mig8769

I have a Wattage Pitts 400 that I've been waitimg to fly for a few months (b/c of crappy weather), and I was wondering if anyone had any info on what to expect when flying it. It's got the stock motor and their 7-cell battery and I haven't modified it at all. I actually did try to fly it once and it tripped in the grass and broke the motor mount[sm=crying.gif], so I wanted to know if it's possible to hand-launch it.

I also just bought an E-flite Ultimate and was looking for any tips for setting it up for 3D, other than the provided instructions.

tippodriver

mig8769,

I've got one of those Watt Age Pitts Specials too, but have not flown it yet. I've been working hard to shave off grams or ounces prior to attempting flight. I've drilled holes in the aluminum landing gear and then covered it with red packing tape to hide the holes and streamline it again. I've switched to Dubro's very light foam wheels 1.5 inch diameter (2.3 grams/ea), which should roll over more uneven terrain than the included 1.25" ones, and they weigh a heck of a lot less. In spite of putting eleven holes in the aluminum gear, ranging from almost a half inch down to 3/16" in diameter, the weight savings was not substantial. I figure that every little bit may help with the limited wing area.

I've removed the wheel pants, and will only install a windscreen rather than the entire canopy. I've drilled holes in the firewall, and will leave the pilot on the ground. If the balance point will allow it, I may discard the rudder pushrod in favor of a pull-pull system. Right now, I can't see any other locations where I can shave off any weight from the basic airframe. I'm considering the installation of a gearbox to allow me to turn a larger prop. I was planning on using an 8 cell nicad battery. Here in Colorado, since I'm at 6,000 ft., the extra oomph of the 8 cell pack and larger prop may come in handy. The weight penalty of the 8 cell may force me to go with LiPo batteries in the end.

I'm still just trying to figure all this electric stuff out. Some of the other electric forums are not saying many kind things about the Watt Age aircraft. Have you seen the latest issue of RCM, which has a flight report on this airplane? Let me know if you get it to fly, and how it performs. BTW, I'm reluctant to try a hand launch, in case it doesn't have the power to stay airborne. I'm gonna use the club runway. Have 800' to play with there.

Jim

P51ACE

the eflite ultimate is an awesome plane
put the battery on the cabane(right side on mine) parallel to the leading edge of the wing and the strut

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

What motor will you run in the Ultimate.....?


I have tried several different things in foamies and my Zagi.... I finally bit the bullet and went brushless...

Yes the upfront expense is a bit high... but once I add up all the brushed motors I've burnt out and add that to the wider smile factor...
brushless is worth it....

mig8769

I'm thinking of using either the brushless E-Flite 370 or 400. I just started buying equipment for the Ultimate and so far I've dropped $90 on four of those new Hitec HS-56HB servos with the Karbonite gears. There was an article in Flying Models where the guy used them, so I figured what the hell. With this plane, I don't care how much it costs, and as long as it flies like a beast who cares?

mig8769

Yeah I don't know that much about electrics either, but I'm learning more as time goes on. I really doubt that this plane could takeoff from my field, so I'll probably try to find a parking lot or the back of some school to try it for the first time. If you fly yours first let me know how it goes!!!

P51ACE

go with the park 400 and the hs 56 was awesome on my rudder (the only one i had,hs 55 on all other controls

P51ACE

and also the thunder power 1320 mah pack is great i had one with the ultimate until i zapped it with a non-cutoff esc in my custom styker(f-27)

WhtBronco

For the Ultimate I would highly recommend a HiMax 2812/0850 with an 11x4.7 APC SF prop and a 1320 mah li-po. That will hover it at 1/2 throttle and give you nearly 20 minutes flight time doing mostly 3D flying. I have the Eflite Ultimate with the HiMax 2812/0650 with APC 11x4.7 APC SF prop and a 1320 mah li-po and hover at about 5/8 throttle with 20+ minute flight times. I personally would get the 0850 if I had to do it again though. The HiMax motors are direct drive so they are quieter and have fewer parts to break due to no gears. My Ultimate is currently 14.4 oz AUW weight. The HiMax motors come with 3 mounts including a stick mount, for about $65, so you can easily put it on a different plane later on. These motors will bolt right onto the Eflite Ultimate without a single mod required.

Get a 20-25 amp ESC for the 0850 and a 10 amp for the 0650.

tippodriver

So, mig8769, this all started with the Pitts Special from Watt Age. Have you flown it yet? I just finished breaking in the motor, but have not purchased a charger yet, so am limited to attempting flight when able to get out with an e flight enthusiast with a charger. Colorado's weather has been really beautiful, but the spring winds are starting up, and the slopes are calling.

mig8769

No, I haven't had a chance to fly it yet. The weather here is just starting to get nice and i need to break the plane out of storage and get it ready to fly. Figures today it's like 56 degrees out and sunny (Yay! No more snow!!!!!!) and the plane is nowhere near ready. Do you have any difficulty removing the wings for transport/storage? Unscrewing the struts was such a pain in the ***** that I just left the wings together and slid them off the fuselage as one unit. Did you get an addendum to the instructions about cutting a hole in the cowl for cooling air to the battery? I sent a message to Wattage like a year ago and nobody answered me.

tippodriver

I did not get a addendum to the instructions showing a hole in the cowl to cool the battery, but one of the photos in my instruction book shows a hole, tho its not mentioned in the instructions proper. I cut a hole to help in battery access. I agree that removing the wings is a pain in the ass. I'm trying to figure out how to route my battery wires so I can disconnect and charge without having to remove the wings. Probably will put a Deans type plug in the cowl where I can reach it through the battery cooling hole.

