mach2

My Feedback: (5)

For what you're wanting to do, the Xoar 17x6. Hands down. As for landing her in an acceptable distance the CG is important too. Getting started at 6" is a good place to start since you're looking for a "flies on rails" aerobat that lands nice.

mach2

My Feedback: (5)

I was gonna suggest a Spit as well. Everyone loves the mustang, but if you wanna be different you can't go wrong with the Spitfire. Those beautiful elliptical wings always draw positive comments.

Oh, and just to give some encouragement...don't be worried about bigger planes. If you can fly little ones, big ones are a breeze. Only thing making them harder to fly is stress due to having more money in the air. Do whatever you need to calm your nerves before flying and you'll enjoy the big birds a lot.

microdon2

My Feedback: (47)

You can also try the APC 16x8. Very good prop for this engine.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

I think you'll still be ok with the CG at 6" while you're getting used to it, if you've already had a few planes and you've been flying regularly.

With the 20's there's really 2 props most guys go with. The 16x8 and the 17x6. For what your talking about, the 17x6 will likely be the better plan. For flying from grass, the APC is hard to beat.

denonpmb

I agree that the Spit is one of the nicest "nontraditional" planes out there. The H9 one always seems to be out of stock, and is a little over what I would consider a fair threshold price for a 35cc bird. 1000 for airframe and retracts alone seems a little over the top. A nice 35cc DR1 ARF would be nice to find, or a Focke Wulf.

neilrether

You can't beat this. $200 and shipping is free from Tower until Jan 7.


http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LW4915&P=E

Sbach342Guy

There is also a coupon code that brings it down to $170!

Ricko1

Thanks for the heads up about the Tower discount. I have been waiting for over 5 months for my local distributor to get them in stock with no sign of them coming. Ordered one from Tower. Will be here (Australia ) in just over a week. Late Christmas present to myself. Yahoo !

maekju

That's a great deal.

microdon2

My Feedback: (47)

That is an incredible deal !!

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

I know. Almost makes me want to put one "in stock", awaiting my next unfortunate incident. Problem here is though, having the extra plane "in stock" makes that unfortunate event much more likely... LOVE pushing my abilities with it!

Sbach342Guy

I'd have like to order a spare but I've been spending too much getting my new mini Avanti S air worthy. Glad the wife doesn't ask too many questions.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

With the price so low I am toying with the idea of picking up another and putting my 1.20AX in it.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

I missed your post. That is my dilemma, the money just isn't there right now. It is hard to turn away from such a good deal though.....

Ricko1

Ordered the Revolver on Friday and it was delivered on Thursday from Tower Hobbies. Not bad considering I'm located half way around the world from them.

I waited 6 months for my local store to deliver and they couldn't ( they even took my deposit ) and Tower got it to me in 6 days for the same price. Guess who is going to get my business from now on.

Anyway apart from a few wrinkles in the covering it looks great. Will throw it together this week and will keep you posted on the outcome.

Cheers,

Rick

Ricko1

Just a quick update with the Revolver.

First flight yesterday and two more flights today. Overall I'm very impressed with the construction and flight behaviour. Just shaking down the plane at the moment to fit my style of flying. I found like everyone else that having this kit fitted with a DLE 20 up front is brilliant. It's a very slippery airframe. I can see this as being my "fun plane" to just have a blast around with. Smiles all round at the local field.

Thank's to all the contributors to this thread - your advice and experience has made a nice kit into an awesome plane.

Cheers,

Rick

hitcttd

My Feedback: (8)

Hey everyone! super late to the party on this airframe. Coming back to RC, just ordered REV 70, gonna fit it with a DLE20. I'm coming back and this is my first time working with a gas engine so I have some questions if you folks could help. I'm sure if I dug hard enough in this thread I could find answers but it's 300 pages!

1. Battery - from what I'm seeing LIFE batteries are the way to go, considerably lighter. Do I need two? I read somewhere you can use one 2100mAh for both ignition and RX. Should I get a 2100 and a 1300 or will one do fine? Also, I noticed the battery has like 4 leads, where do they all go? One each to the RX and one to the receiver and one to the charger? The charger I have support LIFE batteries and has a lead similar to one of the ones coming out of the battery

1A - the life batteries have 6.6v? output. Does this mean I need a regulator between it and the RX?

