I just got one and wanted to here some info on it and here is my set up.

rim fire
3s 350mah lipo

350 mah? That would seem about half of the smallest pack I would reccomend unless you misstyped..? I've got over 90 minutes so far on mine and I love it. I'm using rimfire, BL-8, 640 mah 3S lipo, a 6 channel JR ultra lite receiver, and JR sub-micros. It flys amazing well. Does just about anything you could want it to. Although I always think it's going to snap in half in mid air when I attempt a blender/panic. I get about 9 minutes with my lipo and I plan to get something closer to 900 mah, more flight time, but not too much weight... It's an awesome plane. As far as setup goes I just went with the manual and it worked out quite well.

Nope I got the 350mah? How long will my flight time be?

GP Flatouts are garbage.

No, in your opinion they are garbage Tall Paul. Then again, having never flown a correctly configured one, which I'm guessing is the case for you, you would have a biased opinion. Everbody knows they have some flaws, and most know what they are and can take care of it. When done, they (reflection, RCU bipe, and turmoil) fly great. I'm not sure a 350 mah lipo will even be able to supply the amperage to fly the plane. It may get really hot really fast and exploade... If it does have the dicharge rate to handle the motor and ESC, then your looking at maybe 4 minutes. My 640 mah only gets about 8 or 9 minutes...

???
I've had and flown 3 of them.
Each has fallen apart due to the extremely poor brittle crap used for the foam.
My eFlite Tribute and Ultimate, both over a year old, keep on going, and going, and going..
The Turmoil that self-destructed yesterday took off well, with an eFlite 450 motor, 3C1100 battery.. the wings flexed, the ailerons became immovable due to the flex, and it crashed.
Crap.

Well with that heavy of a setup I see why. The flatouts need to be built light to fly well, Rimfire, Park 370, or Axi 2808, 400-650 mAh pack that weighs no more than 1.7oz.

Oh, and none of their heavy hardware either, use standard metal pushrods and tape hinges.

Jeez, if you put a 450 in there no wonder! That's like me putting a jet engine in a car and then saying the car is crap because it couldn't handle it!

Guys,
Any idea on the watts needed to make the Turmoil fly ok? Just putting mine together and will using a Hyperion 3S 800 pack with either a 2209 or 2213 outrunner (also by Hyperion). I thinking 110W should work out ok but would appreciate the advice of anyone with practical experience.
All the best, Twoturnspin

I don't really know much about that motor, but from what I can see it'll be overkill if anything. As long as it's not to heavy you'll be alright. I've never actually checked mine but I think it's about 80 to 90 W. Like I said, check the weight of the motor against say a rimfire? As long as it's close. Enjoy the plane, it may be a pain to build, but if you take your time and do it right, it'll fly awsome. Just got back from flying mine a couple hours ago, just learning to pogo, what a blast!

Thanks Loswave,
Rimfire 22M weighs 42gms, Hyperion 2209 weighs just less than that. I have the motor in a TT Giles 202 (I hate the plane and are moving all the gear into the Turmoil). With a 9x4.7 GWS I'm pulling 118W so it looks like this will work out ok.
I haven't minded building the plane, a bit fiddly but none of the hinges broke and there is excellent movement using this hinging system.
Thanks again, Twoturnspin

As an aside to this discussion, it's always interesting understanding the power-to-weight needed for these kinds of planes. The rule of thumb I now work on is 130-150 Watts per pound (about 330W per kg) and this seems to work well in most planes. Any comments on this? Other experience?
Twoturnspin

You may want to pick up a 9x3.8 prop as well. It should work out really well for you, I hope the maiden goes well!

Thaks for that Loswave, I'll keep that in mind.

Got the Turmoil in the air this morning, heaps of pull with a 2209 outrunner using a 9x4.7 SF prop. Hover was very stable and I just had to breathe on the rudder for knife edge (low rates were better!!).
Key stats are:
Total weight 340gm (12oz)
Components: 3S 800mah battery 67gm (2.4oz), motor 42gm (1.5oz), rx 8gm (0.3oz), JR371 servos 9g (0.3oz) x 3.
Wing loading: 18g/dm (5.9oz/sqft).
Power: 118W, so 347w/kg (157w/lb).

A couple of points:
1. The manual suggests a weight ~235gm (8.3oz) and I am 45% heavier than this - I can't see how I would get to this weight, what does yours weight?
2. I found that my GWS and Tower Pro servos wouldn't fit onto the servo arms provided in the kit (very annoying) and that I needed to use other servos to make it work (ie. JR, Hitec, Futaba), is there a work around for this or would I need to change all the linkages? My JR371's don't centre well and I would like to switch in my Tower Pro servos which are excellent.

Mine is finished sitting in the basement with 3 batteries of 730 Mah. Can't wait till the wind stops and the temps come up so my fingers don't freeze up.

Hitec hs-55s, rimfire, 9x3.8 prop, O5S rx, Futaba radio, Thunderpower batts, Foam Safe CA and kicker.

Where did you mount the battery on your Turmoil?

In order to get the CG at 3 inches aft of the leading edge, I had to mount the battery forward of the landing gear. Is this normal?

Back of my battery is in line with the TE of my top wing, CofG is a bit further back than recommended. I find that it 3D's better this way but still remains stable.

With my battery placed ahead of the landing gear, and the CG at 3" aft of Leading Edge, the thing flew perfectly. Just a click of trim and off it went. Little rudder used in knife edge and coupling was minimal. Slight roll and pitch to canopy, didn't mix out cause it wasn't severe.

Very impressed with the way it flew. Hovered with a little over half throttle.

Set up is with as much throw on the control surfaces as I can get. Dual rates have about 50% on low and 100% on high. Expo is set to 50% on high rates only for all 3, rudder, elev, and aileron.


Lookin forward to more practice and stick time.

ALthough i believe the whole Flatout thing is a bit gimmicky, I think some fly really well. And hey, $20 with a motor? Thats a deal even if it didn't fly that great.

i kno this is kind of late but wow Tall Paul that is definately not the right setup for that plane, i mean i dont favor the flatouts ive flown and built everyone but with that setup i couldnt imagine any shock flyer flying well. best advice i can give is tape the hinges instead of the included things, this means a 45 degree angle cut on the surfaces

But a 45 degree cut on just the ailerons or tail surfaces mean you get just that, 45 degrees of throw. The stock hinges allow as much throw as you want with no binding. My son and I both use 60 degrees of throw on all surfaces with 20% expo and both the Turmoil and especially the Reflection fly great with that setup. I have tried the tape setup, and by the time you cut all the surfaces at 45 to 60 degrees and apply the tape, you can have the Flatout hinges glued in and the carbon spar glued on the trailing edge. The Flatout hinges also work much free-er than the tape hinges and when you hit the ground, and you will if you fly low altitude 3D, they just pop off, limiting the damage. The Flatouts do fly much better if you keep the weight below 11.5 ounces, over 12 and they start getting sluggesh.

Yeah, try the hinges first, and BE CAREFUL. Only use tape if they absolutely don't work.

No. He's correct. They're garbage!




Mike