Desertrat

My Feedback: (2)

I searched and couldnt find a whole lot on the 3D foamy kit construction or anything, thought I would add this thread.

Well, I bit the bullet about 2 months back and ordered a 3D foamy Sukhoi (pro wing version) from Levi. Here are my thoughts for those of you who care.

Ordered 11/25, shipped 12/22. Understanding a new baby, and custom business.... the wait was not unexpected, and not unbearably long. Also, I was well informed of the status of my order all along the way.

Opened the kit, and I am surprised at the thickness of the foam... Already I can tell its different. Had to print out the instructions from an included CD. Here is my only real beef with the experience - and its way minor - is it was a PITA to print them out, wish I would have done that while I was waiting for the kit. The instructions are disjointed and are not very detailed - but its obvious how it all goes together so no biggy - I think I refered to them like twice during the whole build.

The parts fit together perfectly! Its by far the quickest building foam airplane kits I have had to date - the only thing slowing me down was waiting for epoxy to dry on the motor mount and carbon fiber wing spar. The rest of the airplane goes together with CA. The engineering is awesome. It came out straight and true, very stiff, and minimal effort on my part. You'd literally have to work hard at messing it up. The foam is thick enough to use real hinges - a huge plus, I hate taping conrol surfaces. The supplied aileron pushrods were way to short, or I couldnt figure out exactly how to make the long enough to fit with the servos in the pre-cut locations - oh well, easily remedied. The instruction detail a really neat way to set up a pull pull rudder and elevator. I opted for push-pull with the pro wing, was a little easier and I needed the weight in the tail. The supplied laser cut control horns are the cats meow - neat and tidy, very strong, breeze to install. Overall, its a sturdy feeling airplane, way more durable than an the e-flight tribute/ultimate, or the shockflier.

Flying - its awesome. I've always thought the shock flier a bit small, this one is the perfect size. Came out light enough to hover at 1/3 throttle on a himax 2015 - 4200 on TP 3 cell 1320a pack, GWS D gear (6.6:1). With the pro wing, it doesnt fly like a flat wing foamy, you dont have to rudder it around - what a surprise. No flex at all in the wings or fuse, even on a full power wall. The great big ailerons make hovering a breeze, and the full bore roll rate is astonishing - really puts on a good show. By far the best flying 3d electric I have flown to date - bar none.

Overall - scale of 1-10
Instructions - 7
Design - 10
Kit Quality - 10
Hardware - 8
Construction - 10
Flying - 10

Awesome. I'll be ordering more.

Roger

leblanc

Which company is it from?

LeBlanc

Mike Bogh

My Feedback: (14)

www.3dfoamy.com
The web site is temporarily down, I think they went on a vacation for a few days.

Shortman

My Feedback: (21)

Website is up, they just turned the shopping cart off so they wouldn't get further behind on orders.

Leety

how heavy did it come out to be?

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

Glad to hear this! I am working on my SU26 Gforce wing 3DFoamy right now! Just need to sand the LE outside tomorrow then do final assemble. This wing is STRONG, Im very impressed with Levi's homework on this plane, and hope my Cap is just cool! I cant wait to fly every one of his planes. These are very cool.

I did get to fly one of the velox with the non GForce wing, and I really liked how it handled, the rudder was a tad small, but still a awesome flier, got to be amazing with this wing setup!

Did you paint yours, or order the decal kit? I have not gotten my decals yet so I dont know what Im going to do with it yet.

RC4

I have built two 3dFoamy Pitts models from Blucor foam. They both flew great, but because of the waves in Blucor foam, the airframe was tough to get straight. Anyway, now I'm almost finished building the 3dFoamy Raven with the new G-force wing. Like you said, the new wing design is awesome and it makes things much stronger than a traditional flat foam wing. I didn't use any of the pushrods provided in the kit. Instead I bought a couple of the Du-Bro Micro Pushrod systems. They are awesome, and they can be re-used in most cases.

The instructions are good, but they have not been updated for the new G-Force wings. Therefore, if you don't plan things right, you can end up damaging the plane trying to fit a completed wing into the fuselage. There are a couple of ways to do it, but you definitely don't want to assemble the wing completely if you have already installed the side rails on the fuselage. You either need to install the wing first and then the side rails, or you need to leave one of the top wing skins off so it will slide under the side rail easily. Anyway, I'm sure he will update the instructions sooner or later.

The connecting rods for the ailerons are fairly long, so I had to reinforce mine so they wouldn't bend. I also reinforced the elevator rod for the same reason. I took some extra pushrod material and CA'd it along the center of the pushrod, basically making it twice as wide. I used a dremel tool to round off the wing's LE and then I sanded it. Because of the pre-cut locations for the tail servos, I'll have to use some extensions for the wires to reach the receiver. Obviously I haven't flown it yet, but it looks like the best foamy plane I have ever built. If you know about the Raven, its basically the Edge 540 with more side fuselage and bigger control surfaces. The rudder on this thing is huge. It should be a 3D monster. Here are some pics. I'll be using a Himax 2015-4200 with the aluminum 6.6:1 gearbox.

