RCU Forums - Sweet Ecstasy

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Well, it took me a few months to get it all together. Up here in the high desert it gets quite cold during the winter months. I bought a space heater to heat up the shop, (my garage) but when the epoxy gels up so badly it takes you 5 minutes to squirt a dime sized drop on your plate, you know it's time to put it up for a while :)

The kit was wonderful. All the pieces fit together quite nicely. I actually had FUN building this one, and I'm not one for building :) I have to say the worst part of the kit was sanding that leading edge, but it will be well worth the time because it is quite sturdy. Did I mention I hate sanding? :D

You do need to have a couple kits under your belt for this one. Don't get me wrong, the instructions are quite good, but I'm sure you'd have to email Kevin to hold your hand through some of the parts if you aren't a somewhat experienced builder. Having said that, the instructions are quite good with plenty of pictures. It seemed to me that all the pieces come together for you. If you didn't quite understand a certain part of the construction just keep plugging away and the part that wasn't fully understood becomes quite apparent.

I went against all suggestions of motor size and put a Saito 1.50 in her. I fly at 6000' ASL so the extra power is not a luxury here; it's a necessity. I put two 8 oz fuel tanks in the fuel compartment mounted vertically (one up high, one down low). I would have thrown a large tank on the CG, but the wing tube is there. There is room to put the tank slightly forward of the CG in the main compartment, but I have big hands and working inside that deep fuse is a real pain :) I didn't feel like putting in the time to kit bash, and I wasn't about to wait for the required pump to arrive in the mail. I put the throttle servo there instead. I left out the top nose piece because I wanted to showcase that beautiful 1.50 GK, but in hindsight I probably should have mounted the engine 90 degrees to the left and added it.

Driving the Ecstasy I have Digital 5645MG's in the rudder and elevator. (overkill but I detest having a weak rudder/elevator)
Driving the ailerons I have 545BB's. Standard on the throttle. All running a 1650nimh 6.0v pack. I had a helluva time rigging the throttle for the big 4 stroke using a dave brown engine mount. I would recommend a different engine mount if you are putting a large 4S on the nose. The narrow fuse doesn't allow much compromise with the 1.50/dave brown combo.

Due to the fact that I have such a large engine on the nose and 16oz worth of fuel to contend with, I reinforced the nose area and the first former by fiberglassing the inside of the firewall, fuel area and the first former. I also added a bit of bracing in this area in the form of tri-stock and light ply. This bracing ends on the radio compartment side of the first former. I also added the optional rudder supports in an effort to add weight to the tail.

All up weight for mine is 8.75 lbs. Not bad considering all aspects. 1/2 lb heavier than Jeff Williams' with all the extra bracing, fiberglassing, duel fuel tanks, and a Saito 1.50!! Quite a bit fatter than Kevin's prototype... maybe mine won't float so much :p

She did not come out nose heavy at all. I was worried due to the fact that I had to mount the Saito a bit furthur out on the mount that I would have liked. The battery is in the rear of the radio compartment just behind the cockpit.

I should be taking her out this weekend (my weekend starts on Sunday). She's a great looking plane, and I can't wait to put her through the paces. Nice kit Kevin!

www.hsrcm.com if you want more info

Kevin

well, sounds pretty good. Let us know about the maiden flight.

Any pictures available of this baby ?

I sure love mine. I have a new trick start with a regular upright flat spin. bang the sticks into an inverted flat spin and then bang them back into a upright flat spin do all this over about 30-45 seconds and only lose about 20 feet altitude, another trick, high alpha knife edge down the field, add power to do a 1/2 knife eddge loop and high alpha KE back the other way, The ecstacy makes these tricks pretty easy. The one thing I still cant get it to do well is an elevator, It is just too light and wants to keep flying instead of dropping down, spoilerons help some but not much. If the 40 size FF guys had a chance to fly this plane they would be knocking Kevins door down

Smallfly, I can do those spins like that and not lose altitude. It is a great plane and I really like mine.
Jeff Williams

I took plenty of pics during contruction. Unfortunately my scanner just died so untill I remedy that situation I won't be able to post them. Eventually I will have them and will update with a flight report as well.

Kevin

We do not want construction pictures, we want that 2 inch rudder off the ground hover picture. LOL Jeff Williams

2 inches? C'mon, that's not even risky :D I was planning on tying some fishing line to the tail and using mine for fishing... now if I could just find some water down here in NM... :)

Kevin

Nice response, I like that. Jeff W.

