Is anyone flying the TUFF-E by NE Sailplane products? I was just wondering how it flys.

I think it flies pretty well. A friend of mine bought one, and I taught him how to fly. He just had his first solo last week.
The plane is not a good trainer but with low rates and expo it can be pretty docile. It handles wind well since it has some weight to it, but I wouldn't say it is an awesome 3d plane. We had pleanty of power to hover with the AXI 2212/26 and a 3s 1300 Mah pack. I think when we were just doing laps we got around 15 -20 flights with that setup. It is very durable and also easy to fix which makes it a good 3d trainer. I think it is more like a funfly plain than a great 3d'er though. I hope that helps.

Thanks for the reply, I have exactly the same setup that you describe. I have been flying glow, 1/4 scale gas and helicopters for about 15 years but this is my first electric and the symmetrical wing sounded good to me. My TUFF-E came out at 13 ounces ready to fly but I have not flown it yet. I will probably fly it this Sat. You said you've flown it in some wind, how strong of a wind?

I wish I could give you a numeric answer but I don't have any kind of wind speed indicator. I wouldn't have flown my Shocky in it that's for sure! I think it was probably about 10-15 mph but that is a total guess. I was able to harrier backward with the Tuff-E at about 45 degrees. I hope that gives you some idea. You will probably want to program in some exponential into the elevator as it is kind of touchy with the balance point that the plans recommend.

Thanks for your help. I plan to use expo on the aileron and elevator and I'm looking forward to flying the TUFF-E. It could start a whole new type of model flying in our area.

Good Luck, let me know how it goes!

I flew the TUFF-E for the first time today and it's a keeper. I flew it in about 10 mph winds and it handled it very well. This thing is faster than I expected but it flies good. Loops, rolls, vertical, and inverted all very predictiable. I got about 18 minutes flight time with a 1300 mah battery. I guess I'm hooked on electrics.