28/08/2013

Pictures from Clive

Here are some pictures sent over by our erstwhile league co-ordinator, Clive Needham. It's quite interesting to see the models, fashions and indeed hairlines of yesteryear!

Pictures from May 2005:

Pictures from 2004:

Other picures:

27/08/2013

F3B World Championship Calendar

I have just received a calendar I bought from the 2013 WC organisers. The calendar runs from now (August 2013) to July 2015. The calendar has a score list from every world championship (1977 to present) and some cool pictures. It is now adorning my office wall. Available from the 2013 WC website - contact Reinhard Dylla.

pictures link (ipad etc)

25/08/2013

F3B Nationals - RAF Cranwell

The bank holiday weekend of the 24th, 25th and 26th of August was the weekend the BMFA nationals were held at Barkston Heath. The silent flight nationals were held a few miles away at RAF Cranwell, due space restrictions at Barkston. Unfortunately the weather was not as good as it has been this summer and I arrived to a sea of umbrellas.

The decision was that we would drive over to Barkston heath to sample the delights of the trade stalls (okay food stalls) and make a weather call at 12:30pm. As it turned out the weather actually cleared up around 10am, but at 9am it had been incredibly wet and the chances of flying an hour later looked extremely remote. By 12:30 there had been no rain for a while we headed back to Cranwell and setup the course. Unfortunately only one round of duration was completed before the rain returned. I would advise against leaving your car door and window open if there is a strong chance of rain.

Despite some parts of the day being as wet as the proverbial otter's pocket, it was a fun day out with the F3b guys and we will fly the nationals on the reserve date.

18/08/2013

F3B Electric - Motor Log

Further to my entry on f3b electro set-ups, I had chance to fly my Extreme today with the electric set-up. Below is a graph of the power, which shows that peak power is over 1.5kw. It's a bit hard to interpret the graph as castle creation speed controllers logging is continuous. With soaring gliders the motor is only on for very short periods relative to the length of the flights. By way of example I had a 25minute+ flight with my Xplorer 2 electric off under 20 seconds motor run. Needless to say the graph of the log from the ESC is not that useful. It would be much nicer if the ESC only logged data when the throttle was actually on. The downs on the graphs are more to do with the speed controller settings which brake the motor quite slowly.

Anyway, I did a couple of short test flights to get some figures. These show the peak power is 1.5kw on a 17x13 prop, with a castle creations 100amp esc and sloperacer geared inrunner. The Hub is 28mm IIRC.

Other photos from a fun afternoon.

17/08/2013

Photos from last season.

This is just a general picture post using my photobucket stuff from last year. The pictures are from various league rounds of the 2012 season. Non flash users please click the "view all" button. You can also see larger versions of the pictures by clicking "view all".

satinet's f3b album on Photobucket

16/08/2013

F3B WC 1997, Golbasi, Ankara Turkey

Simon Thornton has kindly sent me these pictures from the 1997 WC. GB won a team silver that year flying Cobras. DP used the Cobra to win the next WC.

The photos largely speak for themselves! If you double click on a photo you will be taken to the album and the photos will be larger.

If your device doesn't have flash (e.g ipad/mobile device) please click here to see the photos.

14/08/2013

Frsky Taranis For F3B

FrSky has recently released its new taranis TX into the wild. Essentially this TX is made from a plastic case that virtually the same as the JR 9x2. The software is OpenTX which has been around for a while on some modified hobby king hardware. The greater processing power of the taranis has allowed the OpenTX developers to increase the software functionality. OpenTX is an open source project.

The first obvious characteristic of the transmitter is the price, which is about £140-00, including charger, metal case, neck strap and so on. An 8 channel receiver is under 25 pounds and high sensitivity vario is about 18 pounds. Clearly low prices are not synonymous with f3b due to the programming complexity that many pilots employ and the top end transmitters they use. E.g the graupner and jeti range.

Where the Taranis might be of interest to f3b pilots is its software features. People familiar with the multipex profi 4000 will quickly get to grips with the Taranis. It employs the same principle of mixing with each servo having a number of inputs of its own. Switch assignments etc. are user choice. Unlike the 4000, the transmitter is fully integrated with modern telemetry sensors and using the vario you can flick a switch that will tell you your height (it can function as a normal vario, of course). This is a very useful feature for launch practice, obviously. Especially as you can also log the data on SD card. Compared the 4000 the Taranis also has more powerful functions in terms of logical switches and custom functions. For example, you can make the TX respond to telemetry data - You could make it switch off the motor at set height, using data from vario. The Taranis has a built in speak and headphone socket which can be used for timers, telemetry data, voice outputs and so on.

