SCAT Electronic News 15 April 1998
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SCAT Electronic News 15 April 1998
Report On Verbitski Geared F1C
-----------------------------
From Bill East [Australian F1C Flyer]
Eugene flew the geared model but not in the contest, The performance has
real potential but requires work on prop to engine combination. The
performance of the model (which generally was the same type he normally
flys) was quicker with the main improvement being in the acceleration -
quite staggering !. The height advantage was probably in the region of 50
to 70 feet HOWEVER this will Dramatically change when he gets the prop
married to the engine. The general appearance is much the same with the
most noticeable change being slight increase in the spinner diam etc. and
an approx. 300mm Carbon propeller simular to F3B design.
The design concept is as follows - there is a pinion attached to the motor
which drives three pinions of same size, these pinions are equally spaced
around 360 deg and are driven by the motor pinion, the three pinions in
turn drive a ring gear that in turn drive the propeller.
The engineering of the unit is exceptional Eugene mentioned that the gears
were produced using IDM with each tooth being checked for accuracy
during production, To make such a unit would require a very good
workshop, I could not see one being produce in Australia for under 3-400
dollars [Australian] to provide the accuracy needed - remember that if
this unit should seize etc. it would destroy not only the airplane but the
motor as well, The whole unit was of course fully sealed from dirt what I
believe would have been the mechanisms only enemy..
Personally it was really great to see and I would like to pursue it
further,how ever this 5 sec rule has really sorted the field out, Because of
the wind and cold conditions in Omarama people were hesitant to go to
close to the 5 secs as retrieval was very long and the chance of missing a
round due to over run was a possibility.
Further to the geared front end - I believe this will create a huge gap if it
takes on, The concept is good and it will increase performance
considerably but my own personal feeling is it's digging that hole a little
deeper where new flyers and people who have no access to high tech
machinery will think twice about venturing into F1C, The 5 second
concept as will any new concept dreamed up will always be pursued with
vigour by those who have the time and money or access to Hi tech
equipment.
Thermals
Bill East
Further comments from: Bill Gieskieng
Did you get the word that Verbitski showed up in NZ with a geared
engine? (4-1 reduction ) I had ; posted on the SCAT web site just before
the fact that such should be banned-- right now before people invested too
much into it. But most don't share my alarm about it being a turn-off for the
less fanatic... and now that Verbitski has got one operating it seems to late
for that cowardly option. Gearing won't be cheap. It will probably run
well over a hundred bucks...that wouldn't include the prop. I think
Verbitski's gearing may be too extreme. According to figures I ran, his
prop blades will be stalled until half way to Vmax. Using a single blade
would help that problem, but the weight of the counterweight would be
monstrous...but maybe my calculating for optimum performance at Vmax
distorted the lesser advance angle figures. Still, it could be that a 2-1
reduction might be better all around.
Finals Rumor part 2
-------------------
From the South east .. It's all under control and a list of committed timers
is in the process of being finalized.
News From the FAI Meeting
-------------------------
Most important news is that the FAI is going to enforce the rule about 4
years advance notice before changing the rules. In recent years this has not
been observed [i.e. with the 5 sec engine run] in all FAI classes , Radio
Control as well as Free Flight. This has lead to a somewhat chaotic
situation. The US was strongly in favor of this.
The US bid to return to 7 seconds for F1C was rejected.
There was some dicussion about electronic timers [i.e. avionics] getting
too powerful and on how they should be restricted.
[editorial]
From a [second hand ] review it sounds like many of the delegates are not
aware of what has been done so far, what is planned, what is practical and
the difficulty of achieving full automated flight. The main fear is that a
'timer' will have thermal sensing devices and auto stability devices so that
'anyone' can throw the model in 'any' direction and it will assume a stable
flight path, find a thermal, get a max and return to the 'sportsman's' feet. .. If
anybody can do that with a device weighing say 40grams [for F1B] or
even 100 grams I'm sure that someone at DARPA and a bunch of the 3
letter agencies [FBI, CIA, etc] would really like to talk to them right away
!! There is talk of banning on board sensors .. but how about this one...
MTK in Moscow will release a F1C version of the 'F1A Timer' used by
M&K and Stamov. Beside the normal functions that one would expect, this
has a tachometer and altimeter. The reading from these are recorded and
read back on the ground when the model lands. Should this be banned
because it has a sensors ? would it be ok if it was a separate box [black
of course !] . Incidently in terms of cost this would be no more expensive
than some ground based device, probably cheaper. How about using the on
board tach to needle the engine, is that OK ? on the ground ? or in the air ?
Is it practical to do it any way ? Doug Joyce showed me a mechanical fuel
pressure regulator valve that he has in the fuel system of his F1C, is this
kosher because it is mechanical and not electronic ?
More on this subject later.
