Orden from RTGmodel, a top notch and versatile F3F competition glider from Slovakia.

 

Introduction

RTGmodel is a Slovak-based manufacturer that has been producing F3F gliders for many years now, and is synonymous with top notch molding quality and attention to details. Long based on HN profiles, this new glider, the Orden, marks a breakthrough in aerodynamic design to bring it into line with current standards (new dedicated wing profile, thin fuselage, rounded tip, ailerons running all the way out to the wingtip), while marking its difference by making some original choices. I propose with this review to see if the Orden achieves its objective of competing with the best sellers of the moment.

Kit Overview

The kit parts. It is missing part of the ballast on the picture.

With a wingspan of 2.88m, the Orden is rather small compared to the current trend of 2.95 to 3 meters. The choice of a small 230 mm root wing cord and tail cord is giving it a visual aspect ratio so that the glider looks bigger. The first wing panel is almost rectangular so that the wing area is comparable with other gliders on the market. The tips are rounded without being elliptical, and the ailerons run all the way out to the wingtip to maximize roll rate. The wing has a ballast compartment that can accommodate 1.6kg of brass ballast. The wing joiner can host 600gr of additional ballast for a total of 2.2kg. As with the previous RTGmodel gliders, the Orden has its proprietary LDS system, which has the particularity of having the removable control surface axis using a tool supplied with the kit. It is a brass rod with the inside of the threaded tube at one of its ends. Axes also have a thread. The tool is screwed onto the axis and simply pulled. On the servo side, a wooden servo frame receives an epoxy cage for a ball bearing that takes up the forces of the servo output gear. Do not forget to indicate the servos’ brand you want to use when ordering.

The servo tray is molded and drilled perfectly, with Kevlar reinforcement toward the nose

Removable LDS axis on the control surface side

Let’s move on to the fuselage: the diameter is reduced to a minimum on the front part to reduce drag, like the Stribog+. On the other hand, there is no more wing root and the nose is slightly more plunging. As in all RTGmodel productions, the servo tray is molded and drilled, with Kevlar reinforcements: Thus, 2 large Kevlar strips run far enough towards the nose for more strength. This fuselage is closed by a small canopy that offers sufficient opening to access and extract all the radio elements without any problems.

Elevator is using standard metal clevises, easy to remove with a screw driver

Tails are a strong innovation of the Orden: Rather small in size, they are made full with a core in Rohacell and ‘spreadtow’ carbon fabric, but above all, they are articulated by the middle, i. e. the hinge is inserted between the two half cores, which avoids this hinge to work with time. It is no longer necessary to make sealing wipers, as the gap is reduced to a minimum. Another positive point of these tail planes, they are very light at only 30/31gr including the carbon rod joiner, but still robust. On these tail planes are the usual aluminum horns facing upwards, which receive the 2mm metal clevises (no ball joint clevis). In use, it is very practical to mount / remove tails when travelling.

The Orden in the snow during 2020 spring

RTGmodel’ s trademark remains the quality of molding and finishing down to the last detail, and the Orden is no exception to the rule, all adjustments are perfect, the surfaces and paint offer a superb shine, deep colors, in short, a very beautiful work. Finally, here are the weights of the various components:

• Left tail: 31gr
• Right tail: 30gr
• Left wing: 602gr
• Right wing: 608gr
• Fuselage: 275gr
• Wing joiner: 95gr
• Total: 1640gr before assembly

Straight Forward Assembly

In the more than 25 years I have been doing F3F in competition, I have had the opportunity to fly a large number of gliders. Some require a little more work and attention. This is not the case with the Orden, which has no surprises or particular difficulties. At first glance, I thought that the radio installation in the fuselage would be complicated because of its narrowness, but this is not the case. I even found the assembly more ‘spacey’ than on the Stribog+. The molded servo plate is perfectly positioned in height and the slight offset in opposition of each servo makes them ideally positioned and the control rods perfectly aligned. The servos are inserted without forcing on the plate, without risk of damaging the output of the servo wire. A little trick on the way to screw the servos in place: I place the servos at the stop of their housing and insert a small custom-made part between the two servos, with two screws. This assembly ensures that the servos are perfectly held without any lack of material for the screws.

