E flite dimante 25 E
10-13-2007, 11:06 AM
#52
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ORIGINAL: dick Hanson
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.
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.
The stock gear and wheel pants look much better. The fix DS Dave used was recommended by Ben @ 3D Hobby Shop. It's simple, easy and retains the good looks of the original by beefing up the structure supporting the gear. I have the same fix in my Aspera.
I'm sure you'll agree that there's more than one good way fix any problem.
Regards,
CR
10-28-2007, 09:29 AM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
Strange, is the plane or the flyer that varies? I allways let it float in. Variations could be due to balance or even the propellor used as well as if you let the engine stop or simply turning at very low revs. I always use the latter idea as it helps with stall turns but landings it doesnt seem to make much difference. It just steams in and floats for an eternity.
11-01-2007, 07:31 AM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
After flying this for a dozen or so times the conclusion is that it is a great sport plane but not really good enough for f3a as the coupling is too much. Rolls are not very axial and the plane is very heavy. In fact with the recommended cells I could get about 12 mins safe with a 13 X 6.5e prop. I feel more and more certain it shuold read 3300 or 3700mAH cells at the most. Any other people found that the 4250mAH are over the top. (No pun intended)? It certainly contributes to a nose heavy ship.
11-02-2007, 11:00 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
http://stores.ebay.com/RVMShop-Store...QQftidZ2QQtZkm
If you are looking for batteries, why not give these guys a try. They are cheaper then most I have found and I have been using two of them this last summer and no problems with anything. The only problem is, you have to wait for two weeks for them to get here, but I can stand the wait given the price.
If you are looking for batteries, why not give these guys a try. They are cheaper then most I have found and I have been using two of them this last summer and no problems with anything. The only problem is, you have to wait for two weeks for them to get here, but I can stand the wait given the price.
11-09-2007, 06:43 PM
#57
RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ORIGINAL: Charley
It also looks like hell, Dick.
The stock gear and wheel pants look much better. The fix DS Dave used was recommended by Ben @ 3D Hobby Shop. It's simple, easy and retains the good looks of the original by beefing up the structure supporting the gear. I have the same fix in my Aspera.
I'm sure you'll agree that there's more than one good way fix any problem.
Regards,
CR
ORIGINAL: dick Hanson
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.
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.
The stock gear and wheel pants look much better. The fix DS Dave used was recommended by Ben @ 3D Hobby Shop. It's simple, easy and retains the good looks of the original by beefing up the structure supporting the gear. I have the same fix in my Aspera.
I'm sure you'll agree that there's more than one good way fix any problem.
Regards,
CR
form follows function in my book
12-02-2007, 11:17 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
This thread is been very quiet. I'm still enjoying my Diamante very much, now putting skis for the winter season!
You guys should look at united hobbies.com for Lipos and other parts. I just bought two 4200 4s packs and they were shipped quickly, work perfect and cost a fraction of the price. Very good reviews on the site too. Check it out!
You guys should look at united hobbies.com for Lipos and other parts. I just bought two 4200 4s packs and they were shipped quickly, work perfect and cost a fraction of the price. Very good reviews on the site too. Check it out!
04-03-2008, 12:25 AM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
I received my Diamante today by UPS. There was zero damage to the shipping box Advantage Hobby put fragile stickers all over it. Everything looks good inside. This plane looks like my Cap232g with the diamond pattern. I plan to use the AXI 2826-10. Everybody is out of the MN48 servos, so I upgraded to the DS3421sa's. Thanks to everyone who posted all the very helpful info.
George G. Royal
George G. Royal
04-27-2008, 04:37 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ORIGINAL: 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.
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.
06-17-2008, 11:26 AM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ORIGINAL: lthibault
Pictures of the receiver setup and the new bottom. Inside the yellow circles you can see the side plywood pieces that also hold the bottom to the balsa structure on the side.
The result is rock solid. I don't expect any other trouble. Of course the weight has changed but hey! Now I can land on grass and rough terrain.
