A French doing a review of an British kit for an English magazine ... surprising isn't it? Maybe, but you know, they is no manufacturer doing fully moulded F3B/F3F glider in France, so we need to find them abroad. East Europe is not the only place where we can find top gliders. The Calypso Contest is a good example of the "state of the art" in moulding, as I discovered that few months ago.
Of course, most of you know Stuart Blanchard, but for the other, you maybe ignore that Stuart is not at his first attempt since the model which is being tested, is the newly born of a series of gliders which began a few years ago. At the very beginning, there was the Calypso and the Calypso Sport, both F3B gliders, of traditional construction, that is to say with fibreglass fuselage and preshitted wings. Then came the Calypso Sport plus, with larger wings(2.90m). Those models were very successful in England, since about 300 samples got out from moulds. The Calypso Contest is the achievment of this evolution, with its moulded wings. You can choose between two wingspans (3m or 3.30m) and between two versions ( T-tail or V-tail ), an electric version being also available. All the different elements are interchangeable, which allows, with a short version to buy afterwards two tip panels to obtain a 3.30m model, or to change the fuselage in order to change the tail type, or else to go from a mere glider to an electric motorisation. This possible adaptation is very important considering the price of such an object, in case you damage an element of the glider, or just if you want to have several gliders in one. The concept is nothing new, of course, but its application is enoughly rare(not) to be noticed. Moreover, as the production is made to order, the manufacturer confirmed me that it was possible to ask for a reinforced glider for the F3F model or on the contrary a lightened one for the F3J model (this said, the standard versions are strong enough). As to me, I looked into the standard version of 3m, elevator in V, which is the latest version of the Calypso Contest.
First of all, I can tell you that I had no idea about the quality level of this kit. I heard about it in different F3B championship report in a French Magazine, and some rare small pictures. In addition I just had some problem with Jet and Speed models in Netherland and the kit of the Fletcher: A poor and expensive kit with some unresovable problems... So, I sent back the box to the manufacturer and get back only part of my money after a long and difficult negociation. You can easily understand that I was very excited but also a little bit worried when I opened the box. I found several padded bags (optional) protecting the different components. These plastic padded bags are very useful to carry the glider and protect it against chocs. The kit includes a three pieces wing, the fuselage and its nose, the keel, the V-tail (in two parts), the ballast tubes, and a small plastic bag containing the two carbon wing joiners and, the screws to maintain the wing on the fuselage and stickers for wing servos. To finish, a Assembly and rigging note document is provided, which contains the essential things to know with plenty of drawings, rigging templates and a table with all the rigging corresponding to the different flight phases (launching, landing, speed, distance ...). The quality of the kit is at the top level: the surface finishing, the quality of assembly, the technical choices ... all the details have been thought. The quality level can be easily compared to the Ellipse 2 which is often considered as a reference in the F3B/F3F world. Because it's an "ATRF" (Almost Ready To Fly), I needed between 10 and 20 hours to assemble and finish the glider before to fly.
The fuselage is superb, and I must say it is the finest I have ever seen in my career as a modeler.The (plan de joint?)is ridiculously thin and perfectly regular. Two kevlar bands reinforce here and there the fuselage on the whole lenght. Some metal screwnuts are already sunken in the foundation of the wing. The back of the fuselage is achieved : two big carbon keys are already settled with the right dihedron to receive the elevator. The control, two aluminium tubes ended by threaded rods, is set and finished, and as for the elevator, it is ended by two forkjoints with knobs. Only the radio plate, delivered aside, is not assembled. But this is voluntary because, in that way, each one can prepare his radio installation at its best, without being embarrassed by the rest of the fuselage. It is composed of a balsa core recovered with a fibreglass film and reinforced with some kevlar on the periphery. Some marks indicate the place for the different radio elements. The work then is to drill an opening in the chosen spaces and then to set up the element.
They are entirely finished, there is therefore nothing to do about them. They come and interlock with the big carbon joiners (8mm diameter). The elevator lever is one of the easiest: it is a piano string of 2mm which is sticking out of the rudder and coming to interlock with, during the assembling of the elevators, the forkjoints with knobs of the elevators. The balljoints then slide on the piano wire in accordance with the steering lock of the rudder. It is impossible to make a control lever easier and more efficient, because there is no stiff point and no free motion! The elevators of the Calypso are characterised comparatively with the competitive models, by a more important aspect radio (probably in order to improve the attitude of flight path) but mostly by the fact they can be dismantled, because most of the elevators in V on the fully moulded glider market are moulded in one element, which is quite annoying to carry.
