dalita

My Feedback: (82)

Flew it again today. Even with the prop change, still only need half throttle. I think I will change from my Spektrum to my 10X for the throttle curve. Honestly, I think the Saito 91 or 100 would be about perfect for it. That was a hard statement to make as I am a firm believer of MORE POWER.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

I'm going to stick with the 110. If I have to, I'll change the engine later. I've put full sized servos in the tail so I don't have to add weight. I'm looking forward to trying a plane with way too much power.
Don

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

When you guys were putting the control horns on, are there screws in the kit that are long enough to protrude or are the 1/2" ones just supposed to hold the control horn without the backing plate?
Thanks
Don

Bdegan

Just sent you a PM on the other site
No, the back plate isn't needed. Just drill a 1/16 pilot hole thread the screw in to cut the threads. then drip thin CA in there to harden the threads.
Cheers [8D]

Bdegan

I did 5 more flights today. The first flight was with a Turnigy 17x8. Flew very well. Just like it has in the past. I had tried a 16x10 before. It worked well for almost everything except pulling out of a hover. It just seemed sluggish. The 17x8 gets going right away and accelerates for a bit.

The second flight was with an APC 16x12. Wow what an aggresive looking prop. Anyway, I really liked how it flew the plane until I had to stress the prop. If I was flying high alpha and punched it...the prop would make all kinds of noise and not do much. I went into a hover. I liked how it felt in a hover. But as soon as I would advance the throttle to pull out the prop would start making all kinds of noise and the plane would only crawl upwards. If I flew along nice and slow and started to feed in throttle gengtly as I was pulling up....the verticle was awesome. It pulled hard and accelerated. Very Nice. But if I applied throttle quickly, no go.
I think the prop was flexing to much when I would ask to much of it. It would get all out of shape, make lots of noise, but have no pull.
.

Third flight was with a Turnigy 17x10.
That pulled nicely, Lots of forward speed and good pull on an upline. My only issue was that I may not have been getting 100% out of the prop. After the flight I pulled the prop and noticed the hole was not centered. How I missed that before I mounted it ???
Anyway, I did notice some vibration at high speed. So to have a better judgement on that size I will have to order another one and hope the hole is centered so that it can have a fair evaluation.

So for flight 4 and 5, it was back to the 17x8 and fly the snot out of the plane.
It was a lot of fun today on the snow. As the afternoon went on it got warmer and the wind got calmer.
Each of the 5 flights was a full 10 minutes each. So now I need to top up the batteries and see what was used for MAh's

I also plan to order the EagleTree datalogger. The new V3 and get some graphs done to compare what each prop uses to turn.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

I worked on mine quite a bit on Saturday and made some headway. I have been working on the tank and throttle servo location. I have moved the tank back far enough to be centered on the middle CG point. The throttle servo is in front of the tank. Both the tank and the throttle servo will be removeable. With the heavier engine up front I have been trying to keep the weight back as well. I ended up using HS475 servos in the tail just to try to balance without adding weight.
Bdegan, boy those are funny sounding prop sizes. If I pursue the electric route much further, I'm going to have a lot to learn. One thing I'm not sure of in the batteries is this burst rate number. Some of the less expensive batteries seem to have a lower burst rate. Does this greatly effect the performance of the plane?

Thanks
Don

Bdegan

Burst rate isn't as important as the constant rate.
This motor I am using with a 17x8 pulls about 62 amps through the speed control. With the 16x12 and 17x10 I was probably around 70 amps or just over.
The speed control is rated to handle 85 amps ( so I'm good there ) and the battery is capable of 100 amps constant ( 5000 mah x 20c )
After any of the flights the batteries are just luke warm. So I'm not even working them yet.
They will probably get warmer as the outside temperature goes up in the spring and summer.

