New 50cc Gasser

I've recently finished a Hanger 9 "Carden Yak" and have been flying it quite a bit over the holidays. It's a 50cc ARF built by Hanger 9 whilst designed by Carden. Normally a Carden kit comes as a box of balsa sticks and foam cores; I much prefer the ARF option!


I'm running a DA50 with a MTW cannister muffler, JR 2.4G radio, Futaba 9156's on elevators and Hitec 5955TG's on aileron/rudder. I'm trying Fromeco "Iron Corps" batteries for the first time: these are lithium phosphate (generally called A123 cells) and you don't need a regulator as they stay almost constant at 6.6v. I have two 2400 mAh packs powering the flight surfaces with a Fromeco dual switch handling the battery load / redundancy. They are quite a heavy pack, and not really suitable for F3A but perfect for this type of model. And they charge fast.

The model flies great, with a good envelope for sequence and 3D. It's quite good to practice the P09 schedule - a bit slow but it makes you work hard to keep it on line and tracking well. 3D is not my forte but is great fun with this little beastie!

Euphoria Diet Pt3

Spinner changed now. The Tru-Turn 3-3/8"dia spinner with adaptor weighs 121g, while the 82mm dia TY-1 with standard YS prop nut weighs 77g. That's another 44g off. Total so far 66g. Should now be just under 5kg.

Still haven't worked out what battery to use. No real urgency though. I just need to fly the thing and check the CG now that I've taken 44g off the nose of the model.

We've got the last comp for the year this weekend at P&DARCS. This marks 10 years of flying pattern for me! Yep, P&DARCS in Dec 1998 was my first comp using my 3rd hand (or 4th hand, can't remember) "ACE" with a Hanno 61 engine. It took me 5 years to get my Masters ranking, acheiving the milestone at P&DARCS 2003.

Euphoria Diet Pt2

Just got word from the APA El Presidente that the weight limit as of 1/1/08 is 5050g. Apparently a 50g float is allowed for scale variations. Once the changes are made to the model she'll be under the limit with a small safety margin.

The Euphoria has to go to Jenny Craig...

I purchased a new set of scales recently (an accurate set of 5kg scales is part of any good F3A flyers workshop) and checked the Euphoria. Mmmmmm, error code, over 5kg (weighed the components separate and totalled 5060g). Not good! I suspected this would be the case and had a contingency plan in place when building her.

3 easy targets - I used a JR RD1221 2.4g receiver (because it came with the 12X). Weighs 40g where a 9 channel weighs 20g. That's 20g.

Next targets are the Tru-Turn 3-3/8"dia spinner. This thing is a brick and will be replaced with a TY-1 82mm dia. I don't have before and after weights but I expect it will save about 50g.

Next is the battery. I've got a Fromeco LiIon 2600mAh in it, way overkill for capacity and 120g. A smaller LiPo should save another 50g.

Taking 120g off will bring her back to 4940g. Close, but under and that's all that matters! I'll post the final weight when the changes have been made. I hate being this close to the limit!

BTW my Adventure came in a about 4750g on the APA scales at the Australian Masters this year. The Euphoria really is a big model!

Oops...

It'd take a fair size bottle of zap to get this back together... Went off the air on a downline, hit pretty hard. Not sure why, error code FTH (funny things happen). The trusty 46FX survived, one of my first engines circa 1998.

Oxai Euphoria - one of a kind in Australia

This is my first post, so I guess it's fitting to show off my new F3A model - an Oxai Euphoria. I've got 12 flights on her now, over 3 sessions and am really enjoying this model.

I have an Oxai Adventure biplane as well, so am familiar with F3A biplane characteristics.
What's the verdict?

Well, Quique won the 2007 F3A World Championships with one, so who am I to say anything negative! I'm yet to find any real negatives. It isn't mix-free like the Adventure, but it's early days with trimming. I feel it handles a cross-wind better than the Adventure, and has a superb locked-in feel. The downside is that it's close to 5kg (a little over 4.9kg), and still shows up turbulent air more than a monoplane.

I've had one session in relative clam and it's unbelievably good, almost cheating! Let's hope we have nice calm conditions at our F3A comps!

I'm using a YS170, Futaba servos, Spektrum Rx, Fromeco battery & powerbox reg.

And for some reason, Oxai have stopped production on this baby and I've got the only one that was bought into Australia. Not sure whether that's good or bad, but I've got something unique!