kenh3497

My first pattern competition is scheduled for tomorrow (July 8). Lost the Smaragd and wanted to fly my Goldberg Bucker Jungmann but fuel pressure regulator issues (YS 120NC) will keep it grounded. I think that's a good thing as I would have only had two or three flights on the air frame anyway. So that leaves me with my trusty Pulse 40 XT with my also trusty YS 63 on the nose.

The weather looks to be ideal so poor performance can't be blamed on that.... My "plan" is to go and have some fun but I know my nature won't let me be totally relaxed. We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Ken

bjr_93tz

Best of luck.

Remember, you start off with 10 points for each maneuver. The more mistakes you can hide from the judges the more points you can keep

big_G

I remember my first competition, Sportsman in 2013. I was a mess....didn't do too good. But, I sure had fun. I bet you have a ball.Then you be jumping at the coming contests.

DRC1

My Feedback: (10)

I started in Sportsman in 2003 with an H9 Aresti 40, powered by a YS63. It was a bit challenging in the wind, but had plenty of power and tracked well. Being confident in my piloting skills at the time, I asked a well known pilot, and mentor, to test fly my plane to help me get it trimmed up because I couldn't get it to track well. He did, then landed, smiled, and told me I was right. It needed a click of right aileron, but flies perfect now... LOL. Yep, a bit humbling, but a good time.

I moved to 2M planes at the end of the season. Guess what, I didn't fly them any better than my Aresti 40. Same problems with corrections.

Good luck... flying Sportsman is much easier with a plane you are familiar with.

LD

Smooth Pilot

Started Sportsman in 2014 with a Big Stick 60 and pretty much surprised everybody with the performance of a sports plane. One pilot commented he was surprised that a Big Stick makes a decent pattern plane. Had a lot of fun and have been hooked ever since. Just do your best to relax and pretend it is a practice flight at your home field.

Sheldon

kenh3497

Well..... All went pretty good. My first round I was a wreck! LOL!! Got it out of the way with out a "0" so did feel good about that. Second round was better and I dropped a few points in the third. Fourth round was going really well, BUT I messed up on the half cuban before two loops (last maneuver). I zeroed the loops Any way all the other maneuvers were better that the other three rounds so I did feel good about that. I wasn't able to compete today so my four rounds will have to stand. I didn't even look at the standings to see where I was in the group. Today somebody that was there said I was leading the group when I left. I have no Idea. If I was leading there must have been a mistake in the scoring as I felt the other guys flew better than I did.

Regardless of the scores I had a very good time and look forward to my next time out. Everybody was very helpful and offered good advice. Today I attended a last ever funfly that I've going to for the last 6 or 7 years. I discovered if the "box" could be half again as large, the Pulse flys much better when flown faster. Oh well.....

Bottom line, I had fun and learned quite a bit. OH..... The lunch was big enough to feed three of me! LOL

Ken

KC8QPU

Nice job. Sounds like the hook is set. Now just keep practicing and try and make it a point to make as many events as you can allow for.

big_G

Glad you had fun. That's what it's all about.

Anthony-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Nicely done! Your fantastic persistence has paid off. Hope you had a wonderful time.

kenh3497

YES it has and now would be a really good time for me to burn my credit card!!!

It was fun and frustrating all at the same time. The fun factor did outweigh, by a large margin, the frustration though.

It's been a trip I tell you..... And yes a good time was had! I think I'll build a fuse for the wing and tail set left over from the Smaragd. I'll harvest all the good stuff off the Smaragd for the new fuse.

The group putting on the event went above and beyond. The district 5 VP, Mark Barnett, worked his butt off to make it a fun event. His crew also was more than helpful. Your scores from the previous round were hand delivered to you so you could review them. Maybe this is standard practice but it seemed to me and extra thing to help out the pilots. The event was on Marks home turf in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Not that I know anything but it looked like a resounding success. IIRC about 25 pilots showed up.

