Author: James Wang
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/12
Page Numbers: 46,47,48,49,50,51,53
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3D Masters

by James Wang [email protected]

The 2010 event at Venlo, Netherlands, spun heads worldwide.

I've attended the annual 3D Masters 10 times, and the 2010 edition, held July 23–25, was one of the best organized and most attended, with the fanciest demos and the highest caliber of competition. Jupiter RC Club of Venlo, Netherlands, was the gracious host. Club Chairman Walter Robijns, Flightline Director John Vugts, and 3D Masters founder Jeff Barringer ran the event like it was a Swiss tourbillon watch: with precision and flair. It drizzled on Friday and Sunday, but Saturday’s weather was perfect, at about 75°F with 5 mph winds and clear blue skies.

Fifty-five pilots from 21 countries were invited or prequalified to participate in the 3D Masters. The Master division is for the best 3-D helicopter pilots: the maestros. Expert is for pilots who will become Masters; the Expert winner must move up to the Master class the following year. There is also a Flight to Music category.

During three days of intense competition, each pilot performed a three-minute freestyle routine and a compulsory flight for which he or she chose maneuvers from a collection set forth by the organizer. Those maneuvers have a K-factor (difficulty) rating of 1–3; 1 is very challenging and 3 is super challenging.

When the judging was completed, Nick Maxwell of the US emerged as the Master-class victor. Gael Lamirand of France won in Expert. Kyle Dahl, another US pilot, took first place in the Best Flight to Music category. As the results show, the US still leads the world in 3-D flying, which was pioneered in the US, but the Europeans and Israelis are not far behind. The Mikado Team of Germany won the trophy for best team.

Winning at the 3D Masters requires mostly pilot skill, because today’s helicopters and equipment are excellent; otherwise they would not survive the capitalistic free-market competition. A true master can fly almost any proven model or use any brand of radio and go on to win, as long as he or she has enough practice time. Where the helicopter and equipment can help is in reliability. As in Formula One and NASCAR racing, the equipment must survive the grueling torture; if it fails, the competition is over.

Driver skill is important in car racing, but a well-tuned, flawless design can provide that extra edge. To get the mechanics ready requires a tremendous amount of prerace prepping and tuning. I want to zero in on the interesting advancements in 3-D helicopters and peripheral equipment that permitted the Masters pilots to do their jobs. A clear trend is that electric-powered and flybarless designs have matured.

Electric machines can effortlessly fly an aggressive three-minute routine. With fresh batteries, these models can accelerate faster than nitro-powered helicopters. I think electric helicopter technology will continue to improve in the next few years. Modern flybarless helicopters can have an edge over traditional flybar-equipped machines for 3-D flying, because the electronic “black box” stability-augmentation systems (SAS) used in flybarless versions are smart. They can make a helicopter more stable—and more agile—than a model with a flybar.

One other distinct advantage of electronic stabilization is that it provides an almost true rate-command system for cyclic control, regardless of rotor speed. "Rate command" means that the aircraft roll rate is proportional to control-stick displacement. You can vary the rotor rpm between about 1,200 and 2,000, and a flybarless helicopter with an SAS will maintain that same fast roll or tumble rate. The "black box" simply applies the necessary blade-pitch change to achieve the commanded roll rate. A flybar-equipped helicopter depends on high rotor speed to achieve crisp cyclic response.

The days of flybarless electronics have finally arrived, and this technology will only get better and less expensive. I believe it will revolutionize RC helicopters the way the heading-lock gyro did when it was introduced in 1997.

Nick Maxwell was flying a machine that was new to the market: the flybarless Next-D Rave ENV, available from CJ Youngblood Enterprises (CYE), which sponsors Nick. The "ENV" stands for "Electric Nitro Variant." This model is available in four variations: electric powered, nitro powered, with a flybar, and without a flybar. The nitro version uses a .90-size engine. The Rave ENV sells for $799, regardless of version. Nick powered his ENV with a 1915/1.5Y 450 Kv brushless motor from NeuMotors. According to CYE, the best pinion for this motor and Kv value is a 16T that fits a 6 mm motor shaft (motor pinions are not currently included in the ENV kit).

To control more than 1,500 watts of motor power, Nick uses a 160-amp Ice ESC from Castle Creations. The Ice series is a new design for modern, high-performance, large electric models. For power, Nick used two Thunder Power 6S 45C 5,000 mAh Li-Poly batteries connected in series (12 cells in series provides roughly 48 volts). Nick equipped his ENV with Radix blades from CYE.