Pictures of the receiver setup and the new bottom. Inside the yellow circles you can see the side plywood pieces that also hold the bottom to the balsa structure on the side.
The result is rock solid. I don't expect any other trouble. Of course the weight has changed but hey! Now I can land on grass and rough terrain.
There is no doubt that the gear mounting on this plane is very poor.
On a SLIGHTLY hard landing the center area of the thin ply mount used, bent down the middle, as both gear splayed out.
I removed the ply piece.
Of note is the soft BALSA triangle stock used as brace for this... what a joke!
I mode a thick ply doubler for the ply piece, putting holes in for the existing blind nut locations.
I made a new set of ply "walls" for the wing mount area and the firewall and fuselage areas, in effect forming a new stiff "box" for all the gear forces to be exerted upon.
All of this was closed up with generous amounts of epoxy.
To avoid the lever effect of the gear during hard landings, I also put in two thin steel bars with holes for the gear mounting cap screws. This effectively joins the two gear into a once piece unit, when they are screwed in place.
The entire area is much more resilient now.
The changes added around 2oz to the weight of the plane, but it was worth it.
06-17-2008, 05:13 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ORIGINAL: ggroyal1
I received my Diamante today by UPS. There was zero damage to the shipping box Advantage Hobby put fragile stickers all over it. Everything looks good inside. This plane looks like my Cap232g with the diamond pattern. I plan to use the AXI 2826-10. Everybody is out of the MN48 servos, so I upgraded to the DS3421sa's. Thanks to everyone who posted all the very helpful info.
George G. Royal
I received my Diamante today by UPS. There was zero damage to the shipping box Advantage Hobby put fragile stickers all over it. Everything looks good inside. This plane looks like my Cap232g with the diamond pattern. I plan to use the AXI 2826-10. Everybody is out of the MN48 servos, so I upgraded to the DS3421sa's. Thanks to everyone who posted all the very helpful info.
George G. Royal
I used Hitec HS 85MG servos instead of the MN48s. These work great and are smaller and lighter with the same torque.
07-20-2008, 02:59 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
I'm hoping this forum is not completely dead.
I was at my LHS yesterday and they had the E-flite Diamante 25E for sale for $75 which is about 50% of original price. They had had the plane in stock for a long time and they wanted to move it out. I could not resist, so I bought it.
After searching around I came to realize that part of the problem with this plane has been the problem of landing gears tearing up the fuselage on not-so-hard landings. So, I am now trying to figure out how to strengthen this area.
This first thing I notice is the angle of the landing gear brackets. Any hard landing would create pressure at the front of the brackets due to the angle and snap it off the fuselage. Also, since the brackets are split rather than one piece, a bump or rough area encountered by one of the wheels would not be supported by the other bracket, so it would tend to tear off the one side.
So, the first thing I'm doing is using a landing gear from another plane (that one is in plane heaven) which is a one-piece bracket and set at a 90 degree position rather than angled as noted above.
The next thing I'll do to strengthen the balsa ahead of the piece of plywood used to support the gear is to use fiberglass cloth and epoxying the whole inside area ahead of the landing gear support. Hopefully, this would make it much stronger.
Anyway, I'm going to try the above and see what happens. If the landing gear tears off on not-so-rough landings, then I will reconstruct the whole area with strong plywood, etc as recommended in this forum.
Any comments?
I was at my LHS yesterday and they had the E-flite Diamante 25E for sale for $75 which is about 50% of original price. They had had the plane in stock for a long time and they wanted to move it out. I could not resist, so I bought it.
After searching around I came to realize that part of the problem with this plane has been the problem of landing gears tearing up the fuselage on not-so-hard landings. So, I am now trying to figure out how to strengthen this area.
This first thing I notice is the angle of the landing gear brackets. Any hard landing would create pressure at the front of the brackets due to the angle and snap it off the fuselage. Also, since the brackets are split rather than one piece, a bump or rough area encountered by one of the wheels would not be supported by the other bracket, so it would tend to tear off the one side.
So, the first thing I'm doing is using a landing gear from another plane (that one is in plane heaven) which is a one-piece bracket and set at a 90 degree position rather than angled as noted above.
