Plane did see the feild yesterday for the guys to see it. The picture tells the story. As soon as the right aileron arrives from planes plus, I will give the flight report. Hopefully soon, BAD ANDY

It looks like a nice plane, im thinkin of getting one. What is the overall weight, and what engine are you useing?

Oh one thing i forgot to ask is, are the wings, tailplane,fin,ailerons,elevator and rudder all composite or are some of them balsa?

The plane weighs in at 5lbs 4oz minus the right aileron. I am using a TT 46 PRO on a morris hobbies/rossi mini pipe for torque. All components are the foam core composite. I found out after the fact that they also offer a glassed over balsa version which would be stronger in the longrun Im sure. Hope this helps you out some. If I ever get the other aileron from Planes Plus, I will put up the final wieght with a detailed flight report. BAD ANDY

bad andy, did you wrap your floating spar all the way up to the wing or just around the alluminum pins? mine snaped off first flight. so I have a spare set of wings If you need some. but the spars broke on the one.

actually I glassed mine with 3/4 oz cloth and then wrapped 3" with the carbon tow. Thanks for the advise. BAD ANDY

Bad Andy,
I'm fixin to start this model. Do you have any tips or gotchas to watch out for. The translated instructions leave a lot to be desired and the quality of the pics are pretty bad. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
lvs

what u doing this coming weekend andy, i will be up that way and might have to stop by, maybe ur aileron will come in so i can see it fly
Chris

LVS, take your time fitting the wing to the fuse, once you have a great fit wick ca around the wing. I covered the main spars with 3/4 oz glass cloth and epoxy then wrapped with carbon fiber tow.
I also built in rails in the fuse for the servo plate to mount too, this seems to be dual function (holds servos and fuse stiffner). I did not use the 2 balsa sticks for the elevator controls but instead made up a Dave Brown carbon tube and then used 4-40 hardware with it. This is a very long tail moment plane so you do have to be careful with your building or placement of your servos and the tail weight you add if you are using a 2-stroke.

Pinhead- if the weather breaks this weekend and yes if the aileron arrives I should have the bird out and actually flying at the feild. I am trying to slip out today to maiden my Diamond Dust. Maybe it will work out for this weekend, let me know. BAD ANDY

Hey Andy
BUD.....How many weeks has it been now?? Damn what good Is a plane with one aileron?? I think I would have shipped that POS back to them long ago! You do have to love these co. that don't know a right aileron from a left aileron.


Doug

Well they do make a right aileron for this bird. It arrived yesterday afternoon so I finished the plane lastnight (after whipping of the dust). I should have a flight report tonight. I wanted to get a couple of picks and the finished weight before I went to the feild. Just in case it doesnt fly good, you know for documentation. Anyway, she came out at 5lbs 12 ozs. Will post again later.... BAD ANDY

scale photo

another pic

Lets start with my complete setup.
TT 46 PRO
morris/rossi conversion minipipe
12.25x3.75 APC
2oz spinner nut inside the great planes spinner
1800 nimh pack strapped to engine mount
jr3021 micro on the throttle inside cowl
2-jr537's on ailerons
jr517 on elevator
jr517 on rudder w/ dubro strong arm
single carbon fiber pushrod split at back for elevators halves
pull pull rudder
max. control throws all the way around on high rates
(what is a low rate??)
65% expo on elevators
50% expo on ailerons
70% expo on rudder
cg is 7" behind leading edge. Just slightly tail heavy but very flyable
12oz tank
5lbs 12 ozs. complete and ready to fly

Now the flight performance.
1st flight-- Takeoff was surprising and smooth with not much roll out. Took very slight right aileron trim and 2 clicks down on elevator. Third pass over the runway about 20ft off deck and 1/2 throttle and the plane tracked nice. Flipped inverted for a couple of laps and ever so slight down stick was needed to maintain level flight. Began rolls and point rolls--very crisp and percise. Turned on flaperons and dropped to the deck flying at a snails pace and was very stable, applied up elevator and burped the throttle and continued the harrier for a few laps. Landing is a breeze with this plane. 7min flight

2nd flight-- Took off and pulled vertical to about 30 ft and pull throttle back and burped the throttle a few times and held hover for about 10 seconds then I lost the hover when it torque rolled. Flew around and popped up for another try and samething happened. Found the plane falls to its back everytime. Throttled out vertical (not a rocket but with authority) and tried an inverted flat. 1st attempt was very ugly as I was applying too much elevator and aileron. 2nd attempt was much better but my flats were on the large side and slightly nose down but not extreme. Began slow snaps and they very very controlable and then tried 2 very violent snaps. This plane does an awsome snap. After a couple of inverted (very low) passes I rolled out and tried to fly knife edge out and it pulled to its back but maintained knife edge. Landed 10min flight