Fuselage is tight but finally components find their place easily

Personally, I mount the female green plugs on the fuselage and the male plugs in the wings. Plug recesses on the fuselage root are perfectly adjusted. Once the wiring is done, I make two small parts in 1mm plywood to serve as a stop to the green plug (with a 2mm shrinkage on the edges), and improve the bonding. First of all, I glue these two pieces with fast epoxy, then I install and glue the green plugs, always with fast epoxy. To ensure that the grips are positioned perpendicular to the root, I have made 3D printing templates in which I block the green grips during gluing, which also allows me to use clamps during drying.

For the wings, the work consists in gluing the wooden servo frames in place, wiring and then assembling the servos. However, I always add a step which is to put an additional piece of carbon fabric to stiffen the skin even more so that the glued frame and its servos do not deform the top surface. A small sanding before gluing the frames allows a better grip.

The LDS system is unique to RTGmodel and includes a wooden frame, an epoxy cage receiving the external bearing, an epoxy arm, and an aluminum servo head with its axis and clamping screws. The arms for the flaps are a few millimetres longer, so I advise you to identify them first.

Ailerons LDS mounted on a MKS HBL6625mini. No slop at all, even after a season.

Start by gluing the bearing cage to its wooden frame, and then insert the ball bearing into it. The frame must be glued in the correct position, so it is necessary to start by installing the epoxy arm on the steering side and then connect the roll drive to the arm. This then makes it possible to glue the frames, perfectly positioned, with the roll drive in its housing, and optionally the servos, protected from the glue by a plastic film or thin tape. Do not forget when gluing to put a small piece of 3mm by 3mm paper tape on each frame screw hole so that the glue does not get in.

The green plug is glued to the root rib with the wing in place on the fuselage, all surfaces being protected with fine tape and release agent (polyvinyl alcohol solution).

A picture is often better than a long speech, so you can find all the pictures of the glider assembly here in my RTGmodel Order Assembly Log.

Small check on the scale, 2175gr empty in flying order, it’s very good and let oversee a versatile glider!

Let’s go to the slope!

I finished assembling the Orden just before leaving for the FAI competition at Col de Tende mid-July 2019. So I stopped on my way, near Gap, to make the maiden flight. Lift conditions were rather light that day, but the Orden perfectly performed its flight, I just moved back the CG a little to help retain energy in turns.

Orden maiden flight video

Forty-eight hours later, following a crash where I damaged my primary glider, I switched to the Orden and finished the competition with it, winning three out of seven rounds with the Orden, and winning the competition, so very satisfied with such an introduction!

Onboard picture with a camera attached to the wing tip

What about the glider: in F3F, we don’t only look for straight line speed, but a clever mix between speed and energy retention in turns. The Orden has precisely these two qualities. Able to accelerate and fly fast in a straight line, its turning behaviour is excellent, combining stability and acceleration when exiting the turn, provided that the snap-flaps are well adjusted. Under certain conditions you can even feel a kind of ‘kick in the ass’ acceleration of the glider. According to the manufacturer, the CG range is between 90 and 100mm. I’m personally started at 95mm and finished at 98.5mm.

In light conditions, the low weight of the glider at 2175grs is an advantage. You can then stick to the slope and tighten the turn without any problems. As soon as the lift is becoming stronger, the turn is widened to an ‘energy management’ style turn, i.e. the glider describes a turn away from the ridge with a 45° slope to get grip while on the edge, then return to the ridge and ‘screw’ in front of the pilot to start preparing for the second turn. This turning technique requires heavier flying.

In very strong wind and while flying ballasted around 4kg, I noticed a slight bending of the wings in high G turns, without any consequences. For information, my version is a ‘standard’ version, double carbon, i. e. a sandwich composed of a 90gr/m2 outer fabric / Airex / 60gr/m2 spread tow inner fabric. A strong double carbon version is always available with a sandwich composed of a 160gr/m2 outer fabric / Airex / 80gr/m2 inner fabric.

Since then, I have also tested this strong layup wings and could check the excellent stiffness for an empty flying weight around 2350gr only which remains an excellent compromise to cover most of the conditions.