The Taranis has 9 flight modes - that is a good number for us f3b pilots who really have at least 4 different modes and usually more. However, where I feel the Taranis is still somewhat lacking is in its flight modes as unlike a lot of radios you cannot alter many settings in each flight mode. You can use 5 global variables that can be used to alter settings per flight mode. You can also switch off/on mixer inputs in each flight mode. So you would need one mixer line for camber and one mixer line for reflex and switch them off or on in the relevant flight mode. It would be simpler to change the mixer setting for each flight mode. However, I have heard that this functionality will come in later software releases.

It seems clear the OpenTX software will develop much faster than proprietary systems due to the nature of open source projects. You can actually log feature requests with the development team, which have a good chance of being implemented if they are beneficial.

With regards to the actual TX box, the ergonomics are not that great, with the switches being rather hard to operate. However, there is the prospect of an improved TX from Frsky called the Horus, which doesn't have a realease date yet.

I have programmed one of my f3b models on the Taranis and am waiting for a trimming session before I can use it an actual competition. I will post more on the Taranis in due course. Maybe with some logs of my super low launches. Not that we need a graph to see how rubbish they are!

13/08/2013

List of F3B World Champions.

F3B World championship

Following the recent F3B World Championship, I thought it would be interesting to try to compile a list of past winners. I managed to get a list of team medals and individual medals up to 2003 from f3b.de. I got recent information from various team pages and blogs etc. The Houlberg trophy itself is nicely pictured by Gordon Buckland in the USA F3B blog.

If you look at the list it includes some well known figures and absolute soaring legends. And Dave Worall and Steve Haley!





Individual - Houlberg Trophy

Year Country/Place 1st 2nd 3rd
1977 RSA-Verwoerdburg Skip Miller (USA) Fricki Roos (RSA) Sean Bannister (GBR)
1979 BEL - Amay Anton Wackerle (AUT) Ralf Decker (GER) Roy Spavins (RSA)
1981 USA - Sacramento Dwight Holley (USA) Sean Bannister (GBR) Schaefer (GER)
1983 GBR - York Ralf Decker (GER) Helmut Quabeck (GER) David Worall (GBR)
1985 AUS - Waikerie Ralf Decker (GER) David Worall (GBR) Karl Wasner (AUT)
1987 GER - Osnabruck Reinhard Liese (GER) Peter Hoffmann (AUT) Samuele Vilani (ITA)
1989 FRA - Melun Nic Wright (GBR) Peter Hoffmann (AUT) Joris ten Holt (NED)
1991 NED - Terlet Joe Wurts (USA) Daryl Perkins (USA) Stephen Haley (GBR)
1993 ISR - Kefar Sava Denis Duchesne (BEL) Joe Wurts (USA) Klaus Kowalski (GER)
1995 ROM - Brasov Daryl Perkins (USA) Denis Duchesne (BEL) Joe Wurts (USA)
1997 TUR - Ankara Daryl Perkins (USA) Pasi Vaisanen (SWE) Joakim Stahl (SWE)
1999 RSA - Rustenberg Daryl Perkins (USA) Dieter Perlick (GER) Roland Hofmann (SUI)
2001 CZE - Chrudim Daryl Perkins (USA) Joe Wurts (USA) Stefan Knechtie (SUI)
2003 GER - Kirchheim Andreas Bohlen (SUI) Pasi Vaisanen (SWE) Reinard Liese (GER)
2005 FIN-Lappeenranta Andreas Bohlen (SUI) Andreas Herrig (GER) Reinard Liese (GER)
2007 SUI - Emmen Martin Herrig (GER) Andreas Herrig (GER) Fidel Frick (LIE)
2009 CZE - Brno Martin Herrig (GER) Peter Hubbertz (GER) Christian Müller (SUI)
2011 CHN - Laiwu Andreas Herrig (GER) Martin Herrig (GER) Andreas Kunz (GER)
2013 GER - Nardt Andreas Herrig (GER) Martin Herrig (GER) Thomas Dylla (GER)
2015 NED - Deelen Martin Herrig (GER) Andreas Herrig (GER) Andreas Bohlen (SUI)