World Champs 2001
------------------
Bob Waterman and Dave Brown put a bid for the USA for 2001 at the
recent FAI CIAM meeting.
General FAI NEWS
----------------
From FAI Press Release
2nd WORLD AIR GAMES - DECISION TIME NEARS
The race to host the 2nd World Air Games in 2001 has reached the home
straight, and three bidders remain in contention: Austria, Spain and
Turkey. At the round of negotiations held in Paris on 28/29 March, Poland
withdrew its candidacy for 2001, and announced a firm intention to bid for
the 3rd World Air Games in 2005. Good progress was made on planning
for media coverage of the Games, including TV, public relations and
advertising.
FAI Air Sport Commission experts are working intensively with bidders
on the technical requirements for the WAG events, to enable final
candidate files to be completed by 30 April. A final round of negotiations,
focusing on the financial structure, will be held on 14/15 May. All is set
fair for a final decision on the host country for the 2nd World Air Games
to be made by the FAI Council in Paris on 29 May 1998.
[Will this affect the site of the 2001 World Free Flight Champs ? The
Free Flight experience at the last WAG was a long way from World
Champs level from the organization point of view]
AIR SPORT COMMISSION NEWS
Three new FAI Air Sport Commission Presidents have been elected at
recent annual Commission meetings:
Ballooning :
Jean Claude WEBER (Luxemburg)
Gliding :
Tor JOHANNESSEN (Norway)
Hang Gliding :
Olivier BURGHELLE (France)
All three automatically become FAI Vice Presidents and members of the
FAI Council.
It was encouraging to note among newly elected Vice Presidents of
Commissions a woman hang-glider pilot, Riika VILKUNA of Finland. FAI
is a signatory to an international charter to promote opportunities for
women in sport, at the administrative as well as practical level.
There was lively debate at all recent Commission meetings on the need to
modernise air sport competition rules so that contests become more
interesting for TV and the general public. Several Commissions have
established working groups to develop new contest philosophies.
Aerobatics to music, slalom racing on hang gliders, and "hare and hounds"
soaring races are some of the radical ideas under development.
[I have noted that quite a number of FF flyers are acomplished musicans,
but they tend to more classical and jazz rather than popular. But can we
have at the least a trumpet fanfare at the beginning of our rounds.]
Further report on Dubbo Contest
-----------------------------
From : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
During the Easter period, the Australian Free Flight Society conducted its
annual Championship at Dubbo in the central western part of New South
Wales, some 500 km NW of Sydney.
This contest was very well attended, not only by local flyers but also we
had some international flyers of very high calibre, Verbitski and Stamov
from Ukraine, Per Lindahl from Sweden, Anselmo Zeri from the
Netherlands and P. Brush from the Max Men in California. All
international categories were flown plus several "fun" events in the
enormous field that Jon Fletcher, the convenor and organizer of the contest,
had found after a careful survey of maps of the area.
Weather was good, although windspeed picked up around mid-day,
making the use of good electronic tracking equipment mandatory. Even so
there were some models lost in the huge thermals.
In the international categories, only F1B had a flyoff, which was won by
Anselmo Zeri, from Richard Blackam (2) and Mrs. Leigh Morgan (3). Zeri
had a motor explosion in the first round that severely damaged his #1
model, so that all seven rounds were flown with the reserve model, but for
the flyoff, #1 model was skilfully repaired and hurriedly test flown before
confronting the two Australian flyers.
In F1A Viktor Stamov was the only one to max out and won from Vin
Morgan (2) and Ben Lewis (3).
In F1C there was an extremely close contest in which nobody had a clean
sheet, but Evgenii Verbitski overcame two rounds where he dropped a few
seconds to win by seven seconds from Jon Fletcher (2) and Dave Thomas
(3). Verbitski was trimming his new F1C design before the contest, in
which a geared down propeller of 30 cm is used ( gear
ratio 1:4 ). The acceleration of this new model out of his hands was very
impressive. There seems no doubt that this development looks most
promisory, although the construction of the epicyclic gearbox is quite a
difficult achievement. Verbitski choose not to fly this new model in the
contest, but relied on a better tested conventional model.
On the smaller international categories, Per Lindahl won F1H from Vin
Morgan and Coupe d'Hiver was won by Richard Blackam in a dram
atic fly-off. In the first attempt, a strong gust nearly folded the wings when
the model was some 5 m high and the model dove to the ground. Blackam
picked it up and rewound it by hand. The second launch was
made a split second before a fierce dust devil crossed the launching site.
The model rose into a very strong thermal and was lost OOS in spite of a
normal D/T action. Peter de Visser and Brian Taylor were second and
third.
The standards were excellent in all categories, with closely fought results.
The venue is very good and the next AFFS Championship
is to be held at the same place, at Easter next year. International flyers will
find this a well organized and demanding contest, well worth attending
next year.
Sergio Montes
......................................................
Roger Morrell
