lay up waffling

   I am in the very lucky position of being able to experiment with different parts and lay ups, with the same designs.  When I started F3F it was the Era of 'double carbon extreme' layups, which did not really come into their own until the conditions had built up on decent hills.  I know that many things have changed over the last quarter century, from building and flying techniques to the steps in aerodynamics.  Comparing layups has to be between the same designs.

  The lay up I am currently using on my Saker is a single 100g carbon, this has proved to be more than strong enough whilst giving improved roll rate and responsiveness.  After managing the tent peg my Saker I ordered a new fuselage but kept the lighter tails I have been using, along with a 2.5m Falcon.

 The dry weight of the Saker has come out at 2.6kg- a further step in production.  The flight performance, particularly in the turns has been improved significantly.

  The Falcon has come out at 2.2kg.  For a model that I love for throwing around the skies and making sure I don't think about racing, this weight is a great start point.  Yep I still fly 90% of the time with ballast but having the weight in the right place really does help.

  My habit of bouncing models around landing areas is becoming the limit on produce weight.

Summer evenings

  After last weekends fun at Eastbourne the long evenings tempted me out for some summer cruising. The excuse of taking the slope dogs out can help.

  The Wyvern reacted so well to the last of the evenings thermals. Just so good to be out in these conditions!

Multiple Wyverns and more success

   The race at Eastbourne this weekend was a joy of great company, good weather and fun flying.

  It was great to see some new pilots at the race, almost as good as seeing the number of pilots armed with Wyverns and Sakers steadily increasing.  The LongMan in those conditions is a slope where reliability and knowing your model really pays off.  Dave Dermott's win came with a model he has been flying for a long time now and he's really put in the time to know how to get the best of the model.  Well flown Dave!

 The ability of the Wyvern was possibly shown more by my round win than John taking his Wyvern to the podium again.  If I can win a round with a Wyvern- anyone can!  Another podium for the Wyvern this year, the results for the saker and Wyverns are building in the hands of a number of pilots.

  

Wyvern for sale

 I have a spare Wyvern just arrived. Light carbon wing and the new lighter tails.

 £675 brand new.

Or built with LDS fitted for £950.

Sunshine and lift

  A fantastic day with a summer feeling on the crest.  With the wind varying around 8ms the lift was really focused on the edge.  The rotor can be misleading when judging the conditions but I ballasted the Wyvern up to 3kg. 

This gave me enough energy to get the up turns going much nicer than I seem to manage on race day.  With smooth air it felt easy to keep a consistent line and hit the compression 

  As you'd expect, when the thermal help came on the Wyvern headed off like a scalded cat.

Big air at the Nationals

 

 What a fantastic weekend at the nationals. 20m/s plus on Saturday and once the rain cleared on Sunday 16m/s.  I've not managed to get out since the Champ of champs race and it showed! But I was never going to beat the skilled flying showed by Stefan, Pete Gunning and John Treble.  Watching Greg take them on with a Saker and Wyvern was a brilliant lesson on just what these models can do in big air.

  The standard of competition this year was shown by Greg coming in 4th after putting 9 of his 10 flights under 40 seconds.  The joy of F3F is that we are all locked in our own battles with the clock or the next pilot away from the main competition.

  A fantastic weekend!

Backing British racing

  The philosophy of willow racing has always been to have the most fun as possible flying fast, high performance gliders that.

  I know that I spend more time flying the models most that I enjoy the most.  Only a small part of flying is racing so you need to have a model that is fun.

  To support the British F3F League I have decided to put a Wyvern up as a prize. To win you don't have to win but just come along to any BMFA race and race.  Results have shown how competitive the models are. The Saker is the only UK flown model to win the Euro tour.

 I believe the wyvern and saker are the best British designed high performance models available.  The wyvern is currently only available direct to keep the price down, but winning one makes it even better value!