics from yesterday. And fingers crossed for some nice conditions this weekend for a maiden!
It’s been 2 years since my last visit to Chris van Schoor in County Kerry, Southern Ireland and many fond memories of that trip are still well placed in my mind. The ability to combine a one day business trip to Dublin and a detour to Chris was just icing on the cake.
However nobody was aware of the sleeping giant in Iceland and when Eyjafjallajokull erupted and chucked shed loads of ash into the atmosphere then travel chaos ensued - how was I going to get to Dublin? Simple - I was booked on the Fastcat ferry - how else do you get 12 gliders over to Ireland of which 3 of them were 4 metres?
Having had some unexpected problems on the Friday at our Dublin office I didn’t actually get on the road until 7pm and then there was the 3 ½ hr drive ahead not helped by the usual Friday rush to escape the city. But despite the best efforts of the Irish motoring public try to either blind me with their headlights or just dawdle along at 40mph I arrived at my destination at about 10.45.
Chris and Lisa were exactly the same as last time I met them and it wasn’t many seconds (literally) that I’d got my first Guinness in my hand. After the customary greetings and conversation things soon got down to what lay ahead for the next 4 days. The weather although nice and sunny (what, no rain - that’s a first!) but there wasn’t much prospect of any wind - the F3F lads back home could already be heard muttering about transport costs to the first event and how could they make an early warning call to cancel.
In the intervening 2 years Chris has been a busy lad exploring all parts of County Kerry - it does help being a local planner as your job requires you to go out and about to inspect various bits of the county (model at the ready as well) . His searches had not been in vain and he told me of a bowl about 30 minutes away that he wanted to try and would suit the north easterlies we were expecting. The distances travelled on this trip were significantly less than 2 years ago when we would travel up to 2 hours away to get a good breeze off the sea.
So day one was to be at Caher Conree - an ancient hill fort with sheer drops on three sides. To get to the ruins it was a 2 hour walk which looked lovely but I hadn’t brought any oxygen with me so that was out of the question. We settled for flying at roughly a midpoint up from sea level at about 900’ up and were planning to take a picture of Chris launching from the car (from the sun roof) but the flying was so good we never did get round to taking it . On the last trip I was blown away by some of the sites we travelled to but this was something else again, there was an unobstructed valley for about 3 miles out to the shoreline and this just funnelled all the available breeze straight onto the slope face. I had told Chris before I left home that he really wanted a nice big 4 metre sport model and so had packed a SPARE Alpina for him! He loved it as I knew he would in the 5 to 10 mph winds we had, the big wings loved it and huge stall turns (or are they hammerheads?) and massive loops were the order of the day.
We had also taken a Typhoon, Miraj and Volcano with us but no more as it was the first day on a newish slope with a light forecast. So after a nice leisurely 5 hours of flying we called it a day at about 7pm and made our way back to the house. As soon as we got back Lisa wanted to know what time we wanted to eat, followed straight away with another Guinness - or was it Budweiser this time - so many days so many cans! Dinner arrived and is quite possibly the only time I have asked for a steak to be medium\well and it was spot on. Whilst I’m writing this I’m trying to reconcile in my head which was the best - the day’s flying or the steak ? ...steak wins.
Day 2 arrives and we seem to have a pattern developing here. 9ish very "ish" for breakfast followed by 3 hours of chatting on RCMF, fettling planes and generally messing about , including Chris showing me how you can fly electric from his front lawn. This was technically correct but landings were a bit tricky over the fence/hedge and round the trees, but Chris confidently showed me the ropes with his much battered (now I know why) Stryker. The Stryker whizzed about much as you would expect any brushless wing to with some nice low quick passes thrown in.
Landing involved flying out over a field, coming in over the fence and dropping down onto the lawn - in theory! In practice this involved Chris power diving down from height over the field, inside the fence and then levelling off on the lawn (except) if you time it wrong and hit the upslope of the not yet full pond, you then get the perfect Harrier ski jump to vault your now very slow Stryker over the drive and into the flower beds - cue hilarity all round!
The forecast for day 2 was pretty much the same as day 1 maybe a little more breeze. By the time we were ready to get the car loaded the F3Fers had already pretty much cancelled over in Wales. So we were off to Caher Conree again but this time prepared for more wind. Chris’s pride and joy at the moment is a lovely Reichard 4mtr Fox which up to this point was unflown so that was first in the car followed by the Alpinas, my Sting, the Miraj, a Vector III, a Voltij, and my M60 and Reaper for good measure. Suffice to say the lift once again was awesome and it wasn’t too long before the Fox was out and assembled on the grass awaiting its maiden voyage.
And what a maiden it was, within the first minute the plane was looping and yes it was intentional and Chris had a smile like the Cheshire cat. I had previously shown him a video of a friend’s Fox doing inverted spins so naturally enough Chris threw his into one… I was amazed and almost horrified but of course it all went as planned and after about 15 minutes my heart rate was back to normal. This Fox is very good value for money as for less than £500 you get a 3.75mtr scale model with a glass fuz and foam cored balsa/glass wings all painted and covered which although in scalie terms is quite light actually carries a lot of momentum through manoeuvres so you have the best of both worlds.
