rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Weight with no fuel is 8lbs 1oz.

RJ

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

This may be worth mentioning ....My fuel tank has been located to the center of the fuselage (right under the mid CG point) and the ignition module and LIFEPo batteries for receiver and ignition are located behind the firewall. These locations result in a neutral CG with no stick input required in inverted flight. Ireally like the way she flies this way. Istrive to balance all of my models like that and this one required no additional weight anywhere to get it that way. Just lucky Iguess, because Ididn't plan it that way and Iused my fingers to balance it rather than a machine. I was trying to get it in the ball part and hit a homer.
The winds are killing my flying for the next few days gusting to 20mph and above. Looks like spring has sprung in Texas and the March winds have arrived. I'm anxious to fly this little winged rocket again so, I'll be watching the forecast closely.

RJ

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Duplicate, please delete.

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Yeeeee Haawwwwww ! Flew her again today and what a blast. She's fast and responsive and will slow down almost to a walk. ILIKEthis plane. I put 4 or 5 flights on it today. I was so excited Ilost count. Ieven dared to flip the ailerons to high rate and she rolls like a spinning top. Very controllable but, quick to move.
She literally sips gas. I was up for a least 15 min. on one particular flight and she took about 20 pumps of gas when I refuled and dripped gas out of the over-flow.
I'd like to flatten out the throttle curve as most of the rpm comes before half stick. After that it has about 20% left. So, Iusually fly around at 1/4 to 1/3 stick and pump up the power on the uplines ....if needed. Ididn't take time to do it today because I was having too much fun.
She's very precise and will do whatever you command ....even if you didn't mean too.
I'm waiting for another good day to take her out again. If the winds are less than 15mph it's flyable for just about anything here in the DFW area ...except for light foamies and other planes less than 5 lbs.

RJ

mkoe

RJSounds like you REALLY like this plane? I will keep the spare wings Ihave for you just in case you need them. Sounds like you might push the envelope NOW!!!

MK

BTW if you want or need them, $75 for you for the pair. They are about $90 each from anywhere else

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Yep, I do really like this plane. It makes me look like a good pilot. Iheard one of our most experienced and best pilots comment that it was the best flying biplane he's ever seen. I wish they'd make a 50cc version. I'll bet it would be a double blast ...and I've got just the right engine for it.
I appreciate the thought on the wings. Don't take this the wrong way but, Ireally hope I won't need them.

RJ

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

mkoe,
     FYI .... http://www.fwthunderbirds.org/Events.html

Link to our club calendar.  Pick and event and come on down ....or just come on down. 

RJ

mkoe

RJ I hope you never need them as well

ameyam

I flew it extensively too today. The 110a has terrific throttle response. Absolutely stable hover at 60% throttle with throttle management when the winds were low. At higher winds, it required more correction but still hovered quite well. On the last flight, I hovered nearly the entire flight
Ameyam

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Wow, you flying a plane or a helicopter.

RJ

ameyam

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Looks like the weather is going to cooperate to give us a good flying day today(Wed.). Winds forecast to be 10 to 15 and that's very flyable here. I'm really looking forward to putting the Reactor in the air again. Ihaven't had a chance to fly it in a couple of weeks. I've been tuning my two aerobatic birds for the upcoming season.
The Reactor will do it all but, isn't legal for SPA. However, it is legal for the Basic category in IMAC but, they say he's too small and doesn't "present"well. I think that means that the judges are prejudice against anything smaller than 25% scale.
I'm out to have fun this afternoon so, I'm not worrying about that stuff.

RJ

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Sorry to say Ididn't make it to the field today.

RJ

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

I made it to the field yesterday with the Reactor but, I wish Ihadn't. It is no more I'm sad to say. Everything looked good until it lifted off. After that there was no control response at all. It slowly banked to the right just after lift off and continued to turn and loose altitude no matter what Idid on the transmitter. It might have made it to an altitude of 10 ft. before loosing altitude and catching the right wing on the ground. As it hit it scattered pieces as it came apart and when it came to rest the fuselage and wings were broken in half with the right wings disentigrated.
I'm hoping Ican salvage the engine and electronics and will be able to tell if they survived when Ican am able to inspect it more closely. I really liked this plane and I'm pretty bumbed out about loosing it.
There were witnesses to the crash and they confirm what I saw. Everyone seemed to be in shock about what they saw. Ihave no explanation for why the receiver, an AR6200 with remote, quit working at that moment and Ihaven't had a chance to test it. I've experienced receiver lock-outs before when using the smaller and shorter range "park flyer"receivers but, never one of the so-called full range receivers. I've been using AR 7000s in my planes for a long time and never noticed a glitch of any kind but, I will be replacing all of my DSM2 receivers with the new DSMX system to take full advantage of my DX7s capability.

Imay replace it at some point but, for now I've bought a larger bipe. Ilike the looks and performance of the Great Planes Ulitmate 160 and have ordered one. I have a 52 cc engine and everything else Ineed to get it in the air and I'm hoping it will be as great a flyer at the Reactor was.

RJ

livefast_livefun

Sry to hear of your lose. they are a great flying plane! I have not flown mine since last fall. I had a dle20 on the front, it was also set up with a sullivan skywriter smoker on it. It sure looked great in the air i would post a vid if i new how to attach it. last fall i had a dead stick with it came in a little slow, stalled about a foot high so it came down a little hard. Mind you i have had rougher landings. But with the larger engine on there guess things were stressed a bit more, resulting it the firewall getting pulled out of the fuselage. Just lucky this happened from rough landing and not while in the air! I'm in the process of rebuilding a new firewall for it now, as well as remounting it with the os75ax i had in it prior. Thinking the dle was just to much for the reactor bipe. While in the process of the rebuild i was going through the rest of the plane and found the top wing brace is cracking apart at the bottom where it goes into the fuselage. Looked to buy new part only to find out cant buy one. I called greatplanes, they are the best! they said they will send me one out. I asked how much it was going to cost, they said nothing! I cant believe the service! Great people to deal with. Will definitely be buying another Greatplanes model in the future! Thanks Greatplanes!

