Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

Anyone out there Flying the new Phoenix Models Sukhoi 46 ARF?
How is the performance, general overall quality and covering?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEDN8&P=0

At only $129.99 I might need one.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

I would also like to hear any info in this plane(or their .40 size Giles)

Regards,
Philip

I HAD one
 

I saw this airplane at the Toledo show and it was so awesome looking I had to have one, it looked as nice as the Yellow Aircraft models!!

But, they did not have any at the show to sell, I had to order it and wait two weeks to get it. When I opened the box I was in disbelief. It had blemishes all over it :( :( :( , like the wing tip was rolled on a table top with dirt on it. Dents in the balsa, warped aileron.

But the good news on this airplane if your willing to take a chance is, that it is basically a 90% copy of the Kyosho Sukhoi, right down to the markings on the firewall for mounting the engine. From what I hear, people really like how the Kyosho sukhoi flies. I think that one was designed around a YS 53.


good luck, and if you decide to get one post some pics for us.

WOOD

just got mine
 

I just ordered one of these and received it Sat. This is only the second ARF I have had and I was overwhelmed when I opened the box. Everything is packed very nicely and in separate bags to protect it. The workmanship is excellent, and the finish is flawless. It is covered in what appears to be either mono or ultracote, and there was only 1 small wrinkle in the elevator, which came right out with Mr. Heatgun. The cowl is sweet!. All fiberglass, pre-painted and matches perfectly. I spent prob 3 hours (excluding glue drying time) and only have to mount the cowl and run the radio gear. I was very pleased. (especially considering the price). I'll try to update it once I've had a chance to fly it.

right out of the box:

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

a little bit of glue and engine:

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

One more, just the cowl:

Sukhoi
 

Wow, looks great! Can't wait to get mine, it should be here around Fri. Flynboy, what engine are you using? The engine looks like it will all fit inside the cowl.

sukhoi
 

It looks from your pictures like all the control surfaces are prehinged. Or did you do them before taking the picture?

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

come already pre-hinged with non-ca hinges. The hinges are also pinned with little metal pins (I'll try to get a pic tonight). They did a much better job than I could, the gap on the surfaces is from nothing to maybe enough to slide a sheet of paper through.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

That's a gms 47. I thought I'd try it out and if it doesn't have enough pull, I'm going to put in a saito 72. The engine fits in the cowl, but unfortunately the huge gms muffler does not, so I'll have to trim quite a bit off the cowl. The good thing is that the engine mounts at -45degrees, so the muffler exits directly underneath.

Sukhoi
 

I am planning on using an Evolution .46 so I will be anxious to hear how yours flys on the .47. I would rather put a four stroke in it but I have this .46 sitting here with no plane since the demise of my Sig Somethin Extra last week.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

I just ordered one of these today......flynboy, yours looks great! I'm looking very forward to getting mine. I've heard that they were great flyers, but the covering was bad.....I think that the ones that Tower has have been updated and now have better covering. At $130, it seems like a great deal. I'm going to put a TT Pro .46 in mine, I've heard that a strong .46 is a good match for it.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

anyone try the Giles yet? I am looking at that one :)

http://www2.gpmd.com/image/p/pmma0535.jpg

im glad to see you guys having luck with the Sukhoi. Nice to see a low cost plane thats actually decent quality

hooray!

Brilliant Sukhoi!
 

Hi guys,

I got the .46 Sukhoi as a Christmas present and was very impressed with the build quality and the excellent wood used. Originally I installed a .46 Irvine, but at the altitude I fly at, it just wasn't enough. I converted it to a .61 OS with a pitts muffler and it became an incredible plane.

A few things to watch on this plane (Due to different levels of experience of builders/flyers who might read this post I'm just putting in everything I can think of. Sorry if this bores anybody): - Ensure that the pre-hinged and pinned ailerons are properly hinged. On my plane both ailerons were properly pinned, but there was no glue in the hinges.

- Get the CG right. With the Cg at the forward end of the range this plane is as easy as pie to fly, move it towards the back of the range and it will scare even the most experienced of flyers.

- Skip the spats. Even on our tarmac runway, I had problems with my spats scraping, and deciced to only use them when I fly at a show.

- Ditch the wheels. Those foam wheels are light, but they were basically shot after 10 flights. Get proper wheels.

- Don't yank the elevator. As I said before, this plane flies great, but if you don't respect the fact that it's a copy of a thoroughbred, your gonna get bitten!

