Im probably going to go with these for landing gear.
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/landinggear.htm

Single piece, and light weight. Should be a VAST improvement over the stock gear. I may even be able to get the wheel pants on their right with these.

I havent flown it yet, so I dont know yet what prop I will be using. Ill probably start with a 12x6 and work from there.

Hey guys

I am now flying a hopped up Stryker. I would like to move up to 3-D would you recomend this Bipe to someone new to 3-D. I Have flown Four Channel Nitro in the past as well. Thanks
JIM

If youve been flying a hopped up stryker, I cant see any reason why it wouldnt be a good choice. I havent flown mine yet, but the ARF kit is easy to build. Theres not much to do to it other and assemble it and put the stuff in it. Im hoping to fly it soon. Have to finish building it.

Bdavison

Thaks for the info. It looks like a great plane. What is the best set up (motor, esp, Lipo) in your opinion? Let me know how yours flies when you get it built.
Jim

Ill have to fly it and let ya know. Gotta get it airborne first.

Still trying to finish it up. Im taking my time and not rushing through things...I want it to fly precision, so Im doing a very detailed build on it. Gonna practice some pattern aerobatics with it. Im not planning on flying pattern, but you can always better your flying by learning precision.

Probably just practice F3Ai and F3P....I like the sequences.

i was so major disapointed with this thing flew it 3 times and took all my gear out of it and threw the bipe in the trash

Too bad, I wonder what was so disapointing? If mine flys as good as my ME I will be happy. I stick to the profiles for the slow sick stuff.

Here are some pics of mine. Still no electrics in it.

mrhp

What happened? What did you not like about it? Lets hear the details please

I took mine out to maiden it the other day. Of course as is always the case...everytime I go to maiden a plane the winds are blowing so hard its trying to rip the windsock off. I stayed out there for 5 hours hoping maybe I could catch a lull in the winds and get it airborne....but none such luck. Ill be trying again this weekend, hopefully the winds will be slower and I can get it up. I will shoot video of it so everyone can see what it will do. I think it will fly much like a foamie, but Im hoping it will punch through the wind a little better. We will see.

Threw the bipe in the trash? Why in the world would you do that to a $120 airplane...sell it if you dont like it. After building mine, I cant see anyone throwing one of these in the trash.

Hey man sorry about the windy conditions. That does seem to always be the way. Good thing you wated no need to risk it in the wind. keep us posted.

Im sure I could have flown it in that wind, but it wouldnt have been any fun. Not to mention, how are you supposed to trim an airplane out when its bouncing all over the sky. Sometimes its best to just hold off and wait for a better day.

Dont get me wrong, Im by no means a fair weather flyer. Ask the guys at my field, they've seen me take up foamies in stuff they wouldnt fly glow planes in. But I know the limits too. Its hard to just pack it up, takes will power, but I highly recommend using some restraint if the winds are too high....after all.....any day you come back with a plane in one piece was a good day.

I also like to fly my Styker in some pretty strong winds. But I would be like you and wait to trim a new plane.

Well, I maidened it this weekend and had about another 6 flights. The Rogue3d flys great. The E-flite 480 has AWESOME power. Unlimited verticals. Just pull and let er rip. Straight up. I know alot of guys were getting the hacker motors, but I HIGHLY recommend this set-up.

E-flite Park480
E-flite 40A ESC
TP 3cell 2100mah lipo

This set-up runs extremely cool. Virtually no heat buildup, and tons of power.

As far as flying. The plane does really smooth axial rolls no problem. Knife-edges are a little tricky to get used to. KE requires very little rudder input. If you put too much rudder in it, it will try to roll, and push to gear. While I was building the plane I noticed that the included pushrod for the rudder was rather flimsy. I reinforced it with carbonfiber, so that it would be more positive. I honestly think it made a huge difference.

Snap's both positive and negative are DEAD on. The plane will snap and stop wherever you let go. Zero over-rotation. And it seems to stop on the same line.

There's not much drag on this plane, so downlines are a bit faster that I would have liked.

The plane tracks straight no matter the speed. It goes straight with high throttle, and straight even when the power is reduced. The low speed handling is really smooth as long as you dont get the nose too high. Landing three pointers are really easy. Just pull the throttle back, maintain a nice descent rate and set it down. It has a really nice sink rate, but will maintain level flight once the power is reduced. Nice glide slope. As is typical with most electrics, power off results in a very short landing approach.

Rolling circles are a little tricky also. Since the plane doesnt require much rudder, I found that I was over controlling it the first few times. I re-adjusted my thought processes and got really nice smooth rolling circles out of it.

Rolling loops are really nice. The plane has nice low-speed charectoristics so the tops of the loops are nice and round.

Now they bill this thing as a 3d plane. So I decided to do some 3D with it.
First up...a blender. Entering the blender was smooth, started nice slow roll rate, and popped the elevator. Nothing...just a spin. Despite my best efforts, I could not get it to break and flatten out.