The next thing I'll do to strengthen the balsa ahead of the piece of plywood used to support the gear is to use fiberglass cloth and epoxying the whole inside area ahead of the landing gear support. Hopefully, this would make it much stronger.
Anyway, I'm going to try the above and see what happens. If the landing gear tears off on not-so-rough landings, then I will reconstruct the whole area with strong plywood, etc as recommended in this forum.
Any comments?
07-20-2008, 05:06 PM
#64
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
I'm on my 2nd Diamante and love them both. I fixed the Landing Gear problem by mixing up about 3/4 Oz Epoxy. First I screwed the LDG bolts in flush with the top of the blind nuts and with a swab covered in vasaline, coated each bolt as I screwed them in hand tite (without the LDG struts installed) Then I mixed the Epoxy and poured it into the bottom of the LDG fuse area from one of the two oval holes above. I tilted the fuse forward, backward and to both sides allowing the Epoxy to cover over the triangle shaped stringers on each side of the bottom. I then set the fuse level-side-to-side and angled down so the LDG to firewall area would be level. The Epoxy hardened about 1/8" thick and the LDG support structure is solid as a rock.
I crashed my first one so hard the only thing left was the tail section and the LDG support structure with the LDG intact and I used the gear on my second one.
This is an easy fix and is very strong. You'll like flying the Diamantemy first one flew with no trim required.
Good luck,
Dave
I crashed my first one so hard the only thing left was the tail section and the LDG support structure with the LDG intact and I used the gear on my second one.
This is an easy fix and is very strong. You'll like flying the Diamantemy first one flew with no trim required.
Good luck,
Dave
07-20-2008, 07:17 PM
#65
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
Dave,
Thanks for the info.
I do have a question. You covered the bolts with vaseline so the epoxy would not stick to them. Right?
I assume you inserted the bolts to keep epoxy out of the holes. Right?
I think I'm doing about the same thing, except I'm using fiberglass cloth instead of just epoxy.
Thanks for the info.
I do have a question. You covered the bolts with vaseline so the epoxy would not stick to them. Right?
I assume you inserted the bolts to keep epoxy out of the holes. Right?
I think I'm doing about the same thing, except I'm using fiberglass cloth instead of just epoxy.
09-02-2008, 10:56 AM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
I've been flying the Diamante now for a while.
I used the E-flite Power 25 and that was acceptable for sports flying. Did great with it.
I just installed a Power 32 with a 4 Cell Li-po and WOW! That's a lot of power for this plane. I even propped down to 12 X 6 rather than the recommended 13 X 6.5 and it still had awesome power. Does great on windier days.
I reinforced the landing gear area and used a different landing gear. I did not like the one supplied with the plane. The one I'm using make it sit a little higher and it flexes a little which will be good on rough landings.
I'm enjoying it a lot.
I used the E-flite Power 25 and that was acceptable for sports flying. Did great with it.
I just installed a Power 32 with a 4 Cell Li-po and WOW! That's a lot of power for this plane. I even propped down to 12 X 6 rather than the recommended 13 X 6.5 and it still had awesome power. Does great on windier days.
I reinforced the landing gear area and used a different landing gear. I did not like the one supplied with the plane. The one I'm using make it sit a little higher and it flexes a little which will be good on rough landings.
I'm enjoying it a lot.
09-02-2008, 01:30 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ORIGINAL: jmir
I just installed a Power 32 with a 4 Cell Li-po and WOW! That's a lot of power for this plane. I even propped down to 12 X 6 rather than the recommended 13 X 6.5 and it still had awesome power. Does great on windier days.
I reinforced the landing gear area and used a different landing gear. I did not like the one supplied with the plane. The one I'm using make it sit a little higher and it flexes a little which will be good on rough landings.
I just installed a Power 32 with a 4 Cell Li-po and WOW! That's a lot of power for this plane. I even propped down to 12 X 6 rather than the recommended 13 X 6.5 and it still had awesome power. Does great on windier days.
