mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

Been thinking of getting into electrics so that a quick trip to the field is even quicker. Murph, what's your complete power setup including the speed control and batteries? I remember that your motor is an EFlite. That's sold by Horizon right? Is there anyway you could post some pics of your setup?

Here's some pics of my big Utimate. It's work taking her to the field. Need something a little easier once and a while.

biplanemurphy

Hi Mrbigg........

So the carbon fiber I used was 3/32" rod for "tail braces/flying wires"
3mm x .5mm flat carbon fiber strip on all outer edges of elevators/stabs...and on top in various places...(see photos)

Highly recommend strengthening/bracing tail surfaces!!!!!!!!

Setup:
1. E-flite 480 outrunner (approx.$70.00)

2. castle creations pheonix 35 ESC (approx $85) have an E-flite 40 amp ESC on another plane ($55) works good.

3. thunder power 2100 15c 3cell 11.1 volt Li-po Battery ($70)........2 batts are nice...fly with one while other charging!!

4. 4x hitec hs-55 servos ($15) cheap but work........suggest a better servo for elevator and rudder(ex. hitec hs-56 or 65)

5. Hitec full size 7 channel reciever/crystal ($60)

6. 11 x 7 apc slowflyer prop. I think they deliver more thrust than the regular electric props. ($3)

7. 2" dave brown Lite wheels ($5-6) Really helps when club field is infested with gopher holes..........

8. control horn for skid by rudder......lost the original lite-ply one somewhere in flying field......
control horn CA'd on and screwed on.....works great!! (free...from a crashed glow plane)

9. Flat aluminum motor mount.........made by me....Take arf motor mount and 480's motor mount and mark all the holes.
bust out the dremel and voila!!! Aluminum is .064" thick.

10. "Deans" connectors on Batt and ESC(electronic speed control) use female on Battery to prevent shorting. Male on ESC.

E-flite is from Horizon hobby....Thunder power also from Horizon......hitec and castle creations are common stuff.
Dave brown can be found at Tower(my LHS orders them for me)....flat aluminum from rack at hardware store.

Hope this helps...I love this plane.....just needed a little "modification" to handle my flying style etc...

Any questions? Just ask.......


Murph.........

biplanemurphy

Forgot the photos..here they are.....

Murph......

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

Thanks man! That helped quite alot. What kind of wind can this thing handle?

biplanemurphy

Hi Mrbigg..........more than happy to help.

It can handle wind fairly well........not a huge wind, but moderate...

The wings are symmetrical and very thin, so it slices through the air nicely...........

However definately land into the wind!!! Crosswind can send these small electrics into a cartwheel real easy!!

For a Bipe (Boy do I love the Bipes) It lands extremely well.....Greases in every time.
(I had a world models .40 size Ultimate that performed the same way.......until it's untimely death)

All in all this is one of my favorite planes that I have ever owned!!


Best of luck.............

Murph........


P.S. any questions just ask.

Whistling Death

I have been trying the 35-30-1250 Rimfire and have burned up 2 motors in the last 3 flights. It came in the G P Power System E-Perf pack with a matched speed controll and li-po. Extremely strong motor when it works.

B.Matt

Has anyone found a better landing gear for this plane?

skybuster97

Im using the 35-30-1250 as well very good pergormance..11 x4.7 prop.. No problems yet.. I beefed up the stab.. Cheers

nitro wing

My Feedback: (1)

biplanemurphy

could you make a video of it?
What KV is your 480? 1080KV?

biplanemurphy

Hi Nitro wing....I'll try to get a video...!020 kv...E-flite 480....

biplanemurphy

Hi Skybuster....What mods did you do for the beef up.....I'd love to see what you did.

Murph........

skybuster97

Murph,
Nothing special. Just a piece of 1/2 inch wide by 3 inch long triangular stock underneath... I also have 1/2 ounce of weight on the tail...Only 4 flights.. 2 with the new engine..so far , so good..

biplanemurphy

Cool......that should do it...Mine broke right there on both sides.......I wish I had reinforced it in the beginning........Still landed great even with 2 broken stabs.

skybuster97

Murph,
Without your help...I would not have had a clue. I don't even like the electric stuff... Which I'm still clueless about.. I have the 2100 Li -po.. I 'm an ex- gas pattern guy....old school stuff. I can fly this bipe .5 miles from the house..vs 70 mile drive to fly gas.. I like gas... How many flts do you have and how's the landing gear...holding up...Thx for the help

biplanemurphy

Hi Skybuster.....I like my glow planes alot, and putting togethar a big Gasser as well.....these little electrics are really convenient though...

I have had a lot of flights on it......too many too count...I really like this one...The landing gear gets bent a bit, but i just bend it back..........

