new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

this was just posted elsewhere, so i thought i'd point it out here. Silverlit, the original makers of the AA, has started selling a new plane at TRU. its called the RC Single Wing Plane (BORING!). its more conventional, with a single motor and actuator for the rudder. but, for some reason that is far beyond me, they decided to use a NiMH pack - makes me think this is one of their older products, but knowing we'll buy just about anything, they figure they'll sell them to us (and they're right! man i'm a sucker).

the two folks that have them said that the throttle seems proportional like the AA, but the rudder is not, also like the AA. its got a geared motor, so its probably a little M20. uses a 3AAA NiMH pack, and its TX is the same as the Picco TX, except its not IR, its RF so it doesnt have the range issue and can be flown in the sun. they said they picked them up for only 20 bucks, which is darn good, especially if all of us already have extra AAs - the AA lipo will be a perfect match for the plane, so we can get rid of that crappy NiMH pack. they also said that in its out of the box form, it'll fly for about 3 minutes or so, not surprising with its battery, also said that it flys like the AA in mono form.

i plan on making a run to TRU and seeing if they have one, but i'm not holding my breath. for 20 bucks, we'll have more options when it comes to building our own planes. no more need for twin steering type planes. just one motor and actuator for the rudder. nice! i'm hoping the RX is small so it can be used in smaller planes. i've attatched some pics that they posted so you know what to look for.

sweet!

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Hey Micro!:D

This little mother looks VERY interesting. Also interesting that Silverlit are selling direct in your US of A. Isn't everything else sold under the AirHogs brand? (Dunno about the Picco Z tho' - is that from Silverlit or AH over there?)

What interests me about it is that the spec is very, very similar to the Wattage Micro Flyer and its evil twin, the Minitype Flyer. I have, this very day, returned my second Minitype Flyer to the seller. The spec is like the RC Single Wing Plane (!) except for a LiPo cell rather than NiMh. I've read good reports of the Wattage product, and the Minitype looks exactly the same (a clone?), apart from a more conventional Tx with 2-speed motor control, so better, theoretically. BUT both my Minitypes have had radically or subtly skewed flying surfaces and were incapable of gliding never mind flying, also I had cell issues with both.

So if the RC Single Wing Plane ([:@]) lives up to expectations, I may be forced to get me one! Roll on Xmas!

Ayrton :D

PS Is it EPP type foam as per AA? The Minitype was quite brittle foam.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Ayrton,
i thought the same thing about the micro flyer and its evil twin, but i just got back from TRU and they had them on the shelves so i bought one (they also had EVERYTHING else, piccoZs - in a new style box, helix helis, stormlaunchers, room raiders, aa bipes, aa jets, all of it!). i thought it was weird that its a silverlit product as well, especially since the address for silverlit on the box is in california. the piccos are still under the silverlit name as well, but i had heard it was going to airhogs, but who knows.

i just got done with my first test flight, its pretty calm outside. i turned on the plane and TX and the battery had a charge already so i tried it out. for 20 dollars, this thing is awesome. i didnt time the flight, but i will after the charging is done, but it was more than 3 minutes, i'm certain. it flys very well, though a bit tail heavy. turns nice and sharp, climbs pleanty well, stalls can be horrendous though, she doesnt correct herself very quickly so it needs some altitude if it does stall. i'll try to get some video as well.

again, for 20 bucks, this thing is pretty darn nice. its made out of the trusty, indistructable EPP foam as well. looks like we have a new toy (like i need another one!). i think i might get another and leave one stock and see whats on the inside of the other, the NiMH pack seems to be working amazingly well, but i know i could shave off major weight going to a lipo, but time will tell.

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

well, first charge and first flight have shown some incredible promise. even though its a NiMH battery, i still got almost 10 minutes of flying time. there was about a 5mph wind and it handled it no problem. this thing can be very quick, but it'll cruise around nicely at only 1/4 throttle. it took me probably 5 minutes to figure that out, so the flight time is probably over 10 minutes.

a fellow flyer who just got one took it apart (he beat me to it!). said it wasnt too bad, but to be careful. looks pretty simple inside, and i thought it was powered by an M20, but the pics look like its a 6 or 7mm motor.

here's a little video: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=585468

i said it before, but i'll say it again, this thing is a blast for only 20 dollars. totally worth it.

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

ugh! theres o tru here! why did we have to move!!!!!!!!

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

monster the nearest tru to me is 6 hours at 65 ish. And it is still in CA. Bankruptcy will do that. Tim

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Micro, will it stunt?

