Has anyone else got one of these?

Surely someone else has something to add!!

I may get one in a couple weeks. I have a Diablotin Super and love it. It is one of the funnest airplanes I've flown. I already have a ZDZ40, and most of the radio gear I need. Dymond Modelsports is advertising them at $495, and I think I will check it out when I'm in Oshkosh for the EAA fly-in. Tom

3Dreaming

I wish I was going to Oshkosh too. The kit looks pretty good but there was no written instructions only a small reduced sized plan sheet with it. I plan on putting the BME 3.0 0n it.

Falcon, that's the way my Diablotin Super was. These are not beginner ARF's. I just don't have time to build something this big. Tom

Hi Guys,
It's really great to see this thread. I just finished assembling a Blue/Yellow XL, but I haven't flown it yet. It's got a new BME 50 with a J&A muffler, and the new Zinger 22x8 prop. A 2700mah Nimh 5-cell pack powers all Hitec servos. A Hitec 5945 on the rudder 180in/oz @ 6v, two 5925's on the elevators, 605BB's on the ailerons, standard servos on the throttle and smoke valve. The rudder, elev and ail servos are connected with buffered/amplified extensions and y-harnesses. I debated and vacillated between the ZDZ 40 and the BME 50. So far in my short ground tests the BME 50 started easily. The carburetor manifold was about 5/8" long which meant the carb would have to poke out, but I cut a new manifold from 1/4" plywood and got the carb to clear the inside of the cowl by 1/8". I hope it does not detune the engine but I don't think so, I got 7060rpm on that prop, and the engine is brand spanking new. It's very light, without the muffler or spark plug it weighed 3lbs 1oz. I gave the ignition a 5 cell 1650mah Nimh from RadicalRC.com. I hate the way I had to cut so much of the cowling away at the bottom so that the J&A muffler's exhaust stacks would clear, but hey, it got that much lighter. I basically have a channel 3" wide from the front to the back along the bottom. With the front cowl holes open it ought to run cool even on the longest hovers.
Ben, I too did not like the way the elevator servos were supposed to be mounted so I made a hole opposite the right side's hole which is high I believe. I filled in the other two holes on the left side with balsa. I did have to shim the rear of each servo 1/8" but I have 1/16" clearance between the servos now. No big deal there. I know the geometry of the two linkages would never be the same without that mod.
I put a Perry Micro-oscillating pump on the engine mount, and it does pump the smoke fluid but I don't know how well the smoke system will work. I'm going to try lamp oil since I have it, and the citronella smell will at least chase mosquitos away in the torque roll. A servo-operated pinch valve with needle adjustment allows me to turn the juice on and off and adjust it. A 14oz Dubro fuel tank is matched by a 14oz smoke tank, both sit nicely on the floor just ahead of the spar tube.
Ben thanks for all the pics of your XL, I will get a few pics of my plane and post them as well. One thing I did was connect my elevator servos into separate receiver channels and then mix Ailvators so that the elevator servos have aileron action also. This is real nice since I don't need an adjustable y-harness, and I can set the endpoint and centering of each servo separately. I am using this feature on a Pizzaz and it really gives a lot of aileron authority in a hover and torque roll. It really helps in the wind to keep the airplane rolling in a torque roll, and just a little right aileron lets it hang straight all day. So I set it up in the Diablotin XL as well. There is a preset mixer available in the Futaba 9C but I didn't use it because it stays on all the time, and in a snap or tumble maneuver the elevator authority is reduced with Ailvator turned on. So I used three programmable mixers. The first mixer just slaves Aux1 (ch7) to Elev and it stays on all the time, no switch. The second mixer slaves Elev (left side) to the left aileron (ch1). The third mixer slaves Aux1(ch7) to Flap (ch6). Both of these mixers are on the same switch. I will let you all know how the test flights go and how it flys. I don't have an all-up weight, I only have a 5lb scale. I imagine it is not the 12lbs advertised, probably 14 lbs. With 26lbs of thrust this will be the highest power/weight ratio of any airplane I have owned in the 22 years I've been building model airplanes. I'm very excited about it because I thoroughly enjoyed flying a 1/4 scale Sig Cap w/YS120 at 11lbs so this will be a real hoot even at 14lbs. The cubic wing loading for this model is about 5.78, which is down around where the Magic 3D flies. They say a good 3D machine is around 7 to 7.5 cubic wing loading, at less than six this should be a blast. I can't wait to fly using the cheap juice too. This is too good to be true. -Tom

Thanks Wingspan 99 for all the information let us know how it flys.

wingspan99

Did you ever get to fly your plane???

