1st Quarter 2006 - Inland Slope Rebels

Slope Flyer
Your West Coast Slope Soaring News
Volume 2 Issue 5
Winter 2006
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2005 PSS Festival
Report: Mammoth Mt. Alpine F3F
Product reviews, Trinity F3F
Shop talk
Places to Fly, Point of the Mountain
Hints and tips, Pre Flight Checklist
Kyle Paulson goes 301MPH!!!!
A publication of the Inland Slope Rebels
www.inlandsloperebels.com
Copyright 2006
Lake Hills
Lake Hills, as some of you
may know is the primary Santa
Ana (east) wind hill for the ISR
flyers. Many of you will also be
aware that we have not flown
there much this year due to the
fact that they have graded much
of the hill for new homes. Yes,
new homes, like we need more
of those….
Well, there is a glimmer of
good news as far as Lake Hills
goes. I was recently up there and
it looks like the site may still be
flyable after the homes go in.
Unless they put gates up or
grade more of the hill (which
seems unlikely) we should still
be able to fly the site. They
have built a huge water tank at
the top where we used to park
our cars. The nice thing about
this is they also built a road going to the tank. No more bumpy
dirt roads! The area where we
launch is still there and has not
been touched. The valley where
we used to land is still there
also, but they are building a row
of homes about 150 yards behind the slope edge. The landing approach will have to be
shorter in order to avoid flying
over homes but there is still
plenty of room to land if you
have some skill. Potentially the
housing development could
work to our advantage since
there are now paved roads right
to the top. I hope my observations turn out to be correct because we sure do not want to
loose Lake Hills. It’s a fantastic
Santa Ana wind hill.
And the new DS record is…….. 301MPH!!
As many of you know the Dynamic Soaring speed record has
been climbing upward with
alarming speed. Only recently
have planes been able to withstand the stresses of 200+ mph
speeds. The newest breed of
planes are being build to take
much higher speeds and it’s paying off. On Oct 5th 2005,Kyle
Paulson wound his 100” Extreme up to 301mph at Parker
Mt. in Acton Ca.
The 300mph barrier has been
broken and not all that long after
the 200mph barrier fell. Just last
year in the first issue of slope
flyer the record was 249mph,
also by Kyle. The planes just
keep going faster and faster.
Keeping track of the current
record is getting to be nearly
impossible because it changes
so often. Only a few weeks before Kyle broke the 300 mph
Barrier his previous record fell
to a pilot from Northern California.
Even 60” planes and foamies
are starting to break the
200mph barrier. Imagine a
foamie going over 200mph! Of
course these foamies are specially built with gigantic carbon spars and gobs of tape to
stiffen them up for the high G
loads of DSing.
Slope Flyer
Inside this issue:
ISR Club News
2
New Products
3
Tips and Tech
4
Alpine F3F
5-6
PSS Festival
7-9
Power Scale Soaring
10
Critical Maas, Cockpits
11-12
Product Review, Trinity
13-14
Shop Talk
15
Places To Fly
16
2006 Schedule
17
Editor’s commentary
18
The limiting factor has now
become the radar gun. The
primary gun the DSers are using is maxed out with Kyle’s
record. It does not read any
higher than that. So until a
new gun is found I think/hope
301 will stick for a while. Besides, I am getting tired of
writing these updates.
ISR Club News
What’s the ISR been up to
lately? Well last year was a up
and down year for the club. On
a high note the PSS Festival
was one of our best. The raffle
was outstanding thanks to all of
the fantastic vendors that donated prizes. The models were
great this year with several gargantuan aircraft making appearances. The weather could not
have been better if we had preordered it.
We had a bit of a bummer
year for several of our contests.
The Carnage at Cajon Combat
event had to be scrubbed due to
a “no-blow” situation. The forest service closed Skyline dr. so
our first ever scale fun fly was
scrubbed and a general lack of
interest caused us to scrap our
warbird race.
Back to a high note, the Point
Fermin Pot Luck was a great
success. We added a swap meet
feature this year which I think
everyone liked and once again
the weather was perfect. Some
of us made a few “away” events
this year such as the Los Banos
Scale meet and the Alpine F3F.
Next year should be a busy one
with Soar Utah and the Viking
Race added to the mix of possible events to attend.
Many of the members seem
to be going through “mid life
crisis” and have really slacked
off on the sloping. Unfortunately I’m one of them and
have been spending way more
time on the golf course than on
the slope. The good news is
that I’m finally putting better…
Next year I hope to see more
of us back on the slope. I have
several planes under construction and hopefully other guys
do too. We will post another
full schedule of events and
with some luck we will have a
great 2006 slope season.
See ya on the hill! (or the
links)
To Contact: Slope Flyer
Brian Laird
12935 Lasselle St
Moreno Valley, Ca 92553
[email protected]
Slope Flyer staff
Editor…………....Brian Laird
Art Director…..….Brian Laird
Writers………….Brian Laird
Carl Maas
This issue and additional issues are available for download in .pdf form on the Inland Slope Rebels website. If you like what you see please let us and the vendors that
support us know. Without Vendor support the ISR as we know it and this publication would not exist.
Thank you! Brian Laird and the Inland Slope Rebels.
www.inlandsloperebels.com
Cover shot: Carl Maas’ Fw-190 at the PSS festival, Cajon Summit, Ca. Photo by Dave Garwood taken with a Canon 20D,
New Products
Mini SR
Mark Grand’s MiniSR was first seen
tearing up the slopes in Southern California in the early ‘90’s. If you remember
the Bob Martin SR7, and who doesn’t,
then you already have an idea of what
this bird looks like. It is sleek and looks
fast just sitting on the ground. But there
are many significant differences in the
MiniSR.
The MiniSR retains the classic looks
of the SR7 but it is smaller, faster and in
our opinion an easier to build airplane.
For starters, the airfoil is no longer a
chunky one. Instead it uses a thinned
RG14. The fuselage is a heavy lay up of
fiberglass and carbon, not the original
polyethylene molded fuselage. While
these had some strong advantages they
were somewhat difficult to paint and
were much heavier.
The MiniSR includes laser cut parts
to speed assembly. The SkyKing kit includes CNC cut white foam wing cores,
fiberglass fuselage and wing fairing,
balsa wing skin material, basswood subtrailing and leading edge stock, balsa aileron stock, laser cut canopy frame and
tail group, clear canopy, plans, building
directions, and a full hardware package.
plete kit sells for $149.95 plus shipping.
SkyKing RC Products, LLC - PO Box
24745 - Minneapolis, MN 55424-0745
http://skykingrcproducts.com
You can order your own MiniSR
from Skyking RC Products. The com-
Performance Tuning for Gliders DVD
Learning to correctly set up both your
radio program and sailplane can be challenging and frustrating. The new DVD
“Performance Tuning” by expert Paul
Naton will help you learn how to get
your plane to fly at peak performance.
Guaranteed this new educational program will shave months off of your
learning curve! The tips and techniques
you will learn can be applied to any type
of model slope or thermal, from foam
combat wings to state-of-the-art F3X
gliders.