Pictures of the Orden in flight. The plane is providing a high level of performance, both for sport flying but for F3F competition too

The Orden accommodates many different flying and turning styles. It is just the amount of elevator that allows you to switch from one style of turn to another; there is no need to change the snap-flaps ratio.

The Orden in good company with the Penguin F3F from Jean Luc Foucher a home designed, milled and molded F3F plane with radical choices

In typical sport flying, the qualities mentioned above make the Orden an excellent companion that adapts to all conditions: Light weather and thermal ‘hunting’, more dynamic wind or aerobatics, very strong wind and ballistic flight. Circling holds perfectly, helped by the small dihedral of the wing. Transitions to travel from thermal to thermal are a simple exercice and allow you to explore the airspace quickly without losing altitude, and the flaps in the thermal position are effective.

Another video with some onboard sequences

All the basic aerobatics goes smoothly even if it is not the glider’s vocation. Quadroflaps bring vivacity and precision. On landing, the ‘butterfly’ mix works perfectly and allows you to land short.

In short, the versatility is there and the Orden will give a lot of satisfaction to its pilot whatever the flying conditions or the flying style!

The author with his Orden few minutes before the maiden flight

The final word

RTGmodel has succeeded in his bet because the Orden offers much more than just an evolution of the Stribog and Stribog+ but is now able to compete with the market best-sellers. It therefore offers a beautiful alternative for those who want to fly different, with an extremely well built glider, and dreadfully effective in all circumstances. To fly without moderation, whether for sport flying or F3F competition. Have a good flight, everyone!

RTGmodel’s Orden plan view. (image: RTGmodel)

Characteristics

• Wingspan: 2885 mm
• Length: 1470 mm
• Wing area: 54.74 dm2 (FAI : 60 dm2)
• Empty weight: 2175gr (max FAI : 4500gr)
• Manufacturer: RTGmodel
• Contact: Milan Demcisak, Polna 3174/6, 01001 Zilina, Slovakia

Settings

• CG: 98.5mm
• Elevator : 6mm up/down
• Rudder: 8mm up/down
• Function ailerons: Ailerons : 28 up / 14 down, Flap: 15 up / 8 down
• Function snap-flaps: Flaps: 7mm down at full elevator, Ailerons: trailing edge aligned
• Function butterfly: Flaps: 45mm down, Ailerons: 23mm up, Elevator compensation: 5mm down
• Thermal position: Flaps: 4mm down, Ailerons trailing edge aligned
• Speed position: Flaps: 1mm up, Ailerons trailing edge aligned

 

MicroMAX, the Pocket F3F!

 

Introduction

The MicroMAX is a project initiated by Henning Schmidt (Sansibear.de), designed by Christophe Bourdon, and manufactured by Anton Ovcharenko (OA Composites). The idea came initially from the 1m hand thrower called Strike, but this time optimized for the slope, with the possibility to double the flying weight, while using the latest construction techniques in F3K competition, with materials such as UHM (ultra-high modulus) carbon on a machined Rohacell core. So let’s see if this MicroMAX has managed to concentrate both F3K and F3F glider DNA in a 1.15m glider. I must admit that it is a daring challenge!

A Quick Look at the Kit

The MicroMAX kit arrives complete, with all accessories.

The kit arrived two days before Christmas in a sturdy wooden box, just in time to be under the tree. The kit is gorgeous and so cute with this very nice and unusual but very original moon grey metallic color. The wing is in one piece, where the concept could have been taken even further with a two piece wing, but this choice is perfectly understandable for many reasons. It has a big cartoonish MicroMAX logo with neon colors, although the neon pink and orange mix is not the best color combination for my taste. The servo compartments are prepared; the aileron horn location and the control outputs are also drilled. The wing is maintained on the fuselage by two metal screws. In the front centre of the wing there is a recess for the wing servo connector.