Glad to hear that you guys love your Ecstasys so much. I know I love mine too, though I am prejudice <LOL>. I just got back from the Southeastern RC Show in Perry, GA where I meet Gator & Paul Swany. These guys are an absolute riot. I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Each of these guys picked up an Ecstasy each, which puts me out of stock of these kits for right now.
Enjoy them boys!
Kevin :D

Yup.... just picked up my Ecstasy kit and I am pumped about it.... Got a set of high torque coreless servo's for it... I think this thing is gonna be alot of fun!!

I enjoyed meeting you Kevin!!! Heck of a nice guy!!! Glad to hear you're doing so well with your pbxl... Any luck selling the 33%'er?

Hey Kevin... Does that LHS guy you deal with stock the pipe setup for the ST 90?? If so, can you get me in touch with him?

I had several offers on the 1/3 scale Laser 200, though were ridiculas offers. One guy kept coming back to my booth and really wanted, though couldn't figure how he was going to sneak it into the house <LOL> That's tough when its a 1/3 <LOL> I really didn't want to sell it anyways, so I'm glad that it came home with me.
I guess I will have to pay you later for your earlier comment :eek:

Quote:

I enjoyed meeting you Kevin!!! Heck of a nice guy!!!

My LHS does not stock the Mac Header and tune pipe I run on my Ecstasy. I have him order it directly from Mac. I had to encourge him to set-up a direct account with Mac. I have found that most LHS will only go thru Horizon or GP distributors, and they do not carry all of Mac's products.

You can get in touch with My LHS. Its Hobby Connection. Contact David Vinson at 864/295-1209. Tell him that I sent you.
Drop me an email at: [email protected] and I will give you the Mac stk. no's for my set-up and the dimension of my header if you want. If you want, I can order the Mac set-up for you and ship it with your Hard Bet MkIII short kit :p
Once again, it was a real pleasure meeting with you guys. I really enjoyed it.

Kevin :D

Boy... You want me to have one of those hard bets.... LOL!! Been pushing it on my all weekend... I'm gonna do it... Just need a little more time to push out the rest of my stuff in the garage...

Paul I am running the Mac Extra-Long header on my ST90 No. 2972. Here is the link:
http://www.macspro.com/headers_side.asp
And I am running the 15cc tuned pipe No. 1190
http://www.macspro.com/tunedpipes.asp
I can give you my header length if you like, though be careful not to cut it initially to my length. You need to tune it for your situation and conditions.
Hope that this helps Paul.
BTW - You're the one that asked about the HB Mk3 initially, I just kept pushing it, in good humor.
Kevin :D

I'd like to have an Ecstasy but that's too much for me to pay for not even a complete kit. If all the wood were included I'b be much more inclined to buy it. It sure looks good and looks to be built very well. Guess I'll do without and be happy with my UCD3D!

Quote:

I'd like to have an Ecstasy but that's too much for me to pay for not even a complete kit. If all the wood were included I'b be much more inclined to buy it. It sure looks good and looks to be built very well. Guess I'll do without and be happy with my UCD3D!

That's fine Wade, but when people look at the kit price of the Ecstasy, they don't take into consideration that the Ecstasy comes with a custom vacuum formed canopy, custom CF main LG, SIG medium Haige style tail wheel assy., none of which is inexpensive hardware. If you are trying to compare the GP U-Can-Do-3D with the Ecstasy, then your wrong. These 2 aircraft are worlds apart.
And if you think that HSRCM kits are too expensive, then that is fine, don't buy them. You guys forget that I design aircraft for me, and oh by the way, I offer them as a short kit due to customer requests. HSRCM kits are not for everyone. I am not trying to please everyone, nor care to. You want a cheaper kit, then buy it. Considering the total lack of profit, I sure as heck don't do this for the money! :p I do it to support the hobby. Ask yourself (all of us, not Wade in particular), what are we doing to support this hobby.
Kevin :D

There's really not that much wood to buy. I may have bought 30 bucks worth of wood to complete the kit, and I did buy alot of extra pieces as well. Just my 2c

Kevin

I just went thru this kit last night... and man was I impressed.... Not only does it come with a sweet set of CF landing gear, but there was also a nice looking tailwheel and the whole wing tube assembly.... I've priced those wing tubes and they're not cheap... Plus there's a bunch of laser cut wood.... I'm guessing I probably have the remainder of the wood just sitting in my own stock... but if you had to buy it, I'd guess you'd only be out $15 at the most and less if you went to some place like Lone Star....