About 80% of all tuning and radio set
ups happen before the first flight and
Paul will teach you how to build straight
and rig your plane properly including
tricks for precise servo and pushrod in-
the most from their equipment and will
stallations. Paul will also walk you
through his techniques for setting up the take the fun level of their soaring experience to new levels.
center of gravity, wing and elevator deRadio Carbon Art, PO box 2311
calage, and radio set ups for basic thru 6
Corvallis, OR 97339-2311 USA
servo gliders.
radiocarbonart.com
V-tail planes are notoriously hard to
set up, but Paul will show you how to
optimize your v-tail set up and he'll show
you some radio programming tricks too.
You will also see flight demonstrations
showing center of gravity tests, trimming, the "dive" test, flap settings, and
adverse yaw correction.
There is a lot of misinformation out
there about sailplane tuning and not
many pilots really understand what's going on with their planes. The Performance Tuning DVD will help anyone get
Slope Scale Models
While this probably can’t be classified as a “new product”, I thought I
would mention it here anyway. As many
of you know, Cavazos Sailplane Design has shut down. Robert stopped
producing kits about a year ago. He tried
to continue to offer the Slope Scale PSS
kits by getting the fuses made for him by
an outside source. He found that he still
did not have the time nor energy to box
up the kits. I have worked out a deal
with Robert and I will now be taking the
line of kits back in order to keep them
available. To be honest, I probably don’t
have the time to do it either. Fortunately
the market for crunchie PSSers is pretty
small (actually microscopic) so
hopefully I will manage.
I will be offering all
the Slope Scale
kits that
CSD sold, but They will
only be available as basic kits.
The basic kits include the fuse (and any
hatches or fairings), the wing cores and
the plans.
The current line consists of the
Me-109, P-63 Kingcobra, BD-5, F-20
Tigershark, F-80, P-40, P-51B. In the
works is the soon to be released Tucano.
Hopefully later this year I will get the
Zero, the P-51D and the Spitfire
back into the line. You can contact me
at: [email protected] for orders or
questions. Sorry but I do not have a
website up yet.
Tips,Tech and Talk
Cyanoacrylate Glue, is it all the same?
Heck No! Cyanoacrylate or
CA comes in a variety of
qualities from great to horrible.
The main differences are that
the better glues will actually
stick things together and the
glue will remain glue and not
turn into a useless bottle of
quazi-solid plastic.
Like nearly every other
product you buy, you get what
you pay for! As far as CA
glues go, you are WAY better
off spending the extra dollar
and buying a good quality
name brand glue.
The problem with low end
CAs is a result of the poor
manufacturing processes used
to produce it. This often leads
to a glue that has too many impurities. These will cause the
glue to harden quickly in the
bottle. To counteract this, the
manufacturer’s add stabilizers
to the glue. These inhibit the
tendency of the cheap glues to
harden in the bottle but they
also make them less likely to
harden when applied. This also
results in weaker bonds. Even
though stabilizers are added
they still are often full of compounds that will cause them to
quickly turn to a useless gel (in
the bottle) once opened.
The high quality CA’s are
much more highly refined and
their purity ensures that they
stay liquid until you use them.
The high purity gives a quick
and strong bond.
The proper use of CA’s will
help ensure that your bonds are
the best they can be. Here’s a
few tips…..
1) Use the correct thickness
of glue. Thin CA will work
best on parts that fit well
together. If there is a gap
use a thicker CA.
2) CA glue kicks fast BUT it
does not reach full strength
for 8 to 24 hours. Be careful not to use high stress
joints too quickly.
3) CA does not bond well to
dirty surfaces. Clean the
surfaces well!
4) Store unopened bottles of
CA in the freezer. They
will last up to two years.
Once opened, good CA
should last about 6 months.
Don’t put opened CA back
into the fridge! Store it in a
cool dry place with the cap
on.
I use ZAP CA glues from Pacer. I
have found the quality of these to
be fantastic unlike some of the
cheaper glues I have tried. They
have a long shelf life and quality of
the bond is excellent.
Pre-Flight your Model
It seems obvious that you should preflight your model before chucking it off a
cliff. Few flyers actually do it, and even
fewer do it to the extent they should.
That’s sad because a few seconds could
save a very expensive model from an untimely death. I can’t count how many
times I’ve seen planes destroyed because
of reversed controls, the wrong model
setup on the transmitter or even a servo
horn popping of because a guy forgot to
put the screw back into it.
A proper pre-flight should include a
check to ensure that all control surfaces are
moving the correct direction. You should
check the capacity of the battery with a
good meter. Double check that you have
the correct model set on your radio. Check
the CG, make sure nothing is loose inside,
check that the servos have screws in them.
It’s a good idea to tug on the control surfaces to make sure the hinges are tight and
the pushrods are not flexing. Check to see
if a servo has possibly popped loose (quite
common in moldies). Servos are often just
glued into molded wings and a hard landing can jar them loose. Make sure the
wings are attached properly and taped if
need be. You should always apply tape if
the wings slide onto a joiner rod. More
than a few models have been lost when a
wing slides out slightly and the servo connector disengages.
Don’t forget to check that the transmitter
has a good charge and that the antenna is out
and properly attached to the case. I’ve seen
more than one antenna fall of a transmitter
especially the rubber duckies! Double check
that all your knobs and switches are in the
correct position. Fiddling with switches
should be done on the ground.
Pre Flight Checklist
1. Check that your frequency is
clear and your Tx module is on
the correct frequency PRIOR
to turning it on!
2. Check direction of all controls
3. Check batteries (TX and RX)
4. Check transmitter program
It’s especially important to preflight a
5. Check CG
new model or one you have recently worked 6. Check for any missing hardon. Is very easy to swap out a receiver or
ware (especially in servos)
servo at the hill and simply pick up your
7.
Check
for loose/sloppy control
plane and heave it off without a second
surfaces, pushrods or servos
thought. This often leads to reversed con(especially wing servos)
trols and spectacular crashes. Swapping servos is especially dangerous as they don’t all 8. Ensure battery, receiver and
turn the same direction. Hitec and Futaba
any nose weight is secure.
servos for example are reversed from each
9.
Check antenna of BOTH the
other. If you replace a Futaba Servo with a
aircraft and the transmitter.
Hitec servo you will need to reverse the
10.
Check all your custom mixes
servo in your programming.
such as crow, camber etc. and
Here’s a small checklist. Tape it to your
set all switches on the TX.
Tx, who knows in might save you a LOT of
money one day..
Alpine F3F, Mammoth Mt. Ca
For the last 3 years The F3F fliers from
Southern California have met the fliers
from Northern California at Mammoth Mt.
for the annual North vs South race. Mammoth Mt. is a well-known ski resort, and
the mountainous terrain that’s so good for
skiing also has a few spectacular flying
spots. Factor in beautiful weather and good
lift and you have the makings for perfect
weekend getaway.
Many of the pilots arrived early to take
advantage of the awesome flying conditions or the many other summer activities
that Mammoth has to offer. The Mammoth
Lakes area is dotted with lakes and rivers
teeming with trout and mountain biking is
another popular summertime activity. I arrived a couple of days in advance with my
wife and we took in some of the sights,
such as taking the gondola ride to the
11,053’ high summit. The view from up
there is breathtaking (as is the view from
the 10,000’ high slope we raced on).
