It happened a few weeks ago but I’ve tried not to think to much about it- the Laser crashed and was totally destroyed during practice in rough winds. It was much better but sadly not flown as much as the Red Laser that preceded it. Intended as a backup model I originally fitted it with an O.S 200 FS engine. It was fitted with a pump and Hatori header that was later sold cheap after realising it had none of the power I wanted. I replaced it with a YS 1.60 which I discovered was badly broken before I had a chance to fly it. It then got a used YS 1.70 DZ which performed really well. After changing fuel from one type of Rapicon to another it stopped on takeoff, breaking one undercarriage leg. It took a while to get the leg I wanted from Germany and by the time it got mended, last years flying season was over and I was eagerly looking forward to receiving my new Integral. The Laser was in storage for a full year until my Integral broke and then it came out of hiding, dutifully performing its role as backup model. It flew very nicely and after three trim flights due to a change to 2,4 Ghz it performed well. It was very honest to fly with no bad habits. Although not being able to match the Integral in knife-edge performance it was a very decent F3A model, despite looking like an IMAC half-breed.
There was a lot of wind that fateful day. I don’t really mind wind as long as it blows straight down the field but this was the kind of day when your model must be bolted to the grass in order to not fly away on its own, the kind of windy day only an idiot flies. I was that idiot. After the second round of P11 I was about to turn onto base leg for landing, and with a tailwind best described as a tornado, the idiot move I made was to retard the throttle and pull a little elevator to turn. It stalled, simply flicked forward and was blown nose-first into the dirt in the blink of an eye.
“There he goes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”
- From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Here’s an update about what’s going on in the 2010 season. The integral is pictured here with a new undercarriage which was violently torn off minutes after the picture was taken.
The Integral is the best flying plane I’ve seen. I just love how it presents itself in the air and the color scheme is brilliant. The CDI engine is really easy to operate and is very fuel efficient. It’s also one less thing to charge before I go flying since there’s no glow driver involved.. I typically charge about 600 mAh after four flights in the combined RX and ignition battery pack. At the annual Løten F3A cup I experimented with my own blend of fuel with 10% oil. That definitely did not work well, it overheated in both rounds and stopped. After a forced landing the undercarriage mount was badly damaged and is currently being repaired. I have changed to the taller ZN landing gear that is used in their electric models like the Xigris. It looks really nice and gives better prop clearance so that I can run 19 inch props if I want to. I have had some hysteresis problems with the throttle servo which gives an unreliable idle so I’m changing the throttle servo position and will be using the Futaba 9650 servo.
150 km/h into a wall of grass. Integral does not approve.
While the Integral is undergoing undercarriage surgery I have flown and trimmed the Lorenz Laser. It hasn’t flown since I broke an undercarriage leg last year and now has a stronger, lighter undercarriage and it’s converted to Futaba 2,4 ghz. Trimming it with the new radio and receiver should have been uneventful but it was rather terrifying when the elevator horn broke. Nothing raises your pulse like seeing your elevator flapping freely in an untrimmed plane. To top it off, a wheel fell just when I was touching down. I got some applause from rolling out perfectly with one wheel and one elevator. Every dog has it’s day! Upon inspection, the other elevator horn was fractured and broke off with a light twist. A light surgical procedure involving 5-minute epoxy later, the Laser flew two trim flights and one P-11 schedule successfully.
I have swapped the lovely little T8 Futaba radio for it’s bigger brother, the T12FG. It offers more programming ease with it’s larger screen and also has logical switches which I find very helpful for switching flight mode from normal to snap roll using stick positions. I also have a flight mode called “IGN ON” which powers on the ignition. It’s a non-standard flight mode which means the radio gives and alarm if switched on when the ignition switch is on. I have installed a 2800 mAh Robbe Li-Ion battery and updated it to firmware 2.1. It’s a superb radio but sadly it lacks the trim position reset feature and the superior ergonomics of the T8. And I really miss the backlit display, it’s almost impossible to see the screen in poor lighting conditions. It’s always nice to have an excuse to upgrade your radio if something better comes along…
24 pilots came to do battle in the second Norwegian cup contest of the 2010 season. With the unexpected high turnout we could only manage three rounds for all three classes (F3A, Nordic 09 and Sport 07) but we had a great contest with sunny warm weather and a great social event on saturday.
Particularly positive was the fact that we had a lot of debutants this year, in all classes. In Nordic and sport in particular, many were either first timers in contests or had advanced from last year. Former Vingtor boss Audun Thinn has done a great job coaching juniors for many years and his protege Kristoffer Rosmo from Vingtor flew convincingly and came third in Sport.
It was my first ever contest in the F3A class and I came in 13 place (out of 14), barely managing to hold a fellow F3A debutant behind me on the scoreboard but hey – I’m flying F3A in contests! To be able to say that means I have finally reached the goal I set for myself more than 20 years ago. How about that. Fear not though, if you are a rookie, don’t fly at home like I did all those years. Come to a contest to see how it’s done and you could be in F3A in just a couple of years.
