Gungadin

Tim How much does yours weigh ?

RCBruski65

My Feedback: (44)

I haven't weighed it since I took off the wheel pants and switched to carbon gear, but it should be under 11 lbs now. I haven't bought the carbon wing tube but it flies good at that weight with a bully 1.2 with a bolly tuned pipe.

Tim

AWorrest

My Feedback: (5)

According to their web site, Northeast Aerodynamics will be closing their doors. For a limited time they are offering a 10% discount for purchases of $360 or more. I would be tempted to purchase another Aquila if I didn’t already have one waiting to be built. BTW, has anyone tried hanging a four-cycle on the nose of the Aquila?

Allan

F-4

Well, no activity on this thread for 2.5 years, but thought I'd see if I can get a little info on past experiences with Aquila. I bought one during the recent liquidation. I plan to put an OS 120 with a pipe in it and Hyde mount. Anyone out there like to comment on experiences with a similar set up? Any difficulties with this airframe handling the abuse of a 120? I have weighed all the kit parts, engine, pipe, header, servos, wire, fuel line, etc. Believe I have included everything except epoxy. Am also using CF gear and wing tube. The all up weight is 9.1 lbs. Comments appreciated.

John

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

If you can get your bird in the air at 9.1 pounds, a piped 1.20 will be fine. The usual field results have weighed in at more like 11 pounds. The airframe should bear up to the 1.20 no problem. Mine is powered with 1.40RX piped, which it handles nicely.

Masked Pilot

My Feedback: (75)

Glad to hear they are still flying. I fly pattern on the West Coast, and never saw one in competition...
I am still flying my Aquila, after three years, two fuselages, and three different power units.
but the origninal factory fuselage is long gone.
I built a new one last winter, out of standard balsa, and quality plywood. MUCH BETTER !!
On the original factory fuselage:
The landing gear mount in the fuselage cannt take anything but a smooth, near perfect landing. Everytime...!!
Go off the runway, even into grass, and the gear takes out the mount. Normally this is not a huge problem, but with
the fuselage constructed of Chinese ply, which is not much stronger than soda crackers, you are not only having to make
a repair for the gear, you will have little to work with.... The cavity behind the iron on covering, is pretty much, leaving you
with little to glue to...
I found my Aquila over 11 pounds, also, but I was flying mine with a Moki 1.80...
Pretty impressive performance for not much cash with that engine. I think Moki is near the most underrated model
engine in production today.
However, THIS YEAR, I changed my power to Himax F3a,
and am happy....best power supply yet, for me...
Back to the Aquila...
The Aquila wings are works of art. I could not match those. Near best in the industry.
Straight, light and strong. Give them an ""A"" here...

I have always been a fan of vertical rudder posts, and the Aquila has this, one of the reasons I bought it in the first
place.
Early pattern planes had swept back rudder posts, which caused interesting ""stall turns""... and made trimming
for knife edge flight very tricky...if impossible... What were they thinking?

glad that one is gone. !!!

The Aquila is one of the best pattern models I have ever flown. I recommend it.
Sad they are out of business, I was looking forward to a Aquila - 2, with a better, stronger fuselage...

That will be up to you now. If you destroy the fuselage, hang on to the wings, they are great !!


Let us hear of your seccess.

Regards, Robert (Masked Pilot).... Santa Rosa, CA../..

F-4

All up at 10 lb or less would be great. Any nose heavy issues with the 140? About how many flights on the plane? Thanks for the response.

John

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

I'd guess 200+, maybe 250 flights on my Aquila. Unfortunately none in the last couple years, due to health issues. I like a forward CG, something under 30% MAC, which was do-able with battery under the canopy, aft of CG. I competed for a few years, but Pattern contests have unfortunately faded out in my area. There is reasonable district activity if I were to drive 7-10 hours to get there, but I don't travel well, so my flying has been for sport rather than actual competition.

