Winnitwo

Dr Z,
Thanks, now it's clear. I wasn't aware that also the tail wheel can cause trouble, so I'll keep that in mind, too. Wish you good luck for rebuilding your plane!

regards
Winni

RZielin

My Feedback: (1)

Progress today. Dry fitting going well, despite using stray scraps of wrong thickness ply. Mercury Brand Thin CA is awesome stuff! It puts those jigsaw puzzle pieces and slivers together like steel, and fast. Smells really toxic though. Comes out your pores the next two days.

Hole in the fire wall, epoxy, balsa, duct tape, bailing wire and a prayer and she'll be ready to crash again!

Winnitwo

Great job! I'm curious to hear how it will fly.
Winni

RZielin

My Feedback: (1)

SHE LIVES!

I'm pleased to announce the successful resurrection and (2nd) Maiden Flight of my smashed Mini Pulse. (Pics of the carnage and rebuild in progress are in my previous posts page 77 and 78). The rebuild took lots longer than I expected, but was most gratifying. I never worked with light ply or covering material before, and discovered I really like the Ultracote covering process. It's very Zen.

I was able to shove the dents and fractures out of the battery cover from below and CA it all into relatively good shape. I left the original covering and battle scars on, just to give her a little character. I'll probably straighten, spackle and recover that piece after a few more flights, or maybe not.

Added weight is negligible and she balances with battery nearly in the identical position as pre crash. She came out straight as an arrow and solid as a rock, and flies perfectly. No trim adjustments needed at all from before the crash. Yay!

orangeman

[:-] Hi there, am new to this forum and am sctualy glad iv found a forum on a plane im in the process of buying one, have been flying for a few years now with trainers and a few foamy jets, but have a few questions for u guys.
1. im not sure on what motor to buy, have seen posts for the 450 and the 480, am leaning towards the 450 as its just the easier option for me as for the instalation i mean, just bolts strait in, were as iv read the 480 has a diff foot print so new holes would have to be made in the firewall. what ever u rekon, where sould i get it from and what should i avoid, i live in the uk so not really sure were to look?

2. what servos do u rekomend, im no stranger to the whole rc and servo thing as iv raced nationaly in rally cross, so is there any need for digital servos or would coreless be fine.

3. lastly is there any major tips anyone could give me before putting it all together, as the last thing i want to do is put it all together and find out there is something the instructions doesnt tell me,

thanks,
steve

ZX11

I am happy with the eflite 450 I bought from the local hobby store to power my mini pulse. Here is me launching with the 450 power. I used the cheap Eflite servos they recommended. The PNP pulse comes with a chinese knockoff 450 to power it and it isn't as good IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6L0T0-lwLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-kZzzRMFEY

RZielin, I did the same damage to my mini pulse when I swatted away a fly on my arm while doing a low pass. It also flys great after glueing the puzzle back together as the first video shows. In the video I am pointing out the damage before I launch it.

RZielin

My Feedback: (1)

Orangeman,
Welcome to the "club". It's worth searching this thread, altho it admittedly will take a long time to read it all. Starting with nylon bolts for landing gear and/or reinforcing the landing gear mounting area seem to be the biggest tips. Several methods of reinforcement (including my own in recent posts) are shown in this thread. Since graduating to steel landing gear bolts, I've had many "spirited" landings including stall drops from a few feet upwith mild LG bends but no fuse damage whatsoever. (My modeling skills far surpass my flying skills ).

I don't understand the enthusiasm for the 480 motor, as the 450 flies this plane very well, with low weight, good balance and easy install. But then again, I'm not a good pilot. Still, seems to me you want a more advanced aerobatic plane if you need that "480" performance. Just my 2 cents (?pence?).

I agree the e-flight 450 is probably better than the knockoff PNP 450 that I use, but even my PNP 450 is adequate for medium speed aerobatics. (My friend's Mini Ultra Stick with the "real" 450 seems to blow my 450 out of the water).

I cannot speak from experience, but knowledgeable posters on another forum seem to agree that the E-Flight motors are only average quality but but premium priced. Hyperion, for example seems to show much better efficiency, weight, and power, better build quality and similar or even lower prices. Find one with similar max amp/wattage and KV (around KV 900) and you should be good. You can use WebOCalc to confirm your choice will fly the plane well. You'll pay for the better motor quality by having to fit it to the plane though.

http://flbeagle.rchomepage.com/softw..._imperial.html

Hope this helps.

patnchris

I have been flying my Mini Pulse with an E-Flight Park 450 for 4 years. My flying buddy also has one with a Park 450. The planes fly beautifully on this a combo, using a 2100 ma 3S 15C lipo. I've flown mine off water with pontoons and off snow with skis. It has plenty of power and is plenty fast. For those who talk of super speed or unlimited vertical, all I can say is this plane wasn't designed as a pylon racer, or for 3D. It is a sport flyer, and a very good one. With a Park 450 it can do loops (uprite and inverted) rolls, (slow or fast) Cubans, knife edge, inverted flight, any pretty much any other sport flying manuevers. It does not do 3D well, even with the PArk 480. What the Park 480 does do is make the plane nose heavy and forces you to fly faster to maintain lift....My vote would be the PArk 450

