2006: Here is my first attempt at an electrified Southern Sailplanes, Ricochet - Bullet version. It has a special slipper arrangement bolted to the bottom of the fuselage. The reason behind this invention was so that fliers could retro-fit this particular type of aircraft (used primarily for aerobatics) easily and quickly, without disfiguring or changing the equipment mounted inside the aircraft. But it ended up being about 700gm heavier than the original Ricochet, which at the time had a 2000 nmh battery. The overall weight was about 2.75kg.

Since then I have made a new fuselage with built-in electrics. See the photo and accompanying description further down the page.

2009: The equipment installed into the new fuselage is the same motor as before, a Hyperion HP Z3025-6 brushless outrunner motor but using a waypoint 90 amp SC. The previous Hyperion 80 amp SC gave up the ghost after less than 20 runs. The battery now used is a Hyperion LVX 3700 2S pack. The combined equipment allows me about 25 launches from eye level to out of sight within seven seconds. The 3700 pack can draw up to 75 amps compared to the previous 2000 nmh pack which could only manage 45 amps.

The Ricochet I fly is the same one I use for the championships, except for the new fuselage. I plan to build all new parts for the electric fuselage and the expected weight is to be comparable to the original Ricochet without the electrics, which is under 2kg. Presently, this one weighs about 2.1kg.

Here is a video of my Ricochet flying alongside my flying buddy, Chris Hill. He is flying a Mazer - mark 2, modifed extensively with increased areas on the aileron and rudder, balanced elevators and carbon fibre reinforced wings and tail. Chris has also converted it to electrics. He calls it a Maza 3E (different spelling you'll note).