jmgjaramillo

Hey guys, what do you recommend Futaba servos for Caelus

jetmech43

My Feedback: (9)

Im using 9650 on elevator, and good quality digitals on rudder and aileron

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Next setup. After my test flights of a couple of weeks ago, I made the follow changes...

Wings +1.0, previously +0.7
Stab 0.0

CG moved to the canopy latches. That places the batteries toward the front end of the tray, but not hanging over. Will know more on Saturday.
Total weight 5180g

luckymacy

anything new to report by anyone? Won't get the first chance to fly mine for at least a couple more weeks. One thing I am curious about is what final incidences are folks happy with (especially the canalyzer) and how did you end up 'permanently' shimming the canalyzer to the final incidence that is light weight yet 'wobble free' and solid.

jetmech43

My Feedback: (9)

Im happy so far with 0.7 on the wing 0 on stab and 0.3 on T-can, just my set up im sure there are some with different set up than mine.

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

Hey guys I thought I'd give a status report on the Caelus. From a business standpoint I'm pleased with what we've been able to do with this plane.
We are nearly sold out and down to one remaining plane in this batch. I will extend the free 4600 packs on this plane.
. I had mine out for the first time in a while last weekend for a contest in Milwaukee. My Protege Brandon's plane lost a motor on his first flight so I lent him my Caelus. We did a data transfer from my JR XG11 to his since I fly Mode 1 and he is Mode 2 sharing the same radio is not a good idea. You think????
He had never flown the Caelus and mine is well trimmed out and I have enough experience to tell anyone that it flys extremely well. Brandon took to it right away and flew the P15 pattern on rails. He really liked it which made me all smiles.
With only one left it will be a while before we have anymore. No firm plans yet. At best early next year. The prices will have to go up by around $200 up on the next batch and I hope the buyers understand this as we are making improvements that cost more to manufacturer. Weight will no longer be an issue.Still compared to other planes on the market a good value.
I also have a plane available that has some fairly minor damage from shipping. The damage is mostly cosmetic in one spot behind the t can.The rest of the plane is pristine. A little work and she's as good as new. I'll post a picture.
I'm willing to deal on this plane. If interested let me know and I'll listen to your offer. A good opportunity for someone. No free lipo's with this plane please.

Thanks to all who supported and worked with us during the introduction of the Caelus. I think we we're able to muffle to doubters and prove we could do what we said we would. I hope you found it a worthwhile endeavour. Hoping for bigger and better things to come in the future.
Mike Mueller

jetmech43

My Feedback: (9)

It is a nice and good flying plane. Im really liking the one I have.

big_G

Received mine yesterday, the one that F3A Unlimited was selling with minor shipping damage. Thanks for the reasonable pricing, Mike. Looks fair enough, with the same issues/concerns previously mentioned. I am considering top mounting the elevator servos, to allow better control of the servo arm connection point. I'll post up a final summary of the build when it is RTF. Gary

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Test flights #3 and #4

Conditions:

Motor -1.0 D, 1.5 R
Wing +1.0
Tcan +0.2
Stab 0.0
Batteries: 5S 5000 zippy compact
CG: Just forward of canopy latches

So these two flights went much better than the first two. Much of the pitch down has been removed and the elevators are within .5MM of being faired with the stabilizer. Down line pitches to the canopy a bit. KE has a bit of pitch toward the canopy as well. I'm going to move the cg to just behind the end of the canopy latch bracket. Over all seems to be flying OK. Need to do more flying tomorrow. The rudder on this airplane is powerful and I need to tone it down a bit. I am flying with 35% expo on the elevators and 40% on the ailerons. I'm also going to dial it down a bit. More tomorrow.

luckymacy

My all purpose flat bed digital scale came in and I had a chance to reweigh the plane and batteries and low and behold, the weight came in almost exactly as it read on the digital fishing scale...

so those were good weights to begin with I posted. Today the new scale read 3865 ready to fly minus the 10S packs. The average zippy 10S pack weighs 1086 grams on my new scale. Total typical weight is 4951 or 10.92 grams ready to fly. If I use the 4500 10S packs from F3A my flying weight is about 4815 grams or 10.6 pounds. Why was anyone saying there is a bit of a weight issue? What were people expecting it to weigh? It flies great, lands great. I love it so far. Right now I have it balanced where holding it by the canopy push buttons results in a slightly tail down attitude.

http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-scale-95364.html

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

My Zippy compact 5S 5000 weigh in at 1185 or so each. I am still at 5185g on both scales with batteries. So yes it weighs a bit much. Good news is that I am getting 8 min of flying.

luckymacy

IIRC, you added the gator battery mount which would weigh more than the stock one and your batteries weight a 100 grams more than my heaviest one and you added an arming plug with it's extra wires, etc so I can see the extra weight being in line with mine.

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

I'll probably have to go and buy the 4500 mah packs at some point. That's 200g right there. Also, I'll probably get a cf spinner and for competition pull out the 2nd receiver battery and regulator. Should get to a good weight.

big_G

Wing tube support is short on the left side. My gut says replace it. It doesn't reach the composite...barely engages the lite-ply doubler. Anyone else seen this? The right side doubler was ripped when they installed the tube.

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Same exact issue for me..... Time to consult Mike....

Mike????

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

My opinion of this issue with the tube is this.
If the inside has a donut attached to the inside of the fuse that encapsulates the socket it's all good. That's where all the strength is.
But that's my opinion.
I'll ask TopRCModel about it and report back.
When I get to the warehouse I'll look at mine too.
Mike
I

big_G

Thanks Mike.