Desertrat

My Feedback: (2)

John: I got the decal set, and used colored tape. The decal set is so-so, you could probably do better cuting your own vinyl trim.

Rc-4- I assembled the wing before I put it in the fuse, but glued the side rails and the wing at the same time. The fit was tight enough all I had to do was assemble without glue, true it up, and wick thin CA (odorless) into all the joints. Wow is it strong and stiff. Now you see, thats what I did wrong with the pushrods... I only used one wire end, and a micro servo saver on the other. I knew it was me and not the kit, everything was so well thought out I knew I wasnt thinking it out right....

Roger

RC4

Roger,

Yeah, if you use the pushrods that come with the kit, you are supposed to use a z-bent wire on each end and then the carbon joiner rod is glued between them. Its not a bad design, but I just prefer the setup of the Du-bro system. Its easier to get your control surfaces zeroed with the Du-bro E/Z connector and E/Z link. BTW, I forgot to mention that I used CA hinges on all my surfaces - four on each aileron, two on each elevator half, and three on the rudder. I can't wait to fly this thing. I really took my time during assembly to make sure everything was straight and true. In the past, I've tended to rush things and usually end up with uneven elevator halves or a horizontal stab thats a few degrees off level. The only thing I have left is to fit the battery and receiver so that I get a good CG.

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

My Gforce wing planes came with the wrong manual as well, but here in the product announcement forum Levi put a link to the Gforce wing manual so I went with that. You should not put the fuse side pieces on until after the wing is installed anyway. I can get my GForce wing on no problem fully built with the fuse sides off.

Cant wait!

3DFanatic

My Feedback: (5)

Lemmie fly

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

OK, it will fit in the cessna no problem

RC4

JohnVH,

I flew my Raven with G-Force wings today for the first time. You will not be disappointed with the new G-Force wing design!

This plane is by far the best flying foamy I've ever had. It really does look like a 40% gasser flying around.
The wind was a little gusty today, but the plane did very well. You can do knife edges all day with this thing.
I put the CG where the plans said, and it flew hands off upright and inverted without any adjustments.
Torque rolls and hovers better than anything I've flown.

Here's a picture of the finished product with landing gear and wheel pants.

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

Awesome! Round those wheel pants!! Im still waiting on my landing gear setups to show up, and my decals for the sukhoi.. cant wait to get them done!

Apples

RC4,

What is the reason for your placing the plastic doublers for the velcro strap on the side rails instead of on both sides of the fuselage?

Can we get a peek at a bottom view of the plane? I'm interested in seeing how you layed out the electronics...

Thank you.

Roy

RC4

This way the battery is much more centered on the plane, both horizontally and vertically. I have it strapped up against the side fuse rails. I cut a piece out of the fuse to slide the battery through. It really does help distribute the weight much more evenly throughout the plane. With this mounting location, the battery is almost perfectly inline with the prop shaft and the wing - right at the center of thrust. It really seems to help in a hover.

This picture was taken before I got the servo extensions delivered. I've cleaned up the wires some since. I'll try to get another post with everything hooked up, but at least you can see the battery location here.

RC4

Another shot before the servo wires were plugged into the receiver. This angle shows the battery location a little clearer. Its snugged up against the bottom of the fuse rails with the velcro strap. I have 2 different size batteries. Both are Etec 1200maH, but one of them is the classic and one of them is the new high discharge with cooling spacers in between the cells. They both work well with this setup.

3D-kid330

My Feedback: (1)

What reciever are you using?

Apples

RC4,

Thank you for the pics..It's probably an optical illusion, but in the first pic, the battery seems to be forward of the landing gear plate. In the second, it's under it... How long is the slot in the fuse for the battery?

RC4

Here's the complete setup:

3DFoamy Raven with G-Force wings
Himax 2015-4100 BL motor
Himax Aluminum 6.6:1 gearbox
Phoenix 25 amp ESC
Etec 3s1p 1200maH Lipos
Hitec HS-55 servos on all controls
Du-Bro micro pushrods on all controls
Hitec Electron 6 receiver
Hitec Eclipse 7 radio
GWS 11.5x6 prop (its a 12x6 with the tips trimmed off)

Ready to fly weight is right around 16.1 or 16.2 ounces with landing gear and wheel pants. Using my fingers, looks like the CG is approximately 3.25 inches back from the LE.

RC4

This pic should clear up the illusion. I just took it.

The slot was cut using the larger battery as a template. Its 2.5 inches long by 1 inch high.

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

Looks good RC, I just completed the build on mine, now to paint and wait for my servo's to show and its fly time!

k27r

My Feedback: (7)

I am working on my Edge. How much right thrust did you put into the motor mount?

RC4

k27r,

Can't say for sure, I've been meaning to buy a protractor. I'd say its close to 2 degrees right thrust. I also put about 1 degree of up thrust. It requires more up elevator than left rudder to stay vertical - probably due to the weight of the landing gear.

8KCABrett

My Feedback: (1)

RC4,

I guess the Depron Pro/G-Force kits come in blue as well as white foam? I wanted to do a scheme using a white base, so is there a way to specify what color you want or is it a luck of the draw sort of thing?