Saturday 31 October 2009

Kyril

Without exception, I've always fitted out my own F3F planes. However when you work 50 or 60 hours a week it means you want to spend what free time you have flying rather than building. So, when Jiri suggested trying their new RTF service I thought, what could I lose.

Well the Kyril (which was the original choice of name before Cyril came along) arrived yesterday and I can say without a shadow of doubt that it has been the most satisfying experience of any plane I have ever owned. The joy of ownership thing can't be explained - like an expensive watch, or your first Apple Mac. See the text next to the photos to get a flavour of what I mean.

The airframe fits together perfectly, no sanding of joiners of joints that don't quite meet.
The wings are fantastically strong and light. The leading and trailing edges are perfect.
The fuselage is a work of art - super strong, super light, enough room for the gear yet also very low cross sectional area.




The RDS comes installed. I have to say this is almost as big a revelation as getting my first mouldy 15 odd years ago.
It is absolutely slop free and centres perfectly every time. Loads of aileron movement and enough for around 70 degrees down flap.
They were perfectly centred when the arrived but the weird 4000 Tx set up meant I had to re-centre the flaps. No problem, less than 3 mins each to get them out, re-centre and pop them back.




Even lighter tail means even less nose weight.

Comes pre-drilled at the root for the aerial, see below.






Plugs pre-wired and glued in place.
Very neat balsa blocks in place to keep the wiring out of the way.

Peek inside and you see the bulkhead, which is a work of art in itself.


Servos are the fantastically fast and accurate Graupners.
Even the clevis' are ground away to get full movement. And, the pushrod has a reminder to secure the clevis once you've screwed it to length.
The servo mounting is really neat.







Comes with the battery that fits perfectly








The aerial is pre-installed and and comes with a joiner ready to solder to your Rx aerial.
Look at the top of the frame and you'll also see the battery connector comes taped up just in case.







The aerial is pre-installed in the fuselage and comes out at the tail in an outer that slides into the tail.









Summary
There is no doubt in my mind that Jiri Baudis is a genius. What he has done in a few years has been remarkable. His quality is second to none, his designs are fantastic and it arrives with that something extra you can't quite put your finger on.

Clearly the proof is in the flying but in terms of ticking all the right boxes before it gets in the air - RDS, strong, light and fuselage ballast with nosecone - the Kyril is unparalleled.


Sunday 11 October 2009

Viking Race 1998 - the video

I've ripped some clips from the DVD Richard Frawley and myself put together of the Viking Race at the Bwlch back in 1998. There's a good few clips below, including several of the new records made that week, finishing with Jan Hansen's 32.97. The outtakes are probably worth a look too.

Introduction


Trond Olsen - Round 1


John McCurdy - Round 2


Klaus Kowalski - Round 2 - equals own world record


Kevin Newton - Round 2


Dave Woods - Round 2


Espen Torp - Round 2


Kevin Newton - Round 4


Simon Thornton - Round 5


Fritz Kristofferson - Round 5


John Phillips - Round 5


Kevin Newton - Round 8


Jan Hansen - Round 9 - New World Record!!!


John Bennett - Round 9 - killer cut!


Pierre Rondel - Round 10


VR 98 - Outtakes

Monday 5 October 2009

BMFA League 6 - Huddersfield


1 Simon Thornton Ceres 3861.97
2 Kevin Newton Ceres 3758.54
3 Richard Bago Vikos 3741.96
4 Gary Harrison Race M 3732.26
5 Joel West Ceres 3673.17
6 Mike Evans Fstyler 3648.48
7 Mark Abbots Extreme 3600.18
8 Paul Middleton Vikos 3592.39
9 Adam Richardson Extreme 3582.24
10 Keith Wood Fstyler 3539.06
11 Tom Macpherson Skorp 3531.84
12 Dave Wright Vikos 3496.65
13 Paul Garnett Vikos 3469.69
14 Graham Reed Skorp 3469.13
15 Greg Dakin Race M 3449.1
16 Mike Shellim Skorp 3407.44
17 Tim Shaw Acacia 3376.04
18 Paul Foster Skorp 3355.77
19 Mark Redsell Skorp 3340.01
20 John Thornton Skorp 3325.02
21 Jon Edison Sting 3298.58
22 Warwick Smith Skorp 3279.08
23 Ronnie Lampe Sting 3269.11
24 Steve Clutterbuck Viking 3255.9
25 Mick Lideard Vikos 3255.82
26 Tom Satinet Ascot 3252.98
27 Martin Newnham Skorp 3229
28 John Sage Ceres 3224.39
29 Ron Broughton Acacia2 3213.53
30 Dave Elam Sting 3195.88
31 Tony Fu Vikos 3167.27
32 George Pilkingto Predator 3106.07
33 Clive Needham Tragi 3057.27
34 Frank Hulton Caldera 2874.5
35 Ian Stromberg Brio 2864
36 Andrzej Tabero Ascot 1594.96