Skiing and flying

Not at the same time of course. Lovely day today, sunny and calm air. You don't get many days like today during the winter here in Tromsø, so you want to make the best of it. We packed the car with skis and model airplanes, and drove to the sports center on Kvaløya. I had an absolutley perfect flight with my EasyGlider on the parkinglot. It was perfect EasyGlider weather, not even a puff of wind. Kjell Sture flew his Sbach 352 from RC-factory. I think he really enjoyed him self as well, he didn't land befor the batteries went out.

After our flights we went cross-country skiing. The tracks lies beautiful along the hillside. We had the sun in the face. Kjell Sture even had a fluffy meeting with the snow in the last downhill. Cross-country skis are not made for off-piste. :) When we returned to the car, Kjell Sture had to emty his second battery, so he had another flight with his Sbach. A perfect sunday in Tromsø.

-Annette-

Twilight flight

After my complaint about bad flying conditions lately, we woke up to a beautiful and sunny day today! We both rushed home after work. Kjell Sture had made all the preparations yesterday. But when we came to Finnvikdalen the sun had already set, and we only had about one hour left with daylight. And it was freezingly cold! Much colder than we had thought, -11C to be spesific. I threw in the towel and chose the warm car seat, but Kjell Sture had come here to fly. He stood in snow up to his thighs, -11 C and the daylight disappearing very fast. He got one flight with his Nan Orion, and was happy with that. I held the car warm for him. :) After he had packed all the equipment in the car, we enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate, that Kjell Sture had been so thoughtful to bring with him.

-Annette-

Bad flying conditions

It's been a while since I've written an update for the blog. First of all I've been on holiday, and second of all the weather's been bad since I came back home. First rain and then snow and wind. Not very good flying weather. Well this is something we are used to when we live north of the Arctic Circle. That's why Kjell Sture has bought a flightsim for the computer. Now we have the opportunity to sit in the cozy sofa of ours, with a cup of hot chocolate, heavy snow outside the window and fly different model airplanes. It's actually a good flightsim, it feels quite natural. (According to Kjell Sture it's a FS one V2 sim).

Kjell Sture has also been working hard putting the gear in the Espresso. I think he's nearly finished. :) We're planning to test it during Easter holidays. We've also started to plan which f3f competitions Kjell Sture (maybe I) will participate in this year, both in Norway and in Europe. It takes quite a bit planning since we live this far north, money and traveling time must be considered. Time will show.

-Annette-

Double trouble....

Suddenly I`m the happy owner of two RC-factory Sbachs, the 0.8m. and the 1m. -How did this happen? (If you ask my girlfriend she will probably say that I put both in the shopping cart...)

Well, here`s the story:
Just before Christmas I was in need of another indoor model, and started searching around on Rcgroups for something usefull. I usually only fly depron models because the handle much crisper than EPP. -I`ve tried several EPP models, and they have all been too bendy and unprecise for my liking.

Then one day I discovered that RC-Factory (link) had a new 0.8m. indoor EPP Sbach on the marked. This is made from 10mm. EPP and have some new contruction that keeps the weight down (170g. ready) and makes for a stiffer airframe than most EPP planes. (It is actually stiffer than som depron planes too.)

All the advertising and feedback on RCG sounded great and I orderd one from Elefun.no. They did not have it in stock, but it was supposed to be back in stock within a couple of weeks.

As promissed, a few weeks later the package landed at my doorstep. To my surprice the box contained the 1m. Sbach that RC-Factory also makes... -I emailed Elefun, and they offered me to send the model back, or keep it for a much reduced price. Having previously owned their 1m. Yak 55, I knew this was a great park aerobatic machine. (Technicaly I still own the Yak 55, but it is stored in Ny-Ålesund, which is a research community close to the North pole...)

-Checking my boxes of unused bits, I found matching servos,batteries,esc and etc. To make the story short, I accepted the deal and got the 1m. for half the cost of the 0.8m! -A few weeks later the indoor 0.8m arrived... I recommend both models wholehartly, they are great!

Kjell Sture.
(Who probably have a bit of explaining to do, when the significant other half come home from holiday)