Howard

My Feedback: (55)

Mine is here and it is a sight to behold. Quality, quality and more quality. Packaged very well, beautiful, exceptional hardware, CD manual, a new standard in ARF's. This is going to be more fun than a guy should be allowed.

Howard

AlW

My Feedback: (17)

My Bravada - turquoise/cream showed up to-day. Here are my first impressions. The box was BIG! Double boxed with no visible damage to the outside and transported via Fed Ex. The airplane was carefully packed and all parts were well protected. Small parts and fasteners etc were bagged. The airplane arrived in perfect condition with no damage whatever. The covering was beautifully installed with just a few wrinkles which is to be expected. The glass wheel pants and cowl were well done and the paintwork was very high quality. The landing gear and wing struts are stout and again the paintwork is excellent. This is my second Aeroworks airpolane - I'm currently flying the 30cc Edge 540 with Dle 30 for power so I pretty much knew what to expect in the Bravada. This one will also be powered with a DLE30. Looking forward to putting this airplane together and getting it to the field. Good work Aeroworks!
Al Watson

Hibrass

My Feedback: (1)

I test flew one of these this weekend with a DLE30. Perfect combo...! What a great plane with so many possible activities... The only oddball item was the bird did require right aileron and right rudder trim to fly true... I little more than I expected. We did add some additional right thrust and it helped but didn't have time to finish all of the trimming. We'll work on that more next weekend...

Ed

Howard

My Feedback: (55)

I did the maiden flight on my new Bravata this morning also using a DLE 30. Very straight forward and no problems. I also found that I had to use a lot of right aileron trim much more than I expected. I will also try increasing the right thrust on the engine but, the amount of additional thrust may be limited by the cowl outlet. Anyone one else experience this issue and how did you resolve it. The takeoff is a joy to watch with the plane tracking straight down the runway and casually lifting into the air.

Howard

Hibrass

My Feedback: (1)

Howard,

By any chance do you fly at the "Osceola Flyers" club?

Ed

And Thanks for the info on your trimming efforts. I think we will play with the right thrust a little more next weekend... With the short nose and very long tail moment that could be what is causing the issue... But then again even with the extra trim it flies great!

Howard

My Feedback: (55)

Ed,

I belong to the Indian River Kontrol Society and the Sebastian Airmasters and fly mostly at our field located at the Brevard County Landfill. We are located to the south of Cape Kennedy in Brevard County. I did notice that adding right rudder was very helpful in reducing the right aileron trim. I plan to add more engine thrust and right rudder trim because I don't want to lose any more of the aileron authority.

Howard

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

One of these should be shipped to me this week.  I'll be also using a DLE 30.  It'll be a product review in High Flight magazine, Fall issue.

Too bad they don't have those floats any more...

Hammbone

My Feedback: (309)

What do you mean "Too bad they don't have those floats any more..."?

Their not going to produce the floats for this plane?

Jim

grgfraz

i have one and just talked to areoworks floats are in production due mid summer

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

According to what was told to me by Aeroworks up at Toledo, the floats in the photos were the ones from SIG and they're not available any more.

And the replacements in production are a whole lot more expensive than the old SIGones.

Like $300.00 vs $130.00

Howard

My Feedback: (55)

Some thougths following the maiden flight: Aeroworks has created a truly an impressive package with this plane and earns my thanks for a job well done. The quality really added to the enjoyment of the assembly. There are a couple of things that are worth giving some additional thought to and they are first, I would add a second elevator servo just to improve the redundancy/reliability of this beautiful plane, secondly, I purchased additional vinyl transfer tape/paper to make the classy vinyl transfer installation an easier job and lastly I would look at whether additional right engine thrust should be built into the firewall.

Anyone looking for a class act Sunday flyer should consider this plane.

Howard

akleader

Wow...successful maiden. Awesome plane. We maidened in 15 - 20mph winds & the plane flew beautifully. DLE 30 has ample power for what I intend do do. We will be putting this on floats next week. I plan on flying a lot on Saturday / Sunday in efforts to get DLE 30 dialed in.

