DRC1

My Feedback: (10)

I have 10 acres of open field, a backyard with good grass, no runway other than a grass yard.

What are some good practice plane options and who carries them?

Larry Diamond

kenh3497

Something new from HK http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...arehouse_.html

n233w

Don't know if this works on your grass but haven't heard about anything better for small pattern practice:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1834096

apereira

I have two form FMS the Explorer and Olympus, really good fliers, do not compare to my Axiomes but they are really good practice planes.

Regards

David Bathe

Check out this baby. Mine's in the post.
Arcus F3A Aerobatic Biplane EPO 1000mm fro HK.
Yummy.
[h=1][/h]

luckymacy

a 3S setup that would fly relatively slowly and close in well would be nice to use for the work week during lunch breaks. Just based on what I've been reading on the Arcus by users, many seem to feel the need for 4s to get decent vertical and flight times. For me it boils down to the FMS the Explorer or the Arcus but I haven't seen either fly first hand in a small park or playground type setting with grass only to take off and land on so it's hard to really make the final call. Is anyone familiar with both by chance and can comment on them?

David Bathe

My Arcus F3A arrive from HKing yesterday. Gotta say, it was quite a bit larger than I was expecting.
All the parts as spec'd in the HKing web-shop, no let downs. In-fact, quite the opposite!
I'm blown away by how GD simple (read SMART) this moulded foam approach is.
Carbon spars moulded in, everything nice and ridged, smooth foam surfaces etc.
What we've got here is 55% scale, carbon copy of an Amethyst, even the flared rudder. All in, minus receiver and battery for just over 100Euro.
Here's the deal: Why not just start producing 2x2's in this method? You can buy a hanger full for the price of an OXAI ego stroker.
I''d guess they'll more than good enough for the 90% out there.
Thats' leaving the ego to one side of course.

luckymacy

How does the landing gear and landing gear mount look with respect to holding up on relatively rough grass/dirt fields? I was thinking just buy a backup spare landing gear.

David Bathe

From what I can see, It appears to be a deep nylon box sandwiched/glued into the foam core... held in with 4 small screws (not bolts).
There is a clip on youtube of a guy demonstrating some dreadful flying and then slamming one down on the ground in an attend to do the worlds worst landing. You see the gear just break off, then on closer inspection there appears to be no damage to the gear or the box. Just a clean break away. I'll be flying over tallish grass, wasn't even intending to use the gear (complete with wheels/pants it's 80g). I was intending to hand launch and just hover-plop it on to the grass. But I'm telling you, it's a really sweet model little airplane, as mentioned it's an 100Euro Amethyst! Maybe I'll show it some respect.

David Bathe

Ok, there's been some delay since I received the kit but the weather has now cleared up some and I've got me a nice frozen pond in on the farm land adjoining my house... so it was time to put the HK Arcus F3a foamy to the test. Assembled stock except for 2200-4s battery. What can I say, this is the best buy available.... Fantastic, jaw dropping performance. Couldn't use full power, vertically out of sight in a blink of an eye. Had timer set for 5mins, hadn't use 25% of the pack. 8mins saw me a tad over 50%. Rock solid delivery as one would expect from a perfect 50% reduction of a well know, well sorted competition plane.

Now the interesting part: I fitted it with a AS3X receiver. This ladies and gentleman is a game-changer... for all the reasons most of you will think its not. Flight mode 1 was no assistance, 2 & 3 had increasing amounts or gain/head hold added. The effect was like adding 1m and 3.5 kgs to the foamy airframe. It's simply uncanny. Now, all of you purists will be swearing and curing about such an addition but it's simply a matter of time before this is standard kit. Let me explain. The terms gain and heading hold are misleading. They should be renamed: Turbulence control and Auto mix because thats exactly what they do. Without AS3X being activated, the 1kg airframe can get blown around some as one would expect. With it on, as mentioned, it's like adding kg's, it just settles down... a lot. Without it there required some slight mixing (yes the airframe was that well sorted out of the box) with it on, NO mixing. What a time saver! It makes a joke out of all of those previous trimming hours, mixing this and that, fiddling with the cg and remixing again...well they've gone. And why not. Cheating? Hell no. Smart 21st century solution... you better believe it.

Now the big one, does it help you fly F3A? Of course not. It just make airframe mix free and lock on. Just like a top dollar full size job. If it was legal, would it help you win a competition? Not a chance. Would it assist you setting up an aircraft. Hell yes. As mentioned, this isn't some sort of magic, GPS voodoo thats going to hold an altitude or compass setting. Its dampens turbulence (something a 2x2 does already) and make mixing completely (98%) unnecessary. Thats it and thats that. It wasn't that long ago when people were in panic about transmitter mixing and if it was cheating (they're still around in the classic forum)... today we laugh at such a thought. Well the writing on the wall: This AS3X type technology is the future, signed sealed and delivered, period. And, just so this really sounds like I'm on the Spektrum pay roll, the graphic interface on the iPhone is outstanding. So much easier than fiddling with silly transmitter screens accessing one mix after another. Everything on the application dashboard, swipe some changes and send to receiver. What a BRILLIANT smart, simple, well thought out solution!

