ROUND 1

The Volta 1 was designed for electric aerobatics. I deliberately did without any luxuries, such as landing gear, a cockpit, a nice finish, etc. On the other hand, the aerodynamic design of the fuselage, wings, and tail unit has been kept as “clean” as possible. Here, every effort is worth it to keep overall drag low. I considered lightweight construction to be the most important factor—every unnecessary gram costs not only performance but also flight time! The fuselage structure is kept simple (a box frame with rounded triangular spars). The wings and tail are made of Styrofoam and are perforated to save even more weight—before skinning, of course.

Once launched with a strong swing into the air, the model climbed away at a shallow angle and immediately turned into a sweeping, steep turn. From then on, I felt like I was flying a slightly underpowered Marabu high-wing glider. The entire F3A National program is definitely manageable, and as a bonus, it can even perform some nice slow rolls and four-point rolls. Mind you, not with a launch from the stratosphere, but with a modest steep turn from level flight. Since there’s no gearbox, the running noise is similar to that of a high-speed fan, and during roll maneuvers, you can clearly hear the control surfaces “whistling.” I can report a flight time of about 6 minutes at 0°C, after which the speed drops but it’s still capable of one or two go-around maneuvers; these figures also match the manufacturer’s specifications. The Astro 25 is quite energy-efficient for its performance and exceptionally robust, even though its appearance might suggest it’s just a cheap windshield wiper motor.

In closing, I’d like to say that electric flight is certainly no longer in its infancy, even if it isn’t quite fully developed yet. In any case, without much prior knowledge and using conventional methods, I’ve now built a high-performance electric aerobatic model, and I’m convinced you can do it too!