there is one video out of this plane and it is in the review on this site not any hovering and there was a little bit of aerobatics .. but i highly doubt it is to the full extent of this planes capabilities

The Ultimate really excels indoors. I was surprised at how much better it "settled in" to maneuvers.

-Mike

Okay guys I need abit of help with my Ultimate. I flew it today for it's first 2 flights. First it has the stock setup and a 2S 1320mah li-po. It is way underpowered, I knew it would be less than I am accustomed to with my glow planes, but wow this is sad. Anyway I am bothered that it flies tail heavy. Every time I go through a tight turn the tail drops, and of course it climbs inverted. I have gotten it a bit better by moving the CG forward of the recommended range, but I can't move it forward anymore without adding weight. I have 1/3 of the battery hanging off the front of the cabane strut now. The Rx and ESC are as far forward as the servo leads will allow. Any ideas what else to do? I really hate to add weight to a plane that is already underpowered.

FWIW, this plane lands like a dream, about half throttle and full elevator and it just settles right down. Roll rate is okay, it won't loop due to the lack of power. I can't get it to fly KE, as soon as I get just a little rudder in it goes into a hover, which it can't hold.

Hmm, I just remembered I have a GWS400 that I can put on it. It does weigh more than the 370 as well. Would I need a new prop to run the 400 with a 2S 1320mah li-po? I only have the stock 12x6 prop right now.

TIA

I tried mine on a speed 400, 3-1 gearing, 2s li-po, and 12x6 prop and wasnt impressed. The thrust of the 400 setup is 2oz more than the stock setup, but the 400 setup weighs alot more than the stock so 3d performance doesnt increase, however mine seemed to fly a bit faster.

I burnt out the stock motor and replaced it with a Great Planes t-370, performance seemed to increase quite a bit. For the first few (maybe 5?) minutes of a fully charged pack the plane does 3d pretty good, you can give it full throttle let it go and it will accelarate vertically.

I have no problems with tail heavy flight, but depending on how you launch it, it might start out tail dragging. If you give it an upward underhand toss it seems to start out tail dragging and continue to fly like that until you level it out, but if you give it a level over-hand toss it seems to fly level from the get go.

From my experiance with the stock setup it sounds like yours might be overweighted. I have mine balanced at the recomended point, the battery is at teh leading edge of the strut up against the top of the wing. Receiver is mounted against the top of the bottom wing and about 1/2" from its Leading edge. ESC is right by the wood LG mounting block. Aileron servos on the bottom of the bottom wing right over the spar, rudder/elevator servos are about in the place the book shows, and my wires are just hanging everywhere.

Im surprised yours seems so underpowered, I even have a bunch of extra dead weight on mine and it still performs good. I put 1/2" scotch tape on the LE of each wing, added velco, using the LG, using a big heavy duty y-harness, added plywood reinforcement to the motor mount, added sliced up dowels to the front of the plane for reinforcement, added CA'd kite string to reinforce the LG, has all kinds of tape holding stuff in palce, and I even built mine with Epoxy!

Maybe you should give the GP T-370 motor a try, seemed to really boost mines performance.

BRUSHLESS !!!!!!!!!

The axi 2208/34 , a 10.38 prop and a 1320 TP li-poly battery mounted under and just behind the motor for the appropriate CG and all is well . It's super power to weight % lets me hoover at 1/2 throttle . It's awesome Jeff

I know brushless would fix the power problem, the cost is not an option right now though. I may opt for the GP T-370 next time I replace the motor to see how it does. Last night flying it home in the cul-de-sac I bounced it off a tree following multiple snap rolls and a lack of power to pull out. So for now I put the 400 on it. At least I got the CG forward so maybe it will fly a bit better now. I think it has just a bit more power, should be enough to hold a hover at full throttle now. If I have time at lunch today, I'll go give it a whirl and see how it does.