The race slope is only a few miles from
the main lodge at Mammoth ski resort. The
last 3 miles of the trip is on a bumpy dirt
road that winds past some remaining snow
banks then through deep forest, alpine
meadows and finally up a steep grade of
loose shale before arriving at the ridge. In
order to make it up this road you will need
a healthy 2WD truck or a 4WD. My 2WD
Dodge Durango made it but it was not an
easy drive and it took me two tries to get
up that final bit with the loose shale.
The terrain at the flying site is rather
rocky but it’s free from big trees or other
large obstacles. The mountaintop is
rounded and quite wide front to back so
there is lots of room to park, set up your
stuff and to land. The front side (launch
area) is covered with rocks some of them
quite large, big enough to seriously damage
a plane. Consequently, you do not want to
land on top near the slope edge. Down on
the face itself the rocks are smaller so land-
ing down the slope is actually not too bad.
Retrieving a downed plane is workout; the
air at 10,000’ is quite thin. The landing
area is on the backside of the ridge about
50 yards behind the launch area. It’s huge,
and other than the odd football sized rock
here and there it is quite smooth. It’s primarily small gravel with little shrubs and
tufts of grass here and there. You are going
to get a few scrapes landing on this gravel,
but compared to many of the places we
race landings are very easy here. Landings
can get a bit dicey if the wind gets too
strong and kicks up the rotor, but that’s true
nearly everywhere.
The contest started Saturday morning at
11 am. There were about 25 pilots so it
took a while to get them all signed in and
set a matrix that avoided any frequency
conflicts. The racecourse was set up to best
take advantage of the wind direction (The
ridge is very long and there are several
places you can set the course up depending
on the wind direction). By the time all this
“stuff” was done it was nearly 2pm before
we finally got down to racing.
The first round was the most hazardous
as the winds had not really filled in yet.
There were a few pilots that had the lift
vanish on them. This left them the option
of flying a descending pattern (while hoping for the wind to return) or to head out
and look for a thermal at the expense of
their race time. I was one of the fortunate
few that had good air on my first round and
posted a solid time. Most guys got “60 second air” and had to make the best of it.
The wind started to pick up just as
round two got under way. The times were
creeping down and most pilots got decent
air. At least we were not worried about hiking after a plane this round. It was still a bit
of a thermal lottery and if you happened to
get some love and catch a thermal while on
course you could post an impressive time.
Dan Field ripped off a 34.77 second run
with his Scorpion when he caught a big
thermal on the course.
Rounds 3 and 4 were the best of the day
as far as air goes. The wind had picked up
to a solid 30mph during these rounds. Most
pilots were posting mid 40 to 50 second
runs but there were a quite a few runs in
the high 30s. The strong winds created
some havoc on the landing approaches as
the rotor kicked up and started to take its
toll on the planes. Several pilots got into
trouble, me included. I managed to get
mine right side up and was lucky to get
away without any damage but there were a
few planes that got slammed by the unfriendly air. Later it was discovered that
the cars parked along the ridge were making the rotor far worse than it otherwise
would have been. Landing approaches
were then made away from the parking
area, which all but eliminated the rough
air.
The high winds also made it difficult to
launch the planes. Holding a 3-meter plane
in a 30 mph wind is no easy task and after a
few scary launches nearly every one opted
to have someone else launch their planes.
The most memorable launch was that of
Bob Bingham. Immediately after leaving
his hands a gust flipped his Race M up on a
wing tip. A quick application of full aileron
got it righted just as the left wingtip clipped
a small pine tree. This flipped the plane up
on the other tip, then the wind caught it and
flipped it over inverted. Bob quickly applied down elevator and flew out onto the
course inverted. Just another ho-hum
launch…..
The last round of Saturday seemed
slightly slower with fewer thermals on
course. There were fewer low times even
though the wind remained strong throughout the round. We packed it up after round
5 as most of us were spent and needed to
get some air that actually had some oxygen
in it.
To finish off Saturday’s great flying we
got together for some food and drink at
Tommy Ho’s Pizza place. This gave every
one a chance to talk smack and laugh at
some of our less than stellar rounds. It was
a nice way to unwind after a long day in
the wind.
Unfortunately, I was unable to make it
on Sunday but my spies gave me a report
of the days racing. Sunday did not get the
consistent wind that Saturday received and
was more of a thermal lottery. The winds
were light and the pilots flying lighter aircraft had an advantage. Race times crept up
Sunday with only 2 sub 40 second times
posted. Most of the times were well into
the 50s. It was possible to fly a fast round
but it required some luck and a thermal on
course during the run.
A quick look at the race times on the
score sheet reveals just how much differ-
ence a thermal can make (available online).
The thermals would last about 4 runs and it
was easy to see this looking at the score
sheet. There are 3 or 4 fast times together
and then a bunch of slow times as the sink
cycle sets in. Each round would get one or
two thermals and the pilots lucky enough to
be up in those conditions would fly 10 to
15 seconds faster than the pilots flying before or after the thermals.
So, who won? Well everyone did, the
flying was great and the location spectacular. As far as the race goes, Bob Bingham
kicked our butts flying his big purple Race
M, James Osborn came in second and Dan
Field took third place. Even with the funky
air on Sunday the better pilots still ended
up at the top of the leader board. Funny
how that works!
Here are the final results.
Contest Fastest Time: - Dan Field - 34.77
Photos:
Previous page Harry Sandoval prepares to launch his Acacia.
Top Left: Nathan Woods waits for perfect moment to launch his
Acacia.
Top Middle: Nathan again, this time launching a Super Blade.
Top Right: Mike Sheridan launching Tim Neja’s Trinity F3J
Rank Points
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
8351.32
8047.22
7977.69
7866.35
7690.46
7571.60
7529.65
7458.61
7456.42
7203.07
6905.09
6870.83
6769.93
6726.20
6638.57
6548.42
6530.10
5976.03
4285.42
2951.31
1337.46
1276.84
542.36
Pilot Name
Bob Bingham
James Osborn
Dan Field
Kyle Paulson
Harry Sandoval
Nathan Wood
Brian Yumae
Gary Legerton
Tim Neja
Thuro
Bob Breaux
Rey Harju
Mike Sheridan
Tom Rambo
Ed Whittenburg
Rob Mokry
Randy Bullard
Chris Behm
Brian Laird
Brian Bransean
Jim Weinberg
Paul Hart
Alex Breaux
Photos, Continued:
Bottom Left: Thuro checking out Dan Field’s Skorpion (He is the
manufacturer of the Skorpion).
Bottom Middle: This looks like a pretty scary place to throw off
your new moldie, doesn’t it?.
Bottom Right: Tim Neja launching Bob Breaux’s trinity
PSS Festival
2005
Cajon Summit, Ca
When trying to describe the 2005 PSS
Festival the word that keeps popping into
my head is “HUGE”. Everything about the
2005 event was huge. The planes were
huge, the lift was huge, the raffle was huge
etc. This was without a doubt the best PSS
Fest yet.
