I manaqged to get ahold of the first WM Ultimate 40S that hit our hobby shop. It's gonna get maidened tomorrow, but my impressions after building it are that it's another high quality offering. It's always a plus with me when the wings are prejoined. The overall construction and covering are typical WM top notch. They even include an incidence gauge, acutally it's a couple of templates into which the wings fit. It holds them in position while you drill the holes for the cabanes and the wing struts. Almost foolproof.

I'll have some flying impressions tomorrow. Power is coming from a Saito .56, all Futaba servos running on a 5 cell nimh.

Andy

looks nice, hope it goes well

Man that looks nice!!! More pics please!!!!

I had a WM T-34 that was an AWESOME airplane! The was of excellent quality. Good enough of quality for about 1/2 of our club members to buy and race it in the pylon races. They crash em and mid-air em all the time at the races and go and get another one the next day. If thats not saying something then I don't know what is. One of my good friends in my club has had something like 5-6. He has like atleast one back up at all times.

Looking forward to that flight report... WM does put out some quality stuff...

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo, how did it fly?

Jerry

She looks sweet!! Love that covering scheme. I've got a WM Spitfire in the box, it sure seems top notch just looking it over. Can't wait to read the flight report. Guess we'll have to wait til you wring it out.

I'm going to pick one up next week. Our LHS has a purple one in stock. I've got a Saito 82 that needs a home, going to put it in the Ultimate. Have you flown your's yet Andy? We need a feild report.

No flight yesterday, thunderstorms. Got to field this am. Specs first.

Engine: Saito .56 that has floated around two planes so far. Good running little engine, on the Twist I ran one of the APC 12.25x3.75" props, so that's what was on it right off the bat.

All Futaba 3004's. Running a 5 cell batter.

Set throws to what looked like enough. Elevator and rucder servo side are all the way out on the horn, control surface on the middle hole. Alieron rods are all the way out on the servo and about 1/4" down on the torque rods. Balanced slightly nose heavy.

Throws: Rudder hi rates all I can get and 30% expo. Low rate is 65% and still 30 expo
Elevator is about 1" up and down on hi and 20% expo, about 3/4" and 40% expo on low rates
Alierons are all I can get on hi and 30% expo, about 2/3 that and 50% expo on middle rates and less than 1/2 and 60% expo on low rates.


Wind was straight down the runway about 7 knots.

For first flight, alierons are on low, elevator is on high, rudder is on high. Nice long takeoff run, tail unsticks very abruptly. Plane will not fly off runway by itself, must be rotated. First thing I notice is that the alierons are SLUGGISH. Well, what did I expect. Get it to alititude, trim it out. I don't remember exactally what I needed for trim, some right wing down and a little up. Not bad though. Get some alitude and try the controls. WOAH! this thing has WAAAAY too much elevator. Even on low rates it's still too much. Guess that's what I get for not setting at the MFR reccomended throws, eh? But it's not at all twitchy, feels very solid and stable. Stalls are very straightfoward, will drop a wing. Have to be very carefull on recovery with the elevator and it's very snappy. Once you pull power this plane just wants to drop! Lots of drag there. Turns require some rudder to look nice, roll rate is good, not exactally RPM fast but quick. Plane requires some down stick to fly inverted, and CG is too far off to knife edge. Plane has enough rudder travel but too much and it snaps out. But it dosen't seem happy flying slowly. I try a vertical climb and the engine quits. Deadstick is fairly uneventfull into the long grass off the runway, no damage but boy does this plane come in FAST!

So once on the ground I change to a 12x6 prop, adjust the elevator pushrods slightly as I noticed the plane rolling when I pulled elevator. Check over for loose hardware and find a missing bolt from the engine mount. Ooops. Adjusted radio to the following:

Alieron high rates 100% -15% expo. That feels just about perfect.
Elevator: high rates 65% and -25 expo. Plane will still snap but this setting is just about right for snap rolls and other manuvers, without being too much. Low rates are 50% throw and -30% expo. This is fairly safe, plane won't snap even at full deflection unless you're going fairly slowly, and it gives plenty of authority for takeoff and landings.
Rudder si 100% and -30, low rates (trying to knife edge) are 40% and same expo. Still too much throw for knife edge, though. Or maybee not enough expo.

More thoughts:" This plane flies more like a small pattern plane than a bipe. Landings are best done under power, especially with a headwind, as the plane will literally just stop flying and fall. Three pointers seem to be the way to go, as it bounces too much on faster wheel landings. Plane must be flown, as expected, all the time. I can't really comment on how well it does aerobatics untill I get the CG further aft. Saito .56 is just barely adequate. The one in the plane is the older of the two I have, I'll probablly try the other one. Or just break down and buy a .72, I don't think that would be too muich for it. It runs out of steam on uplines, but with the 12x6 prop it's much faster and feels a lot happier. Slow flying dosen't seem to be this plane's forte.
The plane can be hard to see at times..... it's too fast to really fly close in, and sort of small to fly big manuvers.

OK, I guess that's about all...... All in all I like it, this is my first Ultimate so I really didn't know what to expect. Just for comparison purposes, my other biplane is a Model Tech SE-5a, and it flies completely differently. Other than both of them needing a touch of rudder to turn nicely.