The fuselage is very innovative at the rear end: the fuselage section is reduced in width over the last 4 cm to provide an elevator exit with a direct connection to the elevator horns, which therefore remain outside the fuselage. This is a very simple but clever solution for a small glider. The end of the piano wire is simply bent, and allows the V-tails to be easily assembled or removed for transport. The captive nuts are already in place to receive the wing. The tail joiner is simply glued to the outside of the fuselage in a slot molded for this purpose.

The tail joiner is glued to the outside of the fuselage in a special recess.

All the necessary accessories are supplied in the kit, including receiver-side servo cable extensions, connectors, elevator piano wire and plastic sleeves, aileron piano wire, epoxy fuselage servo plate, servo covers, carbon elevator and aileron horns. The finish and fit are excellent, as you would expect from an F3K construction. The weight of the components is as follows: Fuselage + nose cone: 30.5 g, Wing: 103.25 g, Tail: 5 g each, V-stab key: 1.35 g, total 145g.

Assembly

 MKS HV75K-N servos and 1s LiPo battery.

Installing the radio in such a tiny glider is unusual for me, especially in the fuselage where you have to place two servos, a four channel receiver and a battery, not forgetting all the wires, and plugs. This is where you realize that a single servo connector takes up a lot of space! It is therefore imperative to choose the radio elements carefully because, for example, the height of the servos becomes important, as does the size of the four channel receiver, or the size of the receiver battery, not forgetting the minimum operating voltage. For my part, I opted for the excellent MKS HV75K-N (without mounting brackets) in the fuselage or wings, and a Tattu LiPo 600mAh 1s battery, the receiver and servos accepting an operating voltage of 3.6 v.

The 3D printed servo tray, of which I provide the link to the STL file.

I also decided, in order to optimize the space, to design and 3D print a removable servo tray. The idea is to free up some space on the side of the servos for the wires and servo connectors. I made a few prototypes before finalizing and validating it. It uses two short (3 mm) MPJet captive nuts. The front nut is glued in the fuselage and reinforced with some fiberglass strands. The second captive nut is located at the rear of the plate. The second 3D printed part is glued into the fuselage with cyanoacrylate glue. Installation of the servo plate is easy: simply slide and snap the rear screw head into the fuselage part and screw both sides together with a screwdriver. The servos are simply held on the plate with a little rapid epoxy. If desired, you can download the STL file.

The plastic control sleeves are glued in place in the fuselage with a little cyanoacrylate glue, after cutting them to the right length. When installing the elevator control piano wire, I had a small problem with the holes in the elevator horn being a little too large (1 mm) for the 0.8 mm piano wire. To solve this little problem, I glued a second carbon plate (from the servo cover scraps) on the horns and re-drilled to 0.8 mm.

The particular shape of the back of the fuselage and the very well thought out control exit!

MKS HV75K-Ns servos are simply glued in place with the servo arm in the neutral position and in order to have more down travel for the airbrakes. The control is a piano wire bent into a Z-shape on the servo side, and bent into an L-shape on the control surface side. Simply drill the passage from the servo compartment to the control output with a small round file and glue the carbon horn in place with the control connected on both sides. You can then go on to solder the servo wires to the 4-pin connector (at 90°) and glue the connector to the centre of the front of the wing. Thin servo covers are cut to size and then held in place with a little transparent adhesive.

The aileron servos in place, just glued with rapid epoxy.

Finally, back on the fuselage, after preparing the female connector with the cables to the receiver, I just widened the hole and left the connector free.

The space in the fuselage is really limited!

I ended up with an empty weight of 227gr, with only 8gr of centring lead for a 65mm CG.

For the ballast, I found an aluminium profile of the right size, which allowed me to cast 2 lead ballasts: one of 85gr, and a heavier one of 190gr. It is however possible to reach 250grs with a two parts ballast. The ballast is secured to the underside of the fuselage with a 3mm screw.

The two ballasts, 85gr for the smallest and 190gr for the heaviest. It is possible to go further with a 2 pieces ballast

Like a Larger Plane!

The author and his MicroMAX, really a great pocket glider!

The first flight of the MicroMAX was done in less than ideal conditions, with no wind, grey skies and snow on the ground, but it allowed me to see some of the glider’s flying capabilities.