For the most part I intend to keep mine assembled for transport and storage.

I've not been impressed with the ability to get answers or even find out who to ask about problems/questions with a Watt Age plane. Wouldn't buy another if for no other reason than that. I'm amazed that you have not gotten any other replies to your original post regarding this plane.

Jim

mig8769

Yeah I saw that photo in the instructions too and wondered what it was. The only way I found out was by reading posts on their forums from other ppl about it.

Why are you removing the wings to get to the battery? Unless you have a separate battery for the motor and the radio you should just be able to remove it through the front.

I'm with you totally. Wattage has been no help whatsoever with my questions about this plane and It's really disouraged me from buying another one. There were also some things I didn't like during construction that turned me off from their planes, but I forget what they were. the thing that really got me peeved was my first flight attempt when the plane nosed over on the ground b4 takeoff. The front part of the motor box assembly broke clean off at the glue joints, and it wasn't even that bad an impact. As something that came assembled with the kit, I was very unhappy to say the least.

tippodriver

Well, as the wiring for the speed controller and motor is set up right now, I can't run the wiring to the cowling so I can disconnect to charge the battery. So my connection is in the fuselage over the lower wing. I'm going to change that tho.

I just read the review in RCM this issue on this plane. They had some problems with it, but in general the review wasn't too discouraging. They do say it is a pavement only airplane, and you need to land it hot. Neither of those statements was a surprise. The review model did not have the cooling hole cut in the cowling.

When I did a search on these forums for pitts special, I didn't find much relative to this airplane. Watt Age has some forums? What is the web address for them?

mig8769

I'll have to get that issue of RCM, but in the meantime what were their problems with the plane?

Here's the Wattage forums, but don't expect too much from them.

[link=http://globalservices.globalhobby.com/globalforum/viewforum.php?f=8&topicdays=0&start=0]Wattage Forum[/link]

papasmurf

My Feedback: (7)

Make sure you fly the plane off a smooth surface. I just got mine going a week ago and flew it off a relatively smooth gravel/dirt road. The plane is hard to steer on the ground because of the short fuse. I basically line it up and gun it with a helping of back stick until it lifts off. Be prepared to get off the up though as I have almost stalled it twice "yanking it off the ground" this way. It would be much better I am sure off a paved surface. The stock motor mount is really weak and the glue joints are poor as it seems you have found out. I went brushless with a geared himax and lipos and basically built a reinforced stick mount off the firewall. I took out the rear fuse former under the cockpit, moved the servos as far forward while still allowing me to reach them, used CF pushods and lighter hardware throughout. The plane flys pretty well now though the plastic cowling is really weak. I broke both the wing struts off as they did no align well with the wing and made replacements with 1/32" ply with a piece of wire to reinforce it. I am using wheel collars to anchor the screws through the lower wing which allows for removal quickly. I usually leave the wings on and take the cowl/prop off to unplug the battery. I routed the ESC/battery leads through a handful of holes I cut in the firewall to lose some weight. Will try to get some pics to illustrate here shortly.

mig8769

Yeah my wing struts don't fit right. They seem to be too tall (or long i guess) to fit between the wings because they bend in the middle. It doesn't seem like they're going to affect flight performance so I'm not worried. I'm getting antsy. I want to fly it soon!!!!!!![sm=biggrin.gif]

Beulzabob

My Feedback: (1)

I too am having difficulty with the Wattage pitts. The original engine was way too heavy for the amount of power it produced. I switched to the combo they sell at e-flightline. They also have some great video of it in flight. I have yet to have it take off successfully! I tried hand launching it a few weeks ago and quickly crashed it. I think the cheesy servo bay that they installed broke loose and I lost elevator control authority. On crashing the engine and firewall were forced all the way to the next former!. If you decide to get this plane you'll probably be best off throwing another couple of hundred dollars in upgrades to get it flying nicely. Oh, my struts bend and of course broke on one of the early flight attempts. I bought this plane based on it's looks,price, and my opinion of the Wattage Hyperwing(which is great as an affordable,easy to build, first flying wing design). So far I've been terribly dissapointed. One thing that got my goat is that Wattage is advertising a newer version of this ARF recommending the brushless/lipo combo! Do they do any testing or quality control??? Currently my plane has plywood struts which I constructed, a repaired cowl(good luck getting a replacement for that because it's backordered at hobbypeople),and a brushless lipo power combo. One tip if you do get it is to route all the battery wires to come out through the bottom of the cowl, It adds a bit of parasitic drag, but it's a heck of alot more convenient than removing the wings or cowl! I'll give it another try at flight when I can find enough asphalt to fly and land on! I hope that RCUniverse doesn't censor (yes, I said censor) this as a flame, because I want prospective buyers to know what they can expect.[&o]

mig8769

Well the mini Pitts finally flew the other day, for about half a second before it ran into a concrete bump. I tried taking off from a parking lot, the first time it tripped on its nose and ground down the tips of the prop. Then I tried again, got it up for an instant then it came back down and hit the bump with the nose. It pushed the entire firewall in, smashed the front of the cowling too. As of right now I have neither the time or the patience to fix it. I probably could fix it if I wanted to, but does anyone think it would be worth the effort? Has anyone actually gotten this plane off the ground and flown it?