On the landing gear mount, NEAero did put out (free on request, as I recall) a plywood part to strengthen that area after complaints started coming in. I went for bent wire gear to save weight. (I got the ARC option, so had a good look at what I wanted to do to modify my LG base.) I am not a fan of Asian color schemes, so covered with Koverall, red & white on top, black & white on the bottom, all straight lines, nothing fancy, but looks OK to me.

F-4

Robert,

Thanks for the info. If I can't keep it light, I'll be looking for more power. So, I'll need to think a little about how to power it. On what did you base your follow on fuses ?

John

F-4

Majortom,

Appreciate your input. I did think about the ARC for the reasons you mentioned. As I mentioned to Robert, need to think about power options, as I don't want a dog. I'll keep you posted.

John

Masked Pilot

My Feedback: (75)

John,
I have one of those great Gator Fuselage Jig sets.
I just copied the moments, and measurements of the stock Aquila fuselage, but
built it with medium balsa and quality plywood. All covered in light fiberglass cloth.
I think it was heavier than the stock fuselage, but
MUCH stronger !!!
That was the time I changed over to a Himax F3A electric motor, also;
so the fuselage was purpose built for the electric conversion, which
includes interior fuselage cooling for the Lipo batteries $$. and a landing gear setrenthening, and move forward..

I was impressed that the Himax has the same, or more power as the Moki.
Some guy did the math on the Himax, and claims it has
4 HP.
That is impressive !!..
The weight difference: Moki, (all up with muffler, throttle servo, prop, spinner, and fuel in the tank)
is a 4 ounces heavier than the Himax conversion, ready to fly, with all...
So the weight saving is not wonderful, but worth considering...
I tend to balance my Aquila a bit forward of the factory suggestion; (which flew way too tail heavy for my style)...
Also, I moved the location of the landing gear mount about 2 inched forward of stock, which is really good...

this also fixed the tendency nose over problem with the balance change....

Keep the discussion going here, guys, glad to know there is interest in this fine flying bird...

Regards, Robert (Masked Pilot)...

MTK

I think I read somewhere that NEAero is having a fire sale on the remaining models in stock. Maybe Ed Alt told me about it, don't remember.

For a couple hunderd, one couldn't get a kit made let alone a whole model, built and ARF. Sounds like a good deal.

For a little extra power, one might consider one of the 30cc gassies now available. Piped DLE30, SAP180, are a little stronger than the 140RX

Masked Pilot

My Feedback: (75)

Mat,
I think the Aquila models are all sold out. You may find one in a resale, but the company has closed, far as I know.
I have a comment on the spark gassers for power on the Aquila.
My experience is that the vibration from these power thumpers
will destroy the fagile factory fuselage very quickly.
That was one reason I went to the Moki 1.80. smooth....
(the other reason was great power, for low price).
Spark gassers are heavier than the O.S. 1.40 and the Moki 1.80.
You may also have a balance problem with the spark gassers...
Both of these glow engines, the Moki 1.80, and the O.S. 1.40 RX are much smoother than the spark gassers.
...and finally, smoothest of all, and best of all the above choices, for power, is of course the Himax electric
F3a, plus, no fuel soaking issues !!
You can use the pipe tunnel for a cooling bypass for the electric power.
I misspoke on my previous note, and recall that I moved the landing gear BACK 2 inches, not forward..

Regards Robert...

MTK

Robert,

I've played with all of these powerplants and speak from experience. There is a small weight penalty between the SAP180 and the 140RX; both the SAP180 and DLE30cc weigh slightly less than the 140rx except both use a CDI module weighing around 3 1/2 ounces, adding to the overall weight.