When you are used to running Nitro, Electric prop sizes sound a little outrageous.
This motor is 380 kV or 380 rpm per volt.
So at 22.2 volts the motor in theory would turn 8436 rpm. But due to inefficiencies and other things the rpm is lower than that.
More realistically around 7000 rpm. Compared to an equivalent Nitro motor that would turn in the 10 to 12 k range. This one turns a lot slower. Thats why the bigger props are used.
You could run a higher Kv motor to get the rpms up and then prop down accordingly. But that wouldn't be as much fun

iflyjr

My Feedback: (19)

Hey Guys, I have a Satio 100 in mine love it.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

The Saito 100 is a good choice. I have one on another plane and I thought about taking it off but I like being able to put the tank on the CG with the YS. The Saito is really the right sized engine for this plane.
Don

Bdegan

I found some Xoar 16x12 PJN's at ThunderboltRC.
Got one on order. Will see how the Xoar beechwood does. It should do better than the over flexing APC one.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

Well, I flew mine today! The plane flies very nicely. It does fly fairly fast but it will slow down and still flies well. Here's my set-up:
YS110
APC 16x6
CP 30% Heli Fuel
Elevator & Rudder Servos - Hitec 475's
Ailerons - Hitec 225's
Throttle - Hited 475
Fuel tank is st on the C/G
Futaba 9C Radio
2000 mah NiMH battery
I tried an APC 17x4 wide blade and it did slow it down a bit but in my opinion didn't pull out as fast as the 16x6. Not that either pull out is slow but it's better with the 16x6. The plane idles around at 1/4 throttle and is a rocket when you need power. I need to change the C/G a bit. Right now it's tail heavy. Hovers great though! I cut the covering off the bottom to get the battery back a bit, shooting for the middle line of the three for the C/G and, now I'm going to have to move it further forward. The plane lands amazing. The field I was flying on is a bit rough and the tail wheel assembly I had on the plane broke on a very soft landing so I'll have to dig through some parts to find another. The muffler came loose and messed up the cowl a bit but nothing serious. A couple of tweaks here and there and it will be great. It's a fun plane!

Bdegan

Congrats on the maiden.
Yeah the plane lands beautifully. i can be up hi and in close and still dive it in and it slows down for a nice landing.
Yeah the tail wheel [] Broke mine to.

Fo props on this electric setup I have, I mentioned I was going to try a 16x12. It was ok but not great. If I pulled verticle while I already had some forward momentum.....It was Oh My God !! verticle. Crazy pull.
But if I tried to pull out from a hover. Not good. When i would punch it, it made all kinds of noise and didn't go any where.
After talking to Ben at 3D Hobby SHop, he basically said because the pitch of the prop was essentially stalled and not generating any static thrust.
He said a basic formula for 3D type flying was to try to stay around 50% pitch versus diameter. So 16x8 as an example.
He also said you can sometimes get away with up to 66% but never more. Thats why the 16x12 didn't pull from a dead stop, it was at basically 75% pitch vs diameter.
I have settled on a 17x10 for this plane and powers system.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

I ordered a couple of Xoar props from Thunderbolt R/C as well. I'm going to try one of their 16x8 3D props but I guess the 8 is the average pitch as it varies throughour the prop. I have also ordered a 16x6 standard prop to try. By the way, the plane came in at 7lbs 10oz. A bit heavy but the engine is big on this thing. It certainly flies fine at this weight. There is a fair bit of pull to the belly while in knife edge but I figure that will change with the C/G adjustment. The plane hardly needs high rates. I will either fly it on low rates or dial in a bunch of expo. I guess I'll go tinker now and make the little changes.
Don

wind junkie

My Feedback: (1)

I think that's good advice. I've always found that to be true for wet power planes also.

Another thing to consider is the prop design and construction (or application type). The gas props are built more stoutly (to handle engine vibration) so it seemed like one might be able to "get away" with more pitch in a 3D application if going to a thinner electric prop, but when asked to really pull it still seems to come down to those aerodynamic rules of thumb on the prop anyway, regardless of how much cleaner the electric prop was biting the air. If the prop gets too thin, it loses its shape under load and that makes it harder to diagnose what's going on when comparing props.