Teams - Challenge Baron Mike Donnet

Year Country/Place 1st 2nd 3rd
1977RSA - VerwoerdburgUSAUKAUS
1979BEL - AmaySouth AfricaAustriaGermany
1981USA - SacrementoGermanyUSASouth Africa
1983UK - YorkGermanyUKAustria
1985AUS - WaikerieUKGermanyAustria
1987GER - OsnabruckAustriaUKGermany
1989FRA - MelunAustriaNetherlandsGermany
1991NED - TerletGermanyUKUSA
1993ISR - Kefar SavaGermanyAustriaUSA
1995ROM - BrasovUSAGermanyAustria
1997TUR - AnkaraSwedenUKUSA
1999RSA - RustenbergSwitzerlandGermanyFrance
2001CZE - ChrudimSwitzerlandGermanySweden
2003GER - KirchheimSwitzerlandGermanySweden
2005FIN - Lappeenranta GermanySweden USA
2007SUI - Switzerland GermanySwitzerland USA
2009CZE - Brno GermanySwitzerlandAustria
2011CHN - Laiwu GermanyUSA France
2013GER - Nardt GermanyAustria USA
2015NED - Deleen GermanySwitzerland Sweden



Here is an Olympic style medal table for the Individual results. 3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd. Germany includes results from FRG (West Germany). In the case of draws I separate by most gold, or most silvers if golds are even. I include the number of medals won.

CountryGoldSilverBronzeMedalsPoints
Germany8962348
USA7311128
Switzerland204610
UK123610
Austria12148
Belgium11025
Sweden02135
South Africa01123
Italy00111
Netherlands00111
Liechtenstein00111

Medal table for teams.

CountryGoldSilverBronzeMedalsPoints
Germany10521742
Switzerland330620
Austria234816
USA2261016
UK150613
Sweden11358
South Africa10124
Netherlands02012
France00222
Australia00111

09/08/2013

Andreas Herrig Wins the 2013 World Championship

It came down to the last speed flight. Flying one after the other, Martin Herrig put in a 14.91 to put the pressure on his brother. Andreas responded with a 15.11 to take the WC. All live on the stream.

No doubt there are plenty of pictures and stories to come from the people who were lucky enough to be there. The team pages from Spain and USA etc are worth a look. Germany takes first, second and third in the individual standings and first in the team standings. You can't really argue with that!

The top three pilots and teams remain as they were in the previous post. Detailed results are here. Congratulations guys. Roll on 2015!

Right back to normal f3b - 24/08/2013 - the Nationals at RAF Cranwell :-) Time to show how it's really (not) done.

08/08/2013

F3B WC Coming to an End

Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day of the 2013 World Championship in Nardt, Germany. I have thoroughly enjoyed the live coverage with the excellent Martin Webershock commentating. Check it out if you haven't done already.

The Germans are in an incredibly strong position with their pilots filling the top 3 places at this point. It could come down to the final speed run to separate the Herrig brothers, with only about 60 points between them.

Top 3 after round 7:
Andreas Herrig / 100%
Martin Herrig / 99.66%
Thomas Dylla / 99.21%

Top Three Teams are:
Germany / 52323.63
Austria / 51489.42
USA / 51184.03

07/08/2013

STOP WORK - Live Stream is Back Online :-)

Or solitaire anyway..... the live stream is back working again. Wahey!
Note the steam also plays from the live score site (linked above). It seems they are having a few issues with it still, but hopefully normal "service" will be resumed.

Live Stream Down :(

News from Germany - the live stream tent at the WC was damaged over night by a thunderstorm and the equipment got wet.

The video stream is down, but hopefully they will get it back up.

Picture from Team Germany facebook page (link above).

05/08/2013

Pre World Championship Competiton - Nardt Open

Daniele Amici wins the pre world championship Nardt Open. Credit to the organisers for running a comp with 97 competitors :)

Nardt Open Results

The WC is now underway!

03/08/2013

Silent Flight Nationals 2013 - 24th to 26th of August.

Link to download the entry form is here. This a league date also. You have to make an official entry to the BMFA and an entry to Clive as normal.

The form is for f3b,f3j,100s, f5b etc. Entry fee is higher if entry is made after the 9th of August.

01/08/2013

Photos From Round 4

Back to UK F3b news, here are few photos from round 4. The first few photos are of "Operation Remove Pike From Tree," which was successfully concluded before the f3b contest. I don't know how many landing points were scored for landing in the lake or at what point the timer stopped counting. I think a body of water constitutes "an object in contact with the ground" as far as the soaring rules are concerned.

Thanks to Simon for the photos. Please click here to see the photos if you don't have adobe flash on your device (e.g iphone).