I know that Joe Hunt from http://www.downonthedeck.com is assembling one and going to be doing a review on it pretty soon.

For those who don't know Joe (JBM) - he is a moderator on this site. Joe builds and 3d's some really exceptional planes and his reviews (and subsequent website) are a great source of information.

Check out his site to see if he has updated the review page. As you will see from his site - he knows his stuff when it comes to building and setting up an excellent 3d plane.

TRP

I need two more Great Planes Giant Scale control horns to complete my XL. I had some nice home-made aluminum control horns bolted on but they weren't long enough when I tested the flaperons with elev-flap mixing turned on. There was a lot of binding before I hit the software travel limits. I didn't want to move the controls inward on the servo arm, it magnifies the amount of slop in the pushrod system. I'm working on a full scale ultralight at the same time, so my time is split 50/50 between full scale and RC. I live 25 miles from the nearest hobby shop, and they didn't have them so I had to mail order them.
The wheels that came with this plane were 2 3/4" diameter with the center drilled out crooked for the 5mm axles. I filed them out straight and added a brass sleeve inside the wheel, but I am going to replace them with 4" Dave Brown large scale wheels. The wheel pants can certainly contain them, they're huge. I was not able to use a single piece of the hardware supplied in the kit, the clevises were for something larger than 4-40, probably a metric size, and the control horns to clevis fit was poor. I used Dubro ball links at the servos, Dubro 4-40 clevises and Great Planes large scale control horns because I didn't feel like sinking $100 into hardware. I should temper all this by saying the workmanship has got to be seen to be believed, and the covering is immaculate. I don't think I can build better, cleaner, or straighter.
-Tom

Sounds good! I'm thinking about this plane now!!!

What do you think for the motor? ZDZ 40 best? Maybe DA 50? Maybe BME 50 extreme?

So are the ailerons split? How much servo torque you guys using.

Any more sites with pics of this plane??

Thanks!

The new DA-50 looks promising, it has the carburetor in the same position as the ZDZ-40 and the firewall and motor box are set up for just this kind of engine config. I used two Hitec 605BB's on each aileron. They're not split ailerons, two servos drive each aileron.

If the plane comes out at 14 to 15lb,s any 3.2 should do fine.

wingspan99

Did you ever get to fly your plane?

Just got back from Oshkosh. The fly-in was great, lots of neat airplanes. Dymond was out of stock on the XL, but have more on the way. They say they have had problems with damage in shipping, and are now crating in wood for shipping. I'm waiting on a call when the new ones get there. Tom

I still have the aileron linkages to complete on one wing. I've been busy building my ultralight lately and just have been so focused on it I have not flown RC in three weeks. I find it's easier to stay focused on one project at a time, I get a lot more done. I'm about ready to jump back to the Diablotin and fly it though. I'll keep you posted.
-Tom

Here's a pic of my XL. I actually have the right aileron linkages done, it's the left aileron linkages that need work. I'm replacing the 2.75" tires with 4" foamies before the test flights, and I'll probably leave off the wheelpants for now too.
-Tom

Here's the pic of the BME 50 in my Diablotin XL. I did not like cutting so much of the cowling away to clear the muffler stacks, but I've really never been sorry for cutting big holes in a cowling, but I HAVE been sorry for cutting holes too small in a cowling!
-Tom

As some other folks have noticed, the stock placement of elevator servos gives some crazy geometry differences in the linkages. I put the right elevator servo exactly opposite the left one which is in a desirable position, and I just shimmed the back of the servos out 1/8" each to give the necessary clearance for the bottom of the cases. I filled in the two holes, I don't know why though, it didn't add lightness.
-Tom

wingspan99

Did you ever get yours done? I have been to busy to work on mine. How does it do a harrier?

