Top Flite Antares - Manual (Page 18)

with the flaps The first thing that you will find is that very
little flap deployment is needed to produce a major
reduction in airspeed Some increase in altitude will
occur but it tends to be very gentle with thisdesign Full
deployment of the flaps—max travel—will almost stop
the plane in mid-air, flight speed will be at a walk
Experimenting with this characteristic will soon demon-
strate that very smooth, highly controlled and extremely
slow landing approaches can be made You will also find
that suddenly returning the flaps to neutral will result in a
rapid increase of speed and loss of altitude until neutral
trim cruise speed is again reached If your experience is
anything like ours, you will start to think of flaps in the
same sense that you would think of "throttle" on a power
ship.
So far, so good You should have at least a little experi
ence in the use of the flaps in their normally deployed
use. Try a good, hard hand launch at neutral trim and
establish normal glide speed as soon as possible Once
normal cruise speed is reached, move the flap trim lever
up a little to introduce some "reflex" into the flaps and
watch what the airplane does carefully What should
happen is a rather quick acceleration resulting in an even
flatter and much faster glide As mentioned earlier, most
radio systems and their servos have enough travel in just
the trims to provide about 10 of reflex to the flaps Thisis
about twice as much as is really needed, 5 would be
plentyYou will eventually find that this reflexing capabil-
ity is of tremendous value in your normal fiying It gives
you the ability to leave "sink" or down air at very high
speeds without sacrificing much in the way of altitude
We have also used it to good advantage in contest situa-
tions by being able to work lift at rather far distances or
low altitudes and still being able to make it back to the
spot.
The next step is actual launch If you are using a Hi Start
system you are going to want about 6-8 lbs of tension or
whatever you are comfortable with on aircraft this size
Turn the radio on, drop the flaps about 15° and hook the
tow ring onto the hook With the wings level and the nose
pointed a few degrees up, launch the ANTARES with a
brisk throw. The airplane should accelerate quickly and
rotate into a 60° to 70° climb As it approaches the top of
its climb, return the flaps to neutral, hold a little down
elevator to accelerate and as you pass over the top of the
launch height, pull full up elevator This should get you off
the tow instantly and climbing, at the top of the climb,
flatten it out and start your flight.
Try to get familiar with the controls while you are at
altitude Does the airplane turn well or do you need more
or less rudder coupling Assuming all is well, use the
altitude to get a little more familiar with the flaps and
what they are doing at various settings Assuming that
you did your homework and that the hand-glides paid-
off, right about now you should be enjoying the flight
How does the stab feel? Too much, too little? Try to
remember these things for correction after you land.
And speaking of landing, it's about time for one. We
would suggest that first landings with the ANTARES be
made just as you would any other sailplane To safely
slow the airplane down during these initial flights, try
dropping the flaps just a little on the downwind leg. This
slows it down consistently so that turning upwind to final
approach it will be more than manageable As experience
builds you will develop your own sequence of landing
approaches
T h i s next launch assumes that you are somewhat com-
fortable, in that the airplane is adequately trimmed, at
least for now Use the same launch sequence as outlined
earlier and start looking for lift We think that one of the
outstanding characteristics of the ANTARES is the way it
reads lift The airplane flies so smoothly that when lift is
encountered it really tends to let you know, right away.
Wings "rock", the tail "lifts", even in light lift the smooth-
ness of the flight is interrupted with tell tale movement
that is easily seen from goodly distances Interestingly,
we have found that in heavy lift the deployment of the
flaps is just not needed and have even gone as far as to
increase the flight speed with reflex in such conditions.
Just keep the airplane moving at flight speedand turning
smoothly and up you go In light lift wehavefound that
introducing some deployed flap is of realvalue in taking
advantage of anything available In these conditions the
rule is still the same, keep the airplane moving and
turning smoothly When sink or down air is encountered,
you should not linger in the area and the rule is get out of
there quick at either hard right or left angles or punching-
out further upwind at the fastest possible speed In this
situation try a little reflexed flaps—it is really amazing
how quickly you can get from A to B.
We sincerely hope that the ANTARES has been a re-
warding project for you and that the hours spent on the
building board will be nothing compared to the hours of
soaring enjoyment to come Speaking of soaring enjoy-
ment, TOP FLIGHT MODELS, INC is happy to offer you
the attached information and membership declaration
for the world's largest R C sailplane organization, the
LEAGUE OF SILENT FLIGHT Your R/C soaring activities
can take on a whole new meaning and importance by
participating in the L S F ' s Soaring Accomplishments
Program
INDEX
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PRE-CONSTRUCTION NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
F3B MODIFICATION SUGGESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
FUSELAGE ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
TAIL GROUP ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
BALLASTING .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
WING ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
COVERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
RADIO INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PRE-FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
FLYING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
LS.F. APPLICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
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