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

well it does some unusual things mid air sometimes. i did get a loop or two after a hard turn in dive then pulling out straight into the headwind at full throttle. not all that easy, but it seemed to work. it also has some unusual stall characteristics, when the AA stalls, the nose drops then it levels out and keeps going. when this thing stalls, its like someone smacked it out of the sky - it'll stall, drop the nose, then do some odd looking tumbling. with enough altitude its recoverable, but otherwise it usually means a meeting with the ground.

it does some very nice high speed turns and banks though, its certainly faster than the AA, but it can also fly moderately slow. i cant say whether it turns tighter than the AA, but its close. either way, its a lot of fun to fly.

i still cant get over a 10 minute flight time from a nimh pack. AirHogs has how many countless flying bricks powered with nimh packs that only fly for 3 minutes or so - if you're lucky. yet somehow silverlit makes it look so easy, not to mention using the more conventional single motor and rudder setup (and for only 20 dollars - how does airhogs justify a 30+ dollar price tag for their flying junkers??). the more conventional T/R should allow for some nice DIY planes in the future.

if you can find one of these, i would highly suggest it, its a nice addition to the micro RTF club.

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

i want to have one too , trouble now is where to get that in here , i'll do shop around .
Question is the rotor indestructable too ?

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

renoscenic,
the prop seems pretty durable. if it does break though, a GWS 5030 prop will be almost a perfect replacement, as its only a half inch longer. a little bit of trimming and you've got yourself a replacement prop, GWS props are usually pretty cheap too, and just about every hobby hop carries them (online or otherwise).

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

I just got one of these on your recommendation micro. I saw the video you posted and it looked great, unfortunately the flight time seemed pretty short and it didn't fly anywhere near as good as yours. It has a strong tendency to turn to the right, even when I hold the rudder all the way to the left to counteract it. The instructions give advice on how to correct for this, but being new to planes and rc, I don't quite understand what they mean. They show lines on where to cut and in which direction that place should face, but once I cut along the lines, how do I keep those parts facing in the direction I want them to face?

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Prozak,
There are a couple different possibilities on how to fix it, and it depends on what's really going on. First thing you need to check is that your rudder is straight and that your wings are the same angle. To check the rudder, look at the vertical portion at the tail of the plane, is it perfectly straight up and down or is it bent at an angle? If it isn't, bend it as straight as you can get it and try flying it again. If that's not the case, place the plane on a flat surface and compare the heights of the tips of the wings. They should be the same height off the ground. If they're not, bend them to get them as close to the same height as possible and then try to fly the plane again. Now check the small horizontal tail wings, they should be at the same angle and not bent in any way. Bend them straight and try flying again. If none of these fixed the problem, then it's best to just return the plane as defective and get another. There are other possibilities, such as the plane not being balanced properly or the transmitter/reciever not working properly, but nothing that you should try to fix when you can just return it and get another. Good luck!

Snit

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Hey snit, thanks for the advice. Well the rudder isn't straight, and it's held in place by rubber bands so I don't see any easy way to straighten it out. The instructions give advice on how to correct the plane by cutting the airfoils and making them face up or down, and I did do this and it seemed to work, so I'm not quite ready to drive back and return it. My problem is getting the airfoils to stay in the place I want them, I tried bending the foam and just hoped it stayed and I saw an improvement in flight, but the foam tends to bend itself straight again. I'm gonna try to tape the airfoils and see how that goes. I'm open to suggestions here, but worst comes to worst, I'll just return it.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

hi Prozac,
you could use some tape (of any sort) to keep the bend in the flaps after you bend them. it should hold it well enough during flight.

as for the rudder, you could try gently bending the areas of foam where the rubber bands go into the verticle stabilizer (not the rudder). this might straighten it back out well enough to fix the turning issue.

the rudder on these planes deflect almost 90 degrees, which is far more than it needs. if you hold left or right too long it might dive into a spiral, so like most other non proportional rudder planes (like the micro flyer, rookie, ect), its best to just blip the left and right stick, rather than pushing and holding it. its also easy to get out of control if you're flying at full throttle. with it being tail heavy, it doesnt take much for it to nose straight up and stall, and this plane doesnt recover from a stall very easily. i found that 1/4-1/2 throttle works pleanty well for simple cruising around.

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Just wanted to give an update in case anyone reading this was interested in reading another opinion on the plane. Well, the tape didn't work too well to keep the wing flaps in place so I broke off a peice of wire from a paperclip and I placed it under the airfoil and then I taped the paperclip down. It flew relatively well like this, although it still has a tendency to go to the right sometimes, it's not nearly as bad. I only adjusted one of them because I was trying to avoid putting unnecessary weight on the plane, so I'll play around and see if I can get better results.