Andy

good to know that it flies well. i have the same bipe NIB and was waiting for a 52 fourstroke to free itself from it's current plane. but from the sound of it, it doesn't look like it's enough engine! i have a 70 SII that was originally going into a VQ P-51B that may actually end up in the ultimate now. but it'll be 4th on my list. i lost a plane last weekend due to some radio glitch followed by my own inability to save it. i will be transplanting that into a 25 size Gee Bee and finishing up my 25 size Cub before i even think about the ultimate. i have the purple one, too [:-)]

Interesting flight report. It seems the "little" Ultimates are somewhat of a handful; my buddy had a DP (now Cermark?) Ultimate 40 with a YS 63 that demanded constant attention while flying.

OTOH, the two Goldberg 60 size Ultimates I've had were big p#ssycats on low rates; the current one is the best-landing model airplane I own.

I wonder how the real big ones handle???

I haven't flown any of the large WM Ultimates, but have flown the large H9 Ultimate for a little bit and it handled just as easy as any other large aerobat. A friend of mine used to have the GP Ultimate 40 size and aside from its small size he said it handled very well.

Darn I had thought I might have found my saito 56 a home, but sounds like she needs a bit more power....

I just started putting mine together today. I must say that World Models has a very nice ARF. The hardware is nice and I like the extra touches like the dummy cowling and the upgraded tail landing gear. This is the first plane I have built where they even provide the foam to wrap your receiver/battery in. I have a Saito 72 and an 82 that I can use. The 72 is in my Twist right now and has plenty of power for that plane. The Ultimate is supposed to weigh in at 4.5 pounds, I'm wondering if I will need the 82 in this plane. I have a 40 size P-47 in the works and the other motor is going in that. I want to make sure I have plenty of power in the Ultimate for some 3D stuff because the warbird is going to fly in circles all day long. Isn't it fun to be the first people to own a brand new plane, we get to do all the homework for the people who buy them later.

RC Pat - didn't you have a yak 140, too? can you give me the rundown on that one? i've since put that on the back burner for other projects but would still like to know if i should build it or burn it :-) i mean sell it.

A short update.... I flew it again Sunday. Sorted the engine out and it's running like a champ now. The more I fly this plane, the more I like it. Very stable, I actually wound up taking more expo out of the elevator. The Saito .56 seems like it's really the right engine for this plane. You don't get unlimited vertical, but the plane is fast enough and heavy enough that you can do a good zoom climb. It will fly fairly big loops without falling off at the top. All in all I'm thinking the .56 is just about right.

Knife edge is a handfull, but can be done.

I think it's going to be my new favorite plane. It's nice to show up at the field, pull it assembled from the trunk and be flying in a matter of minutes.

And I'll state again, this plane does NOT like to fly slow.... gotta fly it like a pattern plane.

Andy

Forestroke, I don't have a Yak 140. I am limited to the size of the planes I have by what I can fit in my car. I am planning on getting the Extra 260 27% in the future. Here is a list of what I have right now.

Nitro
U-Can-Do 60 w/Saito 100
P-47 40 w/Saito 82(still building)
Twist 40 w/Saito 72
Ultimate 40 w/Saito 72(still building)

Electric
Mini Funtana
Yak 54F
Ikarus Yak Foamy
Matt Chapman Flatout Foamy

Here is a shot of mine in the building process:

rc pat - i see... i also have a small car, cooper s, but i've been able to fit a 40 size Funtana and P-51 in it. that yellow version seems nice. good luck on the build! i would take it conservative on the CG on the first flight out. judging from your hanger, this is going to be a handful for you. in fact, i'd recommend you have someone take it up for you and trim it out first.

Those templates are pretty cool. I wish I had them for my Ultimate build. I had to buy an incidence meter to build mine, which is why it's still sitting in the box I guess.

Nice looking planes. I have always liked WM planes.

Forestroke, I appreciate your concern, but you have never flown with me. All my planes besides the P-47 are 3-D planes with rearward CG's. I had a Funtana 40 but let a friend have it because I liked the way the Twist flew a little better. I have taken most of my planes on thier first flight as well as a few of my friends planes. We have a 600' x 50' cement runway that they land jets on here in Houston and I plan on learning to land this plane at that field. I think my biggest concern with this plane will be the landing speed. Any further advice would be appreciated. If it does get out of hand I have a friend who has flown for 20+ years that will be happy to take the sticks. This will be my first bi-plane and I am looking forward to getting it in the air. I spent most of this afternoon doing inverted flat spins with my Twist. I will be sure to give you a flight report as soon as I get it in the air. Hopefully I will have it ready for this weekend.

rc pat - good to know that you are of good hands... best of luck on your maiden!!! i guess i was just talking about my experience. i freaked out when i maidened my WM Ultimate 30!

Thanks Forestroke, I'll post some more pics when I get her together as well as a flight report.

I also ordered one of these planes and am hoping to fly it with my Evolution .46 engine. Anyone who's put a 2-stroke on this plane care to share their experience?

I don't think a 2 stroker would be out of place in this airplane. It really does seem to prefer to go fast. I suppose with a little more rearward CG it might be coaxed into hovering, but I really don't think it has enough elevator.

- Pat - you shouldn't have any trouble landing this plane. Just watch that you don't let it start settling too fast, or you'll set up a real sinker. Just keep some power on and fly it right down to the ground, then chop the throttle and she'll settle in nicely. Let it get a bit slow before you set it down or it will bounce a bit.

Andy

Thanks for the info Andy. I have not made much progress on this plane yet, looking like I'll have some free time next week to really dive in and put this thing together. I have decided that I'll be putting the Saito 82 in this plane and putting the 72 in a P-47 that a freind is building for me. Hopefully I will put her in the air next weekend. I'll keep you posted.

I'm having a hard time finding the World Models website or a site that has them available online for purchase. Anybody have any good bookmarks for either?

Thanks!