saqueeb

i'm using a Hitec Aurora 9

twostroke

My Feedback: (6)

Wondering if you guys running Saito engines have the oil mess that I deal with on my reactor, after a couple of flights it is coated with oil on the bottom. I am running the standard muffler and have the breather tube tied to the landing gear about two inches from the wheel. I run omega 15%. I have other saito's but none of them slime up a plane like this thing does, any thoughts?

saqueeb

i have the saito 82 and a 90* adapter with the standard muffler and i do not have that big of a mess using 15% wildcat.

griesel

I have an electric reactor with 251 flights on it so far. I use it to practice IMAC Basic. Power is Turnigy L5055C motor ( 1600 watts max), Turnigy Plush 80 amp ESC,
Turnigy 4.0 AH 30C 6S battery and Turnigy 13X8 Beachwood A prop. About 1400 watts at about 60A The plane stalls quicker than a fat wing plane but no tip stall.
This is the best aerobatic plane I have had so far including a bunch of YAK 54's and 55M's. Servos are all Hitec HS 85 MG for light weight. It climbs vertically until I
loose visual orientation. Probably not enough power for 3D but good enough for pattern work. The landing gear has been beefed up and the main gear is excellent.
It flexes quite a bit absorbing bad landing shocks and can move more than 2 inches allowing prop strikes. It always springs back to original shape and has not
required re-bending. I have destroyed 4 props so far mostly stalling while landing in gusty wind conditions. It weighs about 7 pounds with battery. Transmitter is
Hitec Aurora 9 with a 6 channel dual antenna Hitec receiver. I had one crash caused by a well used velcro strap letting the battery go and knocking off the hatch and
unplugging. Fortunately, damage was very light and was easily repaired. This is definitely the best flying plane out of about 40 planes I have owned.

eugene1e

Ok Guys I have this plane knew in the box and i am having a hard time deciding on an engine for it so these are the engines I have available what are your thoughts on this

61 Thunder Tiger
61 ASP
52 Evolution
os 46fx
magnum 46

fritzdecat

I think electric is best for this plane...worked great for me

Bob93447

Mine was taken out by a nubie in a midair. Too bad Great Planes doesn't sell it anymore. But electric was definitely the way to go for me.

Ernie Misner

The Saito 82 or OS 55AX would be perfect. I had the 82 on mine and it balanced perfectly. Your 61's are too heavy for the power output. I should balance good with the Evo 52 I think. If it is an early kit, the landing gear is too flexible. That causes the gear to flex back when trying to get up to speed for a takeoff, and then the plane just hugs the ground and won't take off! They might still have some of the sturdier gear in stock. Keep us posted, that is a sleek and cool plane for sure.

Uncas

My Feedback: (1)

My Reactor will not take off either.
I do not buy the landing gear theory unless you have changed it out and proved it. I think there is some issue with thrust angle and wing incidence vs balance. I suspect one of these things are really wrong for this plane. I have moved my thrust angle up by a washer width and it helped some. There is also an issue with it being nose heavy but I am thinking this may be a thrust angle issue as well. I am not sure how these two relate. Could too much down thrust make the plane seem nose heavy? I have added/moved weight to the tail to compensate for what appears to be a nose heavy plane. With the added tail weight and the recent up increase in thrust angle, I managed to pancake the plane on the last landing. I am fairly good at landing but this was challenging.

I think I am missing some basic aerodynamic tuning for this plane. Does anyone have a recommendation?


I am using a Saito .82 which seems underpowered for 3D. I know I am whining but this has been one of my most disapponting planes I have ever had. WIth wings parallel to the ground and flying easy it shows great promise.- it flys really light.

Ernie Misner

Yes, I changed to regular gear off of a UCanDo and it fixed the take off problem right now. What happens with the stock gear is the way it is swept back and too flexible, is that when the plane gets rolling the gear flexes back and causes the wheels to drag and become TOWED OUT rather than straight or a hair of tow in which is recommended just like in a car. So as the wheels drag to the towed out position it eats up the power and the plane doesn't get up to take off speed very well. Flying off of grass makes it even worse. Also, you absolutely do not want any up thrust on an aerobatic or 3D plane. A little right thrust and a bit of down or straight ahead, but no up thrust ever. On the profile 3D planes it is real easy to accidentally get a bit of up thrust when you mount the engine horizontally. That makes them fly really weird, especially when coming in for a landing and trying to adjust the throttle.

