RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report
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RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 11/30/2007 6:32:23 AM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

Good aye all

The ES is my third plane and my most relaxing plane to fly, a club we visited some weeks ago had more ES's than all the other planes combined so when I asked why? They all said the same thing 1/ easy to build,fly,repair
So I decided to try one out and it's the best plane in my fleet - I love it, anyway will post some flight reports and pic's soon.

Cheers for now Lawrence

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to pvt.parts_usmc)

Post #: 76

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 11/30/2007 8:11:30 AM

Andrew86

Posts: 1139
Joined: 7/26/2006
From: Perth, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

This was my second plane and I wish it was my first, it would have saved me some money! It's the perfect plane to just throw up and fly, it's rock solid in the air and will glide forever. The Elapor foam that multiplex uses it simple to repair as it can be glued back together in seconds with every day household superglue.

One point of advice would be to install a brushless power system from the word go. When building this plane, two halves of the fuselage are glued together with the motor in between the halves, once a motor is installed it is very difficult to change or upgrade. A brushless motor gives this plane enough power to easily get through even strong winds and also gives you more than enough power to get out of a bad situation. It also means that you can take off from the ground (without landing gear!) which is fun.

My set up:
- Himax (Himark if you're in Australia) 2815-2000 (2000kv) inrunner: http://www.maxxprod.com/pdf/HB2815-xx00.pdf
[This motor is a drop in perfect fit, and mirrors the dimensions of the brushed 400 motor it came with.
- E-watts 25A brushless ESC
- 2 x Hitec HS81 Servos
- 3S 2170mah 11.1V LiPo
- APC 6x4E prop

This plane is perfect for ANYONE who wants to learn to fly quickly, and the brushless motor upgrade makes this plane complete, it will float around the sky at a little over walking pace or scream along thanks the the extra power.

Just thought i'd add to what Lawrence had to say, this plane has a big following!

_____________________________

The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on

(in reply to landing-gear)

Post #: 77

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/3/2007 2:20:59 AM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

Cheers Andrew

I glued both halves except around the area near the motor and used heat proof double sided tape to put the motor in and tape the area with reinforced tape. One trick I have picked up on was the prop they supplied is to big for my prop adaptor (slightly) to get around this I used a piece of heat shrink on the PR and perfect fit. I thought the Himark would fit, Peter Pines web site states it's a straight swap, but if I join this club I want to fly in their 400 speed comp and "No brushless allowed" so it's a wait and see.

Your right about "wish it was my first" me too, the amount of money I've spend repairing planes that really weren't "beginners" but we live and lear....crash!!

I have a few different props coming so I can test her performance out, but i love how it glides and where I fly there are heaps of thermals so I can stay up all day - well till the neck gets sore.

For all you "seasoned flyers" who think this plane is for the kids - well I thought that too - that is till I flew one and if I never buy another plane again I'm happy flying the Easystar.

Cheers lawrence

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to Andrew86)

Post #: 78

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/5/2007 5:16:50 AM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

I found "thermal alley" and the ES loves the place, not once did l flatten a battery every flight was 15 - 20min and when my neck start to hurt l would land and have a break, we started flying at 6-30am and finished 11-30am and l must have put 10+ batteries thru the ES.
When ever the plane was to high l would pull out of the thermal and put her into a dive throw a loop in and glide back over to the start area - some full throtle to get height and start hunting the next one

Cheers Lawrence

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to landing-gear)

Post #: 79

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/6/2007 10:11:45 PM

ecase

Posts: 14
Joined: 8/29/2006
From: SLC, UT, USA
Status: offline

Do you have 10 batteries, or just a quick charger? How long does it take to charge a battery? Do you let them cool before you charge them?
Evan

(in reply to landing-gear)

Post #: 80

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/7/2007 11:32:51 AM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: ecase

Do you have 10 batteries, or just a quick charger? How long does it take to charge a battery? Do you let them cool before you charge them?
Evan

Hi Evan
No I have 3 x 8.4V 1200Mah Nims which are slow charged (0.3A) the day before, then on the day I fast charge at 1.2A, the trick is not to totally flatten the batteries. So whats happens is I load the first battery and fly for 15 -20 min's (lots of gliding/thermaling) I still have 2 batteries that are fully charged from the day before so the flight battery goes into a small esky/cooler with an ice brick in it, I might have a quick coffee or drink etc then in goes the second battery.... go flying etc then the first battery is removed from the cooler and put on quick charge, second battery goes into esky/cooler, third battery is in plane another break/breather then off for another flight now the first battery will take 15 - 20 min to peak and as soon as it does my flying mates will remove it and place the one in the cooler on charge for me, l land the plane third battery goes into cooler and it all starts again.

The trick is simple instead of using 2 batteries and totally flating them which mean it will take approx 45 - 60min to recharge each battery - I use 3 batteries and try to only use 50-75% of there power so the recharge time is shorter. My mate uses 4 batteries and 2 chargers and he can fly non stop all day but if you are using the motor full time you will get approx 13-15min flights and totally flat batteries.

