speedy72vega

Yeah, i'm really looking forward to it! My new motor should arrive Wednesday or so, Ishould have it ready for a maiden next weekend. I absolutely love the way the plane handles from watching the other pilots at my field.
Hopefully I can learn to fly it as well
I ended up getting the HS225MG servos that was recommended in the instructions. Is anyone else running these servos?If so. how are they working for you?

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

I'm using the same servos. No problems so far and I've been flying it for quite some time.
The only thing I did was ad a little latch to hold the hatch on since sometimes that small magnet may not work as well.
The new bodies come with two magnets which, hopefully, solved that problem.

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

A few months ago, I mounted a small video camera (FlyCamOne) on the bottom of the Eratix.

Here is one of the videos I took and posted in our club's website. It's about 3 minutes long.

http://www.freewebs.com/scrcflyers/a...w-of-our-field

speedy72vega

Nice video . I can't wait to fly this thing! I have always wanted to get a cam and shoot some aerial video like that. My local field is in a state park next to a lake, I bet that would be some cool video.

speedy72vega

Well, i'm going to maiden my Eratix tomorrow. The setup Iended up running is as follows: Turnigy 42-50-650 motor rated at 1150 watts, 2S 5000ma x2 batteries in series, Super Simple 60 amp ESC, Isolated rx NiMH 4.8v 1500ma battery, 14x7E APC prop, Spektrum AR6200 Reciever, Hi Tec 225MG servos.
Static tests on the power setup resulted in 42 amps max draw at 600 watts with the 14x7, and Ihad to really hang on to the fuse to keep it from blowing out of my hands. I think the motor is capable of runniing on 6S, and I have 2 2650ma 3S packs I might try if poweris lacking on 4S.
Will post update after it's airborne.

lejongleur

My Feedback: (10)

Good luck with the maiden!!

If I can make a quick comment about your setup, I would say that you have chosen a rather heavy motor, and very heavy batteries. Perhaps you could go to your 3S packs (which will be lighter thant the 2S 5000's), and use a smaller prop. 600 watts will be good, but you could get around 800W with the 3S without problems, which is what you may want with the Eratix.

Hope this helps...Chris

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

This is a heavy set up, so it may not hover as well although it will be fast!
Just make sure the plane is well balanced and all controls are centered-trimmed before you take off.

50mph

I still enjoy flying my Eratix, It just makes me look good, and I will give credit to the plane.

Good luck on your flight, 2 x 5000ma seems like it shoud fly for an hour.

Keep in mind this plane does not like to fly to fast. Flutter will kill

speedy72vega

Thanks for the feedback guys. Ialso have a 13x8 and a 12x6 prop, Imight experiment with the 2 3S packs and smaller prop to see what the numbers look like. I'm sure I could get at least 800 watts on 6S, just not too sure how long the 2650ma packs will last. I do fly my Extra 330L with those two 3S packs, and that has a Power 60 on it. It also weighs 7 pounds, but Iusually fly it for about 5 to 6 minutes, and the batteries are barely half discharged.
Decisions, decisions.
For the maiden, I think Imight just fly it like it is, since i'm not going to be doing anything radical on the first flight or two. I need to get a fish scale or something so Iknow how much it weighs.

speedy72vega

OK! I think I found the perfect setup, what do you think?
I got home from work and started experimenting. With a 12x6 prop, 2650ma 3S 20C x2 in series, I got 1001 watts at 48 amps static full throttle.
The motor is rated for 60 amps max, 1150 watts, so i'm still aways off from pushing it to it's limits, and I don't think i'll be doing too much flying at full throttle with this plane.
The 2 2650 packs are a bit lighter also, as some of you said. What do you guys think? How does this plane fly with a 12" prop? Large enough diameter for the 3D capabilities of this plane? Or should I try a 13" or 14" with a lower pitch?

lejongleur

My Feedback: (10)

At some time you might want to try a 13x4 - larger diameter will blow air over the wings better, lower pitch will avoid excess speed.  I wish they made a 14x4E prop!!

speedy72vega

Maiden was a success! This thing flies great!
I ended up switching from the 6S 12x6 setup back to the 4S setup with the 14x7 prop. The higher voltage setup was too much, anything more than 1/2 throttle and it flew so fast the aeilerons started to flutter alittle.
I made a very stupid mistake that very easily could havecost me the plane. When I assembled the plane andset up thecontrol rods, I mistakenlyforgot to tighten the servo arm screws. The screws were in the servos, but loose.After the first flight,me and another pilot werelooking the plane over, and he noticed the screws. After tightening them,I took it up again with the larger prop, and what an awsome plane.
Although there is about a 5oz difference with the 5000ma packs, the plane felt just fine in the air.

