viva_peru

Hi -

I currently fly an Extreme Flight Vanquish which has served me well for the past three years. On the spur of the moment I bought a .70 sized Fantasista and I was surprised to see how well that little plane flies. When it comes to slow rolls and point rolls, the Fantasista seems to do them more easily than the Vanquish; at least on a calm day. In the end, that got me thinking that maybe an airplane upgrade was in order.

So the question is, would the Etude be a significant enough upgrade over the Vanquish to make it worthwhile or should I bite the bullet and go the whole nine yards for a truly FAI capable airplane (i.e. canalizer and a really fat fuse). I currently fly the Advanced sequence and it will probably be at least a year or two before I move up to Masters. My flying is good enough that a crash seems unlikely, but then again, it could happen.

Any thoughts?

Teo

ltc

My Feedback: (3)

I'd go with a full 2m plane..Go big or go home
Since you like your Fantasista 70, why not consider the new full 2m version coming out in 2 months
2 versions, flying stab and standard split stab.
The 4 servo wing looks interesting...reminds me of the Curare

viva_peru

Thank you for your thoughts. I like the look of the new Fantasista and I would love to get one. However, in the back of my mind, I am still a little leery about investing $ 3.5-4K in an airplane which could be pulverized due to a brain fade. The Etude is a 2M plane meant as a replacement for the Prolog and Nuance. Aerodynamically, it is probably more advanced than the Vanquish, but it is probably not as sophisticated as the planes which feature a canalyzer and a really deep fuse; the price at $1600 vs. $2200-$2700 for the other options also reflects that. I still think that my next plane will be a stepping stone to the next level (ie. Masters) and I am not sure that my skill level justifies the investment. The biggest issue I see with pattern is that there is relatively little information available on the new designs, so trying to make an informed decision is rather difficult.

big_G

Why not consider the Caelus? It's a close clone of the Episode. I had 2 Vanquishes and now have 2 Caelus'. I much prefer the Caelus. Just wrapped up the D6 contest season in Intermediate class, with 5 firsts and 2 seconds. It is capable.

Gary.

viva_peru

I think that it is a good plane but I just do not find it very appealing. If they offered an ARC version I would consider it. I have seen Mike fly one and it does fly well.

Rudy

I got an Etude from the first batch from F3A Unlimited. At the time I had just lost my Nuance that was a great plane for me flying in advanced. I’m not that good. So, stability and tracking like the Nuance would be helpful. The Nuance rolled like a dream straight and level. I have found the Etude to be a capable advanced plane. The Etude was easy to trim out. Once I got the CG set, which was right where he recommended. I like my planes a little nose heavy and the Etude is right there. My Nuance I had the CG forward of the recommender placement. No mixes deeded except down line of a couple degrees. It locks on very nicely to your lines. It has a lot of rudder authority. That was a good improvement over the Nuance. It snaps as good as any plane out there that I’ve seen.

Before I ordered the Etude I contacted BJ Park at BJ Craft about the Etude. This is what he wrote back.

Thank you for your interest in Etude,
Fuselage is the same as Nuance, but main wing, stab and rudder are different from those of Nuance.
The purpose of the change is to make its tracking performance the same as G2's.
Performance of Etude is the same as G2's except the performance influenced by canalizer.
Knife edge loop can't be made smaller than G2 canalizer type makes. G2 easily makes smaller knife edge loop than full up elevator loop.
So all classes do not need the above smaller knife edge loop can use Etude.

Best regards,
B.J. Park.

For the money the Caelus is a good tool. Either Etude, Caelus would be a couple of steps up from the Vanquish. There are other pricier planes out there that are good planes too if you can really handle them. It’s more about the operator than the plane at our level.
Rudy

viva_peru

Oops. Double post. I really liked the build quality on the Fantasista so I think that I will get the Etude. I have been considering getting the ARC version so that I can do custom colors. I have found that under certain sky conditions my mostly blue and white Vanquish is hard to see so I am tempted to do something in yellow, black and white.

Thanks,

Teo

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

On the plus side, my Etude is a beautifully constructed machine. They did a great job of manufacturing the airplane. On the minus side, I am having a tough time getting it trimmed out. With the CG set at factory recommended, in knife edge it pulls to the gear very strongly. This echoes exactly the same experience a Master's level pilot I met (I'm sportsman) had with finding the CG and trimming of his Etude. His solution was to mix out pull to the gear through his radios. He said that he thought the stabilizer was set too high on the airplane and needed to be lowered. Just relating my experience here and not trying to start a trim lesson.. So there's two of us at least who have the exact same problem... If I moved the battery any more forward to fix the pull to gear it would be in front of the airplane. With the mix, the guy I talked to said the airplane would be great through advanced,.. Hope this helps

Rudy

Not to be a trimming lesson. I had no problem on knife edge after getting the CG correct on my Etude. I still have plenty of room in front of the batteries. I use Zippy Compact 5S 5000 mAh batteries. The back of the battery is about 3/4" behind the back edge of the landing gear. You got this right - knife edge pulling to gear or canopy is a CG issue and knife edge to gear move your CG forward. I had set my wing incidence at 0.06 compared to zero incidence on the stabilizer. 0.06 is just me though. My Etude tail end must be heavier than yours Kadunlap??? Just two sides to every fence.

kdunlap

My Feedback: (12)

Kind of a mystery really. With the batteries about 1/2" behind the motor (pletty) much of the pull is eliminated. But on 45 degree up lines the airplane pulls HARD to the ground.... The advice given to me was to move the batteries so that the 45 up lines were mostly neutral and to use a mix curve to fix the rudder issues. That put the batteries just about where you said you had yours. If the winter gets too cold, I might be convinced to do surgery on the airplane and lower the stab.

viva_peru

Interesting. I thought I heard that on some of the newer planes a little of up-thrust might help. I cannot remember where I read it however. Does that make any sense?

mgosson

My Feedback: (8)

I am genuinely interested in which plane you choose. I have a Caelus with about 130 flights. For the money it's a great plane. My biggest issue is, as with others have experianced is the landing gear block in the fuselage. The oem adhesive used is sub par at best and a few spots had no adhesion. On my last contest I had a rough landing and totally ripped out the gear block. I ended up making one from carbon fiber.

For an upcoming winter project I'm considering the Etude as well.

J Lachowski

My Feedback: (46)

Mike. Before you decide to buy an Invitation contact me. I am contemplating selling mine.

mgosson

My Feedback: (8)

Sorry Joe,
I make a mistake in my post. What I'm considering is the Etude, I'm not good enough to realize the the upper end.