Maybe after the fist of the year I'll be able to get a brushless setup, but I am still not sure if I will want to continue flying these little planes. The only attraction for me is that I can leave it the car and fly it at any park. With a brushless setup this plane will be more costly than my 40 size profile glow plane and so-so flight characteristics in comparison.

well, after working on it most of this week,i finally finished my e flite ultimate!

i used my CC 10, gws C gearbox, eflite park 400 on a 10x4.7, appogee 840mah(?) 3 cell. AUW was 12.3 ounces. flew it in my nieghborhood in front of house. flew quite well! may need more rudder as i have a small horn on it. i hovered it a bit and tried a roll or 2. only flew for about 2 min. ill probably wring it out later....landings were nice, just keep a touch of power and it slows the decent very nice to a 3 point landing. here is some pics of my setup.

I've just finished my ultimate and the motor will not run correctly. It's set up with the EFlite 370 brushless, the stock gearbox, phoenix 25 esc, and a thunder power 2 cell 2100mah lipo. The motor comes to life but runs extremely rough, like it's jerking. Every once in a while while manipulating the throttle it smooths out and runs normally. Anybody have any ideas?

2) PHOENIX 25 BRUSHLESS SPEED CONTROLLER recommended set up:
a) 9.1 Option 5 – 9v cut off for 3 cell LiPoly (in conjunction with (f) below)
b) 9.2 Option 3 – Standard current limiting
c) 9.3 Option 5 – Brake Disabled
d) 9.4 Option 2 – Fixed throttle
e) 9.5 Option 2 – Standard Advance Timing (may cause prop to jump at start up)
f) 9.6 Option 2 – Soft Cutoff (informs you when battery is low)
g) 9.7 Option 3 – Fast Start (for fast throttle response – essential for hovering)

THIS IS FROM TROY BUILT MODELS ON HOW HE PRE-PROGRAMS THE SPEED CONTROLS .... It works great for me. You would just need to set it for a 2 cell cut off point...see if yours is the same as this except for the cut off..

O M 2 C

If you know somebody with the Phoenix software and cable they can download the latest upgrade software into your unit and it will get rid of all the jerkiness. I agree with the setup info above but have started setting for a softer than standard current limiting and it seems to be a lot less stressful on gearboxes and props when you inadvertantly contact terra firma with no difference in flying.

Ed M.

Alright my wife said for Christmas she'll get a brushless setup for my Eflite Ultimate. That should make the plane more fun to fly. I was wondering what kinda flight times folks are getting with the Eflite 370 brushless and either 2S or 3S li-po at 1320mah? Can I actually use my 2S 1320mah li-po with a 370 brushless?

The 5-6 minute flight times I get now witht he geared GWS400 and 2S 1320mah lipo are kinda irritating.

Thanks for the setup information Iceman, but still no luck. This thing runs so rough when trying to start up that it looks like it will twist the nose right off. It seems to get hot very quickly too. When it does start up it runs very smooth and strong. It seems to start at about half throttle with some jockeying whenever it feels like it. I'm stumped, I don't know much about electric motors, but I've never had a problem like this.

Mine shook a little bit when I first fired it up with a brand new CC 25 Brushless ESC/w- Parkflyer 370 4100 KV, TP 3Cell 1500MA Li-poly

After I plugged in the USB Controller and programmed the ESC with the new software update it d/l automatically, and
greased the gears, she smoothed right up. I also use soft start, not the Ultra soft start, just the regular soft start.

Ive got 20 or 30 flights on it, and it flys great. The only thing I don't like is the motor gets to hot IMHO.

Solved my motor problem guys. Evidently, I damaged some teeth on the pinion when I pressed it on the shaft. I happened to turn the motor over by hand the other day and noticed a rough spot where it kind of caught. I noticed some roughed up teeth, so I replaced the pinion, and she runs great now. Man does she run strong!! [>:] Just hoping for some calm winds now.

OK, so I am about to buy an E-Flite Ultimate and I have a himax 2015 that I will be running on it. Are you saying that the motor mount that comes with the plane will not work with this motor? If not, what do I need to buy to make it work? Thanks in advance.

YOU will need the gear box from himax.

