Hi.

Just testing to put some photos in here.. One of my Sharks.

 Regards, Lauri

Thanks. The pictures are from Thun, Switzerland. L

Hi.

 Thanks again.
 The Shark in the picture has flown about 500 flights. I have another one with a bit more. They both fly very well. At the moment the #13 is back at factory for new wings as there was a fatigue problem with the original wings.
 At the moment I use DR .60LS but I'm anxiously waiting for the new bigger engine from Yuri. .60LS is great but in very strong wind it does not have enough power. Both Sharks weight about 1600g.
 In normal conditions Andrei's wide-tip prop is good but in dead calm and turbulent places I prefer Rafale (Beringer) 13,4x7-4.

 L

Hi

 There is some minor problems in fuselage but they are easy to fix. Especially my early attempts with differend synthetic oils caused some vibration and stress cracks in fuselage center seam. Just some glassfiber tape and epoxy for repair. Of course, it would be nicer if it were taken care of at earlier stage, before finishing and castor-oiling the engine compartment..
 The wing has 3 or 4 ribs and a kind of main spar made of about 5mm thick hard foam (softer than Rohacell). In stress the ribs crack and separate from wing skin. After that the wing is no longer rigid. It's very difficult to fix afterwards.
 I receive the planes all-white and do the decoration by myself. This one is by the way painted with water-based acrylic car paint. It's a lovely system, water based colour takes longer to dry so the paint has more time to "flow" down. Much less paint is needed than with thinner-based products. But you have to be a little more carefull before spraying clear coat, the paint surface is not so strong. 

 That's in 2 years, not so much really. I have been a little lazy lately, no flying fields near home.
 Luckily Shark is very easy to fly.
 Of course, a couple of months per year I have place for over 2000 perfectly flat stunt circles.. Future world championships site..? L

 Hi.

 Ice is the best possible surface to fly, we use spiked shoes (ment for javelin or rugby) with about 1/2" spikes. Ice is perfectly flat so you don't have to stress about running like on grass. Snow on ice is of course differend, it can be very heavy to run. But on Ice the start altitudes are the absolute highest.
 No, they are not heilstones but ice crystals formed by gasses outgassing from ice in cold still air. They are so fragile that they allmost break when I look at them..
 Talking about Sharks, I just arrived from world cup contest in Kiev, Ukraine. I will post some results and pictures later. I'd guess Mike Wilcox will have something interesting, too..

 Later, L.