We started the party just like previous
years with a Thursday fun fly at Point Fermin. Quite a few of the out of town pilots
arrive early to take advantage of the opportunity to fly Fermin. About 20 guys
showed up for a great day of relaxing flying. The winds we fairly typical for Fermin
that time of year. It was blowing about
15mph most of the day and for most of my
planes that’s plenty. It’s not what the pilots
of the “Fermin sleds” want to see. Those
PSS heavies like winds closer to 30mph in
order to get properly motivated.
On Friday we had about 30 pilots show
up at Cajon for the traditional Friday fun
fly. The winds were fantastic and everyone
had a great day in the near perfect conditions. Friday is a good day to get a feel for
the site if you have not been there before or
are unfamiliar with Cajon. The landing at
Cajon can be tricky and it’s good idea to
get it dialed in before the weekend. Friday
gives you the chance to do this without
having 50 spectators watching you or getting in the way. It’s also a good time to test
any new planes before the event. It’s always better to get the plane flying before
chucking it off with a couple of hundred
people watching.
The Official start and primary event day
of the PSS Fest is Saturday. Pilots start to
arrive at the hill very early. I arrived at
about 9am and there was already quite a
crowd. The wind was even blowing the
right direction, which is unusual for Cajon
at that time of the morning. Granted it was
very light but still flyable with the right
plane.
The registration tent was open by 10:30
and most of the registered pilots were
checked in by noon. The PSS Fest has a 50
pilot max and it filled up about a month
before the event this year. We had 2 no
shows giving us 48 pilots total. Each pilot
received a package with a 2005 soaring
calendar, Quiet Flyer magazine, a free
2005 PSS Fest hat and a bunch of misc
catalogs and stuff. If the pilot pre-ordered a
shirt or sweatshirt that was also in the
package.
The event was kicked off this year by a
full size fly-by featuring an L-39 jet. He
gave us a couple of nice low passes and
then sped off. After the fly-by we opened
the hill up to PSS flying. The winds were
very good by noon and continued to build
as the day progressed, and by 4pm they
were easily 25~30mph.
The flying was actually a little lighter
than I expected this year. I think everyone
was staying on the ground so as to not miss
it when one of the “show planes” took to
the air. There were plenty of these flights to
watch. David Cairns’ humongous B-52
bomber was one of the day’s highlights. It
took a few guys to carry and launch the
beast but once airborne it was a thing of
beauty. Dave gave us our moneys worth
with a long graceful flight followed by a
nerve racking landing than had everyone
on the edge of their seats. Joe Cormier was
up next with his monster Me-109. I do
mean “monster”, this thing is BIG!. It flies
great though and Joe gave a few of us a
turn behind the stick. I was impressed at
how well the behemoth flew. It felt like a
much smaller plane, the control response
was quite fast for a plane of its size. The
next largest model at the event was the
Maas’ B-29. Unfortunately a dodgy aileron
servo kept the plane on the ground.
My favorite flight of the event was a
formation jaunt with my scratch built F4U
Corsair. Rick Schwemmer and Jeff Fukushima joined me for a 3 plane flight. We
Rich Spencer’s scratch built Me-109 featured
static prop, pilot, landing gear drop tank and
a multitude of other scale details.
Finding a good parking space for your plane
can be a problem if you don’t arrive early!
Vic Trucco brought this BAE Hawk all the
way from Oregon. This kit was out of production for several years but is available again
from Soaring Specialties.
Top of Page: David Cairns’ Big B-52 was one
of the highlights of the 2005 PSS Fest
An Airmacchi MB-339 in the striking colors
of 214°Gruppo. 61° Stormo Lecce.
Greg Smiths F-20 Tigershark, built from a
Slope Scale kit.
tried very hard to keep the three aircraft
together but it’s very, very difficult and
when the three planes are as different as
ours were it’s nearly impossible. We did
manage a few nice passes and Dave Garwood snapped a few pictures for us.
There were lots of spectacular EPP
planes at this years event. Ralph Roberts
had his Buggatti R-100 and a scratch built
Heinkel, both of which fly great. Brian
Koester had his 2 Su-35s back again. He
has finally gotten the flight characteristics
dialed in and they both fly very well. Of
course Rich Spencer had his new Me-109
at the event. This model has just about
every scale detail you can imagine right
down to the rudder peddles in the cockpit.
The prop, bomb, landing gear, gun blisters
and radiators are all held on with magnets
and can be removed for flight. He has inserts that fit into the wheel wells to simulate the retracted landing gear. It looks
like a lot of work for a sloper but it seems
to make Rich happy. He obviously enjoys
building very much.
The flying conditions on Saturday were
amazing. After I had taken care of my
official sign-in duties I was able to get in
some flying. I flew my little heart out too,
getting in flights with my Me-262,
MeP.1101, Caravelle, Su-25, F4U, MB339 and a few other I can’t remember off
the top of my head.
The conditions could not have been
any better and I was surprised that the sky
was not always filled with planes. It seems
this year more people were interested in
watching than flying.
We had a couple of scheduled building
clinics but I was so busy I forgot about
them. I heard Robert Cavazos spent 1/2
the day giving his mold making clinic
over and over to small groups of interested
attendees. Robert can and will talk, and
he has a lot of knowledge so I’m sure the
guys learned a lot from him.
At About 5pm we called the pilots in for
the awards presentation. We had our
usual 5 categories, with 5 awards in each
and 3 awards in the expert class. The
judges expressed a little disappointment in
the lack of interest this year. There were
some great models but many of the categories lacked depth and some even lacked
the 5 planes needed. Come-on fellas, build
something cool and enter it next year!
Of course we ended the day with our
humungous raffle. Lots and lots of guys
walked away with fantastic prizes thanks
to the generous donations we received.
Sunday flying was a little light this
year from a participation standpoint. The
weather was not exactly stellar to be honest and quite a few guys left after waiting
a couple of hours for the fog to clear. Of
course as soon as they did the weather got
nice and began flying. The wind was not
nearly as strong as Saturday but it was still
good enough for everything but the heaviest of our models. We enjoyed the uncrowded conditions for a few hours and
finally headed home for a well deserved
rest.
It’s all just memory now and a good
one too. This year’s PSS fest was another
great one and I hope to see you all next
year.
Thanks to all our generous sponsors!
Soaring USA, Leading Edge Gliders, California Sailplanes, Hitec
RCD, Airtronics, Hobby People,
Cermark, Futaba, Skyking,
TMRC, CSD, Stan Vosburg,
Dremel, RC Direct, NCFM, Richter R/C, Radio Carbon Art, Quiet
Flyer, Horizon Hobbies, and all
the others!
2 scratch built EPP F4U Corsairs, built by
Rick Schwemmer and Brian Laird
Eric Molstead built this beautiful Piper Cheyenne shortly before his tragic death in an aircraft accident
Pilots and Spectators start to gather on “pit row”
Saturday morning.
Brian Koester continues to refine his Su-35
design. This one looks the business with it’s
missiles ready for action.
2005 PSS Festival
Left: Carl Maas and Brian Laird form
up their Vortech Models Fw-190s for a
cool picture. It looks like the same
plane twice but this is not Photoshop
magic.