One thing as well I am only running the standard 400 motor in the ES as well - it has plenty of power.

Cheers lawrence

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to ecase)

Post #: 81

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/7/2007 3:02:25 PM

ecase

Posts: 14
Joined: 8/29/2006
From: SLC, UT, USA
Status: offline

Thanks,
I have four lipos, 3 cell. I should be able to fly all day too. It is fun to see the EZ up there but its even more fun to see a clean safe landing, I have had plenty that weren't.
Thanks again,
Evan

(in reply to landing-gear)

Post #: 82

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/8/2007 12:14:42 AM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: ecase

Thanks,
I have four lipos, 3 cell. I should be able to fly all day too. It is fun to see the EZ up there but its even more fun to see a clean safe landing, I have had plenty that weren't.
Thanks again,
Evan

Hi Evan
The trick to have good landing is first go over your COG by test glide/landing - with all controls at neutral throw your plane firmly but not hard and watch what it does, try to do all this on a calm morning, if it is turning one way or the other adjust the rudder as needed.
If the plane flies level,loses speed and then nose dives in the COG is slightly toward the tail so add a small amount of modelling clay up in the nose and test again, lets say you put a heap of clay in and the plane is now slightly nose heavy it may during the test after release glider towards the ground quickly and land more towards it's nose plus in lands within 15 feet of you when the COG is spot on the plane floats for 20+ feet from a hand launch and lands along on it belly. It take time to setup correctly but the benfits are a ES that glides so easily and with a small adjustment of up elevator (using your trim) it thermals for hours.

So the next time you have an hour to kill grab your plane and batteries and carry out some test glides and have some fun.

Cheers lawrence

PS all my landing are done "dead stick" = no power no matter how the battery holding

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to ecase)

Post #: 83

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/10/2007 3:07:24 PM

ecase

Posts: 14
Joined: 8/29/2006
From: SLC, UT, USA
Status: offline

Thanks,
I have a COG balancer and I am pretty sure the COG is correct. Most of my bad landings were a year ago when I was learning. I had one early this past summer, due to pilot error, that destroyed a nice EZ. I have a new one now.
Evan

(in reply to landing-gear)

Post #: 84

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/12/2007 3:30:17 PM

evadeom

Posts: 11
Joined: 12/6/2005
From: Fremont, CA, USA
Status: offline

Hi, I've enjoyed reading the above posts. I'll be putting the Easy Star together right after Christmas but in the mean time have been reading the instructions. I'd appreciate if someone can explain the last sentence on page 16, "The distance to the fulcrum from the servo motor lever should be approx 10mm." I think I know what a fulcrum is but can't really see it in Fig 13. Thanks in advance and happy holidays.

(in reply to ecase)

Post #: 85

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/12/2007 7:47:43 PM

El CID

Posts: 2
Joined: 10/28/2007
From: South Cheshire, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline

For those with The Phoenix Simulator the latest aircraft to be added is the 'Easystar'

(in reply to evadeom)

Post #: 86

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/12/2007 11:04:10 PM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: evadeom

I'd appreciate if someone can explain the last sentence on page 16, "The distance to the fulcrum from the servo motor lever should be approx 10mm." I think I know what a fulcrum is but can't really see it in Fig 13. Thanks in advance and happy holidays.

Hi
Before fitting the servo's in place and with the control horn screwed in place measure from the screw out along the control horn 10mm and mark the nearest hole with a black felt pen, then sit the servo into fuse - no glue yet - and see were the mark on the control horn sits, it should be level with where the the control linkage/wire is going to run along the side of the fuse.

Cheers Lawrence

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to evadeom)

Post #: 87

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/13/2007 12:43:53 AM

evadeom

Posts: 11
Joined: 12/6/2005
From: Fremont, CA, USA
Status: offline

Thank you Lawrence, that makes sense to me now. I'll be using the HS-81. If I find that the HS-81 doesn't sit all the way in the nest to achieve the 10mm, I suppose I can add some thickness with couple layers of shrink wrap or tape. Thanks again.

(in reply to landing-gear)

Post #: 88

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/13/2007 12:57:08 AM

landing-gear

Posts: 80
Joined: 8/14/2007
From: Lockyer Valley, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: evadeom

Thank you Lawrence, that makes sense to me now. I'll be using the HS-81. If I find that the HS-81 doesn't sit all the way in the nest to achieve the 10mm, I suppose I can add some thickness with couple layers of shrink wrap or tape. Thanks again.

Hi

A good way to "thicken" the servo that I've used in the past is hot glue a piece of balsa to the side of the servo ie 3mm and then place your shrink wrap around the servo so later if you need to use it in something else slice it out of the wrap and cut away the balsa and hot glue

Cheers lawrence

_____________________________

"Oh bugger who put the earth there!"
"This is gunna hurt"

(in reply to evadeom)

Post #: 89

RE: Multiplex Easy Star, construction, flight report - 12/13/2007 1:55:35 AM