Plane talks off in about 10 feet (if wanted), and we opted for this since we flew off of a rough runway today. My friend dialed in the flaps, and she slows down to a crawl. We mixed some elevator in with the flaps / awesome now. We did need to add some right aileron on the trim flight as others have noted, but it is dialed in now. Landings were a breeze, and wind was gusty. My friend did most of the flying today, and I can not wait for the weekend. I have the red / creme version, and it looks awesome in the air. Stall is almost non existent, and you have to try to stall it. We did this on purpose with full elevator, and it breaks to the right. Once you ease off the elevator just stalls hently forward.

This plane is large & easily visible in the air. It really is a beauty.

CG was spot on with batterys all the way forward. If someone opts for DLE 55 (which I may in the future) the batts could be pushed back. DLE 30 is definitely enough power. We put some struts from rudder to elevator each side just to reinforce the are, but I do not think we needed it. This was in anticipation of a larger engine at some point.

Plane is awesome!!

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

My Bravata will be test flown tomorrow.

On the subject of one piece of transfer tape included in the kit, I got 2 pieces. Still not quite enough, but if you install the largest graphics first and then cut the tape for the smaller pieces, it works fine after several re-uses.

I did not put the N numbers on the fuselage, only the larger ones on the top of the wing, and put the smaller "Bravata" logos near the stab on the fuselage.

15 pounds 4 ounces dry ready to fly and had to move battery up where the seats would go to get perfect balance.

My DLE 30 turns a Vess 19A at 8200 RPMon the ground after 2 tanks of gas.

grgfraz

good l luck with maiden just getting started building mine did you re shrink yours any tips for that and any other building tips thanks

Howard

My Feedback: (55)

Best of luck on the maiden Dick. I have about 10 flights on mine and the only real issue on my end is engine cooling. My first several flights were with the cowl removed. Using the cowl openings from the manual I immediately experienced overheating and a flame out about half way into the flight. I then blocked off the upper right cowl inlet, cut an opening the full width of the engine cooling fins and built a duct from the cowl to 1/2 inch from the fins. My last flight (which was mostly full throttle) gave me 241 deg F using an IR gun immediately after the flight. Three of my flying buddies have this plane and based on their experience I am going to open the upper right cowl inlet.

I bought additional transfer paper and I don't know how to do the task without that. The Bravata kit is pure quality and I have built others that cost more but were not at this standard. Aileron rolls are very slow and the elevator is very effective. My DLE 30 is running like a Rolls Royce. I am using a single A123 2S1P 2300 mah battery with a Tech Aero IBEC (ignition battery eliminator circuit) and the highest recharge has been less than 500 mah. My radio gear is a Futaba 18MZ and all servos are Hitec HS-5625. When deploying flaps the plane balloons big time. Thank you Aeroworks, I had fun with the assembly and having a bunch of fun flying.

Howard

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

To all of you that had to add right aileron and/or rudder trim to fly level:

I made 4 test flights this past Saturday and will be posting video and photos later today.My plane also required quite a bit of right aileron and rudder trim to fly level.

However Sunday I did some checking and may have found why my Bravata flew off to the left, and maybe yours too.

I put my Robart incidence meter on the right wing, root and tip, and found less than 1/2 degree difference. Not bad.

However on the left wing, I found at least 3 degrees of negative incidence root to tip, with the trailing edge being up from the leading edge. This would simulate "up left aileron" which of course would require right trim to fly straight and level.

I tried to unwarp the wing using the heat gun while twisting the panel with my hands. It seemed to hold within 1 degree of being straight root to tip, all afternoon. I have no idea whats gonna happen out in the sunshine.

You may want to check your wings for warps.

Youtube Video Link here:

http://youtu.be/4zSz4Dd2mQU

phakur

My Feedback: (13)

Hi-

Did any of you guys have trouble getting to the full aileron deflection? I seem to be kind of constrainted at about 1-3/4 inches.

