A beginner's tale of getting started in F5J #2

In the previous post I describe my "restart" in RC gliding, the story continues....

I have enjoyed the Phoenix glider but I soon realized I would like something a bit more sturdy and larger to continue my "removing all the rust from the pilot" project.

The selection was small from the local shops, lots of foam gliders but very little else. What I did find were 2 E-Flight Mystiques, One full house and the other RES. They are 2.9m sized planes with a fiber glass fuselage and nicely build wooden wings covered with transparent Oracover. I wanted the full house version to continue my training towards a decent F5J plane but I also thought I would like the RES model just for fun flying. The end result was me going home with both planes!

Time to assemble a plane or two!

The kits were complete other than radio equipment and motor/prop. I found 2 EMax outrunners that fitted the nose well and according to their specifications they were similar in size and weight as the recommended E-Flight motors I could not find, just a bit more powerful. The only props I could find locally were E-Flight 14x8's, fortunately they were in the recommended range for the EMax motors so I was hoping for at least reasonable performance.

The radio choice was easy as I had a brand new Taranis X9D Plus that I really wanted to try.

I assembled the RES model first, thinking that it would be the easiest one to fly. Assembly did not take long and soon I was standing at GEMS early in the morning ready for the test flight. A few hand-launches proved all was well (yes, it was windy again!) so I armed the motor and launched,

What an exciting ride! The rudder was a bit sensitive but the surprising thing was the power, the plane was climbing very fast! After shutdown I played around with the trim a bit before attempting to land the plane, I ended up way to high, this plane glided a LOT better than the Phoenix so a few more turns were needed even with the spoilers deployed.

The only thing I needed to do was to add some up elevator compensation when deploying the spoilers as the plane really dived with full spoiler.

A few more flights proved that the plane thermals well (compared to the Phoenix) but that I was really missing ailerons in the windy and turbulent conditions. The moment I got home I started getting the second plane ready to fly.

Once completed the flap/aileron model turned out to be really fun to fly, solid in the air and easy to core a thermal with. I did have a slight technical problem on the first flight when an aileron servo came loose but I managed to get the plane down in once piece.

Ready to fly!

The Taranis X9D Plus really worked out well, it is so flexible and really more powerful than most other radios out there. Initially I was worried about the quality, In the past I mostly flew Futaba and I never had any issues. When I first got it I pulled it apart and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the sticks and the soldering on the PCB's. I think my (new) Futaba T14SG will remain in the Phoenix....

I have since managed to get a bit of practice in with the Mystiques, to the point where I am feeling comfortable flying again. I am also slowly getting better at the landings, practice makes perfect. The efficient crow setup on the Mystique also helps a lot with energy management once I got used to it. The next thing I need to practice is getting the landing time right. I have a voice F5J count-down on the Taranis, it includes the launch announcements and the time every minute during the flight with a countdown of the last minute, ideal for some F5J practice!

Now my mind is turning to a better, molded, plane. Do I buy locally if I can find something or do I import? The search for local planes started.......

While searching for a new plane I also looked around some stuff I stored a long time ago, I came across two old F3B planes (1981/82 vintage) that I forgot about. The one was a RES model and the other one has ailerons and spoilers. They are still in a good condition other than the covering that has become really brittle. The planes are own designs (called "Photon"), the tails are similar to a Sagitta 900 but the rest is different with sheeted wings including carbon spars and kevlar reinforcement. They are both 3m wingspan.

I am not sure what I should do with them, recover them and fly them from the winch for a bit of nostalgia or convert to F5J/ALES planes? Time will tell!

The two old ladies.

In the next post I will talk about planes I found on the local market.

A beginner's tale of getting started in F5J #1

After an absence of nearly 33 years I have decided to return to RC gliding!

I last flew RC gliders in 1982, In those days I flew competitive Thermal Duration and F3B, I remembered how much fun competitions were so I wanted to get competitive again.

Before I committed myself I did a lot of reading and decided I would like to concentrate on competitive F5J flying as it seemed that it would allow me to practice on my own when I have spare time with no need for a clumsy winch or bungee.

The first thing I had to do was to find out if I could still fly or if I had to start from scratch! I had a look around and the quickest way to get into the air was with a Hobby King Phoenix 2600 foam glider. This is a 2.6m full house glider, maybe not the best way to start as it would be more difficult to fly than a RES plane but it was available.

The Phoenix 2600 ready for it's first flight.

I must admit that I was rather worried about the first flight so I went out early one morning to a local field so that I would have no spectators! As it turned out I had a few issues when I arrived with one aileron servo that did not work, the problem was a bad extension cable that I could sort out at the field.

A few hand launches showed that the controls were centered and that the CoG was close. The next flight I switched on the motor and climbed to about 50m to check the plane. It was a bit slow in responding but flying well. The best news after the first landing was that I realized I could still fly and that flying towards myself presented no problems! I was REALLY happy!

The next flight turned out even better, from about 50m I managed to find a thermal and had a 45 minute flight, I was hooked!

Over the next few weekends I flew the Phoenix as often as I could, I also made a few mods like taping the leading edges with fiber re-enforced tape. The wing tips were painted a different color as well as the bottom of the plane to help with visibility issues. I was having fun!

During this time I also joined two local gliding clubs, Silverton Gliding club (SGC) and GEMS. I was really surprised to see a few names I knew at SGC from way back, guys like Gordon Browne and Jan Sime whom I flew with in the late 70's and early 80's.

The Phoenix with a bit of color added ready for flight at SGC

My first visit to SGC was really great, lots of friendly faces and even a few I knew. Flying with other like minded people does make it more fun and there is always something to learn. 

When I first visited GEMS the experience was also great, I did not know anyone but guys like Wolf made me feel right at home and I was soon enjoying the stunning GEMS flying field. My flying pattern became Saturday afternoons at GEMS and Sunday mornings at SGC. The only little problem was the wind, for some reason the first few months after I returned to gliding the wind was mostly very strong and the poor foamy suffered!

At least I have managed to keep it in once piece so far.

It is time to upgrade the plane.....