Pike F3F/F3B Review

Note - this was ages ago in QFI, see other pages for later developments.

The Pike and Pike Plus are manufactured by Samba Model in the Czech Republic. The Pike is a high quality 2.92 metre V tailed F3B/F3F machine. The Pike Plus can either be purchased as a separate model or you can purchase the larger tips and tail to transform your existing Pike into a 3.2metre F3J beast with an enviable competition record including second and fourth at the F3J Worlds. The good news for UK readers is that Europa Competition Gliders are now importing both models bringing the promise of excellent product support in terms of spares and advice. \par I am in the somewhat fortuitous position of having the Pike and Pike Plus components for review. Given that at the time of writing frost is thick on the ground and northerlies are howling across our hills it seems like a good idea to start with the F 3B/F3F version. Once the weather warms up you can expect a flying report on the F3J version and a bit of flat field with the shorter span version.

I make no apologies that a goodly proportion of this review is spent on the flying, after all that's what it's all about,

What's in the box?

Three-piece moulded wing, carbon joiners, glass fuselage, moulded V tail and a bag of all the necessary goodies other than those which are a matter of personal taste such as clevises and wing wiring connectors. A ballast tube is already built into the wing centre panel and is accessed through a small hatch in the top skin. As my example was one of the first in to the UK the instructions were little more than suggested control movements but by the time this goes to press the Pike will feature a comprehensive constructional and flying guide. I know this because in a moment of weakness (drunkenness) I volunteered to write them.

Nice touches include two sets of ruddervator push rod end adapters suitable for different servo dimensions and the tailor made bubble wrap bags that the major components arrive in. In addition the supplied compact cardboard box is stout enough to use as protection during transportation The ready fitted adjustable tow hook and the required allen keys are also much appreciated.

To save you the bother of comparing the nosecone radius is smaller than the Ellipse 2 but larger than the Cobra. Of course as soon as the bits are de-bagged they beg for very close scrutiny. First to get a close inspection is the leading and trailing edge joint lines which I have to say are very good with no overlap. Hinges next and a rather pleasant surprise is that the living hinges are probably the best that I have come across. Very free yet strong enough not to allow any distortion or knuckle dragging. In addition the ailerons and flaps are laid up with carbon so their torsional rigidity is excellent. A tip with any moulded model is to move the control surface enough to open up the knuckle hinge and peek inside at the bits you weren't meant to see. If the hinges on your moulded model are not free enough to do this please don't force them! What this reveals in the case of the Pike is dull. No big globs of epoxy, no air gaps, just a beautifully neat sub spar cut perfectly so that n o excess glue is required to fill the gaps, impressive. Once the servo covers are removed a peek inside shows this to be the same for the main spar.

The V tail goes under the microscope next. Firstly it's nice to see that balsa is the material used in the skin lay up rather than foam. This is just personal preference arising from experiences of both materials leaving me happy to sacrifice the very small weight penalty of using balsa in order to gain the extra durability over foam. As if reading my mind Samba have redressed the weight balance by ditching the epoxy/microballoon knuckles in favour lighter internal tape sliders, excellent. You can now order a plug-in tail version and, to be frank, you would be mad not to.

The next operation with any moulded model is to assemble it and check every thing fits OK. One of the most important areas is the fit and alignment of the tip panels onto the centre section. Firstly the carbon joiners fit perfectly and disengage with a satisfying plop, none of the wet and dry fettling that some other airframes have necessitated. Secondly the incidence pegs are already fitted, not a job most people relish. Being done in the factory with the help of a jig ensures everything butts together perfectly. It is also reassuring that the carbon joiners have not been made too large. They are more than up to the flying loads but could well be a wing saver in a tip first arrival.

Centre section onto fuselage next and at last I've found something less than perfect. On my example the rear of the centre section was a very tight fit against the fuselage. It took all of 2 minutes to relieve the area with some fine wet and dry to leave a good fit. Whilst on the subject of the centre panel it is fairly unusual in that it contains a small amount (1.5 degrees) of dihedral. I like this and am convinced that I can feel the difference in t he air, maybe it's all in the mind but either way I'm happy.

By the time I had trial assembled the whole model I'd developed a fair amount of respect for the thinking behind the design and construction and an usually large amount of enthusiasm (for me) to get on with fitting it out.

Get on with it

Until the time comes to assemble the model for wiring and control movements only work on one component placed on bubble wrap at a time, leave the rest safely bagged. Ignore this and you risk finding out just how small and how many sharp edges there are in your workshop.