I reinforced the landing gear area and used a different landing gear. I did not like the one supplied with the plane. The one I'm using make it sit a little higher and it flexes a little which will be good on rough landings.
I installed a Nitroplanes "Monster Power 25" motor with a 60 Amp ESC, 12x6E APC prop and a Rhino 3700mAh 14.8v battery.
The plane has unlimited vertical ( at a very high climb rate ! ) and I get over 16 minutes of flight time w/o depleating the pack. The batteries don't even get warm.
I also reinforced the landing gear area greatly with ply strips and a second layer over the existing blind nut wooden insert...
I use the supplied gear, but I drilled out some brass bar stock to make a second re-inforcement plate that sits over the existing "purple" gear screw mount area, effectively joining both sides together for added strength.
This has worked very well.
The Diamante is an impressive flyer equipped like this.
09-08-2008, 06:48 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
Well, the Diamante 25E has become my favorite plane!
Recently, I ordered the 13 X 6.5 APC prop which is the recommended one. It will probably hover much better.
It's an awesome plane!
Recently, I ordered the 13 X 6.5 APC prop which is the recommended one. It will probably hover much better.
It's an awesome plane!
09-08-2008, 09:54 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
I have the Diamante 25E with the AXI 2026-10 motor that has the prop adapter. The 5mm shaft went into the fuselage too far and was hitting the battery, so I cut the shaft off. It is a great flying electric with a four cell and OK with a three cell. I have been using the XOAR wooden props. It has been over thirty years since I saw the name Laurinburg, I must have gone thru there over a hundred times on my way to my home town of Fayetteville way before I95 was built. It is amazing how many little towns in NC I have seen on RCU that I have had relatives in. Thanks for bringing back those memories of two lane roads and no A/C.
George G. Royal
George G. Royal
09-09-2008, 06:12 AM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
ggroyal1
Have you noticed any difference with the wooden vs APC type props?
I've never used an AXI motor, so I'm not familiar with them although I know they are also top of the line in performance.
I've been looking for some kind of table that compares the various motors. I like the E-flite codes (i.e., Power 10, 15, 25, 40, etc.) which is equivalent to glow engines. Can't interpret the can dimensions and RPM codes on other motors.
Glad to hear you have been through our small city. It has been hit hard in past years with relocation of plants overseas and overall economy. Not much growth in population. Some say it's because whenever a baby is born, there is a young man that leaves town!
Fayetteville is our closest large city so we do all major shopping there. Also, they have a great Hobby Shop there.
Have you noticed any difference with the wooden vs APC type props?
I've never used an AXI motor, so I'm not familiar with them although I know they are also top of the line in performance.
I've been looking for some kind of table that compares the various motors. I like the E-flite codes (i.e., Power 10, 15, 25, 40, etc.) which is equivalent to glow engines. Can't interpret the can dimensions and RPM codes on other motors.
Glad to hear you have been through our small city. It has been hit hard in past years with relocation of plants overseas and overall economy. Not much growth in population. Some say it's because whenever a baby is born, there is a young man that leaves town!
Fayetteville is our closest large city so we do all major shopping there. Also, they have a great Hobby Shop there.
09-09-2008, 05:47 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
If you can get your hands on a Hobby Lobby catalog, you'll find they give the power equivalents for the AXI and some other motors they carry. For example, the 2826 is considered to be the equivalent of the .40-.46, a 2820 the equivalent of a .25 to .40. Maybe their website does the same.
09-09-2008, 11:29 PM
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RE: E flite dimante 25 E
I see that a number of you guys on this thread have replaced the landing gear on your Diamantes - I had to as well, after mine collapsed the first time out. I reinforced the front with plywood and epoxy to the tune of an addition 2 ounces, so it should be strong enough now (I hope!).
My question is - for those of you who changed to a different (possibly one-piece) landing gear - which LG did you use, and where can I get on? (This is my first fix of this type.)
Thanks!...
My question is - for those of you who changed to a different (possibly one-piece) landing gear - which LG did you use, and where can I get on? (This is my first fix of this type.)
Thanks!...