[link]http://www.aeromicro.com/Catalog/himax_stick_mount_gearbox_3499834.htm[/link]

might want to check but I think that this is the correct gear box...The himaxx motor doesn't have the pinon gear to just pop it in the stock gear box...plus this gear box is MUCH smoother and longer flights on same battery due to more effecient. The efilte brushless comes with the gear on the shaft and an adapter kit for the stock box that comes with the plane. same motor as the himaxx if you can trade the motors out you can use the stock box.

good luck..this thing is a blast I have 2 of them

I am going to test fly my Ultimate to day at lunch. I work pretty close to my flying field. Everything is pretty much the stock setup. Will give a report this afternoon.

Lee

the cg on this plane needs to be 3" rather than33/4 from the front leading edge. i put my battery all the way in the nose as high on the fuse as possible now it flies great

My plane flys great with the CG listed in the instructions. The stock motor stinks. I will be replacing it soon with a good brushless motor. The plane flys and tracks pretty well. Rolls are inline and wing overs are good.

Setup

Stock Motor
Hitec 55's
Thunder Power 2c 1320 battery
E-Flite ESC 20amp w/brake

Need a new motor bad!!!

Lee

Hey all

As I type I'm waiting for the glue to dry on my new Ultimate, I will fly it ( in the beginning) stock and go to a brush less set up if I find I like this kind of flying.

This plane was an impulse buy, but every thing I have read tells me I didn't make a bad choice. I have been successful flying for 5 months ( 30 years of trying), and I'm honing my skills right now with a brush less Formosa.

I'm sure as the maiden approaches I may have some questions. So in advance, I want to say thanks for the pending help.

I have spent most of the morning searching the Internet for a FMS Ultimate or something similar, I can't find a thing.

I think it would a good idea to get some Sim time in to prepare myself for the maiden.

So does anyone know a plane/download site for an FMS 3D plane

Thanks All

only thing that stumped me is the landing...IT DOESN'T FLOAT !!! you have to fly it very low, pull a basicly easy harrier and chop the power right as it touches down...I fly 1/4 scale edge and other high performance planeS...this thing, now I do have a brushless, is a blast and a half..on a 1200 mah lipo 3c your fingers are tired after 12 minutes due to constant flying of the plane, you have to stay one step ahead of it..it's a great learing tool... my son who is 11 soloed about 2 months ago flys mine, now I make him keep it off the deck and don't let him take it off, toss it, or land it but he flys the heck out of it, can torque roll, knife edge loops and all..it's a trip....I'm the one that has busted the heck out of it doing rolling harriers 2 feet off the deck and touching the tail torque rolling..little glue and back in the air in 5 mins. oh epoxy is heaver but it makes rock solid repairs compared to CA.

HAVE FUN

JUST REMEMBER NO AIRFOIL ON THE WING, NO PROP TURNING, NO FLYING..JUST DROPING, EVEN WITH FULL UP ELEVATOR !!

JUst a word of thanks to everyone that posted to this thread offering advice on this plane and seting it up.

I got mine done last week and have been flying it the last few days outdoors and it's a blast! My set up uses the Park 370 brushless/CC 25 ESC/TP 1320 3C and is PERFECT for this little plane. I do agree that the stated CG is WAY too far aft as it makes the plane want to fly around tail low but 3D is very easy with it back there. Since I have been flying mine outside I have been carrying more speed in the pattern and it does get a bit squirrely with the aft CG. I moved the CG forward by placing the pack high on the nose right in front of the cabane and it REALLY flies nice now.

The only thing that has me concerned at the moment is that I bought this thing to fly indoors and it seems like it is going to be a chore to keep it from hitting the walls at the local gym this winter. I'm thinking that the wing loading it too high and I might get softer, slower flights with a smaller battery. Can anyone chime in on this idea, or am I just asking too much of this plane to expect to fly it inside comfortably?

Has anyone installed the motor with downthrust?

Biplanes generally require upthrust.. not downthrust.

As for landing these.. you can't just pull the power off and let them glide. They have so little inertia that drag quickly slows the airplane below stall speed. Since the Ultimate and Tribute both have landing gear, just flying them in under power and when the wheels touch, pull the power off.