With the Tech Aero IBEC, one drives both the CDI and the radio from the same battery. I use an 1800 mah LiPo, regulated to 6.4 volts. No battery penalty here

Powerwise, both gas engines put out a little more output than the RX. Vibes wise, the SAP180HP is the smoothest 2 stroke engine I have ever seen including any glow 2 stroke in this size (basically OS, Webra and Mintor). Soft mounting can be used to eliminate any other concerns

The MOKI actually weighs quite a bit more when equipped with header and pipe. Used to turn an 18x10 apc with mine which probably wasn't enough prop. No reason the MOKI180 couldn't turn a 20" prop. Power edge to the MOKI I'd think. But if one was to use this heavy an engine, one could go straight to the OS33GT gassie, pipe it also, and get about 1/2 HP more output than the MOKI....But that's overkill for the Aquila since it was designed around an OS120 (but fits the SAP180 and DLE30; one of the guys installed the SAP to get numbers and is in process of installing the RCGF32 in an Aquila for testing)

No fuel soak issues with gas either.

One of the guyys has a Himax F3A powered Vanquish and I've flown it once. Decent power (different power band than wet power) and a good option for the Aquila

Robert, Santa Rosa is one of my favorite places in the US. You are lucky to live there

F-4

MKT,

Just checked the web site. All sold out. They advertised a liquidation sale about 2 weeks ago. Didn't take long.

John

stuntflyr

About two years ago I bought a Focus Sport instead of the Aquila because of a size/powerplant issue. It looked like a good model for the price. I should have bought one then and gone electric, the YS and Focus Sport remain in boxes!
Chris...

F-4

Robert,

Thanks for the Gator tip. Am considering beefing-up the fuse and going with a power plant bigger than the 120. I'll chime in when I have something relevant.

John

F-4

Am about half way through the Aquila build and decided to check where CG was heading. The manual says CG should be 70mm or about 2.75" behind center of the wing tube. That is about 8" behind LE at the fuse. This seems quite a bit aft to me. Can anyone who has built and flown this plane tell me what CG they used? Thanks.

John

hobbyaire

My Feedback: (1)

Do you still have the Focus Sport ... if so, sell to me.

d_bodary

My Feedback: (85)

I forgot to check my CG when i got home last night hopefully tonight i will remember and i will post.

hobbyaire

My Feedback: (1)

Stuntflyr, do you still have the Focus Sport? If so, is it the ARF (not ARC)?

Masked Pilot

My Feedback: (75)

The Focus I have is the 2-meter version, RTF already covered with iron on material. The fuselage became fuel soaked, and was not repairable, so was
retired. I still have the perfect wings wing tube, stab, and rudder / fin. They are fully useable. I had planned to build a new fuselage for this excellent model,
but now I am retired, and cannot seem to get around to doing that project. If you want pictures of the wing / stab/ rudder / fin, and may be interested, let
me know... These will be much easier to ship than a fully build fuselage !! I am in Northern California location.
Robert.

MTK

I wish you lived near. I have my Temptress (temptation which was based on the focus) that I'd like to sell. It's well used and ready for engine and pipe ( last set up was the OS GT 33 gas engine). She's been a great friend over the years and flies amazing still.

A couple hunderd is all I want but the shipping is about that much making shipping prohibitive.

RC_Fanatic

My Feedback: (1)

Today I acquired a "parts package" including a lightly-used Aquila, an OS120AX, a tuned pipe of some unknown manufacture but the header has the zig-zag which I gather puts the tuned pipe under the fuselage when the engine is side mounted. The cowl looks like it was side mounted. I'm missing a manual (CG, deflections...), a motor mount and I'm not sure what else. I did a quick scan through the thread and did not see deflections. Does anyone have a copy of the manual they can send, advice on deflections, etc? I'm not a pattern flier but enjoyed flying my Focus Sport and Venus II until they met their untimely ends. It comes with a carbon fiber wing tube and CF gear. I didn't realize until I read this that the stab is removable so don't know whether the tube is CF or not. I'd appreciate some guidance on servos as well. Both the Focus Sport and Venus II flew well on Hitec 5485HB digitals but the Aquila seems to have slightly larger surfaces.

Hmm. Going back over the thread it looks like the engine needs to be mounted inverted for the header to work. I'd have preferred that but the cowl is already cut for side mount.

RC_Fanatic

My Feedback: (1)

Anyone?