Finally! The Integral test flights went well. Although there was a lot of wind today I could tell right away this is an exceptional plane. It’s very responsive and smooth. I had my usual brain seizure while setting it up, programming the exponential the wrong way – I had 40% positive expo so the first flight was kinda squirrely if you know what I mean…
The engine starts very easily and runs reliably. I had two trim flights and then one run through P-11. On the fourth flight the pipe came off – the Nishioka mount had fallen off, leaving the pipe hanging inside the belly pan. I landed OK but I slammed the tail in hard, bending the tail gear. The tail gear needs to be changed anyway, with the very low ZN main gear it proved difficult to get off the ground on a rough surface so I need to find away to lower the tail. Perhaps just a small skid will do it. And a new Nishioka mount.
Update: It’s been flown, 5 flights total. The setup seems sound enough and the plane is extremely responsive. Low rates became high rates after some hefty tweaking on the radio. The rudder response is really out of this world. I cna’t belive the canalizer does all that but if it does, I don’t really see much point in having it, it’s just so responsive that I have to learn to fly all over again.
For winter practice and general fooling around: A new toy. The Kyosho Osmose is a wonderful little ARF and was just too tempting after I crashed my Mini Scalar last summer when the motor cable disconnected in flight and I had all that expensive equipment lying around. The Osmose is powered by a Kontronik Kora 20-14 outrunner and Jive 60LV ESC. Batteries are 5S 5000mah so that it can be powered by “half-packs” should I ever get around to going electric in my 2-meter models that would use 10S LiPos.
Servos are Futaba 9650 on ailerons and some Graupner DS8011′s I had lying around for elevator and rudder. A Fubata 6008 Fasst receiver and a small GP AAA 850mAh receiver battery is used as a BEC-backup.
With the switch to YS CDi, I needed to get into 2.4 ghz systems in a hurry to be safe from radio interference with the new ignition system. My trusty old MC-22 is possible to convert, but considering the price tag, the Futaba T8 FGA was simply irresistable. I could get a brand new radio system complete with a very decent 2.4 receiver for the same price a conversion of the MC-22 would have cost. That means I can still use the MC-22 and it’s receivers for older models. Being a handheld radio, the T8 is also a sensible choice for indoor flying.
Another big reason for choosing Futaba is that they have a great range of 2.4 receivers at affordable prices. I could not find another system with more suitable receivers for my need. In addition, Futaba is probably the biggest brand and parts and service is available anywhere in the world.
When buying a new 2.4 radio these days I really wanted a native 2.4 radio, something without interchangeable transmitter modules, empty 35Mhz antenna slots and a bulky WIFI-like anteanna sticking out the back. The T8 is beautiful in that respect, being so simple and elegant and infinitely programmable. The sensor touch control thing is reminiscent of an Ipod’s control pad and very easy to operate. It has so many great features it’s really hard to belive when you compare it to similarly priced systems. It even has the possibility to set five different dual rates/Expo for each channels, assignable switches, everything you’d expect from a modern system. The only negative thing I’ve found so far is that flight modes only work in Glider or Heli mode, NOT in motor plane mode. Pretty silly, but when you think about it, they probably just left that out so that plane pilots have a reason to buy the T12 instead, which is more than double the price of this radio. And who needs flight modes with 5 switchable rates, right?
Here’s a short sequence showing some of the planes of the day. In 2005 I still flew the Calypso in the Nordic schedule. In the video you can see an Impulse, Temptation, Synergy 50 and many more.
Here’s Kjell Tore Pettersen flying his trusty old Giles 202 during the 2005 Jarlsberg cup contenst. (Sorry I did not film the entire sequence). The plane is most likely built from Gator R/C plans which were popular in the early 00′s. The Giles is pretty big and is equipped with retracts and an O.S. 1.40 RX and pipe which was pretty much what everybody ran back in those days. I can’t belive it’s been five years.
Here’s video of the 2005 Jarlsberg Cup, which is close to five years ago at the time of posting. That’s almost retro compared to today. Nobody was flying electric, OS 140 RX was the norm and the really spectacular equipment of the day were digital servos, Jaccio regulators and the mighty YS 140 DZ “Dingo” – as Bernt Olsson flies here in his Smaragd, the famous Wolfgang and Roland Matt model. Enjoy.
The Integral is finally ready. The YS 170 is converted to CDi and as soon as the weather is warmer I will run and tune the engine so it’s ready for the next season of P-11. I’m now using Futaba FASST 2.4 GHz to avoid ignition noise so hopefully I’m immune to radio interference. Ignition is controlled using a Turnigy transmitter operated switch which seems very safe and easy to operate. Read More »
I live in Norway with my wife and two daughters. I've been building and flying since I was a kid, I've flown in contests since 2003 and I'm loving every minute of it. More
