SLOPING OFF...

...Christchurch and District Model Flying Club’s Magazine for April 2023

CHAMPION REVISITED

BY RICHARD DOCKETTY

Up till now, my Fillon Champion had enjoyed a number of successful flights off various slopes, but not really tested off the flat. That was until it was suggested to have an impromptu fly-in at Chalbury following the WSA Winter Warmer. A good opportunity I thought to give the Champion a go from the flat.

Several other models had already powered skyward and were busy sniffing out any lift, when Martin offered to launch the Champion for me. Steady power up and a nice throw from Martin and I looked forward to it joining the others high in the sky. It wasn’t to be. The climb rate, at least there was one, was just too shallow. Martin’s comment said it all ‘Looks like it needs more beans Richard…’. I had to agree, so a quick half circuit and landing was all the flying it was going to do that day.

The original recommended powertrain setup was a 910kv motor, 30amp ESC and a 3S 1600 Lipo which all fitted in the nose quite snuggly, especially the motor. A conversation with Trevor lead to a search for a higher kv motor with nearly the same dimensions and we found one with a 1020kv rating and exactly the same dimensions as the original. An order placed and a shiny new motor arrived three days later. All was ready for the upgrade.

It was with a sigh of relief I was able to remove the original motor and desolder the motor leads from the ESC without a problem or with any hacking about of the nose section. Fitting and connecting the new motor was similarly straight forward. Next was a watt meter test to make sure the new setup wasn’t going to overload the ESC or if a 40amp would be needed. Back to Trevor’s workshop for the test. Trevor confirmed the new motor was pulling 25amps at full chat and you could definitely feel it had more ‘beans’ when hand held. Only thing left was to wait for some reasonable conditions for a real test launch and flight at Oldfield.

The day arrived with a forecasted 6mph wind from the south, Not an ideal direction, but workable without upsetting normal flying too much (hopefully). Trevor offered to take the controls while I did the launching. With everybody’s agreement we headed to the righthand edge of the patch for the launch, returning to the pilots box once airborne (A bit like the aerotowing at County). A good throw under power and away the Champion went into a steady climb. Not steep, but much much better than before and it didn’t take long to get close to the OF ceiling of 400ft. Some expo on the rudder was recommended by Trevor to help reduce any tendency for the model to ‘wallow’ normally associated with rudder elevator models if over controlled. I flew it in wide circles with power both on and off and just a docile in either mode. Trevor took the controls for the landing and returned it to the patch with only a few bursts on the motor to bring it forward in the increasing breeze. Another successful flight, although there was a bit of a PHEW moment when checking the battery as it was down to 11% That was lucky!

Future modifications?:

Higher capacity 3S battery, possibly a 2200 and Expo on the Rudder