Approximately one-third of this year’s 3D Masters pilots flew electric helicopters, the most popular of which was the Mikado Logo 600. It has the physical size of a 50-class nitro machine but typically runs 600 mm rotor blades. Nick’s ENV can run 690–710 mm main blades. The electric version of the T-Rex 700 was also popular; it is a modified 90-size helicopter that also uses 690–710 mm main blades.

The Logo 600 is extremely popular among Europeans because it is made in Germany and was designed from the ground up to be electric only; it has an excellent power-to-weight ratio. It can be powered by eight- to ten-cell Li-Poly battery packs. All Logo 600s are now flybarless, because Mikado has been promoting the use of its V-Bar electronic SAS for years. The V-Bar “black box” is not cheap; it costs more than $500, which is an added expense when outfitting a new model.

Part of the reason a Logo 600 flies so quickly and accelerates like a rabbit on steroids is that eliminating the flybar reduces aerodynamic drag and makes the model a few ounces lighter. Eliminating the flybar can reduce drag and required power by at least 10%. When throttle/collective is punched with an electric helicopter, the motor accelerates almost instantaneously to full power. With a two-stroke combustion engine, there is a slight delay. This is why an electric-powered model can often beat a nitro-powered model in a drag race.

Nitro-powered models did not give up the fight easily at the 3D Masters. Most competitors flew engine-powered helicopters, and those models employed flybars. For stage presence it is hard to beat a 90-size helicopter roaring like a lion: finely tuned, sounding like a Ferrari, and trailing a steady plume of smoke during aerobatics. I love flying nitro engine-powered helicopters, but I also enjoy the convenience and lack of cleaning that electric power provides.

Gael Lamirand flew a prototype Outrage Velocity 90 powered by an O.S. 91HZ-R. That was the most popular engine at the 3D Masters. The 91HZ-R is the latest generation of high-performance power plants. The "R" is for its regulator-controlled fuel-delivery system. The carburetor has a regulator that precisely meters fuel feed; in principle it works like the previous generation Kline regulator. The unit on the engine is massive and stores fuel like a tiny header tank.

Other popular engines at this contest were the O.S. 55HZ and the YS 91 SR RR. Twenty-year-old Dominik Haegele of Germany, the 2009 3D Masters Champion, employed a special YS 91 SR RR engine that Rudiger Feil blueprinted. Rudiger, a five-time European F3C Champion and distributor for Hirobo helicopters and YS engines in Germany, explained that he strips the YS 91 during the blueprinting process, refits the bearings, cleans up the edges, and introduces a secret modification to make the 91 run even smoother and with more power. Rudiger sells a complete blueprinted new YS 91 SR RR for approximately €400 (roughly $550 in the US); you can order one directly from him via the Internet.

A new program added to the 3D Masters last year was Synchro 3-D flying. A team of two pilots flies together, like paired figure skating or synchronized swimming. Sometimes the helicopters perform maneuvers in parallel, and sometimes they do different moves that complement each other. This is harder than it looks; if you are not sitting inside the cockpit it is difficult to judge distance between your model and your partner’s. The Synchro class is still in the embryonic stage, and the two models rarely do the same maneuvers precisely the same. Even when they are doing complementary moves, they do not match perfectly in timing. When pilots started maneuvers far apart it was difficult for the audience to watch both machines at the same time. This event will take a few years to mature.

On the other hand, night flying has matured. More than 20 pilots entered the night competition on Saturday, and approximately 1,000 people were in attendance. These fliers performed the same challenging 3-D moves at night as they did in the daytime. Ten-year-old Alon Barak of Israel and Petr Novotny of the Czech Republic tied for first place in the nighttime contest. Alon even performed a "blade stop" with his Thunder Tiger Raptor 90 SE during an autorotation, starting from 500 feet high.

If you want to become a "master," your best bet is to practice, practice, and practice again. In talking with the top pilots, I learned that they use computer simulators a lot; they say it’s quite realistic for practicing close-quarters, smackdown-type 3-D flight. A month before competition, even young pilots such as Alon Barak were burning 20 gallons of fuel in practice sessions. The participants also recommend attending fun-flies and contests to watch and talk to other fliers. Another source of inspiration is high-quality videos and DVDs featuring top pilots; SKS Video Productions sells excellent coverage of the annual Futaba Extreme Flight Championships.

The top pilots come home from flying each day and spend hours cleaning and inspecting their machines to prepare them for the next day. The 3D Masters has become an equivalent to the IRCHA (International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association) Jamboree for international 3-D competition. If you love this type of flying, don’t miss the 2011 3D Masters. It has been held in Europe each year and usually takes place close to the second weekend in July.