Start with the boring bits first whilst the enthusiasm is at its highest. Take each wing panel in turn and very carefully and very lightly use 1200 grit (or finer) wet and dry (used wet, but not too wet!) on a flat block to take off the already minute flashing at the leading and trailing edges. Only use very light pressure and keep feeling the join as you go. It should take no more than two or three gentle passes to render the join impossible to locate by touch. The problem now is that you'll spend many minutes running you finger over and marvelling at the perfect joint, be strong and move on to step two. Possibly the most tedious part of putting a moulded model together is ensuring that the wing servos are mounted securely and will serve well for years to come.

The wings will accept 15mm wide servos although depending on the servos case design you may find it necessary to remove a mounting lug. When installing the servos in any moulded wing it is crucial to strengthen the wing skin to which the servos will be attached. This means that if a servo is knocked off it wont take your lovely wing skin with it, secondly it will reduce any skin flexing that can be a cause of flutter. A square of medium weight glass, carbon or Kevlar cloth as large as you can get to adhere properly applied with wing skinning epoxy to the area where the servo will be glued will do the trick nicely. Whilst on the subject it is also prudent to spend a few minutes shaping vertically grained balsa ribs to bridge the upper and lower skins of a moulded wing thus spreading the mounting loads further. These can be worked in through the servo access holes prior to the servo fitting, but after the aforementioned skin reinforcement, and secured in place with some five minute epoxy. What's left is a strong and sturdy base to which the servos can be glued. To protect the servo cases simply wrap a few layers of tape around it, masking tape works well. Mix up a paste of top quality five-minute epoxy and micro balloons and apply to the appropriate surface of the servo. Hold the servo by the servo arm and apply that end to the wing skin first, as the rest of the servo is pushed down the excess glue will be pushed out away from the servo arm.

Make sure the servo output arm is perfectly square with the control horn and that it sits in the deepest part of the wing servo shroud. In order to attain the range of movements necessitated by crow braking the aileron servo arms at neutral should be angled slightly towards the leading edge and the flap servo arms should be angled towards the trailing edge. A brief contemplation of the movements required and the geometry involved should make the need for this obvious.

An evening or twos work has produced four firmly mounted servos that won't let go unless really clouted. If anything does get knocked off all that will break is the glue joint leaving a pre-formed epoxy/microballoons cup to receive the servo again with a light smear of epoxy and no loss of trim.

Being one of the first models imported the review model required the fitting of the wing control horns and fuselage ballast tubes (personal preference) but I understand from the manufacturer that future planes destined for the UK will have these items ready fitted. No doubt this will please prospective purchasers as both installations take a modicum of care and time to get right. It also saves me a few hundred words of explanation, nice one Samba!

The fuselage is simply a matter of routing out the inner nose for battery, RX and servos. Once done 5 minute epoxy a thick ply plate under the servo area to act as a servo bearer. A Quick fiddle with the pushrods and the choice of end adapters should soon see everything working perfectly. I used a 1500mah square AA pack from Overlander and as you can see there is plenty of room should you want to use a five cell pack. A spare Futaba RX was pressed into service with the aerial run down the fuselage in a snake outer. Two Multiplex Micro MC V2 servos were used for the fuselage and another four in the wings. People have their own views on servos but I find it hard to understand any skimping in this department. The Multiplex MC servos used are extremely impressive units and experiences to date indicate they're well worth the extra investment.

Rather than have a free floating connector a little effort was expended in fashioning a swanky wing to fuselage wiring junction. I used a standard D plug and arranged it so that the wiring locates automatically when the centre panel is placed on the fuselage. The fuselage connector can also be removed with one screw to allow access to the adjustable tow hook. Not altogether necessary but neat and to my mind worth the extra hour or so. \par Airworthiness was achieved in a week or so of evenings with the last one being spent balancing the wings, making the ballast, programming and of course checking the CG.

The important bit

A wet and blustery day was coming to an end leaving an hour or so of useable daylight and an acceptable amount of lift to play with. Having snook away to a little used hill in order to get some uninterrupted airtime I was inevitably left with a self-launch. No problem, homesick angel stuff. The lightish wind was generating very pleasant smooth lift just about ideal for the test flight. It normally takes me several months to fully tune a six-servo model to my liking so in the interim I used the settings taken from my Cito 3 and blow me, they were pretty close to ideal. Like any other moulded model I've owned or flown aerobatics are a formality. Such is the confidence a model of this class inspires within minutes just about every manoeuvre the lift and my ability could sustain were easily achieved.

