First ride on 1600 F-Arc.

Damn she's nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cT3EEeRnU8

It's like ... a big piece of spaghetti in the sky :o

right tool for the job!

and so cool

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza It's like ... a big piece of spaghetti in the sky :o

my thoughts exactly

Nice filmmaking Chris ! Your camera has a film like look to it. What frame rate/settings used? Like the shot composition... Keep 'em coming...
Oh yeah... The F-Arc is beautiful. How does it compare to the newer arcs...?

1st, Don't call me a tool.

2nd, The compression messes up the film quality. It would take forever to up load from here otherwise. I'm going to mess with the camera more as a camera. Not so much helmet cam footage if I can help it.

The F-Arc has very gamiliar traits to the newer arcs I'm used to. It's a lot more fickle especially when it's on the ice. God help anyone who drops this thing on the water and has to relaunch. The damn thing is so long pulling lines just pulls the ends of the kite while the center just sits there!

The 12m should be easier. I'm going to fly her today I hope.

A lot of power. And my Navi bar is NOT optimal for it. I have to do some tweaking. It was better static flying but moving the Navi/F-Arc combo is not ideal.

Crazy upwind tho.

It is freakishly thin, wants to glide and the dog ear flaps don't flap hardly at all at speed.

By the numbers it is most like a Phantom. The 1200 has the same AR as a Phantom. Projected area is almost exactly the same as a 12m Phantom. Is the profile thinner than other arcs?

Chris -

Nice video.

What in particular doesn't work with the Navigator bar? Did you have the leach line set or slack? I have a couple 1200's and asked Chris Brent, the designer, about the leach line. He replied:

"Yes the leach line is the precursor to the straps. You can tie it however you see fit to the webbing loop. The strap was sort of nicer because we floated it through the middle cells and fix it's length at the tips, meaning you could camber up the middle more without over doing the critical tip section. Tips on setting it, tighten until the kite luffs then back it off a bit You might find that you don't want it for single line operation, and you'll also find that you really don't need to shorten by much to have a big effect. If you see a crease in the bottom skin at about 2/3 chord with full brake you've got as far as you'll get, if you see a crease on the lower skin without and brake tension you'll probably luff the center quite easily. Actually thinking about it you need such a small change for a big affect that you could probably look at tensioning it dynamically."

I've heard the worst thing about the leach line is it can tear thru the ribs if the kite inverts with the leach tensioned.

krumly

looks like minimal throw but require a big bar.

complete frontline bias to stall point would very narrow?

"full open" is all i see. talk about just go with the flow .

a big steering wheel and a start button. no transmission ,no gears ..all GO.

crazy good fun ..what did the marketing look like on this unit ? or was it just friends and family. did a manual even go to print or did come with life ins. application in the bag?

Hey Krumly,

Yeah I have the leach line snugged a little bit but not so much that it would be an issue if things went bad. I've heard the same thing.

I didn't have the pigtails for it from last fall and had to improvise on the spot. I think the correct length is about 3'. The pigtails I threw on were probably 1.25 shorter than I needed. Soooo, I had a ton of rear line slack. It flew well as you could see but I had to yard the bar in tight, secure it with the stopper and she turned like a pig. And Phree's right it was full "go" all the time. I could throw the bar all the way out and obviously there was no effect except lose of steering control. :evil:

The big rig definately wants a big bar.

I'm sure with proper tweeking of the pigtail lengths at the wing that she'll fly a lot better.:wee:

I was going to play with her today but too windy.

Spec on the front pigtails is 28.25" for the 1600 and 25.25" for the 1200. 4" on the rear pigtails for both. I have my 1200 pigtails set up with a center knot at 25.25" and a knot 4" above and 4" below. Don't fly it much, but it usually ends up on the center knot. That's with a 55 cm Airrush bar with 15" depower throw and 10" trim adjust. I'm on the smaller side and the arms barely make the reach.

krumly

HA! Good! Thanks for the info Krumly. Now I'm really jonsin' to get it out again.

She's almost as good in low wind as Big Blue.

Thanks again!