Radio Control Slope Soaring - 2004/06

June 2004 129
THIS MONTH I have 30 hints, tips, and tricks to help us prepare
better and fly smarter in foamie combat matches or Slope races. I am
indebted to many competitors for sharing their knowledge and
experience. These ideas were related to me by Slope fliers at flying
sites ranging from Laguna Niguel, California
(www.rcsoaring.com/lnssg.htm), to Wilson Lake, Kansas
(http://home.alltel.net/mwsc/), to Claremont, New Hampshire
(www.flymorningside.com).
Do not be afraid to ask a combat ace or a successful racer for
help and ideas; most are agreeable to sharing their hard-won
knowledge. Following is what Slope competitors have shared with
me.
Foamie Combat Preparation and Tactics:
1) Wing or tail? Flying wings recover faster after a hit than
conventional (wing and tail) foamies, but tailed aircraft are heavier
and carry more energy for that knockout punch. Wings cannot be
flown in the emerging Foamie Warbird
Racing class. Consider building one of each.
2) Build light or heavy? Lighter combat
airplanes recover quicker after a combat
strike, but heavier combat airplanes hit
harder and keep on going. Light models stay
up in light lift, but heavy models penetrate
and handle high winds better. Select and
build your aircraft for the lift conditions
expected; perhaps build a light one and a
heavy one to be ready for multiple lift
conditions.
3) Unwarp the wings. Inspect your
fighting foam carefully for warps in flying
surfaces. Warped wings and tail surfaces
cause the airplane to wander from a straight
heading. Straighten flying surfaces by
twisting the opposite direction and holding
while a helper goes over both sides of the
surface with a heat gun. Hold in position
until the part cools. On a flying wing, check
for proper washout and aileron reflex.
4) Banish wrinkles. Wrinkles and raggedy
Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING
Erik Eaton’s MiG-3 (R) carries enough speed to escape a bad
situation during a foamie warbird slope combat heat.
Wings recover from upset quicker; tailed aircraft, such as Jim
Harrigan’s Kawafoamie Ki61 (top), carry more punch.
Slope races are won or lost in the turns. Todd Martin, Joe Chovan, Charlie Richardson,
and Paul Naton during a One-Design Race at 2000 Midwest Slope Challenge.
“Yes, grasshopper, trim is very important when setting up a
model to fly smoothly.” Dave Sanders (L) and Lou Garwood.
06sig5QXD 3/24/04 11:42 am Page 129
edges in the covering add drag and slow your
model down. Smooth them with the heat gun
or covering iron.
5) Confirm CG. Confirm your fore-and-aft
balance point. Forward CG is more stable, and
rearward CG is more agile. Make sure your
model’s is where you want it, especially after
adding weight during repairs. Check lateral
balance as well.
6) Stress-test the radio installation.
Fuselage flexing from hits or rough landings
can tug on the receiver antenna wire and on
servo connectors, causing them to make
intermittent connections. Do a bit of “bend
and stress” testing while a helper operates the
transmitter to identify radio connection faults.
7) Choose an athletic co-pilot. Recruit a
caller who can run down and then scramble
back up the hill and relaunch quickly to get
your sailplane back in the air. You can’t win
by staying out of the fight.
8) Survey the battlefield. Look for the
high-lift compression zones. Know where not
to fly because of crummy lift. Know the
easy recovery areas, and try to land in them
so your caller can get your model back into
the air sooner.
9) Observe the opposition. Watch other
fliers perform their trim flights. Look for
those who are flying in tight and close and
moving fast, for they are the competitors.
They are the ones you will most likely
engage, and they will score on you. Look for
lame ducks—the poorly trimmed airplanes
flown by sloppy pilots—because they can be
easy kills. Look for the models that seem to
fall out of the sky as soon as the lift hits a
down cycle.
10) Don’t launch early, if this option is
available to you under the rules of the day.
Avoid exposing your airplane to damage
before the time slot starts. On initial launch,
when the time slot starts, your objectives are
to gain altitude and observe the opposition.
11) Keep your eye on the enemy. Don’t
watch your own airplane; watch the
opposition. This will help you set up an
intercept and dodge an attack on you. As in
baseball, you don’t look at your bat; you keep
your eye on the ball. (Editor’s note: Keep at
least one eye on your own airplane, for
safety’s sake!)
12) Preserve your energy—either altitude
or airspeed. In slope combat we need enough
kinetic energy to cause the opponent to
“depart from controlled flight,” but, more
important, having potential energy allows
tactical options. You can make a diving
attack on an opponent and then get away
quickly. You can pull sudden evasive
maneuvers. You can depart a bad situation
and live to fight another day.
13) Don’t chase a target out of the kill
zone. You’ve formed a mental picture of
where the best lift is, flying over places where
your caller can easily recover your airplane.