Ok...next. Hover and torque rolls. The plane pulls up into a nice hover. But I cant keep it there. It pushes to gear, and what seems like not enough elevator to hold the nose up.

Ok..next Harrier - Slowed the plane down and raised the nose. Angle of attack was smooth, and easy to maintain, but the wings had very noticeable tip stall. 20 degree rocking back and forth as I used ailerons to keep it level.

So I landed it. I knew I needed more elevator. So I adjusted the pushrods. I figured my CG was also still a little on the nose heavy side...which really concerned me because I already had it at 4.25" back from the leading edge. I decided to leave the CG alone and go with just more elevator.

This is where I royally blundered. I made the changes to the control horns, but I didnt really check freedom of movement. On the 6th flight Sunday, I was about 3/4th's of the way through a regular axial roll and in what seemed like milliseconds...in it went. Straight down under about 3/4 throttle. I about puked. (sniffle) I now think that the elevator servo stripped in mid-flight due to it binding and thats what caused the crash. (sniffle)

Huge props to Fliton. This thing is DURABLE. Really durable. I expected to see a Rogue3D in kit form. The cowl is totaled. It broke the motor mount loose. Ripped the landing gear plywood mount out. Snapped the center fuselage cabane strut clean off at the fuselage. Poked a hole in the covering on the left top aileron, and dislocated one rib in the right lower wing, and pulled one aileron control horn out. Other than that the plane is entirely intact.

If I can get a replacement cowl for it, I will definatly be repairing it. Its one of the best planes I have flown. Everyone at the local field that saw it fly was really impressed. I think a few of them may be ordering one very soon.

So impressions.

If you are looking for a 3D plane. This wouldnt be my first choice. While its capable of some 3D maneuvers with a proper set-up. This planes long sleek pattern styling makes it much better suited for precision aerobatics. The flight charectoristics also more closely match a pattern plane. The plane flys very smoothly, crisp, and axial. Its very easy to fly. It really excels at large tall maneuvers like avalanches, and figure 8's, figure 9's, hammerheads, humpty bumps, etc. If your looking for a good small electric plane that flys very precise. Its a winner.

One of the local guys shot some video of the maiden. Its not the best, but Ill try to clean it up and get it online. I had planned on shooting a clean aerobatics routine, and posting it...but it maybe a long time now that I have to repair it.

b davison

Congrats on your maiden.. Sounds like a great plane. Sorry about your crunch, does not sound to bad though. I am still trying to decide between the Rouge and the Mini Katana. I want to be able to try my hand at 3d but I dont want a plane that you have to have lighting fast reflexes all the time. I am now flying a hopped up stryker with a mega 16-15-4 and tp 2100 lipos. It is super fast and will go straight up unlimited. Maybe I am asking for to much. I first thought the Mini Katana fit the bill according to the ads. But after reading the threads on it I am not real sure. Anyway thanks for the info. rock on

The rogue is capable of 3D if set-up correctly. You'll need LOTS of elevator and rudder throw. The ailerons are really deceptive, at full throws it has a pretty wild roll rate.
On low rates, the plane is really docile, probably more so than the stryker. It just floats at low throttle and it flys sooo smooth. Ive got it repaired now. Just got to get a replacement cowl. I plan on maidening the E-flite Brio this weekend. Ill let you know how it goes. It seems like it will be a pretty good 3D ship. Lots of big surfaces with tons of throw.

thanks for the info. Good luck on flyin your Brio this weekend. Keep us posted

I just killed my Precision Aerobatics Katana last weekend and had been eyeing the Rogue ever since I saw pictures. I finished putting it together tonight but really disagree with its said balance point 50-61 MM???? I see two of you have it back, 3 1/2 and 4 1/4 or something like that. I take it that the directions are way wrong and you guys have heard this before?
I will try 3 1/2 tomorrow. I have the Eflite 480 and Castle 35 in it for power, should be a rocket on the up-line. I will get another Katana, best small electric I have ever flown.
Any warnings on balance appreciated.
Thanks Mike

I finally maidened my Rogue last Saturday and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed! It flew great! The field I now fly from has an asphalt runway so taxing was super easy thanks to the tailwheel. As I slowly applied power, the tailwheel lifted off the ground, continued straight down the runway for about 5 feet on the main gear, and then it lifted off beautifully. The only trim required was two clicks of up elevator! I thought this was amazing, especially considering the sensitivity of the ailerons.

I had my CG set at 3.75" but I'm going to move it back to 4" to try to get the elevator back to neutral - this should help with inverted flight and the climb during full throttle. It wasn't real windy, but there was a noticeable cross wind and it flew like it was on rails. There was no tendency to snap or drop a wing with full elevator. Based on previous posts I was hesitant to use much rudder at first, but it never snapped on me when I gave it full rudder, even with full rates. The rudder is very effective so stall turns were beautiful but like others, I had a hard time with KE due to the severe roll coupling. I could KE on one side fairly well though and I believe that I can mix out the roll coupling for KE on the other side.