2. Onboard Tachometer, worth it? need it?

3. Should I attach a servo for the choke or is using a friction based rod system okay?

Thanks everyone, super excited to get back in the game with this one. Especially since all of you seem to have done all the work and experimentation!

afjetmech

Welcome to the Revolver club. The Life packs are excellent for powering everything, including the ignition. You will only need one to do it all if you buy one of these. http://www.tech-aero.net/ultra-ibec This completely eliminates the need for the ignition battery and simply plugs into a spare channel on the receiver. This way you can control the ignition on a separate switch. A choke servo is handy but really unnecessary. It saves weight and is just simpler to have a rod attached to it coming out of the cowl somewhere. The 2100mah Life pack will give you several flights before needing a recharge. Use decent digital servos on the flight controls but make sure they do not have Karbonite gears. The engine vibes will break them. Most modern receivers can handle the power straight from the Life pack. No regulators needed. mount the battery as far back as possible because the DLE 20 will make it nose heavy. Some flyers have mounted their rudder servo in the tail area to help with CG. Not necessary, but if you have the time and skill it will help. I have a couple ounces of weight at my tail wheel and my battery is mounted on the angled bulk head aft of the servos. A pitts muffler smooths out the sound of the DLE20 nicely but once again is certainly not necessary. Good luck with your build and don't hesitate to ask questions.

ahicks

My Feedback: (2)

Agree with all he said, but would add that if you haven't bought one already, the DLE RA (rear exhaust) makes for a really clean install.

You will likely want metal gear servos. If nothing else, it's a good habit to get into when going gas.

Other than that, I would remind you that you want to keep it as light as possible. Ounces here and there do make a difference! Trouble there will pay handsomely when you start flying. Best way to keep it light is to pay attention to your CG during the building process. Before mounting any of the radio gear in the fuse, do a CG test to see where stuff needs to go to balance. As mentioned, elevator servo is usually mounted in back.

Last (but no way least!) look into the alum. landing gear reinforcement. You can do it much easier as the plane is being built, or you can glue broken parts back together and then do it. Your call. You will be doing it....

afjetmech

Ah yes, I forgot to mention the gear reinforcement. Very important!!! Like aHicks said, do it while you're building. Repairing after it rips out (and it will rip out) just makes it harder.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

I hope this helps you out.

hitcttd

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks for the all the replies everyone. Per everyone's advice I will
- use 1 battery
- pick up an IBEC
- definitely reinforce the landing gear
- mount the rudder servo in the back (planned on this anyhow)

For servos I'm using Futaba 9402s from my old Funtana 100. Hitec HS 225BB for the throttle.

Hope to be in the air in a couple of weeks

Thanks again guys

mach2

My Feedback: (5)

Perfect. The tech aero IBEC is a must in my opinion, and your servos are perfect as well. Metal gears are a must on gas planes.

As for the switches, I know a lot of guys use a switch for the ignition because that's what they are used to doing, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, I spoke with Ed Alt (who makes all the tech aero stuff) and he told me there is no need to use a switch with the IBEC. The IBEC is the switch. It saves weight, but more importantly in my opinion, it's one less thing to fail (unless you use a switch that fails in the ON position). The tech aero IBEC is probably more reliable than most switches on the market. If you have something as crazy as a radio failure and you can't kill the engine, if you kill the Rx via a switch on the plane, it's the same result as killing the ignition with a switch on the plane. So, why make it more complicated when you don't need to? Just my opinion. I like simplicity.

afjetmech

When I said control the ignition with a switch, I didn't mean to imply a separate switch on the aircraft. I meant a switch on the transmitter for what ever channel it's plugged into. Just make sure it's not one that can be accidentally bumped when flying.

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Exactly. When IBEC's first came out a few years back I didn't trust them right away and used an ignition switch as well as the Rx switch. They have proven themselves to be extremely reliable and I no longer use an ignition switch with them. If fact the odds are higher of a switch failing in flight due to vibration and killing the engine than something happening to the IBEC.