On my first flight of my XL the right wing came loose at the rear tube and the plane crashed. When I put the right wing on, I must have pushed the tube across into the left wing. The rear tube is much shorter than the front wing tube and so the wing went 90 degrees to the airflow. At first the wing was just loose and I struggled with it for a good 30 seconds, and I almost had it landed in a field. It rolled inverted twice and each time I pushed down elevator to get it higher and upright. I worked it down to 20 feet and I had it upright when the wing went perpendicular to the airflow. The damage was MUCH lighter than it could have been considering the problem. The cowling was cracked in about 20 places and a few holes were made when it hit, but from 20 feet and 20mph level flight into the tight spin with one wing flat against the wind it went down with relatively little engergy compared to a straight in crash. The funky european motor box was shattered. The wing tube was bent 30 degrees back, and the right wingtip was crushed to the second rib from the tip. I estimate it took 15 hours to fix the damage, and $75 in parts (Prop, cowling, covering, wing tube). I couldn't find a 30mm wing tube so I ordered a 1 1/8" wing tube and wrapped the important points with 2" wide teflon tape I had laying around. Three turns made up the 2mm gaps. Does anyone know where I can buy a 30mm tube? Esprit doesn't have them. I did order a new cowling, they're $39.99 but ZB gave it to me for $25. I guess in retrospect a longer rear wing tube or a pin through the middle of that tube would have prevented the problem. And I usually don't misassemble an airplane at the field, but I had a lot of distractions, more than usual that day. I usually only do test flights Saturday morning when it's relatively quiet at the field.
I built a motor mount more suited for the BME 50. Two 3/4" oak beams are braced with 1/4 luan ply braces, and the engine is mounted on aluminum plates that can allow thrust angle adjustments. I kept the two sides of the motor box and integrated them in the new mount. The 3/4" oak pieces weighed the same as the firewall and plastic motor mounts I had bolted the BME 50 to, so I think I broke even on the overall weight. The new cowling will require much less cutting away because the top of the motor mount is much lower than that motor box, so I can fit the cowling over the exhaust stacks. The new wing tube is .049 thick instead of.035 tubing so I gained two ounces there. I would still like a 30mm tube. I have to pin the rear tube in place also. I tried to CA it in place but it did not stick to the aluminum. I'm kinda glad, I really like everything to be removable anyway. The fuse and tail and left wing suffered no damage at all. I plan on flying the plane again this weekend if possible. I CA'd the cowling back together and put some of those bullet-hole stickers over the cracks so it looks like it is shot up but with the new cowl it will look good as new. -Tom

Sorry to hear about your problem.
Mine came with a piece of balsa glued at the end of the rear wingtube, so there's no way to have the tube sliding out completely off a wing. It would be easy anyhow to break it by forcing the tube through by hand. Is that what happened with yours? Did you had that piece of balsa originally?

Ben

wingspan99

Sorry to hear about your first flight. I hope the next one is better.

we bought one back from La Ferte Alais last year and as previously mentioned there is not too much glue at the back. also, the top part of the rudder just let go in knife edge , it seemed to have very very soft balsa which just snapped under the stresses. it was slow flight too, no reno-racer clone's here. the wing tube too was very tight. ZDZ 40 powered with a KS front in front out muffler, its a pity that they don't produce front in front out in less than 70cc size, still it was very quiet with all that excess volume. :disappoin

Thanks guys. The next flight will certainly be better. Ben how long is your rear wing tube? Mine sticks out from each side of the fuse about 5". Each tube in the wing is about 9" long. I put some 1/2" cardboard rocket body tube in each side to take up the space. If my Tube was even 1/2" longer it probably would never have come apart. I have completed the repairs on it now and will fly it again this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Of course I will keep you all posted on the results!
-Tom