cchariandy

I hope there will be a plain white version available. If that can knock 200EU off the price it may become an option for more.

Chad, how has the test flights been...did you have to tweak anything? Did you use some CFD to improve the design/reduce iterations?

Colin.

can773

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I am sure a plain white is no trouble, that said I am not sure why you would want to? My experience is most people are not well setup for painting, and it won't be worth 200E (or whatever it is) to paint it yourself. Also in general my experience is the white versions painted after are heavier than the painted in the mold versions.

No CFD, no point, flight testing provides all the info you need. Important design features are carried along from previous models with changes that were made in those models to improve them being carried along as well.

J-P

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I was tuesday in Belgium at Jean-Pierre ZARDINI Hobby Shop, and saw CHAD CAELESTIA ....

More pics here at http://fai-f3aworld.blogspot.com/

Hope to fly mine next month ..

J-P

cchariandy

JP/Chad....that looks great!!

Hope it flies as well as it looks and I hope there's discount available for Canadians!!!

What did the wing and stab halves weigh?

There is quite a bit of variation in the weight of the Integral stabs/wings....I hope ZN does a better job at controlling that variation.

Colin

Jason Arnold

I've heard that Canadians will have to pay a 20% premium to the rest of the world...

Nice looking model for sure.

Cheers,
Jason.

cchariandy

It often seems that we do.

Colin

can773

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Hello everyone,

Well, long time coming but the Caelestia arrived and is now RTF. Hopefully one evening this week I will put the first flights on it! I got the plane on Saturday morning and completed it Tuesday, I estimate no more than about 20 hours of work to assemble it assuming you have all the parts ready to go. ZN supplies some additional parts such as servo tray, battery tray, ESC tray, motor mounts etc. that help speed up the assembly, these are separate from the kit.

The plane includes carbon wing/stab tubes, carbon gear, wheelpants, stab adjusters installed, removable rudder with brass tubing for the hinge, tailwheel, bolts for the gear, axles, wing retainer bolts, G10 fiberglass milled control horns and wing fences. Future kits will also include some parts for mounting the canopy. The carbon/honeycomb trays I got are available separately. Wing adjusters are not part of the kit, however can be supplied and added quite easily. The wing incidence is factory set at 0.6 degrees positive, stab is set at 0. Canopy frame is the zero reference for all the angles.

My plane is outfitted as follows,

Plettenberg Advance 30-10 - with F3AU Mount
YGE 90HV ESC
Thunder Power G6 10s 5000
Futaba 7008SB Rx
Futaba, BLS174HV ailerons, BLS171HV rudder, BLS153 elevators
TP 2s 900 Rx pack, with Powerbox Digiswitch set at 7V output
Tru-Turn 3.25" Turbolite spinner
Falcon 20.5x14.5 V2 lite prop

On to some detailed pics!

Planes will be available from F3A Unlimited in the America's and from ZN Line elsewhere.

www.f3aunlimited.com
www.znline.com

can773

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Main gear and tailwheel.

can773

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Motor install.

The rear mount of the F3AU Advance mount is too wide (I didn't plan that well did I?) to fit with the fuse, so a little different rear mount is required. I will talk to Chris about possible making the F3A mount narrower to fit some of the narrower models.

Without a chin cowl its a little tricky to get it all installed, but the weight savings is worth it IMO.

can773

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Servo trays and wing/stab servos.

can773

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ESC and battery tray. The platform of the battery tray is velcro'd to the support frame so that it can be removed to access the ESC.

can773

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Other general pics, canopy latches, inside layout, seam line, pull pull etc.

can773

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Last two, one showing the quality of the finish with a reflection, and the final weight. Not bad!

EHFAI

Looks good Chad. What are the wing weights?

can773

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Hi Earl,

Wings are 470g RTF with servo/linkage.

OhD

Chad, what is the spinner diameter? Will it take a Contra Drive?

Jim O

can773

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Hi Jim

Technically its 82mm, however I use a 3.25" spinner. Having never seen how a contra gets installed I couldn't say for sure that it would fit, however both a C50 and Advance fit with plenty of space.