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Thanks for the sympathy. I'm really going to miss that plane. However, I didn't build it myself. I bought it complete and ready to fly except for the batteries and receiver. I was fortunate enough have access to the original builders build thread with pictures. He had done a great job. The G20EI was the original engine and he prepared the plane for it very well. He reinforced the firewall with pins and fiberglass and it held when everything else broke apart in the crash. He beefed up other areas as well.
I'm attaching a link to the thread if you would like to have a look with an eye toward reinstalling the 20cc engine. Mine had plenty of flights with no hint of weakness anywhere.

http://www.flygsw.org/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1244591201/0

RJ

mkoe

Sorry to hear that Joe. Ido have some replacement wings for it. Oh you already knew that. LOL!!!

MK

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Wow, almost forgot. Now, If I had a replacement fuselage, tail feathers, gear, etc. I could rebuild it.

Actually, I'm replacing it with a GP Ulitmate 160 that just arrived today. Everything Ineed for it is already in stock.

RJ

mkoe

Ihave the gear as well

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

You should grab one of these while they are on sale. $350 shipped with the member discount. It expires 3/31 so don't let the grass grow.

RJ

ameyam

Hi,

my Reactor Bipe survived a mid air on Saturday. Basically I was trying to hover her at the extreme left of the field and close to the ground. It was a bit sticks all over the place but was getting there. A fellow flier took off a GW 50cc Extra right into me. All I heard was his engine spool up and the next thing I saw was two airplanes in contact. My prop went through is right wing which was shreaded. He turned right a bit after the impact and was on the ground. His fuse shattered behind the canopy line and airframe was totalled. I had a cut on the top wing and the bottom wing TE at the hinge line seemed to be cracked. The cowl shows signs of having been pressed in a impact. Other than that the airplane is OK

When they hit I thought that was that for the Bipe, so it was TX down to waist level, but when I recovered from the thought I was surprised to find an intact airplane. In fact, the first question I was asked- "You had a mid air? How come yours has no damage?". There was enough force in the hit that some of his monokote and wood was in my spinner. But even my prop wasnt damaged. It was sheer plain good luck

After the hit, the Bipe ended up on the ground on the main LG as if it has landed. Opening up the monokote to check the parts where the monokote had become loose, there was minor rib damage and the TE and aileron just had some balsa compression. I CAed that area. I also added some tristock inside the TE. Then patched and shrunk out the monokote. Will do the test flight tomorrow, hope everything goes fine

Ameyam

kochj

Lol....
And guys said the reactor wasn't build well? If it survived a mid air with a 50cc.... Thats alright in my book.

kochj

Ameyan
I have yet to get my reactor back up. I have been working on
My 100 cc and extreme flight 78" extra.
The saito 125 has worked well on the reactor bipe.
I had flown it with a 3 blade and it had plenty to spare.

Getting the right prop on your 110 makes all the difference.
A pitch of 6 or higher is the min. The 4 strokes already have plenty down low
So going with a higher pitch gives you the topend
You need for speed.
I would try some of the apc or Master airscrew smintors wood.
These wrk very well and ligh weight. In our case the heavy prop is needed
For cg balance.

When I get working on mine, it will be getting much
More powerfull servos, as this will keep the
Control surfaces from blow back.
Stock form, this plane has very min throws for great 3d.

kochj

Amayan
Run a throttle curve in your 12chan futaba.
You can do a pmix and make both slave and master the throttle.
Or run expo on throttle, to your satisfaction.

ameyam

Hi,

I dont want speed with the Bipe, I want traction. In a hover or any other 3D move, pull out of standstill is more important. I flew the 16x4 APC on the Bipe for some time and loved it. The airplane and prop combo gave me confidence enough to approach hover so low that the tail was on the ground in high alpha. In fact I had the mid air just after I entered the hover that way

I didnt build my Bipe stock. I use one side threaded sullivan rods, fibreglassed the firewall internally, thickened the LG Block with tristock etc. So mine didnt need the nose weight. I used a JXF 16x6 for some time intermediately but the cold engine throws it off, so I went to APC 16X4. I had started flying with Dubro spring steel clevises and the large scale block T-horns from Dubro, After the mid air, I noticed that there was some slop in the linkages (z-bend one side), so I switched to full threaded SS rods with ball links both sides. I also moved to 5625MGs on all surfaces. Subsequently I nicked the 16x4. Dont have a replacement right now. Flew with a 16x6 one day but it didnt have the hold in the hover. Its the peak of summer and its 40 Deg or so, so brains dont work well enough for hovers down low now. In fact I dont want to take the airplane to the field now coz I am drained by the time I finish putting it together. I am building a GW 20CC Sbach, not sure it will fly this season (4-6 weeks more) and I have recommissioned my veteran Reactor 46. The Bipe isint shelved, just may not fly it right now

In your case, you need to try out various props and find the one best suited to what you want to do. I havent go around to rolling circles etc on the Bipe yet, mine doesnt snap somehow. The stock gear had cracks at the bend so I have just put HK CF gears, need to test it since

Ameyam