somiss1

My Feedback: (5)

While I don't have a Diamonte, I do have a Vanquish. For batteries, I'm using Hexatronic 2200 4S packs. They are 20-30C and claim that they are good for 35C. I got them from United Hobbies in China for $38.95! They are well made packs with a balancer tap that fits the Hyperion Balancer. The shipping was $11.55 for 2 packs. I have since ordered 2 more. The down side is that they take a month to get them if they are in stock. Suggest the courier service if you need them faster.

Wow, hello Dick Hanson! I sure did enjoy your columns in Model Builder! In fact, I have a set of plans for the "Runaround" that I believe would make an excellent electric pattern airplane. Your preaching about building light sure has come to pass, hasn't it?
Frank

lthibault

Dick,

make absolute sense to me!

Any pics or how-to instructions? I'd be interested to modify it.

rmh

Frank -- I have not looked into those cells - yet -let me know how they pan out.
The wire gear -- this is an old art form and likely someone you know has a wire bender ( ask a granpa)
The best setup simply duplicates the setup on old trainer mains such as the Sig kits used. across the bottom of the fuselage --then up the inside . in a channel made from two ply wood or spruce sticks .
the screws on the bottom now simply attach nylon straps - to hold wire in position----all available in any hobby store.
two pieces of wire are used -- 1/8" dia is right for this model and even smaller if you have a really smooth field
also FOX made some wire gear wheel pant attachment devices which slide on and align as you like by tightening a set screw clamp .
It isn't hard to do and it all is faaaaaar more forgiving than rigid al or carbon fibre gear .
oh yeh -light too but don' tell --

barmotorsports

Thanks lthibault for your reply. I was inquiring out of curiousity but now out of necessity. I took the plane up on my first windless day for a couple of flights. The first landing from a
shallow dive went well even though it was faster than normal due to no headwind. - No problem. On the second landing I decided to make my approach flat and from further out. Problem was that from that range out I could not easily judge my speed and ended up stalling the plane from about 15 feet above the ground. I recovered and set the plane down on the right gear first. I rolled along for less than a couple seconds before the gear tore free followed by the left gear a few feet later... No a particulary hard landing, just not balanced. No other damage was suffered outside of ripping the gear support out of the paper thin balsa buttom.

Question, did you construct a top and bottom in addition to the four sides that you mentioned above? I have already begun construction / repair on my plane.

After only six flights and two LG failures, I can say this... The plane is fun to "fly" and frightining to land while worrying about the egg shell bottom.

I let the techs know at e-Flight, the tech said that this was the first he as heard of the problem with this plane... I told him to check around on the fourms.

Second, have you noticed any wired medium to slow speed handeling characteristics with his plane? With only six short flights to date, I can't put my finger on it but the plane (while balanced to specs at 5.5", it seems a bit nose heavy). Ofcourse, balance will soon change anyway.

Thanks again for your time!

lthibault

Concerning the new bottom I didn't put anything on top, just four 1/2'' by 1'' pieces on each side of the plywood used to replace the bottom.

Unfortunately the weather is been a little hectic here (very windy + snow[:@]) so I'll need to make more flights before I can comment. From what I can remember I have the same observations: the plane is fun to fly, it won't slow down very easily but I think it's a matter of getting use to it and practice stalls at high altitude.

SS2P

Be sure to check out unitedhobbies.com batteries, they are incredibly cheap!

lthibault

Now that I've solved the landing gear issue I was able to make a few flights today.

All I can say is thumbs up, the plane flies very well, crisp and responsive. I had to use a lot of exponential to reduce the throws, they were too much for me.

I'm currently studying her flying patterns, just practicing take-off and landings, basic acrobatics.

At this point I would only make one recommendation: don't cut power and let her float while landing, keep some throttle and be ready to increase power if necessary as she might fall very quickly depending on the altitude and the wind.

barmotorsports

Thanks again lthibault for your suggestions. I have completed my modifications and now have several days of flying and landing under my belt.



The plane flies great even with the additional 47 grams that were added to the nose. I was able to rebalance the plane by moving the the 5000mhA battery to the backmost position.

For the fun of it and extra cooling for the speed control while flying on hot Arizona days, I cut and screened in a NACA duct in the lower cowl.


Because of the short approach and short LZ at my favorite grass field, I still wanted to slow the plane's landing speed so I replaced the aleron Y cable with two direct aleron cables (plugged into Ch2 and Ch6 on the Rx) and programmed my JR9303 TX to drop both alerons (now flaperons) about a 1/4 in. while automatically adding about 1/8 in. of down elevator at the same time. I have timmed the deployment to take two seconds once the flap switch is hit...

Flaperons on this plane work great slowing the plane on final 5~7mph while still tracking straight and level. I do need to "fly" it to the ground because in really wants to float once it enters ground effects. Also, I deploy falperons at a medium speed... I tried it at a high speed and the plane wanted to climb.

For any interested parties, the Power 32 with CC60 Esc, 13x6.5 APC prop and fully charged 4S 5000mhA battery bench test on Eagle Systems Micro Logger at the following rates...
Instant Max Throttle: 62 amp burst (lasting less than a second)
1/4 Throttle: 1.74 amps sustained
1/2 Throttle: 6.36 amps sustained
3/4 Throttle: 21.84 amps sustained
95% Throttle: 46 amps sustained
100% Throttle 56 amps sustained



The Diamante is now as fun to land as it is to fly!

lthibault

Great information. I might program flaps as well to slow it down.

lthibault

Nice kitchen by the way

pt40crasher

How about some video?

lthibault

Unfortunately I don't have the necessary equipment to capture and edit videos on my pc.