Landings were great fun thanks to the large flaps and available travel making the crow brakes extremely effective. After a check of the elevator compensation in front of the hill proved it to be OK it was possible to stand on the brow of the hill in the lift and crow the model to a stop even in the modest breeze, simply adjusting the altitude with subtle brake and elevator movements.

A few landings and a few movement adjustments later left me having a thoroughly good time, so good I just had to have that one last flight. Big, big mistake. The flight was a beauty it even involved a rolling circle, OK s o it was a bit oval, give me a break it was only the fourth flight. Did I say give me a break, argh!!!

The daylight was really fading and orientation was coming more from memory than eyesight so it seemed like a good idea to land, and by the book this time. A brief stroll out of the lift and wind put me on the edge of a bowling green like strip. Nice fast downwind leg, base leg and into the approach. Out of the breeze now though so the brakes aren't biting so well, no problem hold the flair a bit longer and touchdown. Perfect just rolling on a bit and a bit more. CRUNCH!

As the Pike trundled along the short grass the starboard tip panel just seemed to explode, ouch. Inspection revealed a mostly subterranean rock sticking about 4 inches from the ground with it s sharpest edge now resting against the undressed spar of my new toy. It's fair to say that put a bit of a damper on the evening!

I was keen to try the Pike in at least a round or two of an impending F3F event so I bodged the repair that evening in an hour or so with a bit (quite a lot actually!) of foam and filler. Not good or pretty but it should fly.

Other than another brief trimming excursion the Pikes next outing was at the first winter league F3F event of the season. One key factor in doing well in F3F and most other classes is knowing your model well, so as a straight test this wasn't very fair on the plane. The result was a fourth place in a very competitive and extremely close competition. Throughout the Pike didn't put a foot wrong. In fact when yours truly cut a turn instinct took over and the Pike was looped back very sharply and at very low speed, something which had I had time to think about I probably wouldn't have tried with such an unfamiliar model. It's in extreme situations like this that a models class comes out and fortunately I was left in no doubt that this model has breeding. It also tells a tail that my Masterpiece stayed de-rigged for the entire event.

Of course the day after the event the replacement tip arrived, hey ho.

For F3F t he model is reminiscent of my two all time favourites in that it tracks so well and stays so neat that it never appears to be screaming around the sky but when the clock stops the result is usually a pleasant surprise. Being such a well-mannered airframe yields two main benefits. Firstly if this is your first Tupperware toy it will probably be easier to fly than your previous pylon racer or aerobatic model. Secondly if competition is your thing you will already have translated tame handling into the fact t hat you can ask that much more of the airframe before the abuse is resented.

The next few outings were spent setting the Pike up for F3F and generally getting to know it. During one session Mark Passingham (him of the infamous Big Stiffy) was kind enough t o offer to fly the model while I took some photographs. Nearly half an hour later when the TX was finally wrestled from him Mark confessed to being quite taken with the Pike. Apparently it was like he'd flown it for years, dream on Mark, go play with your Stiffy!

In case any budding F3F'ers take the Pike route the control movements that I have settled on are now included within the instructions as a reasonable starting point. As for the benefits of getting to know the Pike and set it up properly the second Winter League F3F a few weeks before the editors deadline gave the perfect opportunity.

Fortunately the Pike had been reading the script and not only won the competition but won every round as well. This should be qualified by advising that unfriendly weather resulted in only 3 rounds being flown so had the Pike not placed so well I would no doubt be saying 3 rounds isn't a fair trail. Not a fair trial maybe but the jury who witnessed it all seemed to have reached the same verdict, pretty damn good!

Conclusions

I have been fortunate enough to have owned and flown some fabulous aircraft and once a certain performance level is attained evaluation becomes a very personal thing. Comparisons are the obvious way to demonstrate performance but when models are as closely matched as my favourites it becomes flying styles that are the deciding factor meaning any comparison is worthless unless you happen to fly exactly the same way as I do. What I am happy to say is that the Pike nestles very neatly into my top three, so much so that I have ordered another one. What place in the top three is a very hard question. Based on ease of ownership, spares availability, price and of course flying it may well even be top of the pile.

Throughout the assembly and flying one is left with the impression of a very competitive airframe design which has been manufactured by people who fly competitively and know what is required to turn a good design into an excellent aircraft. This is again reflected in the general attitude of ECG and Samba models both of whom are ready to help and offer a fairly rare tailoring service. If you want a particular colour or even a non-standard wing/fuselage lay-up all you have to do is let them know.

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