Right: Best Jet winners:
1st David Cairns and his B-52
2nd Brian Laird, Canadair CT-114
3rd Brian Koester, Su-35
4th Kevin Huckins, Slope Scale F-80
5th Greg Smith, Slope Scale F-20
Left: Carl Maas’ Me-109
Right: Expert winners:
1st Rich Spencer, Me-109
2nd Jeff Vosberg, Me-109R
3rd Brian Laird, Me-P.1101
Left: The PSS Festival opened with a
fly-by from this L-39 jet trainer.
Right: Best Prop winners:
1st Paul Masura, Ki-84 (Scratch built)
2nd Joe Cormier, Me-109 (Scratch)
3rd Dave Massongill, P-63
4th Brian Courtice, P-63
5th Ian Gittens, Fircracker
Left: Paul Masura’s Ki-84 zipping past.
It’s easy to see why it won “Best Prop”.
The model is beautifully built and
painted.
Right: Best Civilian winners:
1st Eric Molstead, Piper Cheyenne
2nd Brian Laird, SUD Caravelle III
3rd Ralph Roberts, Buggatti R-100
4th Rick Schwemmer, P-39
5th Steve Greenfield, Fw-190
Left: Hmmm, hey Bubba, how we
gonna launch this thing?? Joe Cormier
pre-flights his mammoth Me-109.
Right: Best Foam winners:
1st Dave Massongill,
2nd ?? Me-109
3rd ?? P-40
4th Kevin Huckins, Ki-61 Tony
5th Eric Molstead, ??
Photos by Dave Garwood and Brian Laird
Power Scale Soaring: Modifying a Power Kit
I often get asked about modifying a
power kit for use on the slope. I’ve seen
this tried many, many times with varying
degrees of success.
Usually it’s a bad idea but there are
exceptions. Some power kits can be modified to fly great on the slope. However,
most of them are poor choices without
some major rework.
Slopers require very unique airframes
to handle the abuse that we subject them
too. Every landing we make, is in reality,
a controlled crash. We don’t have a fancy
paved runway to plop down onto. We do
not have the luxury of soft rubbery wheels
to cushion our arrival. We slam our planes
down onto the nearest semi-flat spot, all
the while praying a rotor does not flip us
upside down prior to touchdown. Often
times there is no semi-flat spot and the
best we can hope for is to avoid large
rocks or bushes as we purposely plow into
the side of a hill.
Our planes have to be able to handle
rough landings so structurally they have to
be stout. We don’t want things like exposed linkages, landing gear or struts
hanging out just waiting to be ripped off
on landing. The leading edge of the wings
are often very weak on power planes as
they don’t expect them to impact things.
On slopers we are always hitting weeds,
bushes and even rocks with the leading
edge so we want them nice and strong.
Control is another issue with converted
power planes. Powered aircraft can use
much smaller control surfaces due to the
fact that a propeller is pushing air across
the surfaces even when the airspeed is
low. We do not have that luxury and when
flying slowly on the slope those small
control surfaces may not be enough to
adequately control the model. We want
big honking control surfaces so that regardless of the speed we have some control.
Of course the airfoil is a big issue with
converted power planes. Power planes
often have big fat scale-like airfoils. These
are not very well suited for slope work.
They are fat and draggy, just the opposite
of what we want. There are many reasons
for this girth, it may be to keep the plane
from flying too fast, it may be for scale
looks or to make the wing thick enough to
hold the landing gear. Regardless of the
reasons these are not ideal for slope use.
There are some power planes that will
make decent slopers and that do have nice
thin wings. These tend to be electric kits
This plane was built from a Great Planes Lear Jet kit. It received a larger wing with a
new airfoil that was better suited for sloping. Built by the late Eric Molstead
and are often high performance or competition type planes. It’s very rare to find a
scale power plane that would make a suitable sloper.
If you do want to convert a power plane
to slope use you will need to think about
the issues I have listed here. Take a look
at the structure, the control surfaces, the
airfoil and the rest of the design. See what
you can use and what you need to modify
before deciding to proceed.
I’ve converted several power jobs in
the last few years. All of them required
extensive modifications. Every one of
them received a new wing. The control
surfaces were enlarged and a slope airfoil
was used. I had to beef up the fuses especially around the nose and where the wing
mounted to the fuse. These mods took a
considerable amount of time, but the finished planes all flew quite well and were
worth the effort as there were no slope kits
available for these particular planes.
If you are after top performance I
would not recommend starting with a
power plane unless you really know what
you are doing. If performance is not such
a big issue and you will be happy just flying around in a leisurely fashion then you
may be able to convert a powered design
and get acceptable results.
This started life as an electric ducted fan kit. It received a new set of larger wings, a
slightly enlarged tail, a beefed up fuselage and a smaller, more scale intake in the nose.
Lot’s of work but the results were worth it.
Critical Maas
Carl’s Corner
Building a great looking cockpit for that cool scale PSS plane is fun. I will show you a method
that I used to build a cockpit for my “Voodoo” P-51 Mustang. I will also show you some pictures of
other cool cockpits!
The first step is to do a little research on your subject. Get a good picture
of the full-size subject, so you can copy all the great details in the cockpit
(Figure 1.) If you can, get a color front picture view of the main instrument
panel, or create one using a paint program, CorelDraw© or similar computer
graphics program (Figure 2.) Copy or print out a copy of the panel to match
the scale size of your aircraft.
Now turning your attention to the fuselage, cut a hole just inside the edge
of your clear canopy outline (Figure 3.) You can do this in a fiberglass fuselage using a Dremel tool and X-Acto knife. If you want to cut a hole in an
EPP foam PSS plane, then use a knife to cut the hole in the foam fuselage,
Figure 1.
and clean-up using a Dremel tool and sanding block. In the fiberglass fuselage, sand the inside smooth, and fill weave with putty.
I like to use the Ultra Bondo and then sand and primer
Until very smooth. If you are using an EPP foam fuselage, then line with balsa wood, plastic sheet or
just about anything else that will form the inside edge of the cockpit interior. Remember that you will
need to paint the interior of the cockpit, as it will be seen! In the case of my Voodoo Mustang, the
inside was sanded smooth and painted gloss white. I now create templates for the cockpit instrument
panel, rear pilot seat and floor. I use a thick cardboard stock to fit and check the pieces as I cut them
to match the inside of the canopy. You can draw some reference lines on the inside of the cockpit fuselage sides, so you know how far down inside the fuselage the parts need to go.
You need to have selected a pilot at this time, because you need to build the
cockpit “box” to fit the pilot size. You can put a full-size pilot in the cockpit (legs and feet),
or just a half pilot (usually cut-off at the legs or torso). Williams Bros. Sells nice pilot “busts” that go
just past the shoulders, and do not require a deep cockpit. In my case, I elected for the “half-pilot” so,
the cockpit would not interfere with the elevator control rod going underneath the cockpit floor.
[Note: If you are putting in a “full” cockpit, then you need to make sure that all wires, rods and obstructions are already removed from the area.] Now, depending on the pilot you have selected, you
can proceed with cutting your templates out. I found a nice Star Trek pilot at the local toy store!
