Eli F3L 2m

The Eli F3L is a very beautiful high performance F3L/F3-RES model from Eastern Europe. With attractive elliptical flying surfaces (hence the name) and a very long tailboom it flies as well as it looks. The Eli model won all three Slovak competitions in F3-RES in Slovakia in 2020. It was 4th place in Austrian F3-RES nationals and won E-RES once. Eli is made from very accurately CNC and laser cut balsa with lightweight wound tubular carbon booms for the main spar and tailboom, giving excellent strength and light weight. The kit includes hardware for the Eli to be built for either F3L (pure glider) or F5L (electric). F3L and F5L are the new names for F3-RES (glider) and F5-RES (electric) competition classes.

The Eli design philosophy, as stated by the manufacturer is “This model is made for more dynamic flying which you know from F3J and F5J, it is not for standing in the wind. Whole conception is adapted to this fact. There are tubes for ballast about 100 g in the wing.”

The balsa and ply parts are cleanly laser and CNC cut. The fuselage consists of a wooden (plywood/balsa) pod and a light weight tapered carbon tailboom with a balsa tailplane mount. The fin is fixed to the tailboom and the tailplane is removable. Both the fin and the tailplane are cut from a high quality lightweight balsa. The wing is connected to the fuselage using a through joiner. This makes for fast and easy assembly at the field as the wing is retained by magnets – there is nothing to screw. The wing main spar is a tapered carbon tube, which provides excellent strength and very light weight. Riblets ensure the covering material follows the airfoil contour accurately. There are two large spoilers for safely exiting thermals and precise landings.

The Eli can be built fast and accurately without any complications. The kit contents include all the necessary parts to build this sophisticated model easily, including pre-bent leading edge parts and a wing rib alignment jig. The well selected balsa and ply parts are cleanly laser cut and the wound carbon spars are light and well made, with the tip spars tapered. All the control parts and small accessories are included. The kit comes with parts to allow the model to be built as a pure glider or an electric glider. However the internal width is only about 23mm at the nose so installing an outrunner will be a squeeze.

The kit includes a professional quality full size plan with isometric views and a beautifully illustrated English build manual. Also see this excellent photo build log as an additional construction guide.

This is one of the nicest F3L kits we have seen and is highly recommended. Thanks to Nick Pusey for use of his photos.

(C) 2021 Neil Stainton

Eli F3-RES Specifications
Wing span	2.0 m	78 in
Wing area	34.7 dm2	538 sq in
Length	120 cm	47.4 in
Flying weight from	420 g	14.8 oz
Wing loading	12.1 g/dm2	4.0 oz/sq ft
Aspect ratio	11.3
Wing airfoil	AG24 modified
Dihedral (EDA)	12.0º
Spinner Diameter	30 mm
Centre of Gravity	75-78 mm from wing leading edge
Controls	Rudder, elevator, spoilers

Eli F3-RES Typical Weights
Bare structure	290 g	10.2 oz
Covering	50 g	1.8 oz
Total structure	340 g	12.0 oz
Receiver	6 g	0.2 oz
Rudder servo	5 g	0.2 oz
Elevator servo	5 g	0.2 oz
Spoiler servos (2)	10 g	0.4 oz
Battery	54 g	1.9 oz
Flying weight	420 g	14.8 oz

Recommended RC
Rudder & elevator servos	Blue Bird BMS-101DMG, Blue Bird BMS-101HV, KST X06, CHA DS06
Spoiler servos	Blue Bird BMS-101DMG, Blue Bird BMS-101HV, KST X06, CHA DS06
Receiver	4 or 5 channel receiver to match your transmitter
Battery	Radient 1S 700 mAh LiPo, Dream-Flight 300 mAh 4.8V NiMH, HyperFlight 650 mAh 4.8V NiMH, Dream-Flight 700 mAh 4.8V NiMH, 1S 2600 mAh Li-Ion, 2S 300-600mAh LiPo

Control Throws
Rudder	17 mm each way
Elevator	12 mm up & down
Spoilers	80º up
Spoiler mix	3 mm up elevator with 45º up spoiler

Electric Powertrain Recommendations
Hacker A10-7L geared 4.4:1	3S 450mAh LiPo, 12×8, 13×8
DYS D2225-19	2S 450mAh LiPo, 9×6, 10×5
DYS D2225-19	3S 450mAh LiPo, 7×3.5, 7×4, 8×4
ADH300L / MM1914-1100 Front Mount **	2S 450mAh LiPo, 11×6
ADH300L / MM1914-1100 Front Mount **	3S 450mAh LiPo, 8×6, 9×5

** This motor will need a small widening of the internal fuse space to fit.