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bjaffee
Jan 22, 2003, 01:00 AM
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<td width="30%" align="left"><strong>Features</strong></td>
<td width="70%" align="left">83 minutes of gliding action<br>
(Electric, Slope, Scale, Thermal, DLG, Cyberflight, DS, and more)</td>
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<td width="30%" align="left"><strong>Formats</strong></td>
<td width="70%" align="left">DVD, VHS (NTSC or PAL)</td>
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<td width="30%" align="left"><strong>Available from</strong></td>
<td width="70%" align="left"><a href="http://radiocarbonart.com/">Radio Carbon Art</a> </td>
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<blockquote>Radio Carbon Art's Endless Lift 2 ranks as one of my favorite soaring videos. Paul Naton's camera work and the production values are second to none, and those qualities continue in the sequel, Endless Lift 3. For those have seen Endless Lift 2, there are some differences. Endless Lift 2 featured many different aspects of the R/C sailplane hobby. Mainly, though, it focused on slope soaring activities, showcasing the beauty and fun of this type of flying in many locations. Endless Lift 3 focuses more on the technical and competitive aspects of different types of soaring, as well as electric flight.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Endless Lift 3 is available on both VHS and DVD formats. The fact that the video is available on DVD is pretty amazing when you consider the relatively small audience that soaring R/C videos have. It's a great credit to Paul that he has pushed the envelope and made available many of his films in the DVD format. I reviewed the DVD version, and as I expected, the quality of the video and sound was excellent. Paul shoots his films on digital video, so it's not surprising that very little is lost in the translation to DVD. The DVD also has some extra features, including previews of other videos available from Radio Carbon Art, and a showcase of some of Paul's sailplane art. About the only drawback is that the main content of the DVD is only split into two chapters, despite the fact that the video has ten segments. This can make skipping around a bit difficult. In the future, it would be nice to see the DVD split into as many chapters as there are segments.</blockquote>



<blockquote>Speaking of segments, let's take a look at what Endless Lift 3 has to offer. On the DVD version, you start from a slick-looking menu, featuring clips from the video in the background, along with the enticing sounds of a plane dynamic soaring. Selecting the "part 1" chapter brings us to the first segment, which is about the F5B World Championship in San Diego, CA.</blockquote>

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<td width="100%" align="center">U.S. team member Steve Neu launches Tomas Pils F5B plane for
the final heat of the 2001 World championships in San Diego.</td>
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<td width="100%" align="center">Fourteen countries sent teams to the highly competitive 2001 F5B World Championships.</td>
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<blockquote>In this segment, we get a look at some of these high performance F5B electric racers that use up to 27 cells for power. Some nice graphics are included, illustrating the planes and descriptions of the rules for F5B competition. I have to admit that this was my least favorite segment though, since the bulk of it seemed to consist of guys standing around in a field holding transmitters and stopwatches, rather then actual footage of planes flying. There is footage of planes flying by at high speed, launching, and landing, but I never got a real sense of what contest flying involved.</blockquote>

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<td width="100%" align="center">One of the XC teams searches in vain for a thermal to get them back home.</td>
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<td width="100%" align="center">An open top car or truck is required for Cross Country soaring.</td>
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<blockquote>The next segment, about Montague Cross Country Challenge, brings us into pure sailplane territory. Here we see coverage of a cross-country sailplane contest held in Shasta Valley, California. The scenery is beautiful, and the planes are big (mostly RnR XB-XC's). Many winch launches are followed by scenes of the competitors jumping into cars and trucks to follow their planes on their long distance, long duration flights. The various means that the fliers use to get comfortable controlling their planes from the backs of moving vehicles are pretty interesting. There was even one competitor that appeared to have installed a living room armchair in the back of his truck! Cross-country is obviously not the easiest event to film, since the planes spend a great deal of time very high up. Consequently, most of the flying in this segment, aside from the launches, involves the landing of these big birds against the awesome backdrop of Mount Shasta.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The third segment is an interview with R/C sailplane champion Deryl Perkins. Here Daryl and Paul discuss various topics including Daryl's involvement in F3B competition, his idea of a "dream sailplane," and his views on dynamic soaring, F3F slope racing, and a few others subjects.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It's hard to do a sailplane video these days without showing some dynamic soaring (DS). In "The Edge of the Circle," we get some typical DS scenes, plus something a bit different at the end. The segment starts with the obligatory shots of foamie JW slopers doing some DS racing at Cape Blanco. This is followed by a scene of Craig Toutolmin's composite plane blowing up rather spectacularly in 40mph conditions at the Cape. Next up is Paul Naton's 173mph run at Kiona Butte from back in 2000. Video of this run was also seen at the end of Dave Reese's film "Lift Ticket", and we see it featured here from a slightly different camera angle. This record-breaking run is certainly some of the most spectacular sounding pieces of glider footage I've ever witnessed. The sound of Paul's "Speed Runner" roaring overhead like a jet must be heard to be believed.</blockquote>