speedy72vega

Well, it happened today [&o]. I dumb thumbed my Eratix into the ground today. I took off, made 1/2 a circuit, and went inverted coming back on the upwind leg. As I crossed where the sun was, I got disoriented, and hit up instead of down. Luckily, I was only about 8 or 10 feet up, and not flying very fast. Geez, only about 2 or 3 more feet of altitude, and I might have been able to pull pout of it. The right wingtip hit first, and the ensuing cartwheel broke the fuse in half right behind the canopy.
I cut her open, and glued the splinters back together, taped the covering, and had her back up in about 1 hour. It seems to fly better now that it's been repaired!!
As a side note: I originally balanced the plane with the Great Planes balancer, quite a bit off. I had the batteries marked so they were always put back in the same balanced position, but the plane was always a pain in the ***** to land. I marked the balance points on the bottom of the wings and manually checked the balance using my fingers as balance points, it was quite nose heavy.
I rebalanced by moving the batteries back about 1 1/2", now it flies like a dream, and just floats down onto the runway. Inverted flight only requires a very minimal down elevator input to fly level.
I can't say enough times how much I love this plane.

jzrf6c

It must have been a bad week for the Eratix. I too had a fubar (Fooled up beyond all recognition). I was coming in low and slow when a gust of wind caused the plane down. It hit had on the gear. Dumb me - I had not yet replaced the steel screews with nylon ones. So, rip off went the underbelly and the grae when through the wings. Not a lot of damage but it looks bad taped together. So, I bit the bullet and ordered the replacement ulrta coat covering. Its a shame they don't sell this stuff buy the foot!!!! My old LHS did and we loved it. But, as so many others other LHS ours went out of business. Maybe we could start a coating share/swap here. What do you guys thinK?

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

jzrf6c,

Sorry to hear about the unintended rough landing.
I reinforced the landing gear on my Eratix by placing a couple of braces glued to to the upper part of the fuselage and reglued all joints. I had to cut the covering to be able to reinforce it, but it went back easily and it is hardly noticeable. I've had several rough landings on windy days and had no problems.

speedy72vega

Funny thing about my 'hard landing[:'(]' is that the right side gear hit so hard, it was curled up almost in a circle, but the gear mount stayed intact on the fuse. I didn't have to do anything in that area as far as repairs go. Go figure??????
I'm going to remove all of the tape holding the covering and see if I can iron the edges and reshrink. If not, i'll probably just leave it with the clear tape, even though it looks like crap. If it goes down again, i'll just invest in a replacement fuse I guess.

jzrf6c

JMIR,

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll reinforce the landing gear brace as you did. I ordered the UC blue and clear over a week ago. I was hoping it would be here today. It's only coming 425 miles and so far its been "...in the mail for four or five days". So, since I'm recovering some areas I'll beef up as I go!

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

I had a very bad, unintended landing recently and I need to replace by Eratix.
However, I just found out that E-flite has discontinued it.
Does anyone know who may have any in inventory so I could order a replacement?
Thanks,
Jmir

lejongleur

My Feedback: (10)

Really? Or is it just out of stock currently? I hope so. Mine is currently doing fine, but I'm only one mistake from wanting a replacement!

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, I called Horizon Hobby and they said they were not able to order any more planes. Only replacement parts.

speedy72vega

I knew that was going to happen. When I was looking for mine, only 1 store in the area had one, and showed out of stock online with no release date. I suspected then that it might be getting discontinued [&o].
What a shame, it's such a great flying plane. Hopefully replacement parts will still be available for awhile.

lejongleur

My Feedback: (10)

Well, I just had exactly the same problem. In checking over my plane after an incident (see separate post), I realized there was some vertical movement in the prop. Examination shows that the firewall has significantly delaminated at the bottom

May I ask how you fixed yours? There isn't a lot to glue/screw to, unless I remove some bottom covering and reinforce the back of the firewall too.

lejongleur

My Feedback: (10)

So, I was flying my Eratix, trying to get good at tail-over-nose loops under power when battery escaped from its velcro, left the airframe after pushing off the canopy - leaving me upside-down in a harrier at 50'. the plane circled down most of the way without nose-diving.

Amazingly there was not that much damage. The fuse, lightweight in construction to say the least, broke on one side, and one side of the elevator suffered some 'green-stick' fracturing. The battery and canopy landed on soft damp grass and were undamaged. Both wings=pristine condition.

The addition of some light balsa, plenty o'CA, a couple of small pieces of bass & epoxy, and it looks pretty straight.

Now I have a partial covering job to do, but fortunately I own a roll of the hideously bright day-glo orange used at the factory. I'm very glad I will be able to fix this plane, as there aint any around to buy at the moment.

By the way, since this happened, I've invested in some mil spec hook & loop straps from McMaster Carr for about a buck each. Hopefully a battery will not escape my plane's grasp again!

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

I just got an email from Eflite stating that the Eratix will again be available by December of this year.
They didn't mention if this was a "new" Eratix or the same old one. However, the price will be increased from $149 to $179.
I will wait and order one when they become available. It's a great 3D trainer. I was already up to a 2-1/2D level ;-) when I crashed mine!

jzrf6c

lejongleur,

What I did wass add thin ca to the firewall first and clamp it closed with some small clamps that I had. I used some wax paper to make sure I could get the clamps off after the CA setup. I the mixed up some epoxy add a little alcohol and painted the lamination as bets I could. I did this from the fron and also the inside. The fis seems to have worked as I have many flights and no more failures.

I too am glad to see that the Eratix is going to be offered again. But a 20% increrase. Come on people are you trying to kill this hobby !