The counterpart defensive move is to pull
your eager attacker out of the kill zone and up
and away into the safety zone where you can
easily recover from a collision. Conversely,
try to nail the lame duck when he or she is
suffering down low in the weeds.
14) Play the lame duck. Appear to be
crippled to invite attack. Park your model in
the compression zone at low ground speed.
Half the battle is won when another pilot
dives on you; all you have to do is upset his
or her flight path a little, a small touch, and he
or she drives into the ground.
15) Don’t give up too soon. Sometimes
you lose sight of your airplane. You may be
distracted by other aircraft, or you may have
flown below the hill, and now your heart
stops because you don’t see your model.
Keep flying. Fly as if you know where your
airplane is and what it’s doing, and you’ll be
surprised by how many times it will pop out
into sight flying crisp and clean. Never stop
flying your model until you know it’s down
for sure. Too many give up when they could
have recovered and kept flying.
Slope Racing Preparation and Race Tactics:
1) Do not race a new airplane. There’s no
sense in subjecting yourself to the distractions
of trimming and fine-tuning CG and control
throws on the racecourse. If you intend to
win, you’re much better off with a familiar
airframe, even though it may have some
lumps and bumps from repairs. You wouldn’t
wear new shoes in a foot race, would you?
2) Eliminate control-linkage slop. Every
little source of play or wiggle in the control
linkages diminishes the precision of your
control. Replace worn control-linkage parts.
Lock nuts tightened against clevises will take
up play in the threads.
3) Detune controls for racing. If you’ve
been flying your racer for sport conditions,
especially if you like fast rolls, it may be
beneficial to reduce the aileron control throw
(but not the elevator) or fly the race on low
rates for ailerons.
4) Test, test, test, and then race. Test
changes to control throws to control surface
mixing; try different setups in dual rates or
exponential. See whether a stable forward CG
or a lively rearward CG helps you hold a
straight line and turn smoothly. Try flying
with different ballast loadings.
5) Practice, practice, practice before the
race. No other tip will get you as far in the
standings as becoming intimately familiar
with your race airplane’s obvious and subtle
flight characteristics. Furthermore, the greater
variety of wind conditions you’ve flown your
model in, the better prepared you’ll be to
handle the conditions on race day.
6) Ballast 1. Just meet the minimum
weight in the class if there is one, but be
prepared to add ballast if conditions call for it.
Adding ballast weight on the CG to increase
the wing loading does wonders to increase
airspeed, but if the lift dies your model could
be first to the bottom of the hill.
7) Ballast 2. Ballast can be overdone. Lift
conditions will let your airplane go only so
fast. If you add too much for the lift
conditions, you’ll be floundering around,
hanging on the elevator. Every controlsurface
deflection adds drag and slows your
model down, thus overballasting will not help
your airplane go fast.
8) Ballast 3. Ballast can be underdone. If
you put just a little extra weight in, it may not
be enough to significantly raise the wing
loading, yet you’ve disassembled the airplane
and have to repeat the final field inspection.
Some racers start with a minimum of 25% of
the aircraft’s weight. If in doubt, leave it out;
lighter is faster in light lift and in medium lift.
9) Ballast 4. Ignore the psychological
game of adding and removing ballast
between heats to “fine-tune” your airplane—
unless, of course, you’re good enough to win
at it.
10) Final field inspection. Before launch
check all parts, including wing incidence
pins, wing tape, and nose-cone tape. Make
sure you are on the correct transmitter
program, that the transmitter and receiver are
turned on, and that all control surfaces are
moving the expected travel and in the right
direction. A reversed aileron or elevator servo
will cause a quick crash.
11) Gather altitude when you can. Your
airplane will gain height on the upwind turn;
keep that altitude throughout the downwind
leg to “spend” on the upwind leg, trading
altitude for airspeed gradually throughout the
length of the course.
12) Conserve altitude. When you launch
and climb your model in preparation for
starting the race, don’t give up all your
altitude flying a blistering course entry. Use
this altitude throughout the race for speed
when you need it. If there is enough height
for diving turns on the first two or three laps,
your aircraft will be fast.
13) Don’t cut turns. It is terribly difficult
to make up the time you’ll spend going back
out and making the turn. This tip will
probably help new racers the most.
14) Anticipate the far turn. Bank the
airplane, but don’t pull the elevator until the
flag drops or the light comes on. If you pass
the far end of the course with wings level,
you know you’ve flown too far,
unnecessarily lengthening the course for your
aircraft.
15) Go fast and turn smooth, as most
races are won in the turns. At the risk of
advocating the obvious, this is great advice.
When on the course, concentrate on flying a
smooth line in the hottest lift zone, and
mentally prepare for each turn. Fly smoothly
and do not overcontrol the aircraft. Every
control-surface deflection adds drag and
slows it down. MA