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Mike,
Here's the interior pictures of my plane on the side where the wing tube does not extend to the exterior of the fuselage sidewall. Here are some problems:

• There is no plywood ring/doughnut
• 1/3 or more of the tube is not even glued to the fuselage
• Some of the glue has already cracked

I think it's a good time for everyone who bought one of these to check out the wing tube. I wasn't expecting this.

Ken

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

On a positive note, trim flight #5 and #6 went well. Though the CG for me is now back behind the aft part of the canopy latch bracket. The guys told me to fly it this way for a while and see how it reacts throughout a sequence. Current flight plan (pending a fix of the darn wing tube issues) is to fly around 20 sequences over the next 2-3 weeks and see if it needs to move back. The up deflection on the elevator is just a hair above neutral. Couldn't measure it without a micrometer!

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

Okay my answer.FWIW.
The structure is sound. If the glue is a little light add some. Remember that the wing bolt going thru the interior structure plywood thru the composite fuse and into the root rib hold everything in pretty tight and there is little or no stress at this point.
So my suggestion is to add a better fillet of thick epoxy if you're still concerned.
My fuse is the same and I have many flights on it. I have 0 concerns.
Now the reason they are like this has to do with how the factory aligns the wings to the stabs. One side is inside the composite to allow an adjustment to be made.
I know that it is sound however noting it is a good point and so noted.
Also I'm flat out of the Caelus's.
I'm asking for an opinion on what you'll think about the planes. I need honest feedback. The next batch will have improvements but mostly they will be much lighter.
The earliest I can get them will be mid winter but much is based on how you guys liked them and I'd like to hear from those who we're sitting back thinking of one. Did you not buy one because of timing? Looks? Doubt? Reputation? Please share. If not online thru an email please. No comment is what I don't need.
Is this a good thing we're doing? Would you like to see a new design? If so what would you like to have?
Is raising the price $100 and not offering a free set of lipo's a deal killer? Because I can't afford to do it on batch two. I did it to get the planes out there and establish a track record with a new manufacturer. TopRCModel and I have formed a very strong relationship and we are in business to sell large volume with Warbirds and Jets. We 100% want to grow the Pattern plane business from the lower cost more affordable side that is lacking. Sales will dictate how we proceed.
Thanks for all your support. It;s been overwhelmingly positive. I've had a ot of fun getting and distributing these planes. Perfect.... well no pretty good? In my opinion absolutely.
Better than I hoped for??? Yes in many ways.
Mike Mueller

KenChoo

Hi Mike,

I guess I should chime in as I'm one of those sitting back thinking of one (well, thought of one)...I called you a couple of months back about build services and maybe an Essence or Invitation, and as you can see I'm still in the process of making a decision... Anyway, for me the major issues with the Caelus were the weight, and then the lack of definition in the graphics (pixelation of the "Caelus"). The weight factor is paramount as I fly FAI, so not as much wiggle room on weight. Another minor issue was the size of the openings for the elevator servos, as I have two mini servos (JR3421) I normally use for elevator. On the pricing, for me I think it's pretty good even at $100 more and without the lipos. Thanks for working on all this for the pattern community.

cheers,
Ken

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Mike,
I've been pretty direct and honest about the airplane. I have posted the good things and not so good things about the Caelus. I stand by my conclusion that this a good value for $1000. However, yes I am concerned by the incomplete bonding job done on the wing tube. I never would have found this had the concern not been raised by big_g. I really had to go through some contortions to get a picture of the underside of the wing tube inside the fuselage. What I found was pretty clear.... the bonding was incomplete and cracking. (see picture.) My concern is that I am now wondering how many other joints in the wing and fuselage are not bonded completely. But that's for me to worry about and decide whether I need to do more touch up work. I'm not asking you to do a thing. Frankly, though, I do find your statement "So my suggestion is to add a better fillet of thick epoxy if you're still concerned." a bit odd. First, you extolled the virtues of a plywood ring around the wing tube. But when it was clear there were none you defaulted to glue a fillet to it. That takes me back to my original question, if there are hidden issues, how are we supposed to know it? Most of what I have commented on in this thread were quality control issues.. dirty molds, parts missing glue, brittle glue, pixelated graphics, cracked glue, too much glue, and now too little glue. My advice is to get the manufacturer to up the game in quality. Then you will have an outstanding plane. But please don't tell me that the solution with the plane is that I need to add more glue...
regards,
Ken

big_G

Mike, you're probably right. Should be ok.., Perhaps someone with 2M aircraft design experience can chime in on the fuselage tube. I already lost one 2M ship due to poor wing tube design, can't afford a repeat.

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

Thanks guys. Ken you've been great always giving us feedback.
I honestly don't think it's a big deal on the socket. That's the truth if it came across as dismissive than I appologize.
I'm torn on how to proceed. That's why I asked for opinions.
I will however share my honest feeling about all the planes we sell as well as the competitors.
They all have some level of imperfection. It's extremely difficult to hand build these planes at a price point we want and not have some level of flaws.
I try to focus on what the overall value is.
As a buyer of a pattern plane today a few things that are not 100% perfect is about what the market bears. Minor fixes are normal on every plane we sell.
Mike

david hancock

Just went and checked mine. The wing tube goes all the way through to the outside of the fuse on both sides. Only have two flights on the plane, however, my epoxy fillet around the tube is solid and nicely applied.

Dave