I don't have a lot of experience with larger electric 3D birds, but friends who do seem to be reaching that conclusion. If you fly pattern all the time (higher speeds) and don't really load the prop, it's a far different environment than pulling out of a hover, and you can go with a more "square" prop (pitch approaching diameter.)

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

A couple of pictures. I always take a couple of pictures of a plane before I maiden it. It a superstitious thing. I didn't one time and I crashed it so I always take a pic now!!

Bdegan

Looks good.
I like the aluminum spinner.
I wish I could locate a 2 1/4 carbon spinner.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

Brad have a look on the Precision Aerobatics site. I think there was a picture of Carbon spinners in several sizes.
Don

50mph

I finally got my kit. I was waiting to see what everyoe would be using. I was ready to go EP and when I went by my LHS I saw the Saito FG-14B(82B) 4-Stroke Gas Engine. I may try this, just not sure what to expect. Its in the middle compared to other power setups so I may be OK.

Now I am stuck between Ep and the Saito.

sevans16

I used an OS 95AX in my bibe and I really like the combination.

sevans16

I used an OS 95AX in my bibe and I really like the combination.

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

I flew mine 6 times over the weekend. Saturday it was pretty windy and that limited my down low playing but the Bipe actually handles the wind quite well. I messed with props a bit between the 16x6 and the 17x4w APCs. The 16x6 has more thrust but the 17x4 seems to suit the plane better for 3D. I'm going to try the Xoar props I got but I have to rebalance the plane to try them as they're an once lighter than the APC's and my plane is already tail heavy enough. I guess I'm too lazy to take the wings off and relocate the battery.
The more I fly this plane the more I like it. Hover is easy. Harrier is the best I have ever had in a plane. I didn't try much inverted harier as I'm not that good at it. Knife edge is ok one way but I'm struggling with the left wing up to keep it from rolling out. I need to try to balance it laterally again. I think it's actually just a hair heavy on the right side as it dips to the right in a wall every time. I really like this plane. I'm going to have to get really agressive with my Fliton Inspire 60 and crash it so I can try a forty sized Reactor.
Don

Bdegan

Hey Don,
Great to hear. I have been flying just about every weekend on skis. Yesterday I had a small problem.
The landing gear decided to stay behind during the take off run on my third flight yesterday [:@]
Our field has very little snow left and the right ski decided it didn't want to slide any further.

The gear and gear mount plate pulled out clean. Nothing broken, just pulled out. I was really amazed to see how little glue was on the plywood plate. No corner bacing either. So last night I added in some corner braces and epoxied the plate back in.
I picked up some Orange monocote this afternoon and will recover the section tonight.

I have to agree. This plane flies awesome. It handles the wind really well and is a lot of fun to do a hard rudder turn downwind. The rear end skids around like a car on a gravel road

Basement Troll

My Feedback: (3)

Maybe I'll take a good look at my landing gear plate next time I get the wing off. It sounds like it could use a bit of glue and may a couple of corner braces. So far the more i fly this plane, the more I like it. I'm still waiting on my Precision Aerobatics Extra 260. I guess there was a mix up and it didn't get sent right away. It should be here this week.
Don

bird_dog0347

My Feedback: (1)

hey guys, I have the .46 sized reactor and I am thinking I would like to have this one as well. How is the covering on this one, as bad as the .46 in terms of nitro just ruining it?

Jason 3-Danhakl

My Feedback: (10)

Mine is approaching a year old and the covering is holding up really well.
The transparent covering on the .46 mono Reactor does not like nitro fuel on it at all!
Anyway the covering is very nice and has not given me any trouble at all. One thing I did
do is cover the bottom hatch seem with Orange MonoKote. That does not need to come off
with Glow and looked like a great place for grime and goo to enter the fuse.
Jason