Also, speaking of other brands of motor, I would actually put the E-Flight motors above middle road. I have at least a dozen of the from Park 400's to Power 60's. I also have some Hackers, Axi's, Exceeds, and Rimfires. To be honest, I can't tell the difference between brands of similar size and ratings. I normally get 30-40 flights each week and fly all winter, in the snow, so as far as how well they last, I've only smoked two motors in 4 years and that was because I deliberately over propped them to pull more power than the motor was rated for. The only motor that has ever really given me problems was a Scorpion, and that was because I actually believed their spec sheet, rather than trusting my experience and judgement.

Stevedots

I have had about 20 flights of my MPXT and it is a great plane. I have done some of the mods to it before its first flight. So I do owe some thanks to the following: PZielin for his structural modification and tail wheel fix and Winnitwo for his battery mount.

<o></o>

I haven’t changed the mounting bolts to nylon because the field I fly from is grass but it is pretty smooth, the 495^th R/C Squadron keeps it cut short. Plus I must be getting a little bit better at this R/C thing because I haven’t had a bad landing yet….OK the real reason I have had good landings is really because of the MPXT not the person at the controls.

<o></o>

My only trouble with the MPXT is the ground handling. I have done a few ‘donuts’ on the field trying to take off. Today I read Newjak’s post about checking the wheel alignment. Mine was off just a tiny bit so I bent it so that it (looks anyway) in line with the rudder. I also did a mod of my own to the tail wheel wire. I added a small bit of epoxy putty to the tail wheel wire to keep the tail wheel centered with the rudder. Haven’t flown it with the epoxy putty and the adjustment yet but I hope it will now track straight on the ground.

<o></o>

I also added some thin plastic between the wing mounting bolts and the tail mounting nuts. The original tail nuts I replaced with self locking nuts. With the thin plastic it will keep the wood underneath from compressing so the plastic will spread out the load

<o></o>

My set up is:

<o></o>

E-flite 480 1020kv motor

APC 11 X 7E prop

E-flite 40 Amp

E-flite 1.75 Aluminum spinner

Hitec HS 65 HB servos (fit with just a little bit of trimming)

Hyperion VX G3 35C 2200 lipo

<o></o>

Thanks All,

<o></o>

Steve

Stevedots

Flew the Pulse yesterday and she now tracks straight on the gound....great plane, especially with the extra power of the 480 1020kv motorand an 11x7 prop!

Steve

Kallemeyn

I flew my Mini Pulse XT for the first time last week.  First flight was great, but the second flight was cut short because the motor failed.  After a deadstick landing on the runway I saw that the motor is now all screwed up, there's a lot of friction, it sticks where before it was smooth rotation.  I spoke to someone at the local hobby store who also had one and he said he had a similar problem with the motor, but it wasn't as bad as mine. 

Has anyone else has this problem with the 450 motor in this model?

RZielin

My Feedback: (1)

Mine required at least two bad crashes to ruin the bearings, which still work but make noise. The PNP motor is not the same quality as the E-flite Park 450 (despite the same "name" designation-shaft sizes are even different). Could yours have a loose magnet, or a chunk of debris caught inside? There's nothing else in brushless motors to cause friction.

Tepid Pilot

Been flying my pnp Mini Pulse for about a month. A very nice little airplane. Power is stock and, I feel, an excellent match for the airplane. The 10x8 electric prop recommended by the manufacturer as an "upgrade" doesn't seem like much of one if any, so I'm using an APC 10x7 slow flyer which works very well. I put a pair of DuBro 3" micro sport wheels to enable flying off grass and now I have a tiny pasture plane. The lg looks a bit odd in the hangar, but in the air the large wheels are almost invisible.

TP

RZielin

My Feedback: (1)

I agree. I find no significant performance difference between the E-flite 10-7 slow fly and a master airscrew 10-8 E. However, the 10-8 E
appears to draw less current and allow longer flights at the same performance. It should have faster top speed but it seems only slightly so if at all. I'm sure low speed emergency acceleration/thrust is not as good with the 10-8 E prop, but this plane doesn't need it-it's nearly impossible to stall anyway. Slow Fly props are power hogs. I recommend anyone trying a 10-8 E prop (not SF) as soon as they're comfortable landing the plane and avoiding accidents. Better for your batteries.

Furthermore, the E-flite SF props sold separately require lots of reaming or drilling. They are not drilled the same as the ones that come with the plane. It's a real problem to keep the hole straight and centered. Not recommended once you break your stock PNP E-flite prop. Stick with APC or Master Airscrew.

Tepid Pilot

Interestingly, substituting an APC 10x7 "e" prop for their 10x7 "sf" type resulted in a faster flying airplane. I wondered why it was using up more sky, then remembered having installed the "e" prop the previous evening. Therefore, I consider that prop to be a superior "upgrade" to the recommended e-flite 10x8.