Torque rolls, axial rolls, harriers, stall turns and spins were all very easy and looked amazing. Based on all these negative posts I didn't expect good performance, but I was very impressed and am now going to have a hard time deciding if I want to bring my Rogue or Katana Mini to the field. This next weekend I'll be bringing the Rogue! I had two flights last weekend and will really put it through the paces this weekend so I can get it trimmed out.

AUW: 29oz
Motor: A30-16M
ESC: CC Phoenix 35
Prop: APCE 11*5.5
Battery: TP ProLite 3S 2100
Servos: HS-56's all the way around. I was a little upset at first to see that the mounting tabs were midway down the case, but this worked out perfect since it is such a thin wing and fuse. No spacers were needed.

Mods:
- CF pushrods for elevator and rudder
- tinted canopy
- painted white on cowl so it flows with color scheme on fuse
- CF strip spanning across elevator halves (on bottom)
- Reinforced main gear plate with balsa triangles and used small bolts with blind nuts to attach gear. I also added 1"x1" lite ply to the inside of the wheel pants where they attach to the gear.

All in all I think this is a great plane and am very surprised by all these negative posts. In my opinion, the ONLY bad performance tendancy is the roll coupling but the plane more than makes up for this with excellent performance everywhere else. The few minor design/finish problems are easily fixed by the mods I incorporated.

Steve

On the climbing at throttle.
I have helped a couple pilots at my field that had this problem with other planes, so I looked to see if it might be what is happening with this airplane. I am sure a lot of you guys are better pilots than I so I am not trying to say you don't know how to set up an airplane.
Anyway their ailerons were not aligned with the center of the chord of the wing. This might seem silly but they line up differently with different air foils. They didn't have the aileron centered with the true chord in the airfoil but with the center of the wing as a whole. (I hope my explaignations clear)
On the rogue I found that I did this at first, I just lined the ailerons up with the end of the wing, (but had not flown it) now I find that with the bottom ailerons flush with the bottom of the fuse this problem is non existant. Its worth a try! A little bit goes a long way!
This will also help with ke coupleing
Just an observation.
Mike

a problem I have had with climbing with throttle is caused when the CG is too far forward and up elevator is needed to keep the nose up. As a result, the faster the airspeed, the more the plane will climb. If you can take the up elevator trim out by moving the CG back, it also helps with inverted flight.
Steve

Hey guys a little help here please.
I just moved and all my big planes, parts, spares,motors,etc,etc are boxed in storage for at least 8months...Needless to say I am starting to go stir crazy thinking of no flying this summer. I have no experience with electrics but this plane seems to fit the bill for my style of flying.
Can someone with experience with this model give me a detailed outline of needed materials to outfit one of these for best performance without a over the top price.
Thanks ahead of time.

Here's the parts list I used on mine

E-flite Park 480 910kv
E-flite 11x7 prop
E-flite 40A brushless ESC
4 Futaba 3110 servos
2 15" extension cables for the rudder and elevator servos
2 8" extension cables for the aileron servos
Hitec 05S reciever with crystal
Carbon tube (for reinforcing the elevator and rudder pushrods)
I was using a cellpro 3cell 1250mah 15Cdischarge lipo, and it worked fine. I would however recommend a TP 3cell 2100mah for good long flight times.

All this, you should be able to build one for about $380 or less.

This set-up works great, plenty of power for nice clean verticals.

You will need a dremel tool, assorted screwdrivers, needlenose pliers, CA, epoxy, X-acto, and some drill bits and a drill.
Depending on your equipment, you may need a soldering iron and solder for soldering connectors.

Yea that is what I was afraid of, the tools required to finish. Those are in storage also.. Time to talk to a friend in Ohio about helping out in that area. Just have to visit him for a day or two.
Thanks for the information.

I finaly got mine in the air today and if I knew it was going to fly as nicce as it does I would have finished it months a go. I was flying a Mini Edge and finally the motor stick broak and it was time to put the electronics in the Rogue. I would be repeating almost word for word what bdavision and Steve have said. I need a little more right thrust for the up lines but other than that mine so far on one flight, was very impressive. My set-up is just like bdavision's except I have a 1020kv Park 480 and HS55's. The blender is not flat but I suspect I need to go back on the CG. Mine does a real nice solid harrier though. I dont know if I like the 11x7E prop it has good speed but I am used to big diameter and less pitch. I will keep it for a while and see how it goes. I will try a 11x5.5E and see if I can get a 12xlow pitch??? My CG is at 3 5/8". I wish I didnt have to go out of town tomorrow I cant wait to play some more with the Rogue

Hi Guys:

I've got my Rogue dialed in pretty good now and was able to get some video last week. Enjoy!

http://media.putfile.com/Fliton-Rogue-3D-Video

Greg