Willow servo Bundle now available

With the Willow proving itself on the F3F course as well as sports flying we've put together a great deal for a servo package when you buy any version of the Willow F3F. And of course we've flown and tested them and when you look at the perfomance vs cost, you really can't do better- just like the Willow itself!

The package of 4 KST DS125MG servos for the wings and 2 Savox 255 for the fuselage gives you the precise high performance control to get the best from you model and probably the best price you'll see anywhere for these servos.

Its £113.50- less that £19 per servo and if you check out the retail price for the KST DS125MG (£39.95) that's a great saving when you buy a Willow F3F! Stocks are limited for this servo pack so bag yourself a bargain. You really don't need to spend a fortune getting a great 3m racer in the air.

It just gets better!

2nd batch arrived today after an agonising 7 day delay in UK customs!

It just gets better. Wings are about 25 g lighter each panel and tails now all below 25g averaging around 24g. Empty weight before gear is now 1.23kg. The finish wasn't bad on the first batch but these are definitely better!

Even one of the Schwings from the first batch has now been maidened and reports back are outstanding and that's not from a top notch competition flyer!

First batch of Schwings are here!!!

Production has started and here's the first batch! It's been a journey and with fantastic flight reports from the test pilots this day has been eagerly awaited.

Another 5 already on it's way its going that's approx 5 per week. Our distributors will have to wait a bit longer until I can verify the consistency of the quality but these look good.
So how have the Schwings changed from the initial prototypes:

1. Ball raced bell crank fully enclosed and factory fitted. So too are both the elevator and rudder snakes. 
2. Boom now has substantial carbon reinforcement from the rear of the canopy opening all the way back. Also the fin has carbon reinforcement. Some would call it 'full carbon', very nearly anyway!
3. Ballast tube for standard 20mm/3/4'' ballast round slugs included long enough for 8 slugs (approx 700g). Also wing ballast provision for additional 200g.  
4. Revised aileron/flap lengths after extensive testing and big thank you to our test pilots.
5. Lighter tails now around typically 25g each!
6. Revised geometry for metal wing horns enabling a flush cover fit for both the aileron and flap servos.

Of course because of the massive spars and joiner we have retained the glass lay up wing and can't see any reason for a full carbon version. One of the prototypes has been flying in gusts up to 65mph with AUW of 2.9kg!
We are busy writing the build instructions and getting stocked up on the ancillaries like wiring looms, bagsets, ballast etc but were getting there and today has been a very happy day indeed!

After first half year

Well, it's been a little over 6 months since I took over Sloperacer and it's been a ride running along side the Fu-Fix business and retailing models and associated goodies. It was always the plan to grow Sloperacer and key to this was to buy stock so that we have models available for purchase or at least have models on order so that  we reduce the lead time for customers waiting for their dream planes!
We run between 100-200 planes in stock at any one time and fast running out of shelving! The small rack at the back is 3m wide and 2.4m tall but looks like we'll be needing to make another rack immediately- Orders for Vampires, Extremes, Rotmilans, Vultures, Compact Wizards and various Dynamics are all on it's way and of course this little baby the first pre-production Schwing, with all the improvements from the prototypes incorporated!

Extreme F3F Summer Promotion

The Extreme F3F is our best ‘all rounder’ and an established high performance model worldwide. And the tag ‘all rounder’ doesn’t just refer to its flying performance although it is one of those planes that is nice to fly as a sports plane and a full blown competitive racer too. It is also ‘extremely’ well built!

It’s a 2.85m racer manufactured by RTGmodel, who also makes the Rotmilan, Skorpions and Needle 124 fuses. The quality is what ‘top Euro’ means, the fit, the finish and the weight of the panels.  

As to the design and performance you only have to look at any F3F race event and you will see Extremes being used. It’s designed by Norbet Habe and you won’t find any of his 3m planes near this price range especially now Sloperacer has decided to run a Summer promotion.

We normally sell the Extreme F3F for £950 where most new top end Euro mouldies have jumped up in price and are now £1200- £1600. Everywhere else in the EU the Extreme F3F is a £1000 plane. Not only that, this is for the standard spec full carbon Extreme F3F with carbon reinforced tows in the fuse. The Sloperacer spec is better and has the stiffer full carbon boom and 2.4 friendly nose hatch area.

