RE: 3dhobbyshop.com Sabre
Ok so i built it. It was very difficult to assemble correctly as per every single part is molded (or vaccum formed) in 2 halves. making sure nothing warps as the adhesives set is primordial. The hinges are unwaxed dental floss that you glue in a criss cross manner. this is not easy but it works a lot better than it sounds and is very very light.
my all up weight is about 12.5 oz. It would have been much lighter had i used gws glue rather than epoxy. Or had i at least mixed in 50% micro balloons in the epoxy while building. Next time i'll use gws glue.
The maiden; I was alone so i just did a "range check" by leaving the airframe on the ground and walking away with the antenna down. 200 feet away the control surfaces worked only when i moved the sticks. I couldn't turn the prop because i dodn't use landing gear.
Hand launched it. looks like a fine flyer, but i got severe radio glitching as soon as i got in the air. it was very very bad. I'm surprized i was able to take it down without damage. I tried it again and it did the same thing. I was about 20 feet overhead, killed the motor and coasted into the wind or just hovered it down with no power. I never in my life saw a plane descend so slowly. I'm talking blimp speed here. I am truly impressed. This will be amazing to fly when i get the radio thing figured out.
Upon the second landing wich was smooth as butter on a hot summer day, i discovered my right aileron servo had stirpped gears. I don't know how this hapenned. If only girls stripped as easily as these hs-50 servos...
Anyway, the gears and servos are out of stock at my lhs so i took the remaining elecrtonics minus one servo and put everything in my formosa. I went for another range test today. alone... Since my formosa has landing gear i taxied it to about 200 feet away with the antenna down and no glitching what so ever.
Look at my rx in the last pic, it's hard to grasp exactly how small it is, in my hand next to a penny you get a sense of it's dimension. Ok. so it's a canadian penny. But though it's worth 18% less and a u.s. penny it's exactly the same size... (no, i don't have giant hands)
the possible reason for my glitching; Hitec provides a spool to shorten the antenna lead by twisting 18 inches of antenna onto it. I did as directed but might have put more like 22 inches on the spool. I can't see any other reason, all my electronics except the brushless bp21 outrunner are top of the line. It's gotta be that spool thingy. i removed it and now leave the full length hang out the fuse. Ill try it again later and give you a update.
I'd be really disapointed if this receiver didn't do what it claimed...
i have no complaints on the plane though, Sure it isn't perfectly cut and leaves little gaps sometimes, i have found the best way to get rid of them is to fill them with 3:1 ratio micro balloons to epoxy. Light, white and perfectly smooth!
p.s. sorry about the low res my cam aint so good...