Xcalibur +
Today at the Nuremberg toy fair the new larger Xcalibur + will be released to the world.
Almost from the first day the Xcalibur was released, we talked about a larger Xcalibur. Everyone knew the decision to limit the physical size of the turbine that could be installed in the Xcalibur affected the total number of possible customers and many sales were lost to people with turbines in the super popular 112mm case diameter size.
The fabulous response to the Xcalibur made the decision for Ripmax’s bosses easier and almost a year ago ideas learnt from the first model were bounced around and a tape measure studied to decide on a final wing span of a bigger version
The result is the Xcalibur+
Its 94” (2388mm) span gives fabulous presence in the air, super light wing loading and an airframe that still breaks down to fit in most cars. My “people mover” takes it easily with just the centre seat removed and as you will see in one of the shots I'll post, I found the boom/tail could be left together, wing spar passed back through to brace the booms. Placing this upside down with the spar across the two seats allowed other lighter models to be placed on top of the booms!
Assembly follows the same procedure as the smaller model with bolts fixing the booms to the fuselage, so wing pegs are not protruding. Even taking the booms apart for transport the whole assembly time is short. The wings still feature a clamp arrangement for securing-so quick assembly if you can leave the booms on!
The nose cone is now a sheath type, with a single cap screw fixing it in position from the point of the nose. This makes removal for battery access a breeze. Being larger everything is easy to access!
The fuel tank has been set at a little over 4 ltrs for a decent flight time, my mixed throttle flying on the P-180RX gave consistent 10-12 minute flights, with fuel to spare, even the low power testing with 85N (and longer full power times) gave 9-10 minute flights.
The gear is a larger version of the Xcalibur set, the spring rate on the legs is perfect, the larger wheels suit grass flying perfectly. The flight testing was on winter grass back in December (you can see the grass length and wet conditions in the video) and the Xcalibur+ gear coped really well.
The design team really nailed this one, initially it was thought that a couple of prototypes would be required, but right from the first flight with Ripmax, the message I received was one of excitement, they drove straight from the test field and delivered me the model you see here. The model memory set by Colin Straus was loaded into a spare 18MZ I use for their models and I was asked to fly it and report back.
I had high hopes for this model and knowing the old adage ‘Big is better’ I expected something even better than the brilliant Xcalibur, what I found proved to be everything I hoped for and more. The video you see is my second flight with the model, my camera man was short on time and had popped to our site in his wife’s sports car, leaving straight after the flight.
As usual, there were things that watching it back I missed doing. I’d also been told that this airframe needed to go to the Nuremberg Toy fair and there was not time to get another. I had four flights that day and each one showed more of the airframes capability. There was very little wind on the first day, yet landing on our short grass strip was easy, using flap only. Didn’t find any need for additional drag, but obviously CROW and split rudders are available, with the light wing loading this could almost be a STOL jet! It only weights 13.6kg (29lb) and does not require a tonne of nose weight. Ripmax built this model with three 2200 packs in the nose, so use three bigger packs and hardly any weight will be needed.
From the start I saw this airframe as something that would take P-80, P-90 and obviously the main turbine size being 120-140 size, knowing there were hundreds of units out there in this class looking for a home. The powers at Ripmax were a little surprised by the sheer size of the model when it first arrived from the factory, it’s literally a scaled up Xcalibur and the length is slightly greater than the span, so it is big!
I still had no doubt it would fly fine on the smaller power, but with the P-180RX installed being the very unit Colin Straus had tested for RCJI he had the precise RPM required to set it to 85N. This gave me another excuse to fly it some more J
The low power test was on a windier day, 12-15mph still with long damp winter grass. The ground run was not much more than you see in the video (unfortunately my video camera man was unavailable) It literally floated off the ground at quite low ground speed. Holding full power for the whole of the first circuit the Xcalibur+ felt solid, even in gustier conditions. It’s such a clean airframe that once wound up it holds the energy well. At takeoff the extra 8lb of fuel makes a difference, but loops and vertical climbs were all possible early in the flight and by the time the beeper went for half time, I did two reasonable diameter rolling loops with very little loss of energy over the top. Cameraman “little Stevie” was commenting all the way though the flight and we both agreed it was more than enough power, a bit like the std one powered by a P-60.
On the second flight I let Stevie have a go and he was impressed too, it’s even smoother than the standard size Xcalibur.
I had two more flights that day with the power turned back up and did some “extreme” testing on the airframe with hard square loops and as expected the airframe showed no signs of stress.
Production has started, but with the factories New Year shut down and long transit time it will be Spring time before we see the first delivery, still in plenty of time for this season.
The plan is to release it with four schemes. A Sports red, white, and green. A 2010 inspired Hawk scheme and the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels same as on the standard size. I cannot wait!
http://youtu.be/7CdcYxxV1Io