We have an order being produced ready approximately for June delivery and taking pre orders for £899 + post and packing. This deal includes a set of Fu-Fix bearing kits (worth £24.95) and a wiring loom with genuine MPX plugs (worth £27.50). The Extreme comes with ballast tube, tow hook, pushrod snakes and moulded radio tray installed! It also comes with 10 slugs of 20mm diameter x 37mm long ballast! (Which we would normally sell at £35).   

 

So here’s an opportunity to get a top euro 3m for not that much more than the cost of a far eastern produced 3m and when you consider what is included and how much is done for you, there really isn’t too much in it with this offer. Get your order in now for Summer delivery!

Something pretty for beginners

At Sloperacer, we're always asked for beginners planes and we really haven't catered for them, which is something I feel we should address. How else are we going to ensure new folk coming to our sport if we just cater for experienced fliers?! Now we can, to a certain extent. Here's a model that we came across which is nicely up to the job, not perfect for absolute beginners but a big E soarer is how I learnt and I flew that thing to death! These will last a bit longer and they are certainly prettier! Its made of EPO foam a bit like the Easy Glider and other stuff made by Multiplex, which as most know is tough. We have 2 models coming an ASK 23 and this one below, the ASK28. It comes servo'd up with  motor and ESC! Both are a decent 2.3m size and available shortly at £164.99, ready to fly, just needing lipos and Rx!

FMS ASW 28

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This single seat standard class sailplane comes from Schleicher featured a complex composite construction. The light structure enabled the ASW 28 to carry large amounts of water ballast which allows it to be used in a wide weather envelope. FMS have reproduced this wonderful model in EPO foam. With minimum assembly out of the box, you will be ready to fly the same day! From exhilarating fast flybys to relaxing thermal hunting the ASW 28 will always deliver.

Tech Spec: Wingspan: 2300mm Fuselage length: 1050mm Motor: Brushless 900 kv ESC: 35 Amp Servos: 4x9g Battery required: 3S 1300mAh

DS Style Horns

Let’s explode a few myths about control horns on wings: If you want the strongest and best wearing then look at the horns used on DS planes. They don’t use brass or aluminium metal ‘rod’ horns, why, because they have very little gluing area and can be pull out in flight (with sufficient force)! They all use composite horns with a triangular shape with a big foot for lots of gluing area. With a syringe you can pump in lots of epoxy inside the surrounding area of the flap or aileron skin and that in itself makes a huge difference when attaching horns. 

DS style horns aren’t just for DS models of course, standard Opus horns, well, could be improved! and some of these types of planes like Paces don’t come with horns at all!

You would imagine then carbon horns would be the best, they are not. Carbon wears very quickly in the clevis hole, you’ll find very quickly the hole enlarges and you have play and a sloppy surface.

Real G10 horns are the best, not the cheaper type of fibreglass board that splits and breaks easily you’ll find used in control horns from some far eastern manufacturers. The proper stuff is awful to CNC as it wears milling tools out so quickly but that means they are good and tough for horns! Of course they will wear (but a drop of cyano will cure) and they can break but I doubt you will ever pull them out in flight!

I’ve been using them for a while in high load situations, like DS planes or front side heavy wind stuff. Here we don’t care about hidden linkages under the skin. You want decent gearing which means relatively large horns and servo arms that will protrude from the skin surfaces. However, you don’t need ridiculously outsized horns and arms like the ones we were finding in DS planes a few years ago. The bigger the arm the less torque you’ll see from your servo and 10mm-15mm arms seem to be the optimum for most applications for these types of planes.

You can make and design your own with a bit of time but to save you the effort we have 2 designs horns that I’ve found will cover most situations. One is 10.5mm tall and ‘Raked’ 1mm in front of the hinge line and the other 16.5mm tall with the hole ‘In line’ with the hinge line. You can of course trim them to reduce horn height for that special application (or just to keep under the horn shrouds!). It’s milled from 1.6mm G10 and perfect thickness for standard M2, M2.5 or M3 clevises (any wider would spread the clevis and the pin will not engage fully on the opposite retaining hole).   

They are available now in pairs of Raked or In line at £3.50 include 1^st class post (and packing) in UK or + airmail letter for overseas.