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
In the photograph of my cockpit model (Figure 4.), you can see the finished three main pieces
(floor, instrument, headrest) assembled into the cockpit unit. I cut the instrument panel from 1/8”
balsawood, and then glued a thin ironed white monokote over the entire inside surface. I then cut a
thin (.03”) piece of plastic for the actual instrument cluster panel. I then glued my photograph / illustration onto this smaller plastic panel. I trimmed the picture to match the instrument panel, and
painted the edges using a gray marking pen. Marking pens work great for detailing out small panels
and hiding edges.
The bottom and back pieces were also monokoted white, and then the black was applied to simulate depth in the cockpit. I then created all the little details like the throttle handle and the little dials
and switches. You can use basswood to carve small feature like the throttle console base. Look
around for round head push pins, and little metal pieces at train hobby stores, or your local fabric and
craft stores often have great little pieces you can use. Be creative, but always use your picture as your
guide. Seatbelts can be made from folding over masking tape into a nice rectangular piece, and then
forming over the pilot’s shoulders. Glue them in place, then paint on silver buckles.
In my case, I build the entire cockpit assembly separate from the fuselage, then I inserted it into the
fuselage from the inside. If you cannot do that, then you will have to assemble the pieces inside the
fuselage, by gluing the floor in first, them the instrument panel and the back headrest piece. The pilot
is usually glued in last. I use epoxy to glue in the pilots, because it does not “gas off” nearly like super glues do. If you use super glues like ZAP, then make sure that they are fully cured before gluing
the canopy on the fuselage. Here is another front view of the cockpit assembly (Figure 6.) Make sure
that the pilot is completely painted when you insert him into the cockpit. Yes, the real pilot actually
has a flame helmet!
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
Next, vacuum all the dust out of the fuselage, and clean your work area. As you prepare to
glue your beautiful creation into the fuselage, you do not want dust and dirt getting stuck to the
glue and cockpit parts. Mix up some 5-minute epoxy, and coat the edges of the cockpit frame,
making sure that ALL edges are glued. If you end up with a gap around the edge of the cockpit
somewhere, dust will creep into the finished cockpit, and end up on the inside of your canopy!
After positioning the cockpit into the fuse, let dry, and then apply a second coat around the
backside of the cockpit box t seal the edges if necessary. Remember to wipe any excess epoxy
off the inside of the cockpit. Be very careful though! (Figure 7.) Next, clean around the finished
cockpit, and make sure that the canopy frame and edges are already painted. Then using a thin
bead of epoxy, or white glue, etc. glue the canopy down over the cockpit. Be careful here! Wipe
any excess off with a q-tip or small instrument. Again, make sure that the entire cockpit is
sealed off from dust.
Figure 7.
Now you can stand back and admire your beautiful and exciting new cockpit! Make sure that you mask off the canopy, before finishing the rest of the outside paint. You don’t want to mess up this one now!
Finished “Voodoo” cockpit
Mitch Schwartzburg’s AF3S Guardian.
Brian Laird’s ME-262
Trinity F3F
Product Review
After having a blast at the Mammoth F3F
event I decided that I had better get a more
competitive ship than the old Wizard Compact that I have been flying. After looking
around at the available options (and boy,
there are plenty of options) I chose to purchase a Trinity from Soaring USA.
There were several considerations in my
choice. First and most obvious, I wanted a
plane that is competitive. Second, being a
cheapskate I wanted to try and spend less
than $1000 on the airframe. Third, and of
less importance was the looks, I would not
buy a plane if I hated the way it looked regardless of how fast it is. I’m not that into
racing to fly an ugly plane.
After looking at all the planes and narrowing down my choices I decided to go
with the Trinity. It was slightly more than I
wanted to spend so I had to sell off one of
my other planes to get the extra cash, but it
met my specs in all other regards. I ordered
one in a white and blue scheme (I hate yellow) and I also ordered the Hoopes wiring
harness to go in it. I decided to try the new
Airtronics 94761 digital wing servos and an
Airtronics 8 channel receiver.
I received the plane 4 days after I placed
the order (including a weekend), now that’s
service! The servos took a bit longer to get as
they had just hit the market the same week I
ordered them. The kit comes nicely packed
and all the parts were snugly enclosed in
there own padded bags. These can be used to
store the plane after it’s built. This is a nice
touch that can save you from buying an expensive wing bag. Like most moldies there
are not many parts in the box. Actually a few
less than normal with this one, since it did
not come with much of the small hardware
required to finish it. That would be my first
gripe, but then again I tend to throw away
much of the hardware that comes with the
kits I buy. I usually replace it with better
quality stuff or stuff I prefer to use. Like
many molded kits there are no instructions or
plans included. You need to know what you
are doing or head to the Soaring USA website. They have a forum section that will answer most of your questions on the building
of the kit. This was very helpful and I read
through most of the Trinity threads prior to
starting my build.
The first thing I did was make a list of the
small hardware items I needed.
1) Ball link connectors for the V-tail
2) 2-56 threaded rod, for the flaps and
aileron pushrods
3) Metal 2-56 clevices (10)
The carbon pushrods for the Vtail are included but you must supply the ends. The
control horns for the ailerons and flaps are
also included. The V-tail had the control
wire already installed but it did not have the
ball-ends so I had to buy those.
Assembly: I chose to start with the
wings. I installed the servos in the outer
wing panels first. The first step, install the
aileron control horn which is glued into the
bottom of the aileron. Using a Dremel tool I
cut a slot in the aileron at the indicated location (pre marked on the aileron). The pre-cut
fiberglass horn was roughed up with some
sandpaper and glued in with 30-minute epoxy. I installed an Airtronics digital 94761
servo into the aileron servo bay. I had to cut
off the servo mounting tabs to get it far
enough forward so that it did not stick up
past the skin. I simply epoxied the servo to
the wing skin after wrapping it in tape. An
opening also had to be cut in the wing
panel’s root for the servo plug. The only
other step was to make the control rod. I
used a small piece of 2-56 threaded rod with
a metal clevice on each end. Once I got it
adjusted I glued each clevice to the rod with
CA to cut down on potential slop.
The center panel was next. The main wiring harness gets installed in the center panel.
I used the Hoopes pre-assembled wiring harness that is made for the Trinity. A 3/8” hole
is drilled in the center of the wing and the
harness plugs are inserted through it and
This is my freshly unwrapped Trinity.
snaked to their final locations. I glued the
plug for the ailerons into the end of the center panel with goop to make installing the tip
panels easier. Most guys just leave the plugs
hanging out but I prefer to hard mount at
least one side. Using the pre assembled wire
harness saves a few hours and I highly recommend buying it.
The wing center panel goes together much
like the tips. The main difference being that
the flap control horn is installed in the top of
The outer panel with the servo plug
the flap. A hole must be drilled in the trailing edge spar for the control rod to pass
through and a small clearance slot must be
cut into the top wing skin in order for the
control linkage to pass through. I mounted
the flap servo just like the aileron servo.
The flap bay is actually a little narrower
than the aileron bay and the Airtronics
94761’s are probably just a wee bit too
thick for this location (I used them anyway
and ended up with a very slight bump in the
servo cover due to the servo sticking out
past the skin). I made a control rod similar
to the aileron rod, installed and adjusted it.
