Episode F3a

Eric its when you get on to proper model aeroplanes that you need it,

Didn't maiden her yesterday as the wind was too blustery to achieve anything sensible or safe. So today was the day.

Maiden was exciting!! No trim required on rudder or aileron but very bad nose down attitude even with full up trim so much so at one time i didn't think it was going to come back in one piece. Well after a good fight, holding in back stick and with £ signs in my eyes, managed to get her down safely. Rudder needed more authority as I had dialled it back after reading forums about how effective it was. Obviously too much. Ailerons were ok but needed rates changing.

Fortunately I had my friends who also fly F3a (Masters level) with me and we reset the elevator trims, moved the c of g back adjusted the rates and expo. 2nd flight awesome Rolls and inverted were great. Verticals were very good but down lines pulled to canopy a little. Possibly wing incidence and/or c of g needs adjusting.

Overall, very lucky first flight close to binning it and if someone had offered me a tenner for it after I had landed I would most probably have taken it!! . 2nd and 3rd flights were much better. There's a way to go to get her dialled in. Haven't tried knife edges or spins yet. This week I will make a few adjustments so we can have a stable plane ready for the spins etc.

I will keep you posted on how the trimming out goes. Overall she's a keeper. And also that means I've completed a build thread!!! So I don't feel so guilty about the Gannet and Curare threads which have not moved much!

Well done Ralph it is a beautiful model, I love to see F3A being flown properly, the bit about the pound signs before your eyes made me smile, you should get a turbine powered jet, now they bring on the £ signs and clenched buttocks

Congratulations on a successful maiden Ralph.
bet you are well chuffed now.


Tony (pranger) B

Hi Ralph, great post, just came across it as i need to rebuild the front end of my episode due the the motor bursting out in flight???? Your comments on the epoxy are very interesting so have just got some hysol! I have lost the rear steady what size is the barring you used, did you get it from model fixings?

Wow Mike!! That is certainly some damage!

The rear motor support is from 3mm glass fibre sheet from:

www.hobbyplastic.co.uk/index.php?main_pa...ds578c4efmgohkjjtrg0

I turned a rear bearing insert up from a piece of ally bar I had laying around. I can knock you up one if you are stuck. The rear bearing came with the motor. I can measure it if you are stuck. Model Fixing will probably have one that fits. The OD is the important bit. The bore can be anything as you can make the support insert to suit.

Cheers Ralph, i may take you up on that, but will get a new barring first and see if i can get anything to fit it. I think it must have come out with the steady ( somewhere in a field in Suffolk!).
Just got some glass matting and sheets to start the rebuild. I also got the hysol and a gun so hopefully can get a good bond this time.

Good luck with the rebuild. Post on here your progress. If you need anything let me know, happy to help where I can.

Now got the bearing to fit the back for the rear steady, also found a motor shaft to fit.

Thought I had better update this thread. I've been trimming the Episode and managed to get it very close without the need to have any major mixing on the transmitter. Reduced the wing incidence which helped reduce the pull to canopy on downlines. Just recently I added the tailplane fences, after the Nationals, which have made the rolls more axial and also improved stability in crosswinds. Just to give some idea of the size of this beautiful plane here's yours truly holding the fuselage.



As most of you know I entered my first F3A competition (Clubmans class) which was also my first Nationals! Nothing like getting in at the deep end!! Great, friendly, helpful people and the banter in my class was great.



It worked out OK in the end and a very steep learning curve. Really enjoyed the whole event and experience.



I was having orientation problems at the Nationals (well thats my excuse!!) so added some bright yellow trim to the underside of the wings.



Must have worked as I managed 2nd in Clubmans class in my next competition! Just chasing my first 1st in class! The aircraft is truly superb and capable of much more than I am. The Hacker Q80 motor is excellent and pulls like a train on 10S (Zippy Compact 5000) and 21 x 14 Ralph Schweizer carbon prop. Reliability of the whole set up has been great, pretty much turn up and fly. Plan for next year is to move to Jeti radio which is already on test in my Sebart Mythos. My Spectrum DX18 will be dedicated to my scale models.

All in all a great plane and fantastic experience.

Nice aircraft young sir.
well done on your climb up the positions in flying.

1st soon then i hope.

Tony B

Nice to see you climbing that podium... very impressive

Fantastic achievement, your builds are a pleasure to follow, the sky's the limit in your case young man. Very well done, boz