ORIGINAL: MikeRuth
Would sure like to know what Mike Thought of it?
Mike R
ORIGINAL: Rebellion
Mine finally flew today in the cappable hands of Mike Hester since I was a bit under the weather and didn't feel up to a maiden. After two clicks of up trim on the first flight Mike started flying the FAI schedule ( not sure if it was P or F) and was doing a pretty dang good job of it until the thing ran out of fuel.
Just kinda found this by accident. LOL Yeah, I have my hands FULL with this VF3 right now.
About the Excelleron: Dave made some changes to his to get some of the built in goofiness out of it. First thing he did was remove the counterbalances from the elevator. MUCH better. The throws are tamed way down and need to be tamed even further. Remember the Excelleron is/was sold as a "3d/pattern" plane which means it will sorta do both but won't do either one really well if you do it like they want.
If I were building one, I'd also take about 4-6" of the inboard aileron and make them solid as well. The rudder sorta is what it is.
How good is the plane? Fantastic. Assuming less than 10 mph winds, you're not giving up too much except presentation. Yes, I won second in advanced with one at Huntsville last year. I also managed to win 2 rounds from Erik "Dragonslayer" Newsolme with it! (Erik is GOOD). But I was still close to my Nats form, which means very very well practiced. As soon as the wind started gusting, it went nuts and I couldn't hold those lines to save my life. But that had to be some of the most FUN I have ever had at a pattern contest.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this plane, just remove those counterbalances and tame those throws, and use some expo. It will fly the "P" sequence fairly well, although we never made it to the integrated rolling 8....yet
Sunday was a blast.....hey now you have no excuses Dave, burn some fuel!!!!
And thanks guys, yeah I do kinda love this stuff....
-Mike