On such a glider, one shouldn't skimp over the radio equipment. That is why I have 6 servos Micro3BB(4 in the wings and 2 in the fuselage): it is actually the best price we can find on the market at the moment for such a quality, far better than its competitors Futaba and Graupner: metal gears, double ballrace for about 32 pounds. For the receiver, I prefered a model MPXFMDS with double frequency change, rather than a PCM receiver, because the fail safe can be very dangerous when it gets stuck in a pre-determined position on interference, while you are at maximum speed turning very close to the ground, a desaster! As it is multiplex material, so ferrites are absolutely necessary to absorb the parasites due to the wide lenght of servo wires in the wings. Multiplex should tell me one day,why their material is so sensitive to interferences while with FUTABA, there is no need to put ferrites in a 4m wing. Although there is some ferrites, some radio glitches (nothing serious fortunately)sometimes occur in some flight configurations, and yet, there is no carbon at all in the fuselage. The whole is supplied by a 5 elements battery Panasonic 1100mAh (R6 dimensions). There is not much space for the battery because the nose of the glider is quite slight. These new Panasonic batteries are then very suitable and, for the moment, satisfy me completely. To tend the state of the accumulator,I added a voltmeter from SIMPROP, designed for 6 volts. The Adjustment As Stuart Blanchard doesn't half-do things, there is therefore, at the end of the instructions, a chart giving the clearances of each control surface in accordance with the flight configuration : winching, distance, speed, lasting, landing, turning deep-flap; well, to sum up, the top of the pop! Moreover, it gives two templates telling the clearance angle very precisely. Therefore, you need to glue those gauges on cardboard, and then to cut them up. The adjustments are consequently very easy, and you can keep them with you in order to change the adjustments in the field. So, I took those figures from the charts and changed them in accordance with my flying style (that is to say very nervous for the F3F). The weight of the machine is 2530g, that is to say 41g/dm2.
With regard to the global quality of the kit, I wasn't really worried about flying. It is accordingly in March, on a sunny but windy and cold saturday that I did the first flight. Just time for a last checking, and here we go! The glider leaves really straight, well adjusted for the neutrals and center of gravity. Let's go for for the fly test ...
In light conditions the Calypso is demoniac! It can detect the least thermal, even the smallest one, and is able to spiral with low speed and condensed really easily ( where the Ellipse 1 is not very good at). I suppose this reaction comes from the low wing loading and also the V-Tail. And hence, the reduction of weight at the extremities of the fuselage. The transition between two thermals is no problem. And with this V-Tail, I caught myself several times, flying only with the rudder and elevator (I am ashamed of myself) which indicates an easy flying aptitude. The Ellipse 1 is much less tolerant with low speed and needs to be well controled in spiral if we want to avoid to stall. The stall of the Calypso comes late, by insisting and pulling the stick, and it ends by a pulling down in the axis which can be caught up quite easily. The use of flaps still improve the performances in thermal flying but I use them only when I'm in the thermal.
Now, we are going to shake the glider a bit, and see if it has any guts : increasing speed and oops ... a 4 steps roll, perfectly in the axis, followed by another one still in the axis, without any problems with the elevator. Then comes a "cuban eight" which went off without an hitch. The finesse of the glider is a good point during aerobatic figures because it restitutes perfectly well the accumulated energy when there is some speed increases and doesn't brake during the figures. The V-tail can be felt more during reversals and by then all the flying suits with reversals, due to a small coupling between rudder and elevator.
This observation reminded me a phone call with Denis Duchesne (F3B world champon in 1993) who was telling me that the secret for a V-Tail to work well in all flying configurations was to to put some differential on the rudder. It's not always possible with programmable radio to have differential in addition to the mixer already in use for the V-tail. You may have to use trickery.
Last thing in the evaluation test of the Calypso : Speed. Let's climb and here we go for ten laps of 100m, without any ballast for the moment. The glider accelerates a lot without apparently going at maximum speed. First turn at maximum speed on the edge : It turns sharply, but the bounce effect is not as important as with the Ellipse 1. Though,the glider doesn't brake at all and restarts well for the next line, and moreover, the wing load is only 41/dm2 while my Ellipse is 47g/dm2. After several F3F training, my conclusion is that, after all, it performs well with "English" turns (half roll, half loop) so like good lift condition to do such a turn. In small condition, so with normal turns, it is a little bit more difficult to handle to obtain accurate and optimum turns, but I need definitively more practice with it ... Concerning the spar, it doesn't move, even under heavy load. The 3 metres wingspan are no handicap, and the aspect ratio a bit superior to the average(14.8 instead of 13.5) is a good thing for the F3F, where we swing somewhere between maximum speed and maximum finesse (10 lines with a departure altitude of about 50 to 100m) rather than maximum speed only as with the F3B (4 laps with a departure altitude of 200m).
With 300g of ballast, the glider is faster, and the turn diameter is not changed. However, with 600g, we begin to feel the inertia of the glider while turning and also landing. The access to the ballasts is very easy, allowing, in competitions, to take a decision at the very last moment, in accordance with the weather conditions you are going to meet for the flight ( as an information, the ballast tubes of the V-tail version can take up to 1.1kg...) As good things must have an end, we must land, which is very easy matter with the butterfly airbrakes. The glider brakes easily and remains under control.
You will easily guess that I am very enthousiastic with this glider! The quality of the kit is no doubt one of the best we can find on the market for a price slightly inferior than the Ellipse 2 (the Ellipse 1 isn't made anymore). The flying performances are extraordinary, especially while chasing the thermals but also for the F3F/F3B. A mere thoroughbred, at ease with all weather and which gives many satisfactions. An excellent choice, whatever the disciplin, and either for sport flying or competition.
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