Get a Arcus, build it stock and have a blast. For 170 bucks or what ever all in...It's splendid. Even if you will have to add a couple of % mixes. Or add the AS3X and join the 21st century.

drac1

My Feedback: (4)

So you are saying that AS3X would not be an advantage flying F3A? You need to get back to reality man.

Leave the fairy tales for the fairies.

David Bathe

Obviously you didn't read, or understand the post Dude.
Pull your brotherhood head out and give it a wipe.

n233w

Actually, he is very clearly stating that it is an advantage. Also, that it increases his enjoyment of flying a small plane immensely! He also asserts that it eliminates the need for tedious trimming. And he seems to suggest that it should be widely adopted.

It was confusing to me at first, but when he said "Now the big one, does it help you fly F3A? Of course not." I, upon reflection, think he meant it won't help fix the flying of bad geometry.

drac1

My Feedback: (4)

No, what you said was pretty clear.

drac1

My Feedback: (4)

Exactly, it does help flying F3A.

He contradicts himself. In one breath he says it eliminates the need for trimming, having to set up the plane and it makes the plane fly smoother in turbulence. Then he says it wouldn't be an advantage in F3A.

All the reasons that AS3X helps, are the very reasons it's not allowed in F3A. If the plane automatically smooths out turbulence as the AS3X system does, then that will help the pilot in a competition. F3A is about the pilot being in control of the plane, not the plane doing it for you.

David Bathe

Hey I just laughed it off. It's the typical Luddite, knee jerk reaction I was expecting.
Let's reiterate: Gain and heading hold are misleading, they should be renamed: turbulence damping and auto trim/mix.
This is NOT altitude hold, GPS coordinate etc etc.

No, it doesn't help you fly F3A. Does remove the majority of tedious trimming/mixing... on any model aircraft? Absolutely.
Shouldn't those models include F3A aircraft in future... will these models be fitting with this technology? Absolutely, the writing on the wall.
It was only a few years ago that people got scored for take off and landing... until enough young minds got together and said: these are all competent pilots, lets drop that archaic waste of time and move THE HELL forward! Smart minds.

And what's the scary deal with the technology? None! You have electronic mixing already. I remember having to saw wings in half, chop out stabilisers to modify coupling... Thank god for mixing. This technology just shorten the process. Is that bad? Move on and get a life. Does it help you trim you aircraft to fly better? Isn't that the point, should that be banned or down graded? Maybe we should down grade people with a rearward CG because it assists inverted. How about the wide bodied fuselages, should they be banned because they assist knife edge? It's preposterous to consider, ludicrous to contemplate. Same applies for the next generation of receiver and radio technologies, that for some reason the old school favourites like JR and Futaba are dramatically lagging behind. Hummmm. While they've been stuck in the past, the Quad/drone sector has driven radio technology and interaction to a whole new level. I'd guess the aforementioned names have actually lost it. That's complacency... it's a bummer.

This Luddite mind set can even be seen they way some of you guys have been bickering about 1: is electric better than IC. and 2. Now that that discussion has been canned... which eMoter is the best... discussing this way and that, blind in their own inflated superiority to the fact that the 3D heli crowd are and have been, miles ahead, pushing their machines and motors WAAYYY past what we've been doing. (And demonstrating an eye-brain-hand coordination that totally and completely eclipses ours.)
And what happening now? A few brave souls are breaking with tradition, showing the finger to the Brotherhood.. and trying out heli brand motors... Ohhh scary. What the motor, or the reaction from the likes of dumm-ass DRAC1 who can't read... never mind think? Why should one be limited to their small micro cosmo of opinion when one can break away and use the mega technology readily available.

Having tried it, it's clear to me that all receivers will one day have this technology (and a lot more) as standard... and we'll use ALL of it.
Mind you, we could always have stayed with valves and coal.

pappy35

Wow. We might be Luddites to you but there's no reason to be rude and condescending about how you respond to differing opinions. Do you talk to people like this in real life or is it that the Internet makes you feel empowered and superior? Do you have any actual Pattern experience or does buying a cheap HK EPP plane combined with reading a bunch of Forums make you such an expert and enlightened, Musk-like, RC God?

You might be a skilled artist (I am quite impressed with your work) but you might try a little more humility...

luckymacy

You lost me as having a clue when you said FAI would adapt this technology.

David Bathe

Nothing to say pappy35... or was that your micro-cosmos intellectual contribution?
Anyway, I've said what I think, reported what I've experienced. No interest arguing.

drac1

My Feedback: (4)

So you're saying automatic stabilisation systems make the plane fly better, then say it doesn't help F3A. You contradict yourself a number of times.
Of course these systems make flying easier, because the plane automatically corrects itself. Those less competent are the usual ones that advocate this type of control instead of practising to get better.

drac1

My Feedback: (4)

You really are...... well I'm sure the rest goes without saying. You waste perfectly good oxygen.

pappy35

I took some time to read through a few dozen of his posts. Though he has quite a few there isn't much for the last few years. There's nothing at all that would lead me to believe he has any actual clue about what he's talking about. Another Internet-emboldened blowhard with too-long nights with nothing better to do but troll...

... move on. Nothing to read here...

drac1

My Feedback: (4)

Yep. Onward and upward

ltc

My Feedback: (3)

I would suggest the DW Foamies On Axis.
Excellent pattern practice plane, simple construction.
Flies very true, inexpensive.

n233w

+1!