As micro said, going full throttle all the time isn't very good as it stalls and then spirals down, and turning the rudder too far for too long is also bad as it'll make the plane dive down. All in all, it isn't too bad for 20 dollars, but I can't get more than 3 minutes of flight out of this and it ends up in the ground more than I'd like. I've never flown a plane before, but I felt like you had to get to know the plane a bit to keep in the sky (which I still can't do for too long), giving it too much or too little throttle will make you end up on the ground, and if the plane starts turning because of wind, I have to compensate with the right stick to make sure it doesn't make too wide of a turn or it'll end up in the ground, and then again the throttle needs to be adjusted as it starts turning because too much throttle and it'll spiral down, too little and it'll just fly down.

So far I've had more fun with the picco z as getting it to fly and stay in the air is much easier. Maybe if there was an easier way to adjust the airfoils I might be inclined to give a higher recommendation for silverlits single winged plane. The instructions tell you what to do to correct for abnormal flying, but they don't tell you how to do it, hence my crude paper clip in the airfoil.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

I got one too. It turns left good enough to fly in my basement. When I turn right it falls too much. It is hard to fly for me because after you come out of a turn it wants to climb up into a stall. ( or into my ceiling ) . I have to throttle back after every turn, then full throttle in the corners. For $20, I like it.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

I replaced the batteries with a lipo from an AA. It now weighs the same as an AA jet. (22 grams). I had to mount the lipo on the windshield as far forward as possible to get the CG right. I'm getting better at making this plane fly fast in my basement. If it only had an elevator........I'm afraid I'm going to break the right stick off trying to use an elevator that isn't there.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Prozak,
If you find the single wing plane a little touchy, maybe it would be better if you got an Aero Ace (I find the Jet to be more a little more stable then the biplane) and practice with that. On top of that, they're really indistructable! Once you get the hang of it and you can fly the AA like an Ace, then you shouldn't have a problem mastering the Single Wing Plane! Good luck!
Snit

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

I agree. The AA jet is the best of all the toy planes I have flown. People say you need more room to fly the jet but I don't. I can fly it easier in my basement than the aero ace bi plane. I can do laps at a slow 7seconds or fast 3 seconds. It won't turn as tight as the bi plane but it almost flys itself in a 20ft diameter circle. I trmmed it that way, then make small corrections to keep it there.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Ched,
just out of curiosity, did you install an LVC for the lipo? if so, where'd you get it? i picked up a 2nd SW today and plan on just gutting it for parts, i'll use the RX, motor and actuator, and will use a lipo rather than the NiMH pack. i worry about the voltage though, with no LVC, it could be pretty easy to forget and accidently drain it too far while flying.

over on RCG in the micro RTF forum, there's a nice SW mod thread that just started with some good pics of the insides and other usefull info. worth checking out.

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Hi Nick
I run the plane for five minutes at a time and check the voltage. In time you learn how long you can fly before the battery gets too low. I hope I can tell by the performance too.

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

well, heres the SingleWing conversion. the plane is a Micro Ultimate, this is probably the 3rd set of electronics that its had installed and probably has the most thrust. i already had an actuator installed for the rudder, so that cut down on a lot of the hastle, and i simply cut away the most of the gearbox and then just glued it in the nose. when i built this plane, it was from the first set of plans that had been drawn, which didnt have any incidence angles, so its hard to get it flying right, since the tail, main wings, and motors are at 0 degrees, the CG has to be set pretty accurately, especially without an elevator.

it was pretty windy out when i tried to fly it tonight so i really couldnt tell how it was actually performing, but it did fly. i'm probably going to put some incidence in the wings this weekend to help get more lift (despite having twice the amount of wing area, i couldnt say it was any slower). AUW is just over 24 grams i think, i need to double check.

so far so good though, the electronics certainly have some potential. i'm sure there will be more to come!

Ched,
thanks for the info, thats usually the easiest way to do it without installing an LVC. what sort of flight times are you getting before the cell drops to 3v?

nick

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

Lol that prop is half the wingspan...sorry I just couldnt help but say somthing about that. :D

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

I have flown 20 minutes at almost full throttle in my basement and the voltage of the lipo was still 3.7 volts. There was a small drop in performace after about 15 minutes. Does anyone know how many ohms the rudder actuator is?

RE: new Silverlit plane at TRU
 

armedzagi, yeah, the prop is a bit oversized...just a little ;) (its not too bad though, some of the rubber powered free flight planes have props almost as large as the entire wing itself!).

ched, thats good news, thanks. if i can remember which box i put my multimeter, i'll check the resistence of the coil. my guess, its anywhere between 10 and 100ohms - when the NiMH pack starts to lose power, you can tell the actuator is sucking up a lot of juice.

nick