August 2006 Vol. 23, No. 8 – R/C - RCSoaring.com

eputedly well into next year. I am confident
that the Perfect will outperform the
Superior eventually, but results have not
been convincing as yet.
Hottest new models stem from Bogo and
Nikolay - Bogo Stempihar of Mibo Modeli
in Slovenia and Nikolay Nikolov of NAN
Models in Bulgaria - with their Vision,
Xperience and Shadow range. For those
who don’t know, Bulgaria is a cheaper
place today to mould quality models.
Mibo, after several years working with
Graupner making Soarmasters and other
models, got together with the Slovenian
team and Dr. Helmut Quabeck to design
the next generation of high performance
gliders. Bogo and Nikolay work closely.
The new Shadow is simply a larger version
of Xperience and first appeared in Italy this
April. Bogo thought that a larger wingspan
might be needed, and perhaps feared the
bigger Pike Perfect. But this season’s question
is which of the two, Vision or Xperience,
will prove best.
In Forli, Tony Vale and I as two sole Brits
were lucky enough to fly with the Feigl
family in the “Bavarian Eagles” team, the
whole team reaching the flyoff except for
me! Sebastian was flying the Xperience
and Benedikt the Vision. Both of them had
assured flyoff places with one round still to
fly, so they challenged each other to launch
in less than two seconds. Both got 9 minutes
58 seconds plus after launches barely
30m high.
Their opinions of the models: both great
launchers with fantastic zooms, Vision
with its HQW2,5 and HQW 3,0 at the
tips is gentler and easier to trim and fly, but
the Xperience with its HN350s airfoil is
more agile and exciting. Latest news is that
Benedikt has switched to match his
brother; I’ve still to find out why.
Really surprising is that both models have
become prime choice of many pilots
around the world so quickly. Good websites
and detailed descriptions of the models,
as created by Samba and Mibo, pay
dividends.
Another international cooperation is the
Supra. I have yet to feel and fondle the
fully moulded model produced by Volodymyr
Gavrylko from the Ukraine, based on
a design by Dr. Mark Drela of airfoil
research and hlg fame, and sold exclusively
by Kennedy Composites in the USA. I did
see Tom Kiesling flying an early
hand-made vacuum-pressed Supra in Red
Deer at the WCs and in Istanbul where he
topped the qualifying rounds. In the
meantime Tom had won the US team
qualifying contest, beating Joe Wurts, and
he will be a strong contender in Martin.
Others from Ukraine and elsewhere will
also be sporting Supras.
Again I have yet to be convinced. Supra
looks a gawky beast, an overgrown
chuckie, which is what it is and maybe
that’s the secret of its success. When I see
Tom almost stalling at low level over the
trees, 500m from home, and then he
comes home three minutes later with
barely two metres height and 100m to go,
and blow me he lands on the spot, then
obviously appearance and flying style matter
little.
This will be the first WCs to feature Jaro
Muller’s Espada, available in a smaller
3.2m version and the extended 3.7m
wing. Skip Miller has been testing for the
past year, but I’ve yet to see him fly it in
anger. I have been flying mine for nearly six
months, and do not find it as easy as my
Pike. But it is a thoroughbred lightweight
stallion, and in the right hands can
out-thermal anything I’ve seen, as well as
travelling distances fast from one side of
the sky to the other.
Another new model to F3J, but not so
plentiful, is the Europhia, designed by
Martin Weberschock from Germany. UK’s
Tony Vale will take three of these, all home
built, and that in itself is worth some
award. Tony and his friend Nuno Canteiro
spent a week in Spring 2005 on a moulding
course run by Martin, a fun and highly
educational exercise which ended up with
a set of moulds and enough skills and confidence
to create their own models.
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