This looks like a pretty sweeeet kit... I'm really looking forward to building it.....

Thanks Paul - Yeah I forgot the wing tube assy. too. The Ecstasy kit has a 1-1/4" dia. wing tube and sockets. None of that little stuff. Since I am out of stock of the Ecstasy kits, its a mute point anyways. <LOL>
BTW - misc. wood for that kit is about $11 from Lone Star. Min. order size is $25 from most wood suppliers, or you can pay over double that amount and buy from your LHS - whichever.
Kevin

I took my Ecstasy out today... finally. I only got three flights out of her due to the fact that I had to be back for an appointment, but I can sum it up in one word... AMAZING.

Let me preface this by saying that I had my bird extremely nose heavy. Sure, it balanced right on the spar dry, but with those 16oz's of fuel in her, she was quite the nose heavy beast.... now comes the fun part.

First flight was just a trim flight, I wanted to make sure nothing flew off, and everything was in good working order. She flew straight as an arrow with the grace of a much larger plane. I flew around the pattern a few times getting a feel for it and set it back down to check everything out. Second flight I put her through a few paces and ended up dead sticking while doing a waterfall... deadsticked about 30ft off the ground... no problems as she floated down for a 3 point landing. On the third flight I wrung her out! Climbing inverted flatspin, knife edge spin, hover, you name it. Everyone at the field, including myself was quite impressed with her. The power of the Saito 1.50 is quite amazing on this bird. At 6000ft ASL though I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't wait to set the CG back a bit and try it again tomorrow. Pictures to follow

Kevin

Kevin,
Glad to hear that you first experiences with your new Ecstasy went so well. I firmly believe that you'll find that it will get nothing but better. Be careful with the CG, it will get hairy more than 1/4" behind the spar, dry, at least mine did! Keep me appriased - Please.
Kevin :D

Kevin,
I just have to send a reply your way. I didn't understand if you were calling me cheap or if you were saying I sent a cheap shot your way. I'd like to have an Ecstasy or a Hardbet, but I do think they are pricey. I was just stating my opinion. I'll probably eventually buy one. I was hoping to see the price reduced at some point, but from what you said I guess that won't be happening. As far as the UCD, it seems everyone loves it. The threads about it here have to be some of the longest threads ever. I took your comment meaning that your plane was way superior to the UCD. Maybe it is. I guess when that is proven to me that will give me even more incentive to buy one. It's hard to dish out $200 for a short kit Ecstasy when I can get a UCD for a little less than that and it's already built and covered. I'm not the only one that's made a comment about this subject. Sorry if you thought it was a slam.

Wade

No Wade, I was not trying to say that you were cheap nor that it was a cheap shot, just some friendly harassment. Whether the Ecstasy is a superior aircraft to the UCANDO, that of course is an opinion. It depends on what you want out of your aircraft. The UCanDo has a long tail moment and more of a conventional style fuse, which will make it fly entirely different from the Ecstasy. Is the Ecstasy pricey - well you get what you pay for. Don't believe me, ask my customers. The CF LG is a $40 - 50 gear. Wing tube assembly is $20 plus, Sig medium tailwheel assy. $24 +. The canopies are more expensive because of their shape. Its shape requires more draw, and causes higher scrap rate, though adds to its aerodynamic features. Will it get cheaper - no, afraid not. I am seeing everything going up, just like everything else in this world. :(
If you are going to Huston, TX for the Profile Brotherhood fly in in March, Jeff Williams is taking his Ecstasy. If your going, you'd be able to see one in action.
Kevin :D

Kevin,
I do understand it's hard to compete with the big companies that have their stuff built in China, or therebouts. I do know that your plane is better built than the UCD since I've seen the construction photos on your site. I do know it flies well since I've seen the videos. See, I'm going to keep on till I buy one! :D

Right now I am out of stock of the Ecstasy due to supplier issues associated with the CF LG. I've tried other sources though so far either they are too expensive, or I can't seem to get into their production schedule. So either you'd have to settle for a Hard Bet MkIII or you'll have to wait.
Sorry!
Kevin :D