The first thing that I noticed is that the glider flies like a much larger glider, is precise in all axes, stable and allows to fly almost at a standstill or to accelerate and fly fast. Its size allows it to tighten the circles around the wing tip, like an HLG. Flaps in the thermal position are particularly effective, so I lowered them a little to 2mm. The glider quickly puts you at ease and despite the 1.15m wingspan you find yourself covering long distances and exploring a significant flying volume, and on the other hand just circling in front of you.

The MicroMax sitting in the snow and waiting for its maiden flight, which will be the next day.

The same day, curious to see how the glider could fly with a bit of wind, I decided to go to another slope, better exposed to the wind, but unfortunately also with freezing and negative temperatures allowing me to fly only 5 minutes despite my gloves. However, this allowed me to continue to discover the abilities of the MicroMAX: even when empty, therefore very light, the glider penetrates the wind well, accelerates quickly and has excellent energy retention for such a small size! I was able to do 4 loops in a row without any effort, and also tested the roll and 4 steps roll without any problem. The rudder is efficient for a V-stab and even allows you to fly with the rudder alone in certain circumstances.

Winter atmosphere but superb panorama for the MicroMAX tests.

For the next flight session, a few days later, it was with snowshoes and a 2km walk in 25 to 30 cm of fresh snow that I reached the flight site with much better conditions and an absolutely superb landscape to continue exploring the capabilities of the mosquito! This time I decide to use 85gr ballast for a 3 to 5 m/s wind. First observation, the MicroMAX takes the load with a disconcerting ease, and allows having even tighter trajectories, even more energy restitution, more speed and acceleration, but keeps its good behaviour at low speed and its ease of piloting. Turning with a bit of speed does not require any snap-flaps which I finally use very little. Well, after this good flight session alternating passage, aerobatics, some F3F type basics, it’s time to go home because the curfew is at 6pm! What better than a little video to illustrate the text:

Flying the MicroMAX in 5m/s of wind with 85gr of ballast.

One to two weeks later, this time there is more wind, and I decide to use 190gr of ballast for a wind around 8m/s, but decreasing later in the afternoon. Once again the glider takes the ballast with obvious ease, and shows its muscles. The wing does not bend under load, energy retention is even better, the straight speed even higher. Surprisingly, the MicroMAX does not get “heckled” by the wind and remains unperturbed on its trajectory despite its 1.15m. Rolls, loops, Cuban eights, vertical eights, reversal, F3F type turns on the edge, nothing seems to stop it.

1.15m of muscles !

It swallows the distances and is at the 4 corners of the flying volume in a few seconds, climbs, dives, does aerobatics, in short provides an intense pleasure of piloting inversely proportional to its size! Later in the afternoon while the wind is decreasing and the ballast should reasonably be reduced, I voluntarily decide to leave the 190gr and see how the glider behaves. Well … it continues to fly well, certainly it does not climb as high as quickly, but the extra weight does not seem to bother him in the least, it’s amazing! Serge, my club mate who shares the slope with me that afternoon, will have the opportunity to fly the MicroMAX while I am behind the camera taking some pictures. He told me that he too is impressed by the glider’s flying capabilities.

Flying the MicroMAX in higher wind with 190gr of ballast this time.

I have since been able to try it also on the dark side of the slope, i.e. in “dynamic soaring”, and the qualities of energy and speed restitution as well as its stability in trajectory make it possible to envisage making some turns of DS for fun. The wind was unfortunately not strong that day, but the MicroMAX “boots up” quickly enough, i.e. it doesn’t need much to maintain speed and circle behind the slope. Finally, ailerons down to 45° with the proper elevator compensation, allow short landings, even in the hand.

The MicroMAX proved to be an exceptional glider in terms of flight performance considering its size. It is capable of flying in all wind conditions.

Conclusion

The MicroMAX keeps its promises by offering exceptional flying qualities for its size. The only counterpart is to choose the radio elements with care because the space is counted in this so small fuselage. But in the end, the pleasure of flying the MicroMAX is immense and you will undoubtedly be amazed as I was. It fits all mounted in the car or dismounted on the rear deck. In short, the MicroMAX has all the assets to become a companion of all your outings to the slope! Good flights to everyone!

