gam

My Feedback: (16)

Has anyone had the Great Planes Christen Eagle up yet? What engine are you using? Want some reviews befor I buy. If it is built as well and flys as well as the Wagstaff Extra I'm in.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

If it ends up like the Pitts, I'm out.

shenion

The Wagstaff is a completly different class of plane.

There is really no difference between the Pitts and the CE. The wings and tail surfaces are the same size. The tail is rounded slightly different.

Mine has a 50cc Poulan Pro with C&H ignition. Takeoffs are, roll 20' then straight up Will climb to 120' before getting too slow, so not unlimited veritical, but plenty of power.

The best plane to compare this with is a Super Sportster or Stinger. This is not a 3D plane or an accurate IMAC pattern plane. That is not what it was designed to do.

It is easy to fly, lands easy, will fly real slow or fast. Just a joy to fly, and to watch. A little sloppy doing stunts, but that is expected. It does nice loops, rolls, hammerheads, spins and knife edges. I have done a sloppy elevator with it.

I have increased the elevator throws. It is a bit nose heavy so it is not that effective. It also seems to stall the tail with large inputs (snap rolls work better with less rudder.) Inverted spins get real fast, normal spins are slower (typical for straight lower + swept upper wing bipe.)

Keep the idle high for landing as bipes have larger drag. Lands easily. Takeoffs are easy if you roll on the power.

If you want anything close to what a PW Extra, look at an Ultimate.

The CE does what I wanted it for. I have a PW Extra for mild 3D and accurate pattern stuff. The CE is more for fun.

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

Silversurfer,

What happened with your Pitts? I was reading this post and saw your comments on the Pitts and just thought I would ask.

Gam, there is a thread under ARF's category that provides very good info on the CE. From what I have read it sounds like a very nice airplane. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/GP_C...1126803/tm.htm I thought there was another post with more details, but was unable to find it.

mvigod

RCU will have a review in the RCU magazine sometime this month hopefully if we can get the test flights and video done. we are subject to northeast weather so timeframe is dependent on mother natures cooperation.

We'll have some great in flight pics and video on this for the review.

gam

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks for the info and reply. Going to order CE. Also using Taurus 3.2 which should be plenty of power. Shenion, what size servos are you using for ailrons, elevator, and rudder?

shenion

Ailerons: Hitec 475HB
Elevator:Hitec 605BB
Rudder: HItec 605BB

I have a lot of servos and did not want to spend much on more. I could not find 4 identical servos, so I bought the 475HB's. They are good with the new resin gears, but are a bit slow.

For elevator and rudder I probably would have used either a 645 or 625. The 605's have poor centering. I had them so it did not cost me anything. A reall accurate servo is a waste of money on this type of plane, but the 605's drift and seem to hunt for center sometimes. I'll probably switch to 625BB's.

Later, I will probably switch to a 5625MG or 5645MG on the rudder.

Here's a post with a video of this plane flying: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/GP_C...1402505/tm.htm

rfw1953

My Feedback: (2)

Here is the thread I was mentioning in my last post. This one has a good bit of info on the CE with pictures and video. Good luck.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11..._1/key_/tm.htm

gam

My Feedback: (16)

Shenion, FYI
Just talked to Hitech and they informed me that they did have a problem a while back with the HS605. He said they have sense corrected the problem. How long have you had yours?

shenion

Some about a year, others longer. I have about 7-8 (usually bought in pairs or 3's.) 2 seem to have 2 center points they like to choose between, 2 randomly overshoot center, rest seem ok. I heard the older ones really had bad centering. These are fairly new. Ok, thery are not mega-$$$ digitals. Actually they center slightly worse than standard servos. But in these giant scale planes with large throws, it becomes an issue.

All of them seem to have different travels. I think the feedback pots in them have large tolerances and are not real linear. They seem sensitive to the rotational mass of the control surface. The right combo and it seems to oscillate more. Change the linkage geometry and it is fine.

I never had any of these issues with 645's or 625's. I never had a crash or failure with a 605. But changing to a 645, I noticed the difference in that I no longer had to adjust the elevator trim.

On another forum, one of the Hitec reps said the 605B was designed as a R/C car steering servo.

gam

My Feedback: (16)

This may explain why I can't get the elevators centered on my Cap. I have a 605 on each side. I checked the linkage, centering points, etc. One side will start traveling before the other. They both will center, and then not. I'm not a brain when it comes to this stuff. Thanks for your info I think I just figured out the problem. Not set up but servos?

Thanks,