- Don't try to land it like a sport plane. It WILL tip-stall. Fly the plane in.


That's about it folks.

Hope you enjoy your Sukhois. Mine was completely trashed a while ago due to radio interference and I'm trying very hard to find one at a reasonable price here in SA to replace it. Due to it's popularity here, it sells at the same price as world models ARF's though!! :confused:

Yours

Christie Saayman

.46 Sukhoi
 

I had one and besides looking very good is a piece of junk.
The plane is to heavy for the recommended engines I had a TT 46 pro and the plane was underpowered to say the least not even enough to do a nice round loop. Be very careful with the elevator stab as is very week is made of a very soft white balsa and my came off at level flight at half power not even a Hi G maneuver :( . I managed to rebuild the plane and put the flying wires on the stab for add strength.

In my opinion, if you are going to buy this model you should use something like a .61 and the plane is going to come out heavier than already is and it doesn't like to fly slow.

I managed to trade my for a H9 ultra stick .60 much happier. :D

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

you can get more info. on this plane on this thread.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...324&forumid=57]

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

wow, didnt know these are the infamous Black Horse models.

hmm..now to think this purchase over unless I hear about the Giles I will be hard pressed to buy it.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

I got my Sukhoi delivered on Thursday, started it thursday night, and had it finished on Sunday night (well, Monday morning :D )
I must say, the build quality is EXCELLENT. The covering was beautiful.....it looked like Ultracote to me. The build quality will stand up to the best ARFS I own. I checked my hinges, as mentioned, and they were glued securely (I could see bits of glue on the hinges) Also, all of the wood on mine seemed excellent, I didn't see any soft spots as previously mentioned.
I haven't had a chance to fly it yet (either tomorrow or Friday I will). I don't have a scale, but it definitely feels lighter than the 6 lb. advertised weight. My balanced nicely with no additional weight needed. The instruction manual was good too.
I think these ARF's may have been improved over the previous generations of Phoenix planes.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

Glow plug
Don't take me wrong, the plane feels very solid, they look very nice and I have to agree with your statement above. But I hope your flies better that mine because mine one sucked big time.

What engine are you using?
Let as know how is the maiden flight. :)

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

TD1, I have a TT Pro .46. I think a .61 would make it way nose heavy......since it was already a little nose heavy with the .46....I had to move the battery back to behind the servos to balance it. I hope it flies better than yours too! I was getting nervous after reading your posts! It feels very light to me........so hopefully it will be OK. I have it in the truck today......it's suppossed to be a bit breezy today, but if it's not bad, I'll be flying it after work. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

Well, I maidened the Sukhoi tonight..........it flew great! :D The TT Pro .46 with an APC 11x5 prop had plenty of power.....and it was still running pretty rich. Very little rudder was needed on takeoff. We had some very strange winds at the field today.....very turbulent, but the Sukhoi handled them well. I took it to altitude and tested the stall.....it mushed forward until is was very slow, then lightly dropped a wingtip. Landings were nice...came in with just a bit of speed and it floated very nicely once I flaired out.....no tendency to tip-stall. I'm happy with it!

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

Maybe they have improved this kit or my one was just the lemon out of the bag.
One thing is for sure they do look very nicely built.
I am happy for you :)
How is the vertical with that motor? don't you feel a lit underpowered?

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

The vertical was good.....not unlimited, but very good. I would easily climb 200 ft vertical before noticeably slowing down at 1/2 throttle. I was easily doing very large loops and keeping a constant speed. It's still running rich, and in my experience with the Pro .46's, they get stronger after fully broken in. It certainly won't 3D the plane, but I was able to sustain a hover for about 8 seconds (can't pull up out of it though) :)
The plane came out light....a guy at the field had one of those hanging scales, and we put it on there...I'm sure it wasn't extemely accurate, but it said it was about 5 1/3 lbs dry.

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

Glowplug,

how did u go about installing the throttle pushrod? Did u use the middle servo for the throttle? Did u put in any z bends?

I have noticed a lot of load on mine due to snakeing the throttle pushrod wire around the fuel tank. I am thinking there must be a better way.

Excellent to here a sucessful maiden!

Anyone Flying the New Phoenix Models Sukhoi .46 From Tower Hobbies?
 

It is a great feeling when you maiden your plane and it matches your expectations. well done.