anders12

I thought I`d share my experiances with the Wind S Pro after one season of practicing and competing. This summer I logged 247 flights, P11 and F11. I have competed in F3A since 1982, participated in my first WC in Holland 1985 and my latest in Poland 2003. Never before during all these years have I flown so much with so little effort. The electrics are fantastic! So on to my wiews.

I`ve built two models, one for myself and one for a friend. For myself i bought a red and white version. The fuselage was sanded with 800 followed by 2000 paper. Trim coulors were applied with waterbased autopaint followed by a two component clearcoat. This gave a nice shine without any visable seams in the fuselage. The procedure added 85g of weight. The wings were releaved of their Oracover and recovered with a superior covering eg SuperMonokote. The Monokote has brighter colours and a better shine than Oracover. This also reduced the weight of the wings by 30g. While at it I did some sanding and adjusting the fit between wings, stabs and the fuselage before applying the Monokote.

Equpment used:
Motor: Hacker C-50 14Xl
Esc: YGE 80HV
Batteries: Desirepower 5000mAh 25C
Servos 4*Futaba 9650 1*Futaba 9151 (Ailerons will bee uppgraded with Futaba BLS 153 for next season.)
Reciever: Futaba 6008
Reciever battery: Desirepower 850 mAh with a Emcotec regulator giving 5.9V

My model ended at 4820g. My friends model is a ready painted version that ended up at 4750g with the same equipment.

Having built quite a lot of F3A models, mostly from plans, I have high demands on quality. The Wind S Pro meets them well. I had no issuses with building and finishing. One has to keep in mind that this is an ARF not a custom built airframe.
Regarding the visible fuselage formers I`m a bit surprised by the lack of knowlage regarding materials used in model building. The fuselage is, mostly, fibreglass with a distance material and formers made of balsa reinforced with carbonfibre. Different materials expand and contract in different ways when exposed to variations in humidity and temprature. The atmosfearical conditions at the production site and the conditions here in Europe are certainly not the same. Also when using the model we subject it to big variations in weather conditions worsening the problem over time. Hezik`s model is pictured outside in the cold winter showing the fuselage former clearly. My model that was very good in this aspect when new looked almost as bad when brought in from cool storage. I built a fiberglass fuselage with perfectly made and intalled formers. The outside shape was absolutly right. At the end of the flying season the formers could be seen clearly.

When talking flying proprieties the Wind S Pro shines in three areas.

First knifeedge. It has no couplings whatsoever. Trim is perfect without any mixes. Rudderauthority is great. Rolling loops and knifeedgeloops are easily controlled. The reason for this is the midwing design and cleaverly designed fuselage. The landinggearfairings and pointy canopy helps keep a good airflow round the fuselage in knifeedge position, witout peculiar looking devices. A big subfin also helps here.

Second is rolling manouvers. Good knifedge is one thing and the swept wing another that explains this.

The third area in which the model excells is its performance in windy and turbulent conditions. Something one appricates when flying in Sweden. Here we have the narrow fuselage and thin wings that gives a sleek model with little drag compared too most F3A models. This gives good penetration in heavy winds. The airframe is also very ridgid. Built up wings and a sturdy wingtube minimzes flex. This is the reason behind the old and true saying, "Wood flies better". A ridgid airframe is less disturbed in turbulent wether and feels moore locked.
Some people have written that they intend too replace the original wingtube with a PPG tube weighing half as much as the original. I would never do that. The PPG tube is much less rigid and would flex too much. That was one of the issuses with a Genesis that a flew earlier.

In summary I can only say that this is the easiest model I have ever flown. It is predictable and honest and feels extremely stable and loocked.

Regards, Anders Johansson
Sweden