Master Class

  1. Nick Maxwell / US — 20 — CYE Rave ENV — Electric — NeuMotors 1915/1.5Y 450 Kv; 16T pinion; Futaba 8FG
  2. Daniel Katzav / Israel — 17 — Mikado Logo 600 — Electric — Scorpion HK-4225-610KV; JR 12X 2.4 GHz
  3. Kyle Dahl / US — 16 — Mikado Logo 600 — Electric — Scorpion 4035-560KV; 12T; JR X9303
  4. Luigi Rungi / Italy — 14 — Align T-Rex 700 — Nitro — YS 91 SR; Hatori muffler; Futaba 8FG
  5. Dominik Haegele / Germany — 19 — Hirobo Turbulence — Nitro — YS 91 SR RR; Hatori 937; Futaba FX40
  6. Eric Weber / Germany — 20 — Align T-Rex 700 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ; Hatori 939; Futaba T8
  7. Chen Zarfati / Israel — 21 — JR Vibe 90 SG — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ-R; R/CMP 5; JR 12X 2.4 GHz

Expert Class

  1. Gael Lamirand / France — 18 — Outrage Velocity 90 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ-R; Outrage Xlite; Futaba 12FG
  2. Joszef Mojzes / Hungary — 37 — T-Rex 700 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ-R; Hatori 939; JR 12X 2.4 GHz
  3. Ryou Migita / Japan — 18 — T-Rex 700 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ-R; muffler studio; Sanwa SG10
  4. Jordan Sadosky / France — 18 — Outrage Velocity 90 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ-R; Outrage Xlite; Futaba 12FG
  5. Jo Kaulbach / Germany — 17 — T-Rex 700 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ; Align 90; Futaba T10 CG
  6. Hao Lu / China — 26 — Hirobo Turbulence — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ-R; Hatori 938; JR 11X
  7. Massimo Rubinelli / Italy — 35 — T-Rex 700 — Nitro — O.S. 91 HZ PS; Hatori; Spektrum DX7

Typical Equipment Examples

(Columns: Servo (Cyclic; Tail) — Gyro — Main Blades — Fuel/Battery — Governor/ESC)

  • Futaba BLS252; Total G; Radix; Thunder Power; Phoenix Ice 160
  • Mikado V-Bar; Radix; Hyperion; Scorpion 130-amp
  • JR 8717; JR 8900G; Mikado V-Bar; Edge 603 FBL; Thunder Power; Kontronik JIVE 120+ HV
  • JR 8717; Spartan; SAB; Cool Power; CSM
  • Futaba BLS253; Solid G; Radix; Cool Power; CYE ATG
  • Futaba BLS451; Futaba BLS254; Futaba GY520; BBT Insane; Cool Power; Align RCE-6600
  • JR DS8925HV; JR MP80G; Mikado V-Bar; Radix 690/710 FBL; Cool Power; Model Avionics RevMax
  • Outrage BL9180/9188 HV; BEASTX; SWE 700 DCN; Optifuel; Model Avionics RevMax
  • JR 8717HV; Mikado V-Bar V4; Edge 690 FBL; Wildcat; CYE ATG
  • Align DS610; Align 690D; Align 3G; Optifuel; none
  • MKS HV-767 / BLS-950; MKS DS760; GY520 or BEASTX; SWE 690; Model Avionics RevMax
  • Futaba BLS451; HeliCommand HC3; Align 700D; Cool Power; Align RCE-6600
  • MKS BLS950; MKS 980; GS eXtreme; CRK 710-3D; MultiGov Pro
  • JR; Spartan DS760; SAB 700; Rapicon; Aerospire MultiGov

You can vary the rotor rpm between 1,200 and 2,000, and a flybarless helicopter with an SAS will maintain the same fast roll or tumble rate. The "black box" simply adjusts blade pitch to achieve the commanded roll rate.

Synchro and Night Flying

Synchro 3-D is still developing. The paired format challenges pilots to judge distance and timing without onboard viewpoint, and teams rarely match maneuvers and timing precisely yet. Night flying, however, has matured: more than 20 pilots competed at night with roughly 1,000 spectators in attendance.

Practice and Preparation

Top pilots rely heavily on practice—both on actual models and on computer simulators. The month before competition, many pilots log intensive practice, burning significant fuel or battery cycles. They also attend fun-flies and contests to learn from others, and they study high-quality videos and DVDs of top pilots. After each flying day, pilots spend hours cleaning and inspecting their machines to prepare for the next day.

Conclusion

The 3D Masters has become the premier international 3-D competition akin to the IRCHA Jamboree. If you love 3-D helicopter flying, plan to attend the next 3D Masters, usually held in Europe around the second weekend in July.

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.