TP

Franco2fly

Read through this thread since I just purchased the PNP Mini Pulse and flew it for the first time last week.  It jumped into the air and flew quite nicely but I found the Elevator throws to be a little too great (Might go exponential here), and the roll was not as axial as I would have liked.
Here too I found that the aileron throws out of the box were equal in up/down.  Aerodynamically , this is wrong.  It was easy to slip the control horn forward a notch so that there is slightly more up than down.

I'm not certain, but having the servo's (weight) back in the tail feathers just bothers me intellectually.  One flight is not nearly enough to make any serious judgements, and I'm looking forward to putting some more stick time on the airframe.  I would be interested in hearing from other flyers as to their set-ups.  How much throw and what hole is the best for all around aerobatics?



KKKKFL

DwightMann

With the servos in the tail, the plane balances perfectly. I am using 2000 and 2200 mah batteries which is a little more than recommended, but I get a strong 10 min flight out of them. Moving the control in or out on the horn will increase / decrease the throw both up and down equally. Most radios will allow you to set differential. If yours does not, rotate the servo horn so it is more towards the leading edge rather than parallel. This will give more up than down throw.

Franco2fly

Yup,
I did move the servo horns one click forward, now have more Up than down for the roll axis, hoping to try this W/E.  As for the balance being correct, sure that's correct, but having weight at distant ends is a no-no since the moments need to be overcome.   Its like the long pole that a tight rope walker uses to balance.  With weight at the extremes, ie the nose and tail, you have balance, but making the tail flip is a little more difficult since the plane needs extra energy to start the momentum..

I hope I'm explaining this well enough.  At any rate the Mini is very light, and thus these minute details go to add up.  In a perfect world the battery and the servo's would all be centered at the middle and you would still retain the balance.

Now on a separate note, it seems some are worried about the landing gear ripping out.  Do I really need to replace the 4-40 steel bolts with Nylons?


Also any flying tips?

Thanks

DwightMann

If the servos were placed more forward, it would take more weight to gain the same moment. The same moment is needed regardles of the distribution and by placing more weight near the middle of the plane, any benefit is lost.
I have also seen others complaining about the L/G, but I have had no problems. I do fly off a paved runway however

woodbender

Without a doubt, the landing gear is weak; more specifically, the gear tears out a good portion of the fuse when (not if) you land in grass or even hit a rock. The downside of using nylon bolts is the wheel pants poke holes in the underside of the wing when (not if) the gear folds up. The good news is with new bolts and a couple of pieces of Scotch tape to patch the holes in the wing, you're back in business.

Franco2fly

Ok so the LG is weak...  Even after just my first look, I did not like how narrow the Dural Aluminum was across the bottom.  I can see where the torque flex backwards would rip out the narrow plate that the gear is bolted to.  So here's my solution...  2 bucks for an Aluminum plate from the hardware store, a couple Fender bolts and some hefty 2/56 bolts with good sized heads.  The plate is torqued down to the landing gear and provides a long lever that is screwed down up in the engine block.  Weight gain is insignificant and I'll report any failures, but I don't think there will be folding landing gear.

First shot rough cutting the aluminum with Dremel Wheel


Next shot is the plate prior to installation Note the large fender washers that are used to distribute loads






Finally, installed, a wood screw is used in the front, and you can see the original bolts are also still used, the combination should provide a 3 position bolt on of the LG vice the original 2.




Thanks for the initial info...  Now I just need the wind to die down so I can test in the real world.



KKKKFL

woodbender

If you get the gear to fold up after Franco's modification,  you've done more damage than just fold up the gear!

Franco, I have to tip my hat to you for coming up with what I think will be the ultimate solution to the weak gear problem. After nearly 2000 posts with at least 50 landing gear modifications, I think someone (that would be YOU, Franco) has solved the problem once and for all.

I hereby retract my post above. Well done, Franco!

Franco2fly

Thank you Sir....

Next step is to dig into the flight characteristics.  I will be looking for the best CG location for Spins first.  My next favorite after the spins upright and inverted is the Lomecevek but that will be a good many hours of flight time away.  Of course to get proficient one needs to fly lots and lots on the same model, so I wanted to get that weakness eliminated.  I would like to know what folks thing is the best amount of throws for the surfaces.  I will measure what I currently have and post later today.

KKKKFL

Franco2fly

Here are those measurements... 
It's someplace to start from
CG is 2 1/4 inches back from LE

Up on Aileron is 3/8 inch or for the metric crowd 9mm

Down is 1/4 inch or close to 6mm

Elevator is at 5/8's up (20mm) and down is 7/8's or 25mm

Rudder is side to side almost touching the elevator when elevator is centered.

I measured the elevator by placing a business card parallel to the bottom orange stripe.
Total weight is at 1 pound  12 & 3/4 Ounces.

Wind today is at 20+mph  ARghhhh.

KKKKFL

woodbender

Franco, what power set-up are you using?

The little MPXT has a tendency to float (endlessly) on final. It'll be interesting to see how you handle that little quirk and where you finalize the C/G.