I,ve actually broken this plane alot doing 3-D stuff too low, and the low voltage cutoff gets me....Broken top wing in half...........Broken left lower wing off......etc.... etc....But being balsa built it's easy to fix....

I recomend the carbon fiber rod braces on the stabs....that really made the tail rock solid....and the carbon fiber flat strip around the trailing and leading edges of elevators and stabs helped alot.

Murph.......

rocko3

This is a wonderful electric bipe. I've had mine for 6 weeks now and had a ball every flight, except the last! Started into a hover and lost aileron control, she rolled over and darted into the grass.[X(] Upon post crash inspection, found both aileron servos hanging from their leads. Check your glue joints guys, CA only on the servos is not enough! Should have drilled and screwed as well, I questioned the assembly procedure in the manual but trusted GP, as they have never steered me wrong.[:@]
By the way, Waterfalls with this little baby are a dream.

dmcmike

My Feedback: (14)

Santa was good to me, and figured that since i'm getting more than a bit grey, and hauling around the big GP Ulti all the time wasn't the easiest thing in the world, that I need it's baby Brother! I see that there seems to be a bit of reinforcing required on the horizontal stab, especially if you're dumping something like the 35-30-1250 rimfire in it. Has anyone tried anything like Kevlar thread as tail wires? Any other things that might be needed when building. BTW, first impressions are a very light, but well built arf. If it flies like it's big brother, it's gonna be a blast. Oh yeah... Big brother has Hi-tec HS-5945's on Ail, Elevator and a HS-5955 on the Rudder, with a Brison 3.2 spinning a Vess 22-A. More than enuff vertical, and will win a lot of 'vertical' drag races!

boss_blueangels

Hey, Santa was nice to me as well! I got one of these little sweethearts under the tree this morning but I was devistated to find the trailing edge of the left, lower wing to have a huge dent and horribly wrincled covering on the wing. Hence I'm here writing this and not building my plane. And I'm not that lazy, it could be a simple fix, but it's an ARF and I'd like to have as many things going for me from the beginning as possible! haha

Anyway, I'm quite excited about this little plane! Being pretty new to the electric world, this thread has been helpful in calming my nerves as far as electronics goes. I also have recently finished assembling an E-Flite Byp-Yak and all it needs is to be "plugged in." I'm thinking of getting the DX6 system so I don't have to worry about crystals, and can have one Tx for multiple airframes. If possible, I'd like to have a setup that is as close to that of the Byp yak as possible. Including similar servos, Rx, ESC, battery, and if possible even motor. (With as many different hobbies as I have, it is important to keep as many things common as possible!)

I'm going down to the LHS where it was purchased tomorrow to see if I can't get a quick replacement and be back to start building it.

dmcmike

My Feedback: (14)

Well, after doing some digging and finding out the fun everyone has had with the rimfires, and Gasping at the price they're wanting for a decent AXI, I dug around and found out about Scorpion motors. Just pulled the trigger on a Scorpion 3008-32 and the Scorpion 35A ESC. Seems like the people who have posted anything about the Scorpions love 'em! and their price isn't too bad. Less than $100 for the motor and ESC together, where the AXI with a CC ESC was around $165! Balance of the equipment will be Futaba S3114 servos, with a Berg 4L providing the proper communication for the whirs and buzzes inside. Everythings ordered, and hopefully will be here by next weekend. Already looking into the Tail bracing issue, and think i'm gonna try to use some Kevlar thread as flying wires on the elevator and rudder, similar to the Big Ulti. Might even be persuaded to post some build pics if anyone is interested. Probably have to wait a couple of months before the maiden, but then we do get a late January, early February thaw sometimes.

Lets see now, this will make 6 Bipes in the hanger, with only 2 monoplanes.... I'm beginning to think i'm in a rut or something!

mjb18

McMike - Please continue to post. I'm right behind you. :-)

dmcmike

My Feedback: (14)

Just got word that the motor, esc, receiver, servos, and servo extensions are in priority mail, with recept expected by this weekend. Can't do much on it until I get the servos so I can run the extensions through the wings. I'll be sure and take some pics while I run through the build.

1st impressions.... Very well packaged and it's all there (checked everything against the parts list). The covering is very well done, and will require a minimal amount of re-shrinking. Construction seems to be very good, and very well designed. The overall weight is very low.

I'm really looking forward to reviewing the Scorpion power system, since I've read so many good comments on it.

In the meantime... Getting ready to do some mods on the Big Ulti. Going to add a smoke system, just for hoots and giggles. Who knows, with the right kind of smoke fluid, I might be able to keep the bugs down once spring returns!

biplanemurphy

I flew mine yesterday a couple times.

It was great as always.....even recieved applause after each landing....

This plane makes me look good.