Performed a few flights yesterday, weather was absolutely wonderful, very stable air and just a little bit of wind (the right kind, parallel with the runway!).

I'm starting to really enjoy the Diamante, I didn't need the flaps however as I'm beginning to feel the stalling point and slow the plane before the runway so I just perform a 3 points kind of touch down with enough power to keep her light.

Don Szczur

My Feedback: (1)

I'm putting together one- my son has taken an acute interest.

Three minute wheel pant mounting. See pictures for detail.

Three steps in three minutes. Push the blind nut up against the top of the cutout, use pliers to push it in, and then put 3 or 4 drops of thick CA to secure it in place. The blind nut matches perfectly with the landing gear 4/40 screw hole and wheels have ample clearance around the wheels wells when mounted.

Don

lthibault

Nice! There's not much stress on the pants so it should be OK. Let us know after a few landings if they hold well.

Just a personal choice but I would have use Epoxy instead of CA.

hagraw

I have 4 flights on my Diamante. Power is e-flight 32 fueled by flightpower 3s1p 3700 turning a 13 x 8 prop, this combo draws 39 amps at full throttle on the ground, power is adequate for pattern flying,I do believe the 32 needs a 4s pack to realy hoof it. My original intention was to power it with an Axi 2820/12 on 3s, I need to make up some stand-offs to position the Axi further forward.

Only hiccup during assembly was the wheel / spat mounting. if you use the standard mounting set-up the wheels foul the spats, i.e. the spats sit too low over wheels and contact the outer diameter, one solution is to reduce the depth of the axle slots in the spats with a plywood or similar insert, a less than ideal solution would be to go for smaller wheels.

The Diamante flies well and is a more stable platform than the Brio. The wing flies snaps well, the spins I tried where somewhat tame, sort of midway between a spiral dive and a fully developed spin, I'm currently flying with the cg at the rearmost recomended position, some experimenation may aid the spin behavior. It flies pretty awsome sideslips, this comes in handy considering the Diamante's slipery airframe.

rmh

hagraw-I have same motor prop on mine BUT- I use 4, A123 cells (11.5 ounces ) I pull 40 amps at 11 volts - really a great setup -I fly 8-10 mins also I traded th landing gear for 1/8" piano wire just like used on old trainers -big weight savings and FAR bette shock protection -using 1.75" H9 wheels .

hagraw

G'day Dick

I've been considering the A123 cells, they not currently sold here (South Africa), so I'll have order them ex the U.S. I'm sure that your undercarage is more functional that the stock set-up. The swept back geometry of the standard u/c legs is probably a main contributor to the problems experienced after less than perfect landings.

Tailspincharlie

Anyone out there tried putting a 25 nitro engine in one. It seems to me it could be done.

Happy flying, Tailspincharlie

DeadStick Dave

HERE'S AN EASY LDG STRUCTURE FIX. I'm just starting to build my Diamante 25e and having read a lot about the weak support structure, here's what I did. I screwed the LDG bolts in flush with the top of the blind nuts. Then I went in with a swab full of vasoline and coated the top of the screw and nut and moved the swab to the side and screwed the bolts in all the way while coating them with vasoline. Next I mixed up an ounce of 30 min. Epoxy and pored in in from one of the top holes. I tilted the fuse from side to side coating the wedge shaped stringers and above from front to rear and then set the fuse level and angled down a little to let the epoxy settle into a solid piece from just over the LDG screws all the way to the front. I ended up about 1/8" below the wing mount holes and is solit as a rock. After a couple of hours it was hard and I was able to back the bolts out with just a little twist from my wrench. I'm sure it's heavier than other fix's but it sure is easy, and doesn't disturb the outer finish.

Dave

rmh

I simply used a crossed fuselage wire gear just like used on old trainers made from 1/8" piano wire - -much lighter and absolutely foolproof -I have boinked a few landings -being sloppy and no fuss no muss. I did the same on a AJ 300 -far better than th original stuff.

Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

Built an flew mine today, Wished I looked up the landing gear thing before I flew it. I got this for the local field after work and tore the gear out on the second landing on the baseball diamiond dirt section. E-flite really need's to pay better attention to how they mount the gear on these types of planes. The Brio 10's are nortious for ripping the gear out if you land on anything other that a paved runway and this may be much the same for this plane from how I saw the way the gear is mounted once it tore out. Fixed it tonight but shoudln't have had to. Really like how it flies thought.

rmh

I put the wire gear shown on all my small electrics - it was and still is the best method of absorbing landing gear shock loads -in ALL directions
it is also lighter than any other gear typs -including the carbon fibre types.

bobferguson

Are you getting 8-10 min on a 4s1p 2200 A123 pack? I am looking at using two 4s1p A123 packs. Most spec show 4200-5000 mah packs?

rmh

flown thru pattern stuffonly - yes
If I flog it hard - 7 minutes
The specs you see are highly misleading --If you run LiPos to ove 75-80% of rated capacity -they die an earlier death
I run my cells flat - usually 2000-2100 used out of the pack.
The LiPos presently give a little more duration but when you compare cost , life etc., th A123 beat em - easily.
My cells get warm - never hot - I charge in th plane in 20 min or less -or swap n charge -
A pack is 45 bucks made from EBay cells .
No $$$ packs for me on larger electrics

ntsmith

Hi
I propose to be running a EVOLITE 4250 4S (14.8V) and a power 32 with a 13 X 6.5 prop and working through the pattern what sort of times could one be expected to get.