invertedthoughts

Been flying a glow powered trainer and want a glider for windier days. (without busting the bank, cheap fun if you will) Hobby People has this glider on sale for $80 this weekend with a radio, is it worth it or should I look for something better that is used?


http://www.hobbypeople.net/index.php...po-ep-rtf.html

wicker_bill

I don't like the under cambered wing. I'd feel better about it if it had a flat airfoil. It would be more stable. The under cambered wing might create more drag. It would be like flying with flaps down, it creates more lift but really cuts down on airspeed.

invertedthoughts

Well, I bought it and this thing flies incredible for what I paid and what was included in the box. One thing I'll say is that the motor has LOTS of power and it climbs extremely well.


I was getting a solid 20 minutes on the battery pack (1000mah) flight times using power about 3/4 of the time and gliding the rest. The gilder flies FAST and turns hard (thought I was going to fold the wings a couple of times but they held up well doing pretty hard loops and banked turns).

The radio does stink and is cheaply made(my buddy who bought one also had to go through 3 boxes before he found a radio that wasn't smoking when turned on, luckily our local Hobby People is cool and let him find a good one going through the boxes after we returned his). But can't really expect a good radio for $80 including the aircraft. LOL


As far as batteries go, Hobby People is smoking if they think people are going to spend $25 a piece on them cause Ifound the Zippy Flight Pack at Hobby King with a slightly higher C rating (15 vs. 12) and only 3mm longer (width and height are exact) for get this, a WHOPPING$3.60 per battery. They shipped out of the U.S. warehouse the next day. Got 4 of them on the way and still cheaper than 1 from Hobby People with shipping. SCORE!


Overall amazing bang for the buck!


Wickerbill, is there another mini e-glider that has the wings you are speaking of? I'd like to check it out for reference. Thank you!

wicker_bill

Don't have any ideas for a mini glider or electric that is available today in ARF or RTF stages with a flat wing or Eppler 205 airfoil. My last glider that I built was an older model called the Tercel that was kitted my Bridi Aircraft in the eighties. It's a 50" polyhideral wing. I saved the plans and wing rib templates and have scratch built a couple over past years. It flies nice in light winds. I fly at a roadside slope on Mines Rd in Livermore, CA on the way to Lake Del Valle.

greenflash

Go look at old posts on the Hobbico Flyzone Ventura. I don't know when it was launched; perhaps 2006? It looks like Tower stopped selling them but you can still find them in hobby shops.
I own one. It had a brushed 370 motor and NimHs. I never got mine to fly well, it wanted to tipstall, but some people liked them. I had more luck with my Flyzone Redhawks and Aerobird 3. I thought the tiny plastic folding prop was fragile too.
The airframe looks identical to the Dash. They just upgraded to Lipo and brushless, which is what I will do with mine when I get around to it. It's interesting how long these airframes get produced.

invertedthoughts

Great information Greenflash, that is interesting how they take past designs and just sort of retrofit them.



One piece of information I should share is that the motor is still brushed though. Wished it were brushless but hey, for $80 RTF what can I complain about. LOTS of bang for the buck!

greenflash

OK,
Interesting that it is still brushed. I'll see if I can go fit 800-1000 2s lipos to save some weight, rebalance, and try it again; maybe I didn't give it a chance. I think the fuse may be too narrow for a brushless outrunner.
I did like the fact that the plane doesn't take up much room in the car. Could be fun for slope soaring.

If the radio is not good, Hobbypeople does sell the 2.4 GHz 5-channel Aerosport Tx and Rx500 receiver for as little as $44 on sale (more often at $49). That receiver always sells for $49 so you are getting a free Tx. It isn't a computer radio and doesn't have dual rates like the Spectrum DX5, but not much money. You could upgrade the Tx later (to an RDS8000).
I believe in the Airtronics FHSS frequency hopping 2.4 system. I have two RDS8000 computer TXs and a few Aerosports.

invertedthoughts

Just a note, the piece of garbage 27MHZ radio that is included with the Dash is in fact an "Aerosport" product, I would never trust any radio that says "Aerosport" on it after seeing how low their QC is on these radios. Like I said, 3 boxes until my friend found one that didn't smoke from the left stick upon loading the batteries and switching the power on.

invertedthoughts

Had a nice session this morning early, was getting around 12 minutes of flight time out of the $4 batteries from Hobby King under constant power of 1/2 to full, mostly around 3/4.

Not too shabby considering Hobby People wants $25 for their batteries and the run times seem to be about the same.