A little history…
The Pike has been around for several years.
Originally used successfully for F3J and F3B its introduction into the UK saw it being
used in F3F for the first time. Straight away the plane proved its slope potential.
The Pike is made by Samba model in the Czech
Republic and unlike some other manufacturers they listen. Together with UK flyers they
developed the Pike eXtreme, which differed from the standard model in several ways:
- The wing-skin construction is
glass/carbon/balsa/carbon giving the immense strength and torsional rigidity needed for
real energy retention.
- The model has pre-installed fuselage ballast tubes
enabling quick and easy ballast adjustments.
- The eXtreme uses the F3J tail whose extra area helps
keep it on track during the tightest turns and in the most turbulent conditions.
- Current models have carbon inlaid wet when the inner
nose is joined to the fuselage. This combined with an expert lay-up (you wont find a
stiffer tailboom) makes the Pike fuselage hard to fault and even harder to break.
The wing construction is such that it is the least
prone to "spar bulging" that I have ever seen.
All this gave a model that in its first F3F year
won both the 1999 UK Summer and Winter F3F leagues, a feat never achieved before.
The Pike eXtreme is a joy to fly although it was
felt that even more straight line speed could be achieved using a modified tip planform
and section. A revised design was sent to Samba who duly built the finest set of foam
veneer prototype tips I have ever seen.
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First time out in competition with the new tips
the World Record (on an independently checked course) was broken with a 32.70 second run.
The decision to go into production made itself and it was only a matter of months before
the first moulded versions appeared. At the same time good old Samba had taken on board
the requests for a plug on tail and have again come up trumps. |
| What follows are my views on model 1 and
model 4 out of the moulds (the 2 stripy dudes on the right), if you want more detailed
stuff the original Pike review is here. |
 |
 |
Models 1 and 4 were both ready to fly in a total
of 10 evenings. The new moulded tips are up to the expected quality. The new plug in tail
is simply fantastic. Very, very strong, not much heavier than the original and simply a
joy to transport. |
Ok that’s enough crap, lets fly the thing
First flight was on the Wrecker late one evening
after work. The wind was barely 5 mph but it had been a hot day and I was confident that
if the slope lift failed there would be thermal enough to help land on top. In reality
there was plenty of slope lift to scoot back and forth enabling differential and snapflap
settings to be honed.
Impressions? Well I couldn’t stop grinning.
Anyone who flies with me knows how much I love the prototype (at one comp I even glued 2
servos back in the wing rather than fly a standard Pike, unheard of for this lazy git),
and all I had dared hope for was that the moulded version would be as good as the
prototype. In reality it's better, it retains energy better and is more responsive.
Smiley, very smiley knewt.
Since that first day I have had a lot of time on
the Pike WR and could not be happier. It’s straight line speed and energy retention
are the best I have come across. The turning ability is as good as the original Pike,
which is renowned in that department. My original settings were a little over exuberant
but they're getting pretty honed now. Sometimes I return from a session and still catch
myself grinning like a chimp, I can't remember any F3F plane having that sort of effect on
me before!
Its strength is quite incredible. Severe rotor at
pre Viking Race 2000 practice saw several very hard arrivals by me and two bone-fide
crashes with another pilots WR and the only damage was a punched out nose cone. In
comparison I have owned popular moulded models that would have taken many hours and a lot
of work to get them flyable again. Simply the strongest moulded plane that I have come
across.
In summary the WR is the only F3F model that I have
ever owned or flown (Ellipse 1T, Ellipse 1V, Ellipse 2, Cito 3, Acacia, Masterpiece, Tragi
702, etc) that has left me wandering where an improvement can come from both in the flying
and the construction.
Please, please do not buy a WR as you will make it
too popular then it'll be common and I can't possibly be seen flying a common plane. VBG
Congratulations to Samba who have taken a well
built competitive model and refined, redesigned and reinforced it to end up with a product
that I simply can’t fault.
I have a detailed set up sheet that I'll post
soon, if you want a provisional copy e-mail me.
If you want another angle on the WR try Jo
Grini's most excellent pages.
Or the official QFI
Pike WR review by Greg Dakin.
NEWSFLASH
Nearly two years since the first moulded WR took to
the skies I now have a prototype MG06 sectioned version. Details to follow soon.
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