rcflyr2

My Feedback: (2)

The damage to the botton of the plane was about a seven inch tear in the covering and a broken stringer. No damage was visible on the box. I called Tom and he offered to exchange the fusalage ( which I thought was awfully nice ) but I asked him to just send me about one square foot of red covering and I would do the repairs. Two days latter I received tree square feet of covering from Tom (that's great service) and made the repairs. No big deal. The plane flyes great. Tom

flyingohio

My Feedback: (2)

Err, let's get back on subject shall we?

As of about an hour ago, this plane has been flown! It went well. Of course, I had quite the nervous sweat going, but as it turned out, I shouldn't have worried. After checking linkages and control throws for about the 100th time, I taxied out to my "runway" (deserted country road) pointed her straight down the yellow dotted line and fed in a little throttle. It tracked very straight and waaaay earlier than I was expecting, she just sorta levitated off the ground, it was the oddest feeling. Man this this has light wing loading! I climbed up a couple hundred feet and settled into an orbit while I checked trims. A couple beeps on the aileron, a beep of elevator, and it was hands-off. I did a couple rolls and loops, suggested low rates are a bit low for my tastes, but that's better than being too flighty.

I clicked up to high rate aileron and rudder, and started flying the IMAC basic pattern type stuff. Even on high rate it was pretty smooth. My favorite, a humpty with point rolls on the way up and down, was easy, the downline was nice and slow. After buzzing around doing the aerobatic stuff I decided to try some 3D. NOT! Are you kidding me? Actually I pointed up 45 degrees, rolled inverted and checked the balance- Nose heavy. That's good! It means I can pull my ballast back some and try again... hopefully I can remove it totally at some point. Then I did a few extended verticals to check tracking, she veered a little left so a click or so of rudder took care of that. Then my timer went off, I did a few practice approaches, then came in for the real one. That big 23-8 prop slowed it right down, a little flare and she settled onto 3 wheels as gently as can be. Total air time, 10 minutes, total runtime, 12 minutes. 12oz of fuel used. The DA ran perfectly. A quick check of everything, nothing fell off, all is tight, etc.

As I think I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, this is only my 2nd gasser. My first is a WM Patty Extra, which I now have around 100 flights on. I think it is a really good plane. The million $$ question then is: Is the WH better than the WM? Well of course it isn't- yet! I have only 10 minutes of flying on the WH! However, I can already tell that the WH has much better potential, and I find the 3D potential really exciting. I flew my WM right afterwards, and it felt like a brick! A straight-flying, smooth brick... but still a brick.

My only complaint: The Slimline pitts muffler is far too loud. It's like having no muffler at all.

All in all, I'm a pretty happy camper at this stage. More to come in future days as I get used to the plane.

olstoney

My Feedback: (19)

Yo J.D.,
Finally happy that you got her up have fun.

rctom

We new carry Bisson mufflers also, modified to fit inside the WH cowls. They have 45 degree pipe angle so they are easier to fit to the back of the cowl, less cutting.

And they are quieter.

We have them in 2 versions, 3/4" outlets and 7/8" outlet, the former for quiet and the latter for power, you choose. I think both models are quieter than slimline.

TF

flyingohio

My Feedback: (2)

I will check with you on these quieter mufflers one of these days... gotta do something before the neighbors shoot the plane down with rifles.

Last installment on this thread. I have 12 flights on the plane now, and am enjoying it quite a bit. I have the cg moved back to where it is almost hands-off inverted, just another 1/8" or so back and it will be perfect for me. It is not what I would call twitchy flying even with the cg back almost 1/2" from the max recommendation in the manual. I think the engine needs just a touch more right and down thrust so I will shim that next time I have the cowl off. The DA is getting broken in and starting to run richer with every flight so a little more needle tweaking is needed and then it should be perfect.

The power-to-weight on this plane can only be described with one word: RIDICULOUS! <lol> It hovers at a very low throttle setting, and will blast off out of full-stall moves with only half throttle. I hate to say it but it is almost *too much* power, it is harder to fly the IMAC stuff but I am getting used to it. This plane encourages 3D flying, it is like a gigantic Ikarus Shock Flyer.

As you may be able to tell I really like this plane. It is still not as smooth of an IMAC-type flyer as my WM Patty but it will just take more stick time and tweaking. If you are relatively new to gassers, like I am, my opinion is do not be afraid of a plane like this. It is a *****cat on low rates and with a 3.0" cg. It takes off totally straight and lands nice and easy. I can't think of a whole lot I would change if I had to, other than I would source my own hardware instead of buying the kit. Just my preference is all. I hope I don't have to for a long while, but I'd buy another one of these planes. Thumbs up.