Size comparison with a 3 meters F3F glider, the Cosmos.

Characteristics:

• Wingspan: 115 cm
• Length: 74 cm
• Chords: 143mm/125mm/10mm
• Wing area: 13.5 dm2
• Wing loading: 18,0–38,0 g/dm2
• Empty weight: 230–250gr
• Ballasted weight: up to 410–500gr
• Construction: Rohacell and Carbon 40g/dm2 UHM wings, IMS Carbon fuselage
• Distributors: SansiBear.de or Hyperflight.co.uk

The MicroMAX ready for its next adventure.

Settings : (- means UP, + means DOWN)

• CG : 65 mm
• Elevator : + / — 9 mm
• Rudder : + / — 10 mm
• Ailerons : — 12 mm / + 7 mm
• Camber Thermal Position : + 2 mm
• Camber Speed Position: -1 mm
• Snapflaps : + 3 mm
• Butterfly : Ailerons : -18 mm / Elevator compensation : + 4 mm

©2021 Text Pierre Rondel, Photos Pierre Rondel / Joël Marin

 

CCM Vantage, A F3F design suitable for light conditions while still being race competitive

 

Introduction

The Vantage is an F3F competition glider designed by Mario Perner from Austria, well known and talented pilot on the F3F scene, also team manager for several years of the national Austrian F3F team.

The Vantage at Col du Glandon.

It is manufactured by CCM (Chekh Composite Models — see Resources below for this and other links mentioned this article) also known for the Optimus F3J model, the Toy, and more recently for the Liberty F5J, and distributed by Mahmoudi Modellsport in Europe. As you probably know, competition is always an eternal quest for un mouton à cinq pattes (‘five-legged sheep’), but at the end is more a story of compromise, so design choices. This is exactly what motivated Mario following the F3F world championship in 2018, when he started to design the Vantage, his second design after the Thor in 2012, wanting a model this time to address weak to medium conditions around and below 50s as a complement of other competition models often more specialized for medium-to-strong conditions. Let’s see in this review if the target has been reached!

Presentation

We are lucky enough that Mario shared in detail on the RC-Network forum his choices and design process, therefore I thought it interesting to quickly summarise them so you know where you go. Main requirements were to carry as much as possible of ballast during the starting phase (pumping), around the turn, and during the whole flight. The Vantage should also track well to avoid multiple correction at the sticks, and the most important, the plane should outperform the best sellers in small conditions and should not conceed too much time to them even in good-to-very-good conditions.

The Vantage along my favourite fence.

Mario then created a series of five airfoils going from 8.27% to 6.51% of thickness and 1.65 and 1.56% of camber, distributed along the wing and optimised for a coefficient of Ca (ie. axial force) of around 0.25 (typical Ca for a F3F model is between 0.15 and 0.45).

A few polars of the different sections along the wing.

For the tail, Mario started from the well-known and popular TP29 at 7%, which he modified a bit. Curiously, the elevator chord is around 20% only of the tail chord which is unusual, compared to the 30% trend.

Comparison between the original TP29 and the modified version used on the Vantage.

Overall, the model is 2980mm wingspan, 1430mm long, and can carry up to 2880g of ballast which is way too much for the max FAI weight.

Kit Inspection

The kit arrived in a solid, five layer cardboard box. Components come in nice bags and the quality of the different parts is absolutely astonishing.

The kit arrives complete and higly preassembled. Just missing the spacers.

Every detail is just superbly done, join lines are almost invisible, and the paint is beautiful as the colour scheme, in neon orange and red in my case. Fit of the different parts together is second to none, with no blocking point and no slop. In brief, the craftsmanship is just fantastic, the best I have ever seen! Below the weight of the different components:

The Vantage is available in two versions, F3B and F3F, mine being an F3F layup which is made of an outer double layer of spread carbon 40g/m² and some reinforcement at the wing root, AIREX® 71, the inner fabric being a spread carbon 80g/m² with an extra layer of 160g/m² carbon on ailerons and flaps to provide a better stiffness in torsion. Also servo locations receive some carbon reinforcement too. Wings appear really strong and stiff when manipulating them.

