Greg Covey

The Fliton ICON 312 is a new covered balsa design meant for 3D flying. It is built lighter than previous models and comes with pre-painted cowl, canopy, and wheel pants.

ICON 312 Features:
[ul][*] Interlocking Joints[*] All lasercut AAA premium balsa[*] Sealed Seam Oracover[*] Molded Plastics[*] Duralumin linkage horns
[/ul]

Greg Covey

Here are the plane specifications:

[ul][*] Wingspan: 37.6" (955mm)[*] Length: 35.9" (912mm)[*] Weight: 16oz (455g)[*] 4-channel using 4 sub-micro servos[*] geared Speed 300/400 power system or equivalent
[/ul]

Greg Covey

The model comes very well wrapped and protected in the box. The parts are pre-fabricated, pre-covered, and pre-painted.

Note that the underside of the plane has a contrasting color scheme for easy orientation during 3D maneuvers.

Greg Covey

A generous decal sheet allows you to custom finish the plane for a spectacular look!

Greg Covey

The kit comes complete with wheels, pants, and custom gear mains.

Sprink

Looks a nice little plane

Let us know how it goes

Greg Covey

The fuselage is built extremely light with a mixture of light plywood and balsa. The ICON 312 has a beautiful turtle deck made from sheeted balsa.

Greg Covey

The one-piece wing has a contrasting color scheme in the covering. The ailerons are easily connected by wicking a few drops of thin CA onto the pre-cut fiber hinge material.

Greg Covey

A look at some of the supplied hardware reveals the four Duralumin linkage horns. I needed to slightly enlarge the holes in the horns before the control rod "Z" bend would fit. Note that easy links are supplied for the servo end. All four control rods come pre-bent and cut in the kit.

I'm using four Hitec HS-55 servos in my ICON 312.

BrushlessKing

Wow, sounds like a wonderful airplane. It looks like they really took notes on how we like our ARFs. Please keep us posted Greg! Thanks!

Greg Covey

BK,

Yes, I agree that there have been numerous enhancements since the original Flubber was released. For example, the plane comes without a power system but includes mounts for either a GWS EPS geared motor or an inline geared motor like the Hacker B20L or equivalent.

The wire gear mains and thin plastic pants on the Flubber design have been replaced with custom composite gear mains and fiberglass pants.

Although I thought an excessive amount of drilling was needed to mount the wheels, pants, and gear mains, the result was a spectacular look!

Greg Covey

The tail assembled easy but I found the images reversed in the instruction manual for many parts and for placement of the control horns. It was obvious from the pre-installed control rods where the horns should actually be placed so I will suggest to install the metal rods first.

Before installing the vertical stab, you must remove an unglued support piece.

Greg Covey

The pre-bent tailwire installed by drilling a hole into the angled bottom piece of the fuselage. I glued it in place with 5-minute epoxy.

Ian.W

thats an unbelievable little machine! how much you pay for it? what motor you putting it in? cells?

reminds me of the majestic 2

Greg Covey

The ICON 312 model should be available for sale by next week. My guess is that you'll see it on-line soon.

I'm using a geared Razor 400 motor and GWS EPS-350C gearbox. To eliminate the characteristic orange prop, I used a Wattage 10x4.5 prop from [link=http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/131384.asp]Hobby People[/link]. These props use the same footprint as the GWS prop and are used on the Live Wire power system.

pattern_flyer_2004

sweet!! will a hacker B20 15L geared work well with it? Is the gear carbon?

Greg Covey

Jeff,

Yes, the Hacker B20L will work fine with the alternate lazer-cut mount.

Here are some photos of my component locations. I found the 3-cell ThunderPower 2100mAh pack fits very well after a small cut away on the balsa motor mount post.

I decided to bring my ICON 312 to the NEAT Fair this weekend. See you next week on RCU!

Tomi

My Feedback: (4)

What would be the price on this plane? I wonder if its about the same as the Flubber

sinthroid

Edson at Fliton said it will retail for $165.00

Cliffw

I should have the first load in stock next Tuesday as they are on a big white truck now.
http://www.atlantahobby.com/shopexd.asp?id=5110. Lots of options for this aircraft and I am also looking forward to doing a conversion on the new Fliton Freestyle.
Good Winds
Cliff

BrushlessKing

Can't Wait!

pattern_flyer_2004

fantastic looking plane, somehow reminds me of the znline madness 2....

pattern_flyer_2004

btw, won't you condsider mounting the elevator servo at the back of the plane on the outside? The little extra tail weight could be good for hovering!

Greg Covey

My plans to fly the ICON at the NEAT Fair were changed by remnants of Hurricane Ivan so that never happened.

We plan to test fly it today at lunchtime.

Here are some final Ready-To-Fly photos. My ICON weighs 20oz RTF with a 5oz 3-cell ThunderPower 2100 pack.

Greg Covey

We checked the CG before flight, and, although it was tail-heavy, we decided to try it anyway since most of my 3D planes are tail-heavy. It turned out to be excessively tail-heavy as the elevator was difficult to control. We measured 115mm back from the LE at the fuselage. The manufacturer recommends 95-100mm back from the LE.

The manual has no reference for where to place the battery but there is only one obvious place where it will fit. The rear motor mount fits into a custom cut slot in the fuselage so it will be important to know that this slot must not be used. The rear stick holder is too far aft which forces the battery in a small area that cannot be moved.

My guess is that the position may have been designed with a heavier brushed Speed 300 or Speed 400 motor in mind. The lighter brushless motor made the plane tail-heavy.

I plan to cut the stick 1" shorter and move the rear mounting plate 0.5"-0.75" forward. This will allow my 3-cell ThunderPower 2100 pack to move up to 1" forward to balance the CG. I will let you know how it works out and post some photos.