Ken

kenh3497

I wound up with a score of 3689.83 for the four rounds I flew. That put me in third place. With that said there were five sportsman pilots and one dropped out due to airplane issues. Still, I happy with the performance. Not fantastic by any means but good enough to light the fire in me to continue pursuing the sport!

https://www.nsrca.us/images/contest_...estResults.xml

Now I need to search for a proper pattern plane. I've been looking at "The World Models" line of pattern planes. Does anybody have any experience with any of these? The price is attractive and there are several sizes that I have engines for. Airborne-Models

Ken

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Ken, I would say keep looking for a good used 2 meter airplane. They do come up every so often. The Wannabe sport/pattern airplanes just don't cut it. If you really need to go smaller then look at what F3A unlimited has in the 110 size. Heck if shipping wasn't so damned expensive these days I would make you a deal on a CA Widebody .60 I have listed on the other site. Problem is, it would cost 125.00 in shipping to get it to you. Then again it would be kick ass with a .91AC.

BTW, you have a couple Rockstars flying masters at that contest. Lots of good pattern knowledge you can tap into.

big_G

Finding dedicated glow pattern planes is getting tough these days. Electric is the thing now. Good luck and have fun!

big_G

Hey Ken....what happened to the 2 inside loops on round 4?....lol

kenh3497

HAHAHA.... I pulled my half Cuban too soon and pinched it more than a little then kind of messed up the exit a little. Was MUCH safer to NOT do the loops. Any way if you threw out the loops I was pretty happy with the round. It felt "comfortable" for the most part. The nerves thing was starting to go away.

Ken

kenh3497

Wow Shawn, that is a pretty good deal for somebody. Wish I lived closer.....

I still plan on scavenging all the good stuff off the Smaragd fuse and build a new fuse for the wings and tails I have. They are perfectly usable if freshened up a bit. I'll strip the covering and make the cosmetic fixes needed and recover them. Heck I'll even reclaim that nice carbon & ply layup you made for me for the landing gear and firewall!! I have a bunch of reasonably light balsa laying around that can be used for the new fuse. Now just to decide what to build????? I have three or four sets of plans on file .

Ken

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Ken, If I was you I would order up a Lightning fuse short kit from Eureka aircraft. I too have been looking for a new 2 meter airplane. I would like to fly in Masters next year and I doubt the Hydeaway will hold off the newer breed of airplanes well. There is a Defiant MK 2 listed here and at RCG and I have been communicating with the seller. I think it would be ideal as it is a new kit. If not I will keep looking or perhaps do another scratch build.

kenh3497

I have Black Magic cad files on hand and also a couple of the Insite models in addition to the Lightning plans. I think I'm leaning to the Black Magic, but might opt to the Insite as it would be an easy and quick build??? The lightning to me looks a bit wimpy for an IC engine without a lot of structural changes to beef up the nose????? This will be a winter project anyway so I have some time to think it over.

Ken

maustin

My Feedback: (7)

I've heard the Defiant MkII is a good flying plane. It's a smoking deal for glow considering all the accessories thrown in.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

I agree but if I can persuade him to ship, I will be going E power.

flywilly

My Feedback: (121)

Hi Ken,
Congrats on your first (hopefully of many) competition! Not a lot of glow options these days, but some and MTK commented that you can wet power an E-design with a good soft mount (e.g. Hyde). The Naru-tech Ascent kit is the deluxe version of glow power, but a bit pricey at about $1500 delivered (all wood - contest grade, laser cut, CF cowl/canopy, etc.). The INsightRC Cadence and the Eureka Lightning are both good options. If you read through the Lightning thread here, you will find that others opted for glow power and at least one Lightning was being built for gas. The Black Magic option is also good (the airplane was ahead of its' time) and you can get a glass/foam kit of the BM VF3 from Don Carlson at Rcaiir.com (two 'i's is correct) or he might sell you just the fuselage for your Smargd wings & stabs. There are probably a lot of good, used glow pattern ships out there sitting in the garages and basements of the e-power converts.
Good luck!

PS. I just read in the latest 'K-Factor' (NSRCA publication) the the designer of the Lightning plans to release a new design soon; E-powered no doubt.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

used 2m that looks like a very good deal..even though it is electric

Delro Addiction 2m F3A (ID: 1111875)

kenh3497

Yes nice plane, but, WAY out of my budget

DRC1

My Feedback: (10)

Ken, Check your PMs...

russnichols

My first contest was just a few months ago. Flew an Elektrostick in Sportsman. Small and light for a windy day, but overall it worked out well. Now I'm flying a well-used Venus with an OS 1.20AX. I have 2 more Venus airframes in the "closet", so I plan to fly nitro for a couple of years. I'm still very new, but the Venus is plenty of airplane for me. Not kitted anymore, but might be a few used ones out there.

Russ