What engine did you decide to go with?

turboflier

Magnum 46- or electric!!

ameyam

Guys, I have been flying the Reactor 46 around for a long time with a OS 91FS. Its a tad nose heavy with that but easily balanced. I dont seem to be having any problems with it as a hybrid airplane. In a hover there is a lot of wing rock but in time you get used to it. I did have issues with the new fuse & tail I ordered because the elevator halves are warped. But with the 91 4c & a 14x6 MAS, good grass takeoffs, nice soft landings, no nosing over at all. I mounted the LG swept forward, used 2.75" foam wheels & no pants

Ameyam

eugene1e

OK guys another ? What would be good servos for this plane I have some standard futuba 3003 but I don't think they will work so looking for suggestions.... What do you guys think of power Hd

Ernie Misner

A couple of friends have used the Power HD 1500's with no problems. The have tons of torque, that's for sure. I would go with the Hitec 485's though, and put a digital version the 5485 on rudder perhaps.

eugene1e

Ok but these are standard servos i thought everyone was using the mini servos

Ernie Misner

Hi Eugene, this is a pretty old thread and maybe you've been reading that. The Hitec 225's are not very popular anymore if that's the mini you were thinking and they had some problems. There are some newer servos like the 485 that are cheap and rock solid on this size plane. What engine are you going to use? And be sure to use a 6V or so battery like the 1100 LIFE from Tower. Much lighter than std batteries and the servos will be strong and quick too.

eugene1e

I think I'm gonna use the evolution 52 just not sure if I should be looking for mini servos are standard size servos....

Ernie Misner

Why spend more money on mini servos? There was some mis-advertising with the Reactor. I think they said even a 32 size engine would work and suggested mini servos. This is a 50 size plane all the way.

Bob93447

My first Reactor got taken out in a mid-air and I finally found a Hobby Shop that had one new in a box. I would like to implement some of the suggestions I have seen to make it lighter and stronger but I need sources for two items;

1) 16 mm OD carbon fiber tube for the wing joiner. Somewhere I read that you can save a couple of oz. by replacing the aluminum tube with Carbon Fiber, &
2) carbon fiber landing gear.

I would appreciate any and all inputs regarding sources for these items.

Thanks,

Bob

ameyam

Bob,

you won't find the wing tube but HK has some nice 15 & 20cc gear that will work. The LG block is the Achilles heel of this airplane, so I got some 1mm CF plate, cut it as required & reinforced the gear block from the canopy side. It requires cutting open the first bay of covering under the canopy & drilling out new holes in the gear. I am sure you will figure it out

Ameyam

Ernie Misner

http://www.graphtechrcshop.com/ Here's some nice CF gear. I think the stock Reactor gear is swept back but on my reactor I put some standard UCanDo gear on it and that worked great. Note that on the graph tech CF gear page they do have UCanDo gear.

Ernie Misner

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/comp...where-get.html For CF wing tubes...... Also http://www.aliexpress.com/popular/ca...ing-tubes.html And even more if you just google the term.

eugene1e

Ok so i went with a evolution 60nx HS-5485HB all way around 13x4 prop fly's great still a tad noise heavy but this thing is a beast to get airborne im talking 300ft wide open throttle on short cut grass on pavement it takes about 70ft omg is everyone experiencing this

Ernie Misner

Yes, most folks experienced the "won't take off" syndrome with the Reactor. Took a while for us to figure out what was going on! ..... what happens is that the landing gear flexes too much, begins dragging, and the wheels get TOWED OUT while still on the ground. That causes more drag and hinders the take off speed that is needed. The early ones had super flexy gear and were the worst. Is yours an early one? Even the better gear still did it I think. If you put std. gear off of a UCanDo or whatever, the problem is solved.

eugene1e

Yes mine is the newer the landing gear is not swept back like some of the earlier ones I've seen.