Ian F3F Posted April 14, 2023 Author Share Posted April 14, 2023 Hi John, After chatting with a few people more experienced than myself, I'm running more ballast that you. I've been playing with the ballast the last couple of times out and arrived at these 2 settings so far. 15mph- 650g 20-25mph 900g This is a little more than I was running but feels better. I think I run more than your PDf with the 2.5m Falcon. But there's more than 1 way to go at this game Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Fish Posted April 14, 2023 Share Posted April 14, 2023 Thanks Ian, Thats helpful. I will put more ballast in earlier as the wind increases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnEP Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 Tried out the steel joiner this week, no issues with CG and weighs in at 1kg. Wind was a bit on the light side for that much weight but not problem with handling, just need a good wind in the next weeks im about to rework the Fuz install as I feel my set is not great, modifying the ballast tube to take my Freestyler weights so saving me carrying two sets of ballast up hills. JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnEP Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Well I’ve finally got some stick time with the Saker main reason was I planed to change the ballast tube to take my Freestyler weights, saves me carrying two sets off ballast. I managed this after a bit of issue removing the round tube, the man Mason luckily had a spare fuselage he has loaned me. Sadly a different colour but a match in yellow yesterday was the rebuilds first flight, 9ms wind from the north on Firle beacon a great test slope that I use. Total unballasted weight has come out at 2.8, my thinking this was a bit heavy but from flights so far I have nearly always had ballast in. on this outing I had 250 to start with and had no issues with EM turns (my style) or reversals, moved up to 500 and no problem in EM style turns but reversals were more of difficult and ended more half reversals in that the plane was pointing slightly out from the slope. As the wind dropped of late in the day I removed the ballast, there was no difference in handling and the plane was happily still turning well in 2ms at the end. All I now need is a 15ms day to see if settings are ok for this higher wind, my thinking is yes if just a little less elevator. Hope to have the plane on an F3F course very soon Settings I have settled with for F3F are CG 96. ailerons 8up 5down at the tip couple flap 5up 3down at the root. Elevator 5up & down. Rudder 8up & down.snap flap flaps 5down ailerons 3down set to come in after 30% stick movement. Currently running a small amount of coupled rudder to aileron off 2mm crow flap 35 aileron 3.5 elevator 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jep Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 Well I’ve finally managed to get some F3F course time with the Saker all I can say is wow what a great plane, it helped me to 4th place at the local World Cup/Euro tour (only used on the Saturday but it impress all) 5th place at the LongMynd and then this last weekend 1st place at the English open at WhiteSheet. the combination of Saker and Kingmax servos is working well for me, these Kingmax servos are really impressive lighting quick and very accurate. Have to say again I’ve have been very impressed with these servos, great quality and great price. Big thanks to Flighthech now to my current set ups CG 105 this moves forward to 104 when ballast is added over all weight dry 2700g aileron at tip up 8 down 3.5 combined flaps at root 6 up 3 down elevator at root 5 up and down plus 20% expo, bigger wind I have 4up and Down snap flap at root 5 down with a little less on ailerons, this come in after half elevator stick I do fly with a little rudder mix to the ailerons 2up and Down up to now I’ve only used a max of 750g of ballast, I can get 1kg in the Fuz and 1kg if I use the steel joiner. So far I’ve not had the conditions for this at a F3F, however I have flown with steel joiner and 600g in fuz making total weight 4500g and it was very impressive. JP 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookman Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 The Saker looked impressively smooth and quick in JP's hands, with seven round wins over the the two days of he EO. Ian also contributed a round win too, making it eight round wins from19 for "Team Saker". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumbey Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 22 hours ago, Fpljohne said: Well I’ve finally managed to get some F3F course time with the Saker all I can say is wow what a great plane, it helped me to 4th place at the local World Cup/Euro tour (only used on the Saturday but it impress all) 5th place at the LongMynd and then this last weekend 1st place at the English open at WhiteSheet. the combination of Saker and Kingmax servos is working well for me, these Kingmax servos are really impressive lighting quick and very accurate. Have to say again I’ve have been very impressed with these servos, great quality and great price. Big thanks to Flighthech now to my current set ups CG 105 this moves forward to 104 when ballast is added over all weight dry 2700g aileron at tip up 8 down 3.5 combined flaps at root 6 up 3 down elevator at root 5 up and down plus 20% expo, bigger wind I have 4up and Down snap flap at root 5 down with a little less on ailerons, this come in after half elevator stick I do fly with a little rudder mix to the ailerons 2up and Down up to now I’ve only used a max of 750g of ballast, I can get 1kg in the Fuz and 1kg if I use the steel joiner. So far I’ve not had the conditions for this at a F3F, however I have flown with steel joiner and 600g in fuz making total weight 4500g and it was very impressive. JP snap flap at root 5 down with a little less on ailerons, this come in after half elevator stick...... Is this 50% deadband on the elevator stick John before snap is invoked..Seems alot? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jep Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 3 hours ago, Rumbey said: snap flap at root 5 down with a little less on ailerons, this come in after half elevator stick...... Is this 50% deadband on the elevator stick John before snap is invoked..Seems alot? Hi Dave yes 50% stick before snap flap, I found this works for me with the Saker (May be different on my other planes). This is only for EM style turns though, I have less snap flap on my banked turns but a little more elevator and snap come in straight away. I try now to do EM turns when possible, light air days I go to banked turns for a shorter course. JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme_M Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 Just finished the install on Jess’s new Saker fus after the midair. Bit fiddly but no different to any other F3F ship. I must say I was very impressed with the quality, you’ve come a long way since the Willow Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian F3F Posted September 8, 2023 Author Share Posted September 8, 2023 Glad you like it! Now to wait for some wind... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jep Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Some more Saker trophy’s for this year, can only say again I’ve been very impressed with this set up of Saker and KingMax servos. This is a great combination for UK F3F competitions, plus a very nice sports plane with easy handling. Welsh open trophies (I just used the Saker in this event) Euro F3F League trophy the Saker helped with this win, plus also helped in the UK F3F league win. looking forward to next years F3F leagues JP 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Dakin Posted November 11, 2023 Share Posted November 11, 2023 An amazing achievement JP and I believe a historic one too - the first UK pilot to win the Eurotour league!! If correct, its probably the biggest result since Nic took the 1990 Viking Race in Derbyshire. Tremendous flying all year - thankfully I was on the wrong end of it just the once in Eastbourne Suggest that you hang up your sailplanes for a while now and leave a few crumbs on the table for the rest of us in 2024.... Greg 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now