Finally I plugged in the harness to a receiver and adjusted all the surfaces prior to
moving on to the fuse.
The fuse is an unusual design in that it
comes in two pieces, three if you count the
nose cone. The rear half of the fuse is the
tail boom and the wing saddle and the front
half is the nose section and ballast tube,
where all the gear is mounted. The two
halves wedge tightly together and are secured when the wing-mounting bolt is installed through both halves. It’s a very unusual fuse but it should make it very easy to
fix if you ever snap the tail boom. It does
make installing the V-tail pushrods a bit
more challenging though.
There’s not much to building the fuse.
Basically mount the V-tail servos by cutting
out an opening in the nose and screwing
them in. To make the V-tail pushrods I
glued a small piece of 2-56 all-thread in
each end and installed a clevice on one end
and the ball link connector on the other.
With the V-tail mounted and the fuse sections together you must snap the pushrod
onto the V-tail. It’s not easy and a pair of
ball link pliers comes in very handy here.
At this point the plane is basically finished
except for installing the receiver, battery
and lead to balance it. Mine took a large
chunk of lead. I forgot to weight it but I
would guess in needed about 8 ounces to
balance at the specified location. There is
plenty of room for the receiver and a decent
size battery pack. I used a 1100mah 5 cell
pack in the nose and an Airtronics 8 channel
receiver. Programming the radio is the final
step prior to flying. I programmed all the
usual racing mixes including crow, camber
mix, snap-flap and rudder aileron mix.
The first flights were at Whitepoint in San
Pedro on a nice cool Saturday morning. The
launch was uneventful and the plane flew
straight and true right out of my hand. After
a few minutes of getting the feel of it I tried a
few laps. It was obvious after only a couple
of turns that I had a serious setup problem as
the tail was flailing all over the place. I knew
I either had way too little rudder mix or way
to little differential on the ailerons. I decided
that I had better land and reprogram the
transmitter. That’s when I discovered I had
also screwed up the crow mix. I programmed
it with the same settings as my Wizard but
when I pulled the flaps down the plane did a
tailstand! Yikes, obviously nowhere near
enough down elevator was mixed in. I managed to get the plane down just fine and a
few minutes of fiddling with the mixes had it
ready for another go.
The second flight was much, much better. I
had increased the aileron differential and that
made the turns much more groovy with the
tail following along right behind the nose
like an obedient puppy dog. I increased the
snap-flap too and she started banging the
turns a bit better. It still needs more snap
flap. This plane loves snap flap and it loves a
lot of it. I have the trailing edge dropping
nearly a full ¼” and it wants more. I will
need to play with this some to get it finetuned. I seem to be flying with a lot of down
trim and I’m sure the plane is not tail heavy.
I will probably shim up the leading edge of
the V-tail the next time I fly it. I’m thinking
the incidence might be just a tad off. Other
than that I think I have the setup very close.
More flying will be needed to get the feel for
the plane and get it fine tuned.
So far the plane is flying like a dream. It’s
fast, stable and goes where you point it. It’s
as fast in the turns as I was hoping and it
does not seem to have any tendency to stall
when pulled hard. It’s just what I was looking for and if all goes well I will be flying
the wings of it next season.
Some Construction shots.
Top: The completed nose section with the
wiring harness and V-tail pushrods ready
for the tail boom to be installed.
Middle: The Vtail linkages
Bottom: The Airtronics 94761Digital wing
servos are wired up and ready to be glued
into the wings
Shop Talk
If you fly a composite plane then
you probably have snapped a fuselage
or two. If not it’s only a matter of time,
everyone does it sooner or later. The
tail boom snap is the most common
break on a composite fuse. It’s usually
the result of catching a wing during
landing or crashing. The centrifugal
force makes the boom flex causing it to
crack or break off. This usually occurs
right behind the wing unless the fuselage has some carbon or Kevlar in that
area to stiffen it up. If it does, the break
will often occur immediately behind
this extra material.
Fortunately this is a easy thing to
fix. It looks bad and it’s always a bummer to see your nice composite plane
cracked or broken but of all the possible
damage this is one of the easiest to repair.
If the crack is small the best course
of action is to simply sand off the paint
around the damage and place a small
fiberglass or carbon patch over the area.
Cover the patch with some auto body
filler, sand and repaint the area. This
repair should only take about an hour.
If the damage is more serious then
it’s better to make a stronger repair. If
the fuse is cracked more than 1/2 way
around I like to cut the fuse apart (into
two parts) so I can get to the inside of
it. It may seem wrong to cut your fuse
in half but I find it makes repairing it
easier.
I make an internal “splint” (a tube)
from fiberglass and/or carbon fiber
cloth. The way I do this is by finding a
tubular object that loosely fits into the
broken fuse. I then wrap some wax paper around that item. I dust a coat of
3M-77 spray adhesive onto the wax paper. Then I apply my carbon and fiberglass onto this. The 3M-77 holds the
material to the wax paper on the tube
and makes applying the epoxy resin
easier. I use West Systems Epoxy to
wet out the material. Then I wrap some
wax paper tightly around the outside
while it dries. When it dries, I remove it
from the tubular form and test fit it into
the fuselage. It may need sanded if it’s
too big. I’ve even cut the length of it if
it’s way too big and re-glued it to a
smaller diameter.
I’ve actually made these tubes by
laying them up on the back portion of
the tail boom if I cannot find a suitable
size tube laying around. If you do lay it
over the rear part of the tail boom make
sure you will be able to slide it off the
back once it dries.
After the fit is adjusted, the inside of
the fuse should be sanded to rough up
the bonding surface. I glue the splint
into the fuse with slow setting epoxy
(30 minute). I like to jig up the fuse
while the epoxy sets to ensure it dries
straight. Nothing looks worse than a
crooked tail boom!
When the epoxy is nice and dry
(wait at least overnight) Then I will fix
the outside of the break. I like to add
another layer of material on the outside
of the fuse. I usually apply a layer of
3.5oz carbon here. Prior to applying it
the fuse must be sanded to remove any
paint. Make sure yo get down to the
fiberglass, you do not want to glue to
paint. I use West Systems epoxy to wet
out the cloth. Once this is dry it gets
sanded to feather in the edges and remove any high spots. Don’t sand too
much you don’t want to sand through
the carbon.
To finish the repair I use auto body
filler (Bondo Ultimate). I apply the
filler and sand it smooth once it dries.
After the repair is sanded smooth I will
repaint the fuse. I like Krylon paint for
touching up repairs. There seems to be
a good color match for most moldies in
the Krylon line, it’s cheap and it dries
hard and fast.
Be careful when making repairs or
you can do more damage than you are
trying to fix. Remove all the wiring and
pushrods if possible. If not possible
make very sure no glue can find it’s
way into these items. Epoxy and CA
have a nasty tendency to find any exposed wire or pushrod tube so be very
careful with glue and resins.
Make sure you get the bits together
straight. If this requires putting the
wing and tail on the plane and jigging it
up so you can check it with incidence
meters then do it. If you are going to go
through this trouble to fix it right, you
do not want to make a silly mistake and
glue it together looking like a banana..