Wings are hosting two ballast compartments, for a better weight distribution.

No ballast in the fuselage or the wing joiner, a very robust piece of carbon with an inner foam core, everything is in the wings with rear and front compartments. The rear compartment, centered on the centre of gravity (CoG), can host 14 slugs of 140g each, when the front compartment receives 10 slugs of 92g each.

In addition to the amazing finish and fit quality, the noticeable point that really makes the difference is that the Vantage arrives with servo frames and and integrated drive system (IDS) from Servorahmen GmbH, wiring harness and green plugs preinstalled. This makes the assembly must easier and faster, and finally error free!

Wings arrive pre-wired and with servoframes and command installed, it cannot be simpler!

On my model, the joiner box is surprisingly larger than the joiner by 1mm. I read on a forum that it was on purpose, a design habit coming from the F3J/F5J category, but in F3F it is better to have the joiner tightly maintained in the joiner box because when you land with lot of ballast in the wings, any forward movement of the wing can damage the fuselage. CCM immediately reacted and has already made a new joiner with a new size 34mm which is now delivered in the kit.

The robust wing joiner in place, it doesn’t host any ballast.

The tail joiner is a 5mm diameter carbon rod instead of the usual 6mm rod we can find on most planes. 5mm is more than enough given the 28g of each tail, and light tail plus lighter joiner means less balance lead in the nose. Below, an overview in picture of the kit content and some details:

 A few details found in the kit. Click any image for a closer look.

A Lightning Fast Assembly

Given the state of the kit, the assembly is really quick, very few hours maximum if you take your time. The work on the wings only consists in screwing the servos on the servo frames. I used the MKS HV6130 for flaps and ailerons. I just ground a little bit off the screws before using them in order to be sure that they are not making marks or deformations on the upper side skin. The servos head must be in the correct neutral position. Then I connected the control rod and installed back the metal axis, close the compartment with the transparent servo covers, and that is all!

The MKS 6130 is just screwed on the preinstalled servorahmen frame.

There is a little more work on the fuselage side. A nice epoxy plate servo tray is provided in the kit. I used it as my two MKS HV6100 servos were fitting well without any modification. The plate is glued in place either with cyanoacrylate or 30-minute epoxy. Then you cut the plastic sleeve and adjust/cut the carbon rod to the correct length before to glue and pinch the threaded couplers on it. I replaced the nice M2 metal clevises by two plastic MP JET clevises because they are thinner, have no slop and fit perfectly in this tiny fuselage without needing any grinding.

The elevator servo layout which could be optimized to save some horizontal space.

To be transparent, I found the elevator servos installation not optimum, losing a lot of horizontal space between the exit of the elevator rods, and between the servos. I think it would be possible to save around 1.5cm on length which would allow placing the receiver vertically between the servo tray and the battery. Without this optimisation, the receiver is placed horizontally, which means you need a tiny receiver such as the REX 6 from JETI or an equivalent from other brands. Some people are removing the receiver case to save even more space, but I don’t like the solution that exposes the receiver too much. Another solution would be to use shorter cells, like the Li-Ion 18500, but you lose capacity, 2000mA instead of 3000mA, so precious flying time. Personally, I stayed with a 2S Li-Ion 18650 battery that offers a full afternoon of flying.

The radio installation, with the receiver installed horizontally. No space left when closing the nose cone!

On the CoG electronic scale, I needed 110g of lead in the nose to obtain the 99mm CoG (recommended range is between 98 and 100mm). Finally, the Vantage is weighing 2270g, which is a good weight for a F3F glider, light enough for small conditions.

Aside the model assembly, I have designed and 3D-printed spacers for the two wing ballast compartments, and also two ‘elastic’ spacers of each type.

Home made spacers and ‘elastic’ spacers.

The Ballast Management mobile application I’m using, developed by my friend Joël Carlin and once provisioned with all the plane and ballast data, indicates that first you load the rear compartment, to reach 4.2kg, while the CoG is not moving. Then you load the front compartment, but only three ballasts are needed to reach the maximum FAI weight. Doing so, you need to remove some lead from the nose as the CoG is moving forward very quickly.

