Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Box to in the air in 4 hours.

Axi 2212, 10-3.8 APC.

Test Hover pics, in the house. Wife wasn't happy.

More to come.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

First impressions.

AXI 2212 didn't seem to yank it as I expected. I may have it under proped. APC 10-3.8 is what I had on my Shocky, all I have right now.

Hover at about half throttle.

Roll's slow. I like the way the Shocky rolls. Gonna see what I can do.

Good inverted flat spin and KE well. Pulls to the belly a bit.

Like the elevator.

My son Zane took the pics. One light at a park.

Wife still mad, took the boy out to fly at 9:45 on a school night.

The white foam mixed with the flash made the motor mount pic a bit fuzzy. Those are carbon fiber rods going to the gear block to support the motor mount.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Hey Tony, wheres them decals? :D

When I tried mine in the house the cat almost broke everything in the living room.

BTW, it flys outside pretty good too.........

Ed M.

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Which axi 2212 are you running? I am running the 2212/34 with 12x6 and it hauls some serious *** on my 44inch foamy factory extra. Try a different prop and you will be much happier with it.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

here is a great step by step thread

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270124

TTYl,
Andrew T.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Very cool Tony. I think I can just see hte look on your wife's face, hovering an airplane in the living room lol.

I picked mine up yesterday and I'm excited to see how it flies. Unfortunately, it'll be about 2 weeks before I have the change to get the power system and servos for it. I'll be using the stock motor/prop setup on 2-cell lipos to start out with. I need to start saving $ for a DA50 I need or I'll never get it.

In your opinion, is assembling the kit per the instructions the way to go, or did you make any small improvements??

PS - if anyone isn't using the stock motor/gearbox/prop and wants to give it away, I'll take it:D

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

I just slaped it together the way the instruction read. It doesn't take much.

I did move the servos back a bit to add tail weight and shorten the control rods in the building process.

All the control surfaces were already taped, so that took alot of time off the building.

Since I used an AXI, I had to make a motor mount. I added the carbon fiber rods to the motor mount after the test hovers in the house, cause I could see the motor twisting the fuse.

I have since tried some different props. The suggested 12-6 did well, however the APC 12-7 seems to work a bit better. I'm still playing with props.

I did a real flight in yesterday afternoon.

The plane seems to be designed to hover. That long tail moment is what does it. I keep moving the battery pack back, I am further back on my CG, but I can't tell you where at this time, I donno myself.

Disipointed in the roll rate. After flying the Shocky for so long, I got spoiled on a lighting quick roll rate. The Tribute rolls like a bigger plane.

There is a bit of twist when rolling the plane, not near as bad as a Shocky.

It does knife egde well, but becasue of the lack of roll rate, knife to knife edge flips don't work well.

I did read the very informative step by step that Andrew wrote. I am not sure the 2208 is going to have the power to really make the plane perform. IMO the 2212 is a bit light on the power. I am a power freak. After the Shocky with the 2208, it is easy to get spoiled.

I am having the Tribute painted this weekend, so I will post pics once the paint is done.

I will also be flying 3D demos with it at an the R/C Cross race in the Houston area this weekend. New plane, new set up, a couple of hundred people watching.......no presure.....RIGHT!

Once I get some additonal flights on the plane and really see what it can do, I can ansewer more question on flight ablity.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

very easy kit and a good flyer. I powered it with a himax 2015 4100 & 12x 6 prop

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YNOT,
Did you put any right thrust in yours? I just put one together last week with a HiMax brushless and 3-cell Li-Po, only got one flight on it so far but when in a hover it wants to go into a left knife edge unless I hold a lot of right rudder. I have since re-mounted the gearbox with a little right thrust but haven't tried it out yet.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

[img][/img]ftp://C:\My Pictures Planes\Tribute 1.JPG[img][/img]

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This is my Tribute

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Just bought my Tribute today. I've been flying a GWS P51 all summer. Also had an Alfa P47 for a few months before it got trampled by a dog. Boy how I loved that plane.

I have an EFlite 370 5400 brushless and Jeti 18 amp ESC to put in her. Thunder Power 3 cell 860 and a Great Planes 3cell 1500 lipos. GWS Rx and Hitec 55 or 81 servos.

New to this 3D stuff, so wondering if I should be aware of anything before I fly it. I'm not an expert, but feel confident to make the transition. (famous last words)

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Love to hear if the axi or himaxx is doing a better job on this. right now I have a 16 oz foamy we are putting together and can't decide on himax 2025/4200kv geared or axi for it. I would prefer to go axi as a bud of mine keeps stripping out gears on the himaxx setup and they are a PIA to replace.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Man... that's some kool high-speed shutter you got there for inside pics in room lighting. Look how it stopped that prop! Must be a $10k camera. LOL

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

I have a Tirbute too..I just don't liek it as much as my Shock FLyer. It's wicked easy to hover but hovering is way to boring...Rollign harriers are not as bad as expected. Knife eDge is sweet too. Running the Speed 400 Efltie motor on a Thunder Plus 1320maH 3s1p pack :-)

Dan

A little power crazy :-)

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

I've been flying mine for a week now and all I can say is it is awesome!!! I have the park370 brush-less motor with Phoenix 25 Speed controller and 12/6 prop. The thing screams. Hovers at about half throttle and I can go from hovering to out of sight straight up. You have to be careful about full throttle though the wings tend to flex at high speed. Plane was definitely designed to go slow. Only other problem I had was the piece of wood that holds the elevator haves together keeps breaking. I have the ultimate waiting to be built and can not wait. This is the first electric plane that I bought that lived up to my expectations and well worth the $400(total)



Knighthawk

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

I kinda have a stupid question here. Im a pure avid nitro builder/flyer and i picked me up one the of the tributes to bash around in the backyard. Anyway. Is there a differance in the e-flite 370 vs the 400? I bought the 400 thinking it will be more power for my 20C thunderpower li-po's. Dont really know. But I think the KV is lower on the 400. Can someone explain?

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Maiden flighted my Tribute today with great success. Used a GWS 10x8 prop on my EFlite 370 5400, Jeti 18 ESC, and 11.1 1500 Great Planes Lipo. My first time flying a 3D plane, and I am really excited about it.

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my Tribute

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Got mine today and I'm planing to use the stock setup for now, for you vet owners, how well does it fly in this mode?
Joe

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Flatspin-RCU
You can insert a piece of bamboo skewer into the tube between the breaks and glue it.
Or you can put a piece of larger tube over the break and glue it.

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Do any of you guys have video of your tributes in action? If so, could you post them here for us to see?

A picture is worth 1000 words so a video must be worth a billion!!!:D

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

I bought two of these kits, and very carefully only lightly snugged the nut on the prop..It stripped plastic gear (large gear)..Right now theres looks to be a shortage of these..I was thinking about buying a GWS gearset (6:6:1) for a E-Flite 370 (4200KV) brushless motor..What would be the best choice to avoid stripping gears..
Hovered great for first flight, then it stripped the plastic gear..glides very well and very 3D capable..Looking for best gearset . HiMax has a combo of gearset-brushless motor I have been looking at, but as Marc said if there's a gear strippage issue..[:-]

Soon as I get the gearset issue resolved I'll have some videos[&o]..Anyone that can host some videos let me know..

RE: Tribute 3D Thread....Here we go...
 

Several of us have been flying the Himax gears for a while and haven't stripped any yet.
They seem to hold up better than GWS.

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Hey Tony !!

Dirt Daddy is in the house[8D]
Later Bro