Radio Control Slope Soaring - 2004/06

RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING

Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]

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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. Banish wrinkles. Wrinkles and ragged edges in the covering add drag and slow your model down. Smooth them with the heat gun or covering iron.

1. 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 CG is where you want it, especially after adding weight during repairs. Check lateral balance as well.

1. Stress-test the radio installation. Fuselage flexing from hits or rough landings can tug on the receiver antenna wire and on servo connectors, causing intermittent connections. Do a bit of "bend and stress" testing while a helper operates the transmitter to identify radio connection faults.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. Observe the opposition. Watch other fliers perform their trim flights. Look for those who are flying in tight and close and moving fast—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 models that seem to fall out of the sky as soon as the lift hits a down cycle.

1. 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 begins, your objectives are to gain altitude and observe the opposition.

1. Keep your eye on the enemy. Don't watch only your own airplane; watch the opposition. This will help you set up an intercept and dodge an attack. As in baseball, you don't stare 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.)

1. Preserve your energy—either altitude or airspeed. In slope combat you 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.

1. 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 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.

1. 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 slightly—a small touch—and he or she drives into the ground.

1. 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. 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?

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. Test, test, test, and then race. Test changes to control throws and 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.

1. 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.

1. Ballast. 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 wing loading does wonders to increase airspeed, but if the lift dies your model could be first to the bottom of the hill.

1. Ballast—don't overdo it. 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 control-surface deflection adds drag and slows your model down; overballasting will not help your airplane go fast.

1. Ballast—don't underdo it. If you put in just a little extra weight, 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 in ballast. If in doubt, leave it out; lighter is faster in light and medium lift.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. Conserve altitude. When you launch and climb your model in preparation for starting the race, don't give up all your altitude by flying a blistering course entry. Use this altitude throughout the race for speed when you need it. If there is enough height for driving turns on the first two or three laps, your aircraft will be fast.

1. 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 newer racers the most.

1. Anticipate the far turn. Bank the airplane, but don't pull the elevator until the lift 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.

1. Go fast and turn smooth. Most races are won in the turns. 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.

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