OhD

82mm is perfect. I assume it would be easy to remove any built-in right thrust?

Jim

can773

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Hi Jim

Sure, it's a typical molded in the nose thrust line, so you just need to shim that out.

cmoulder

Beautiful design and execution, Chad and J-P!

Looks like a Krill construction for the fuse, but the wings are not top hinged. Are the ailerons composite and how are they hinged? Is the hinge line factory sealed?

I'm glad to see the servos on the outside of the wings and stabs - much more practical and efficient for setting up servos/linkages.

apereira

Chad,

Congratulations on your new design.

Regards

Alejandro

can773

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Hi Bob,

Ailerons/elevators are composite, hinged with pin style hinges and sealed post construction. I didn't want a top hinge wing as traditionally done.

Yes, I have had internal servos, and really don't like them for access reasons. Look better, but we preferred to have better access.

Jason Arnold

Hi Chad,

So how does it fly?

Cheers,
Jason.

can773

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I now have about 30 flights on the Caelestia! The weather here has been hit and miss, so it has taken a while to get some decent days to really test the plane out properly.

As I mentioned earlier I built the model completely stock, I didn't change any of the incidences etc. from the factory for the first flights. Factory wing incidence is about 1/2 positive, stab is zero, and motor is 0.5 down and 3.5 right. I used the same throws that I used on my Xigris models which are,

Normal Flight / Snap Rate / Spin Rate
Aileron Up 10° / 26° / 10°
Down 9° / 22° / 9°
Elevator Up 8° / 12° / 14°
Down 10° / 12° / 14°
Rudder Left 38 mm / 36 mm / 55 mm
Right 38 mm / 36 mm / 55 mm
Rudder is measured at TE top of rudder

This gave me a good place to compare to the Xigris. CG was set right on the wing tube which gives around 28% of MAC if my memory serves me well today. Initial flights were made without the winglets installed.

First flight was extremely close, probably the closest that I have ever had a model be. I needed a little up trim to get the model nice and level, also spent some time making sure the roll and yaw were also trimmed out right. This is always very important before checking anything else. From there proceeded to try out some verticals and KE to check how close it was. Uplines were very straight both in pitch and yaw, downlines had a small pull the canopy, and KE with right rudder needed no mix, and KE with left rudder had a small pitch to the belly. No real noticeable roll coupling in either direction which was one thing the Xigris always had.

Since it was so close at this point, I decided to adjust the stab down slightly to take the bit of trim out and see what the results were, I dialed in one turn of negative on the adjusters. Since the plane does not have wing adjusters I didn't want to add them unless I really needed to. I flew again with the stab adjusted slightly and was even happier. The slight pull on the left rudder KE was now gone, and with a bit of down mix the plane was flying very well everywhere.

I have since flown through the patterns a little bit (still bad weather so hard to really practice), and am very happy! The model snaps really well, as the Xigris did as well. Knife edge performance is better than the Xigris so going through the new KE maneuvers in FAI requires less effort, and it also makes the rolls more axial and nicer looking I think. The plane is not as draggy as the Xigris, so it accelerates quick and goes through the wind without adding a lot of extra power. You need to have some more braking set on the downline to keep it from accelerating. I have been using the Falcon 20.5x14.5 V2 prop, so possibly with a different prop you will not need the ESC braking. With the Falcon prop and the Advance the plane has no end of vertical performance! I have been trying other props in my box of props, but this is IMO still one of the best!

I have also added the winglets to the model. As I have noticed before the winglets really seem to help the plane lock on in bumpy weather, which we have a lot of where I am. These are not required on the plane, so if you like them use them, if not then dont. They do not affect any of the model settings at all.

I am still dialing in my 18mz for the throws and expos, and when I get it to where I really like it I will post the model file for anyone who has a 14/18 to use. I am away for work this week so that will probably be a few weeks yet!

Some new pictures,

Jetdesign

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You know, I just have not been into many of the new F3A airplanes, but I actually like the looks of this one! Gonna check out F3AUnlimited's site and take a look (and see how over budget this plane is).