Not to be out done I had secreted away my Wizard DSXtreme into the car and weighing a healthy 4.5kg on a span of just 2.5mtr it needs a bit of a blow to get going, it was nothing to Caher Conree in possibly 18-19mph at the very most it may not have floated out of my hands but certainly had no difficulty gaining height with a bit of thermal flap. Chris was charged with taking photos but with my crap memory forgetting to turn the shutter speed up from 1\120th and the speed of the Wiz most of the photos came out a bit blurred. The flying was great but after 10 minutes of trying to eat up the whole of the Irish airspace I decided that enough was enough and went to land , now 15mph mega lift is ok but 15mph headwind with a heavy model and no matter how much crow you’ve got its coming in quick! All ended well though.
At this point Chris was thinking of flying the Voltij and so it was all ready to go when an MPV pulled up by us and in best broad merkin a voice asked “you gonna fly that thang?” to which Chris replied in the affirmative. Well the whooping and the hollering was truly splendid as the VJ speared out and did 3 consecutive rolls followed by a big loop , hang on that loops going a long way back and where’s all the airspeed gone? Oh dear - VJ sort of half spins half flops into the ditch beside the road with no damage at all. Our colonial cousins at this point all look and as one all say “its all good” and dive back into their car to escape any potential further injury.
The day finished off with me flying the Reaper and the M60 full of lead backwards and forwards on what must be a 1 mile course – honestly, a mile! I’ve not flown the M60 anywhere else where I could leave it to just fly in a straight line for what seemed like 30 seconds or more without so much as a tickle on the sticks. And so ended day 2…
Fortunately for us and unfortunately for all the others back home day 3 was pretty much a repeat of day 1 with lots of sun and 5 to 10mph winds - such hardship! The local TV and radio was full of the Icelandic dust cloud story as this seemed to be centred over Ireland and was causing travel chaos, so we decided to take precautions just in case it developed any further and you can see that we survived perfectly well in the accompanying photos. Chris had thought of getting his NBC suit out from his National Service in South Africa but decided not to as the thought of poaching the crown jewels didn’t really appeal.
Day 4 was to be spectacular as the wind had moved round to a more north easterly flow from the previous days and Chris had a new slope to try which he had only previously looked at but not flown. Annascaul is higher up than Caher Conree and does involve some walking (about 70 metres) and is located on a peat bog. Can someone more able than me please explain how you can have a bog on the top of a 1500’ mountain and I do mean on the top! It’s the most weird sensation walking on 6 feet of water logged compost and at anytime be able sink a foot into it. As the forecast was for 5mph then we didn’t take much heavy weight tackle with us - what a mistake to make!
I can now see why Chris finds it a little more difficult to fly on my home inland slopes. On his slopes back on the stick means up and forward means down and that’s it - more akin to power flying. He had his Miraj doing proper Dakinesque 200’ compression loops for a good 4 or 5 minutes with no effort what so ever, again not to be outdone I had a go with the M60 fully loaded and could have carried on until the light went. In the end 4 days of solid flying had taken its toll and we were all flown out after 3 or 4 hours and retired back to a local hostelry for some liquid refreshments and some equally wonderful seafood.
What can I say about the ring of Kerry …..? You’ve got to “fly it before you die” Fabulous place to go - great people and scenery to die for. Must go back before the end of summer.
Thanks Chris and Lisa
Andy
Thanks to Andy for the superb article, and to Andy and Chris for the pictures!
Yes, Sloperacer has been affected by the ruddy volcano! To all those waiting on Lift ticket to Norway and the RCRCM shipment coming, we apologise for keeping you waiting, but unfortunately there's not a lot we can do about it. At this point the lift tickets are now under way and the rcrcm Package is sitting in the Beijing hub (as it has been for a while now) waiting for flights into UK airspace to be cleared. We're hoping that the Southerly coming on later this week will result in our airspace getting cleared out somewhat and therefore our RCRCM shipment arriving. What I can promise you is that I will work my socks off to get through the models through the QC procedure as quickly as possible once it does arrive so that all those waiting on their models wait as little time as possible!
It's on the way - yes it really really is! I remember watching the first Lift Ticket DVD I owned - it was everything I love about sloping distilled into a fantastic film with a brilliant laid back soundtrack. Watching the first one, it's very hard to imagine how a better one could be produced. But having seen the previews of Lift Ticket to Norway - everything seems stunning - the sound track, the locations - just everything!
I'm putting a note on here about it because the demand is massive for this, and we don't want to disappoint anyone. If you're considering purchasing one, please get in touch and let us know as soon as possible. Right now we are doing them for an introductory price of £23, rising to £25 at the end of May.
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