Saker F3F Slope Racer 3m

The Saker F3F is a new design of F3F slope racer by acclaimed UK designer Ian Mason. Building on his well regarded Willow F3F models the Saker has proven to be one of the best performing slope racers currently available.

The Saker is currently being flown by several top fliers, including John Phillips who posted this on the BARCS forum:

Some more Saker trophy's for this year, can only say again I've been very impressed with this set up of Saker and KingMax servos. This is a great combination for UK F3F competitions, plus a very nice sports plane with easy handling.

Welsh open trophies (I just used the Saker in this event)

Euro F3F League trophy the Saker helped with this win, plus also helped in the UK F3F league win.

-- well done John. Great achievement.

This 3m span model has great F3F credentials and is designed for typical European conditions, however it is made to a high standard in the Far East at a very economic price. Flying qualities, structural strength, fit and finish are all excellent. The objective of the Saker F3F is to create an affordable F3F plane that can give a lot of fun when sport flying, but still highly capable in F3F racing events, allowing newcomers to this category to give it a try.

The Saker is made to a high standard. The surface finish is as good as top rated manufacturer's planes. The design has been optimised to create a forgiving, easy to fly model that excels in high speed and high G flight.

The fuselage is glass with carbon reinforcements and features a large access hatch for easy installation of the RC. The attractive carbon canopy hatch RC has wire retaining springs ready fitted. The tail pushrod outers are bonded in place.

The two piece wings are nicely molded giving a high gloss finish. The wings are available in Single Carbon and Double Carbon layups. The wing skins are very strong to minimise hanger rash and are bonded to a substantial carbon spar. The wings include openings for the flap and aileron servos and the aileron/flap control horns are supplied. Each wing root also includes spaces for extra ballast to be fitted.

Supplied with all pushrods and control linkages and a 16 mm ID ballast tube.

Saker F3F Slope Racer Specifications
Wing span	3.0 m	118 in
Wing area	58.0 dm2	899 sq in
Length	140 cm	55.1 in
Flying weight from	1900 g	67.0 oz
Wing loading	32.8 g/dm2	10.7 oz/sq ft
Aspect ratio	15.5
Wing airfoil	Proprietary
Dihedral angle	1.5º
Centre of Gravity	93-100 mm from wing leading edge
Controls	Rudder, elevator, ailerons, flaps

Recommended RC
V tail (servo body max 23 mm x 12 mm)	KST DS145, KST X10-710, KST DS215MG, KST X12-508, KST MS320, MKS HV6125e, MKS DS6125e, MKS HV6130H
Flap (servo max 12 mm thick)	MKS HV6130, KST DS125, KST X10
Aileron (servo max 10 mm thick)	MKS HV6130, KST DS125, KST X10, KST X10 Mini, CHA HV85H
Receiver	6 channel rx to match your transmitter
Power	HyperFlight 1600 mAh 6V NiMH 2/3A Battery, 2000 mAh 2S LiFe

Saker F3F Slope Racer Typical Weights
Fuselage	350 g	12.3 oz
Wing (single carbon)	700 g	24.7 oz
Tailplane	100 g	3.5 oz
Wing joiner	125 g	4.4 oz
Ballast tube	50 g	1.8 oz
Accessories	45 g	1.6 oz
Total structure	1370 g	48.3 oz
Wiring	30 g	1.1 oz
Receiver	10 g	0.4 oz
Rudder servo	20 g	0.7 oz
Elevator servo	20 g	0.7 oz
Aileron servos	50 g	1.8 oz
Flap servos	50 g	1.8 oz
Battery	150 g	5.3 oz
Noseweight	200 g	7.1 oz
Flying weight from	1900 g	67.0 oz

Control Throws

Control throw and setup posted by John Phillips:
CG 105 this moves forward to 104 when ballast is added
overall weight dry 2700g
aileron at tip up 8 down 3.5 combined flaps at root 6 up 3 down
elevator at root 5 up and down plus 20% expo, bigger wind I have 4up and Down
snap flap at root 5 down with a little less on ailerons, this come in after half elevator stick
I do fly with a little rudder mix to the ailerons 2up and Down
up to now I've only used a max of 750g of ballast, I can get 1kg in the Fuz and 1kg if I use the steel joiner. So far I've not had the conditions for this at a F3F, however I have flown with steel joiner and 600g in fuz making total weight 4500g and it was very impressive.

Control throws and setup posted by Ian Mason:
These are still a work in progress and I will change them as I learn. These can be cranked up for faster response with no danger in flight.
I start with a CG of around 95 mm but the model can fly around this position.
Aileron up 18 mm down 12 mm (at root) Flaps up 4 mm down 3 mm
Flaps for brakes, over 45deg down slops her nicely
Snap flap down 2mm across the wing
Elevator up/down 5-7mm measured at the root. 25% rudder mix is a help
Thermal mode is simply 2mm flap and 1mm aileron down to generate some camber. I tend to increase the aileron differential in this mode.