How much ballast and what conditions

[Konrad]

Somebody mentioned Mefisto. Here is my build of a Mefisto Any of the points covered would apply to any of the small fuselage Blejzyk ships. The Serafin and Mefisto would be a great step up from the Elf.

 

[ORRich]

It’s the 1033 with cross tail

Now I’m not so sure which wing I’ve got lol

 

[Wayne]

I flew my Mefisto with a First+, they flew identically in light slope conditions.

 

[julienbri]

Hello Konrad,
I saw that your Mefisto weighs around 750 g and that you ballast it up to 1100 g.
What would you consider the ideal flying weight?
I personally like a bit of inertia, and I have the feeling that even 750 g seems a little too light, even in weak wind conditions.
Normally, on slope soaring, a glider with around 1.90 m wingspan often flies comfortably at around 1000–1200 g.
So I was wondering—what would you recommend?
Best regards,

 

[Wayne]

Sorry, Konrad is no longer on the site. He may text me a response though.. He does read the posts here.

i'd suggest you try different weights. Ballast is really down to personal taste in how you like to fly, and what mother nature is providing at your slope.

 

[thenated0g]

I have found its very airframe specific too. Like some ships just dont care how windy it gets and punch right out into the lift and other things you cant get enough ballast in them.

 

[Wayne]

For the Mefisto, I have a ballast tube in mine, and I think I only ever loaded it up once. Mine is super light, and I like it that way. When lift gets stronger I land and fly a heavier plane.

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Sorry, Konrad is no longer on the site. He may text me a response though.. He does read the posts here.

i'd suggest you try different weights. Ballast is really down to personal taste in how you like to fly, and what mother nature is providing at your slope.

Our team used to have a 'kinda' rule in the UK many years ago with slope pylon racing.

We mostly used to race 2.5M to 3.0M models - "lead sleds" we used to call them. Basically, if you can fly your model to 50 feet, then you need to add ballast. We'd adjust for that and maybe a little lighter or a little heavier, depending on the conditions and how much time you had before the comp.

It doesn't work for all sites, but it's a good 'rule of thumb' for most

Heavier than that, the model will be hard to turn in a small radius, and you'll lose time overshooting and lose acceleration out of the turns.

Doc.