Thanks-

Larry

Slope Pilot

At Warbirds Over the Rockies it was in the Aeroworks tent, it was a very nice looking airplane up close.

maukaonyx

Just ordered a dark red and cream Bravata yesterday and got a great deal at VV. The price is $100 off, and then another 10% off the entire order. That was the last straw and I caved. I had not bought a single new plane or RC item over Black Friday or any holiday sales until yesterday. Ordered the DLE-30 with mine too...love that engine in a Pilot Sbach that I have. Merry Christmas to me! Jon

Didg

Does anyone have one of these and also have / had a Rascal 110?

Just wondered how they compare, flying characteristics, build quality etc.

Hibrass

My Feedback: (1)

Didg,

I have flown and worked on both.. I love the Bravata for my taste.. The New version Rascal 110 is a great plane as well but has been updated for electric power option which some how, to my eye, changes the proportions so they are not as attractive as they use to be... (Just me..) Both are great flying birds the Rascal will fly lighter than the Bravata but I prefer the more solid flight chareristics of the Bravata.. Construction wise the Bravata hands down.. Price wise the Rascal.. Either will make great comfortable fun fly/lazy day flyers..

Good Luck,

Ed

phakur

My Feedback: (13)

[font="Arial"]I am very close to finishing this and getting in my first flight. Here are some observations.

This is my first Aeroworks ARF and while I found the construction to be extremely good I haven't found that is is superior to certain other suppliers at the dollar value. I certainly agree it is generally excellent.

However, it is not without problems.

I have had much difficulty with stretching the covering and then finding it to wrinkle again. To me it just was not ironed down properly and I have spent more than a couple of hours of time trying to get all the wrinkles out.
In addition, the cowling, while close, is just not the same color as the covering. I would have thought that this was a slam dunk.

In regard to the build itself, the location and method used for the servo mounting of the throttle is not good. Especially for those of us with big hands. It would not have taken much to design this a bit differently. Maintenance is going to be an issue.

I have been unable to meet the specified aileron throws. There just isn't enough play in the prehinged surfaces. Hopefully I won't need it.

One major issue is that fact that either the location and drilling of the cowl is off or the manual is incorrect. I am using a DLE 30 with standard mounting which is exactly equal to the manual requirements for distance from firewall to prop hub. However that puts the prop hub about 1/8 inside the cowl, so spacers are required on the mounting posts or redrilling of the mounting for the cowl is needed. I used quarter inch spacers.

I'm not done yet but have to state that the value for the price paid is at least in my mind a "C".

I am very concerned about the amount of right trim required by others reporting in this forum and certainly would have expected more from a high quality high cost ARF from AeroWorks. At this point as far as I know they haven't responded to that point.

Larry

Didg

Thanks for this info, very useful.

maukaonyx

I guess I am not concerned about the right trim issue because I think pettit explained the cause pretty clearly, at least to me. There is basically a wing warp that needs to be corrected. Those are easy to correct with a heat gun. Many ARFs have wing warps because the factory workers just cover the wings as fast as they can and pay no mind to warps that they induce with uneven shrinkage. I look at all my ARFs when they come out of the box to correct this issue. Well, I hope this is all that is wrong. When I get my plane and eventually assemble it, I will see if I have other issues you experienced. My opinion via personal experience of AW ARFs is high, much better than my other ARFs except for Pilot which is as good or better. I agree the value for the money is starting to decrease as the prices of ARFs increase by apparent leaps recently, but I could not pass this one up for basically $540. I was holding back at $699. Hey, Merry Christmas to ALL! Jon

maukaonyx

I have looked at my Red and Cream Bravata a little bit. The covering is good and pretty tight overall except the stab and elevator on mine. I will be hitting the whole plane with the heat gun, iron too if needed. I do agree the painted red is noticeably darker than the red covering, so they could have done a better match. I wish actually that the dark red covering was darker rather than the the painted red lighter, but it is what it is, and the plane will be beautiful nonetheless. Jon