Ian F3F Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi les By the end of the race yesterday and chatting with jp. I was using very little snap flap and more elevator. I think jp has his cg further back than me and has less snap flap than me. Once i had changed my settings my merlin was up there for the last 5 rounds. Im also finding that just a little reflex really helps too (less than a mm probably) By the sounds of it you're getting more practice than i am already! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 I've also moved the C of G back and its made a world of difference. Im now turning without any snapflap at all. A few more weekends playing around and I think it should be sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian F3F Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 I'll have more of a play with mine again, if I get out over christmas Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Got to fly the Merlin again today at the Longmynd F3F competition. But the wind was to strong for it,even with all ten slugs in. I'll have to make some lead ones and make a metal wing joiner. But some of the higher end models were struggling with the wind conditions. Maybe I should of just persevered with it. Anyway I chickened out and went with the Caldera R and got my new PB:-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 John brought his Merlin to the Southern Winter League Comp at Whitesheet last Sunday ( dec 8th). Many of us attending had been looking forward to seeing John put his Merlin on a course for the very first time. This included the Merlin's designer Ian Mason, who had also entered the comp with of course, a Merlin. John didn't hang about in showing us all that the Merlin is going to be a competitive model in the F3f comp scene in 2014 and beyond, and also an excellent Sports model too. We flew 8 rounds during the day. Jon promptly won the first round with his Merlin by beating a Freestyler, Ceres, Willow, Cyril, Pitbull, Extreeme and other proven F3f comp winning models. In round 2 John achieved a 3rd place with his Merlin, missing being placed 2nd by the narrowest of margins. John went on to win round 4 with his Merlin . In addition, John only narrowly missed out on getting a top 3 placing with his Merlin in 4 of the other 5 rounds. Ian Mason himself achieved 3 top 3 placings with his Merlin. Ian achieved 3rd in rd 5, another 3rd in round 7, and a 2nd place spot in round 8. At the end of the comp, the Merlin had achieved 3 round wins, one 2nd place and 3 third places in the 8 rounds we flew. An impressive achievement i'm sure you'l agree. I'm certain we're going to see a lot of the Merlin in 2014 on the F3f comp scene, and on slopes all over the uk and beyond, by pilots Sport flying. Huge Congrats to Ian on developing, producing and marketing the Merlin. Stu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Well said Stu. I flew it last weekend. And in that 15mph wind it was fantastic and amazingly super fast in the terns. In the short time I've had this model it get faster with every tweak. I just need to get it heavier for them crazier day like today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian F3F Posted December 14, 2013 Author Share Posted December 14, 2013 Hi les I always use lead as ballast. Im not sure what the relative weight of lead to brass is. With a full tube of lead ballast ive flown my merlins in 50mph on inland slopes. And not felt light. Im glad you're enjoying the merlin. I was racing with a smile on my face last weekend Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Im going to be smelting in the shed this week:-) Well done with the Merlin Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oipigface Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Im not sure what the relative weight of lead to brass is. Lead's roughly 35% heavier than brass. (Density of brass is ~8.57 and of lead ~11.55 g/cm2.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Cheers for that John. Of to find some lead at the local church roof LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_N Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Weather permitting I hope to get out with the Merlin for a maiden flight tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon_t Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Weather permitting I hope to get out with the Merlin for a maiden flight tomorrow. Where are you heading? Looks very Southerly. Holly Hill? Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_N Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 BBC is showing SSW so was just going to head down to Folkstone mid morning, holly hill is not a bad shout and much much closer for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon_t Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 BBC is showing SSW so was just going to head down to Folkstone mid morning, holly hill is not a bad shout and much much closer for me. Will be smoother than Folkestone, but slightly trickier landing. But see what the wind actually does tomorrow. Holly doesn't like much west in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_N Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 As hoped I finally got to maiden the Merlin today, all went well and I will provide some initial feedback later (have to go and do some more crimbo shopping). The attached video is of the maiden flight today (full ballast). I had another 3 flights after this one, making a number of changes mainly with the differential which improved the stability and smoothness of the model out of the turn. Unfortunately when I placed the GoPro back on my head each time for the additional flights, I didn't notice it was at the wrong angle, so the Merlin spends most of its time at the bottom of the picture or out of frame I have left these out of the video, I will see if anything i usable to post another video or leave it for another day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGPuk Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Early days in the set-up fiddling maybe - but Merlin does look rather good eh? You're quite good at that eff-three-effy looking stuff Martin - you should try some competitions. I reckon you'd do ok. Ro. ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_N Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Early days in the set-up fiddling maybe - but Merlin does look rather good eh? You're quite good at that eff-three-effy looking stuff Martin - you should try some competitions. I reckon you'd do ok. Ro. ..... Still learning and always will be Rog, pigeon steps . Hopefully I can make something from the other videos I took, I had it moving much better. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.Taylor Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Never seen a video of wing taping & ballasting before - very instructive plane looks to fly well too Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_N Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Never seen a video of wing taping & ballasting before - very instructive plane looks to fly well too Phil. Glad you learnt something Phil, I've seen how you tape your wings on :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_N Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Hopefully I have improved the quality of the video: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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