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<td width="100%" align="center">A couple of hard core slopers enjoy some late evening DS at
Oregon's famous Cape Blanco.</td>
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<td width="100%" align="center">Paul Naton demonstrates with his F3B Raider the newly discovered technique of front side dynamic soaring at Oregon's Peterson Butte.</td>
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<blockquote>The DS segment ends with front-side dynamic soaring. Here, Paul demonstrates a technique he developed for doing DS circles on the front side of a ridge, using irregularities midway up the slope that create separation boundaries on the face of the hill. While not super fast, it's certainly a novel idea. Like standard backside DS, it could add techniques to improve speeds and aerobatic performance on an otherwise lackluster flying day.</blockquote>


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<blockquote>"Lift on Demand" brings us back to electrics with high-performance e-power sailplanes. First, Deiter Mahlein of Shredair explains some of the basics of e-power, going over the motor, batteries, speed controllers, props, and typical system setups. He then demonstrates these in action, using an electric version of the Stratos SR sailplane at an alpine-type slope. The segment ends with some very high performance competition planes being flown on a beautiful slope Oregon. Here Paul's usual great camera work captures the high-speed passes, aerobatics, and huge climb outs of these electrics as they rocket around the hills.</blockquote>


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<td width="100%" align="center">Discus launch pioneer Phil Pearson discuses the history and airframe requirement of this revolutionary launching technique.</td>
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<td width="100%" align="center">A Mapleleaf Encore DHLG cruises by during a contest.</td>
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<blockquote>"Spin Revolution," gives an inside look at the evolution of Discus Launch Gliders (DLG). First, Phil Pearson discusses the initial development of the side-arm launch, the technique from which discuss launch evolved. This technique usually involved planes with a wingspan of less then a 50". This leads us to Dick Barker, who is credited with developing the full 360-degree discuss launch. Dick also discusses the Uplink, one of the first "full sized" (around 60") discuss launch sailplanes. Next, we go back to Phil, who explains some of the features of a modern DLG. The segment closes with a montage showing several DLG launch styles, and of variety of modern DLG's in flight.</blockquote>


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<td width="100%" align="center">Dan Troxell's huge 1/3 scale KA-6 makes a smooth and scale
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<td width="100%" align="center">This rare 1/3 scale German Condor begins it first aero tow
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<blockquote>In "The Big and the Beautiful" we get a look at a scale sailplanes at the Chino Summer Aero tow event. This is probably my favorite segment, as it features some great footage of some really beautiful model sailplanes. There are plenty of modern sailplane models featured here and some very nice tugs as well. This segment has lots of great shots of the aero tow takeoffs, as well as some nice flybys by the "glass slippers."</blockquote>

<blockquote>What really got my attention, though, were some of the more vintage sailplanes. Models like Dan Troxell's 1/3 scale KA6dt, and Rick Briggs 1/3 Condor 4 looked fantastic, whether seen on tow, soaring, or landing. I can't say I was a huge fan of the older sailplanes before, since I tend to like the slick, modern stuff, but this part really made me appreciate how cool the vintage planes are.</blockquote>

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<td width="100%" align="center">Scale master Tony Elliott takes his huge sixty pound scratch
built SB-10 for a walk down the tarmac.</td>
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<blockquote>If there's a "Big and Beautiful" award, though, it has to go to a modern plane, Tony Elliot's massive 1/2 scale SB-10. This is a truly majestic bird with super high aspect ratio wings that flex just like the real thing.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In "Cyber Flight", we get a chance to look at the cutting edge of R/C electronics. This segment features Alan Cocconi's amazing EMS Albatross electric sailplane, which has been converted into what is essentially a drone. The plane has an onboard video system and can transmit a large amount of telemetry to a full ground station that Alan has in a trailer. A computer steered antenna on the trailer receives the video and telemetry, which is then displayed on a computer using custom designed software. We see Alan do a full approach and landing, all from the inside of his trailer. Pretty cool stuff.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The last two segments of Endless Lift 3 showcase flying just for the sake of flying. In "Rock Run," Paul's sailplane is launched from the top of the bluffs at Cape Blanco, with him on the beach below controlling it. The plane is flown around a huge rock, then across the beach for a perfect hand-catch landing.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The video ends fittingly with "Wind Journey," which follows the sunset flight of a Wanderer, a floater-type sailplane, through smooth evening air. It looked like the perfect end to somebody's perfect day of flying.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I found Endless Lift 3 to be an enjoyable video. The camera-work, picture quality, sound, and editing are top notch. Even the new-age-type sound track is nice. Despite the fact that I'm not really a fan of new age-type music, it seemed fitting for showing gliders floating around in the beautiful scenery that is seen so often in this film. As noted before, Endless Lift 3 concentrates more on the technical aspects of the hobby then it does on raw thrills. It also has quite a bit of electric content, which may make it more or less appealing, depending on where your interests lie.</blockquote>

orck
Jun 14, 2005, 04:16 AM
sorry wrong thread