You can see the steps in the pictures. I cut this fuse apart as it was broken about 2/3 the
way around. Then I made a tube by laying carbon fiber around a section of the tail
boom. This was removed and inserted into the break. The two halves were glued to this
“splint tube”. I applied some extra carbon on the outside to the break and coated the
area with bondo. A quick sanding and some Krylon had the plane looking like new!
Places to Fly, Point of the Mountain
Point of the Mountain, where’s that you
ask? Well “The Point” is in Draper, Utah, not
too far from Salt Lake City. This site is the
home slope for “Soar Utah” and is also popular with hang glider and jellyfish pilots. The
point is fantastic site to fly, it has everything,
easy access, great scenery, multiple slopes
facing different directions and good landing
areas.
I’ve flown The Point on my 5 trips to Soar
Utah for a total of about 15 days. It’s been
flyable all but three of those days. Several
days the lift was spectacular with winds so
strong the porta pottie was blown over one
afternoon.
Being near Salt Lake the Point can get
some snow in the winter. If you are planning
a trip, make it in the summer or better yet
make it during the Soar Utah event (Labor
Day weekend every even year, like 2006).
During the Soar Utah event the hang gliders
seem to stay away but on the non event days
you may have to share the skies with quite a
few of them. Be aware and stay out of their
way they can’t avoid us so we have to avoid
them.
Regardless of when you go you should be
ready for any kind of weather. Even in the
summer the point can be cold. At the last Soar
Utah it was absolutely freezing up there for
three of the four days we flew. Afternoon
thunderstorms are another common occurrence in the summer. It can be sunny one
minute and pouring the next. You definitely need to be ready for every kind of
weather at this slope.
The site has a south facing slope and a
north facing slope. The south slope is the
primary slope. It’s a long ridge with a steep
gravel bowl at the west end. The slopers
like to fly near the gravel bowl where the
lift is stronger. The parasailers tend to hang Paul Naton flies the primary slope on the
out more to the east side of the slope where South side of The Point of the Mountain.
it is less steep. On a good day you can venture out away from the slope and find thermals that will take you up as far as you
care to go. Once ready to land you will find
a large flat area directly behind the slope.
There are few rotors making landing is a
breeze on the South side.
The North slope is a little trickier to fly
and to land. There are homes to the east of
the ridge and below it. The face is covered
with bushes so a landing on the face is not
what you want to do. There is a HUGE secAs you can see this part of the face is not
ondary ridge that towers up behind the
easy to climb and plane retrieval is no fun
launch slope. You can jump back and fly
that ridge if you get enough altitude. It’s a here. This was a gravel pit!
little weird to fly slope from the bottom of
the hill but with a big plane it is kind of
cool. I would not recommend doing this
with a small fast sloper as it
is very easy to fly into the
hill. It’s hard to judge how
far away from the slope you
are and crashing up there
would result in a long climb.
The landing pattern on the
north slope is similar to the
south except that you cannot This shot shows the HUGE rear hill that
fly as far back so it can get a sits behind the slope on the North side.
little difficult on a good day
to get the plane down in the
limited space if you don’t
have the luxury of flaps
Point of the mountain is
a great slope and if you are
in the area you should give
it a try. For more information of the Point of the
Mountain or the Soar Utah
slope event you can contact
the Intermountain Silent
Flyers (IMSF)
http://www.silentflyer.org/
Carl Maas launching on the North side of
the Point. Both sides of the Point are about
300’ High with nice views of the surrounding areas. You can see Utah Lake from the
south side and Salt Lake City from the
North.
2006 Schedule of events
Event
Date
Location
Contact
Los Banos Scale Fun Fly
Late April 22,23rd
Los Banos
For info see, www.sbss.org
Viking Qualifier
April 29 ~ May 1st
TBD
Tom Copp, [email protected]
International Slope race
Mid May 20,21st
Davenport, Ca
For info see, www.sloperacing.com
Tri-Slope Six-Pack
May 20~21st
Eastern Washington
Dieter Mahlein
[email protected]
PSS Festival
May 26~28th
Cajon Summit, San Bernardino,
Ca
Brian Laird
[email protected]
Midwest Slope Challenge
June 8~11th
Lake Wilson, Kansas
[email protected]
Carnage at Cajon (Combat)
June 23rd
Cajon Summit
Brian Laird
[email protected]
Mammoth Mt Alpine F3F
July 22, 23
Mammoth Mt, Ca
Gary Legerton
Point Fermin Pot Luck and Fun
Fly
August 12th
Point Fermin park
Brian Laird
[email protected]
SoCal Man on Man 2 day
August 19,20
Grass Mountain
Soar Utah
Sept 1~4th
Point of the Mountain
Viking Race
Sept 8~15
Scotland
A complete slope racing schedule can be found on the American Slope Racing Organization’s website at, www.sloperacing.com
IMSF www.soarwest.com
Editorial by
Brian Laird
The 2006 slope soaring season promises to be great one. There are a number of large events planned and that
should keep even the most diehard
sloper busy. I’m starting to wonder if
I have enough vacation time accrued
to attend all the ones I want to go to.
There are a few standouts this year
that I plan to fly in. I would love to
make the Viking Race in Scotland as
well. As little as I have been flying
lately I’m doubtful I could qualify for
the team, but maybe I can fly for
Greenland or Zambia or something…
Of course this particular event is
probably stretching my wallet a little
farther than it can comfortably handle,
but I’m going try none the less. I’m
not sure how I’m going get a box of
planes, my luggage and a set of golf
clubs on a plane, I’ll worry about that
if I find a way to go.
There are the usual annual contests
to look forward to such as the Los
Banos Scale bash, the International
Slope Race, the PSS Festival, The
Six-Pack, The Midwest Slope Challenge, The Mammoth Mt Alpine F3F,
etc. All these events are well worth
the trip and I would encourage you to
try and make one or two of these.
Of course my favorite event is the
PSS Festival. Yes, I still enjoy PSS flying more than anything. This year is the
9th PSS Festival and it gets better and
better every year. Hopefully we can
cook up some cool new stuff this year to
keep everyone interested.
It’s also the year for Soar Utah,
which is another event I love to attend.
I’ve been to every one and enjoyed them
all. Soar Utah is an event any style of
flyer can attend. It’s an open fun fly
event with a “scale flavor”. You can fly
any type of aircraft (except EPP wings I
believe) so bring all your planes and
have a ball (Making both Soar Utah and
the Viking Race will be another challenge as they both fall in September.).
If you’ve never been to a large organized event I urge you to take the
plunge and go to one. It’s much more
fun if you can get a buddy or two to go
with you. After all, who doesn’t like a
road trip (especially if it goes through
Vegas!) Flying in the events is the most
fun but if there is one close, and you
don’t want to fly, try to make it out as a
spectator. In addition to seeing some
great flying you might make some
new friends or pick up a new plane.
Large contests and events are great
places to find deals on used and
sometimes new equipment. Many pilots will bring stuff to sell and often
times vendors will attend with stuff to
sell.
2006 looks to me like it’s going be
a great year for slope junkies. I sure
hope every contest director has placed
his order for strong winds and warm
weather (especially the Viking Race
CD!). I’de hate to travel 7000 miles to
fly HLGs ( well, I will have my golf
clubs :-)