3rd flight-- Took off and 1/4 roll into knife edge applying down elevator to keep track. Flying knife edge at 3/4 to full throttle is possible but a handful at times. I used the throttle for descending and climbing. It will not knife edge under 1/2 throttle so high alpha knifes are out for this bird. Will not knife edge loop. Touch and goes where easy with or without flaperons. Landed. 9min flight

4th flight-- This bird got rung out hard. Waterfalls very good, awsome tumbles, fairly tight loops (inside and outside) and tracks cleanly threw them. Rolling circle (attempts) I still cant hold the same altitude all the way around with any plane. lol. Began to rain cut flight short. 7min flight

plane rating 1-10 10 is the best
waterfalls 8
harrier 9
hovering -- needs more engine trim
knife edge 4
flat spins 4
point rolls 9
tumbles 9
snaps 9
kit 6
instructions 2
engine choice- 8

This may not be the greatest fun fly that I have flown but it is a good one. I would like to compare the balsa version to this one, back to back on the sameday. Oh well, these are my findings today at the feild. For everyone who has pm me about servo choice, the standards worked fine with no issues at all. I hope this helps someone out, BAD ANDY

sounds neat. u gunna be flying it any this weekend? i think i might bring a pbf up with me. i would like to se it in person. looks like a great plane
Chris

The plan is to fly tomorrow.

Andy,Glad to hear it flew well-First positive remarks About this plane.Couple of Questions-When you say wick Ca around wings did you make them a permanent mount to plane or can they still be removed.How did the single servo setup work out on ailerons.I was thinking about mounting two in wings.Since you used flapperons I figure that is what you did.Nice to hear yours did not melt down like others.thanks for the info.I will start mine now going to put a YS 63 in her.Gene

After you shape the root end of the wings, use thin ca to wick all open pored foam board. This applies to all unfinished edges on the plane.(canopy opening, pushrod exits, pull pull exits, around firewall, the 2 wing attatchment holes) Then before flying I use 3m clear tape to seal the wing and fuse and also covering the attachment holes to keep the fuel out.

Next, I did use 2 aileron servos, but they are both in the fuse at the predescribed location. On the servo tray. Instead of using 1 servo hole, I cut the tray to accept 2 side by side and ran pushrods out of fuse like the original style. I did add rails on teh fusesides for the tray to rest on. Reason being is the tray also adds support to the thin fuse. Once the tray was installed I then applied epoxy fillets to the tray to once again add strength in this area. Make sure you add the balsa rectangular stock down the fuse sides at the cockpit opening, (full length sticks). Then you add the 4 fuse supports that come with kit. Hope this helps buddy, BAD ANDY

I was beginning to think this plane was going to be fun. Oh well, I have been wrong in the past. Anyway it happened at the beginning of flight #8. 1.5ozs into the flight while doing inverted waterfalls the stab brakes outside of the glue joint. Had to use throttle for altitude and alot of aileron to hold level and turned with rudder just to get this one back on the ground. NOT FUN. Glad I was able too so everyone could see the photos on the structal failure. Now, what would you do and who would you talk too for replacement?? Planes Plus or Fiber Classics??? This was not a fuel issure soaking into the stab and melting the foam. Let me know what you think.... Thanks, BAD ANDY

closeup-- the stab was free flying in the air. A couple of threads and the pushrod kept it attatched to the plane. Would have been better if it had came off..

another angle pic

Ouch, that could have been very nasty!!
Standar practice would be to see what the people you bought the plane from can do. If not satisfied, then go to the source. Hope you get things worked out, I hate getting lemons!!

face it the planes a piece of sh!!!!!!!!! there are alot better planes out there.

I will contact planes plus first to see what happens.

I did like some of the planes flight characteristics, but this form of construction, I just dont know. It is kind of hard to fly a plane with glow engines and still have to worry about glow fuel sneeking in and having a meltdown. I have talked with people who has had wing spar failures, meltdowns, now structual stab problems. Sheesh, I wish I would have known about the balsa version to begin with. You know tried and true balsa. I will replace the stab and make the bird flyable again I hope. I guess I will find out on Monday.. BAD ANDY

I am not totally sure, but the Roecell that is used in the construction of the plane does not have an issue with fuel. I know for a fact that it will handle CA just fine. I have a 35% FiberClassics Extra 330L, and I couldnt be happier with it. It has even been through a crash, and still is super light and flies great (engine flamed in a torkroll). The structure of the plane is built to withstand only forces from the air. I know that your stab broke in flight, and this may be a design flaw. Also, I think that the fact that the stab is not airfoiled, does not help it structurally.

Darren, I think that your last comment was totally uncalled for. FiberClassics puts a lot of effort into the planes that they produce. The Skydancer has had its problems, but they can be fixed.