To finish with the assembly, I fixed the difference of size between the wing joiner and the joiner box by gluing a flat carbon profile on the side of the joiner with some cyano, easy fix and perfect fit.

After some radio programming with the usual mixing (four flight modes, snap-flaps, in addition to snap-flaps ratio, butterfly elevator compensation and ailerons differential on digital trims for in flight modifications) it is time to go to the slope and discover the Vantage!

The Vantage is waiting for its maiden flight.

Flying the Vantage

I personally like discovering a new F3F plane during the maiden flight, a mixture of excitement, a little stress, lots of observation; I like to feel the plane and its reactions, trying to understand its temperament before to start to dig into the settings.

Time to launch the Vantage for the first time!

The Vantage was first flown for three afternoons, mainly in small conditions around 5m/s. This corresponds to the conditions it was designed for. The lift was smooth and consistent, and I must admit that I was impressed by what I could oversee. In such conditions, with a 2.2 to 2.4kg flying weight, the Vantage accelerates extremely well and quickly, but more than that, keep the speed a long time even with no or little lift on the edge. Bank and yank turns are very tight, fast with no deceleration even with low wind, and I did not notice any tendency to stall even when pulling the stick hard in turn. The plane is precise and agile in any condition, even if I recognize that I have a bit more ailerons than recommended (I like nervous planes). In fact, mechanically, it is possible to achieve much more travel than needed.

The maiden flight.

Those days, I could also enjoy some thermalling and few aerobatics even if the plane is not primarily designed for this.

The thermal position is working well; the Vantage indicates the lift clearly. Circling is a no brainer and allows gaining altitude quickly. All usual aerobatic manoeuvers are possible, benefiting of the good acceleration, and agility of the plane.

Onboard picture while flying at Col du Glandon.

But let’s return to F3F, as few days later, I could fly in a more vertical slope with a wind around 9 to 10m/s, and then I discover a new plane carrying ballast well, able to do upturns or energy management turns pretty well with plenty of energy retention, with a flying weight from 2.9 to 3.2kg. Another good indicator of the efficiency of the airfoils is that, when ‘pumping’, the Vantage is going high with little start altitude.

The Vantage in medium wind from 9 to 10m/s.

What I like with the Vantage is that it can adapt easily to the pilot style, or to the slope. One day, you fly the plane smoothly in light conditions with pylon style turn with the less possible of travel along the slope. The next day, in higher wind and different spot, you can fly the plane aggressively, from horizontal to vertical trajectories, the Vantage just delivers!

The Vantage at launch during the french qualifier for the next WC (image: Matthieu Mervelet)

Mid-June, I had an F3F National team qualifier contest. We have flown nine rounds in various conditions on two different slopes. I switched to the Vantage for the last five rounds and ended at a nice 3rd position in the ranking at the end of the contest despite two very bad rounds at the beginning of the contest, one with 18s of marginal conditions (crossed wind at more 45°). I felt in confidence with the plane and could concentrate on the flying strategy, and trajectories.

The Vantage in flight: an elegant and a very competitive plane. High resolution version are available with a click.

Also, ballasting without having to add or remove balance lead from the nose, and this up to 4.2kg is a plus, because in the real life how often are you flying above this weight, once a year maybe?

My friend Serge launching my Vantage for the maiden flight.

Some additional videos of the Vantage in action:

Practicing with the Vantage in a good wind, around 12m/s

Some laps with the Vantage from CCM. Flying weight is 2.7kg, and wind is around 7 to 8 m/s a little bit crossed from the right.

Onboard video during a sport flying session at Col du Glandon

Because We Must Conclude

After flying the Vantage in various conditions and different slopes, and in competitions, I can say for sure that the objective to obtain a formidable F3F competition plane has been reached; I must salute Mario’s work on the design. Not only is the Vantage kit quality astonishing, but plane performances are there and do not blush in front of plane references.

Personally, I don’t see the Vantage as only a complement of other planes, because it can be enough on its own and can become your primary competition plane. In short, definitively a nice and competitive plane to own, and to fly!

©2022 Text: Pierre Rondel Photos : Pierre Rondel / Joël Marin

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