Hey guys. Would you choose a HotSpot or the new composite Roo? Which builds faster, flies better, is better value for the money? I have been partial to the Hotspot based on aesthetics and the reported pitch/thrust issue with the Roo, but my local hobby dealer says there is much more work required to build the Hotspot than the Roo. What do you guys think?

Antony

both have similar flying and building characteristics.
one is ugly, the other one is a beauty.

mec

I haven't built a Roo but I have built a Hot Spot and I can say it is very very quick and easy to build.

Regarding the flying, well there is simply no comparison in my veiw the hot spot wins every time.

But.. I have only flown a non composit Roo are the realy any diferent?


Jason

The HotSpot is probably more work than the composite Roo but still a whole lot less than a BobCat or Bandit. And the looks...
Mama!

You go to a jet meet and it's wall to wall Hot Spots. Be differant, get a Roo. They may be ugly to some, but hey, what do they know.

Andy

one more

Personally, I think the hotspot is a sweet looking jet!! Thatll be my next one maybe....

The Hotspot has my vote!!!

I don't have much experience with the Roo.

I saw a whole truckload of Hotspots at Wilcox's place today.
Maybe I should build my own----- wait what am I thinking?


Jason Somes
JetCat USA
!@#$%^$%^&

Should have had a poll on the top of this one!!!

The Hot Spot is pretty Sexy,



pssst Jason, you dont have to build your own...hint....


Ray

Okay guys, can you quantify some of this input for me. How many hours to build a HotSpot? A composite Roo?

Where did you buy your HotSpot? How much did it cost? What did the kit include? How about the Roos?

Does the HotSpot have any negative flying characteristics? How about the Roo?

Thanks guys.

Antony

I have a composite Roo.
There are some quirks with it, like it wants to dive when you hit full power at low speed. This is marginal in the air, but on our short runway (110M) it can get tricky.
In the air it's great, flies well, does all you want it to, however it does go through a personality change when being flown slow requiring re trimming (elevator) etc.
Maybe this is the same on other turbine deltas, but I think the high thrust line dosent help.
Another negative is that if you apply full power on the ground you can see the engine mount move forward slightly . I think this is just down to the design off the engine mount (supported from underneath only), however maybe somebody will claim this is built in thrustline adjustment?!?!?!?
Initially, I wanted to say the usual 'what I have is great, all else is not...', but in reality I have never flown a HotSpot. A friend of mine has one here and it seems to land better than my Roo, which maybe due to the slightly smaller wing area?
Having built a turbine model, I would expect to be able to build another Roo within 3 days without killing myself if I didnt paint it. So if you wanna fly not build, i'd go for a roo.
The split elevons are a bonus, I actually had one detach in flight, and was able to perform an emergency landing without trashing the model.
I have punished the Roo through out first 40 flights and it does stand up to a lot of bashing/bouncing and general abuse.
In summary, I would definitley buy another Roo, or even a Hot Spot. I have no affinity to either, maybe 'better the devil you know'?

Here's a picture of the air brake detail to sum it up

Hope this helps.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jason Somes
[B]The Hotspot has my vote!!!


Maybe I should build my own----- wait what am I thinking?
Are you O.K buddy?

PMFJI. After more than 500 flights and still counting, I can say few things about the ROO. First off, I've flown the Roo with 1000, 750 and 500 class engines and below are my observations.

With a 1000 class engine:
1. Only take off with half throttle. If you apply more power, the nose will stick to the ground and will not rotate fast. You can go full throttle after takeoff and go vertical if you deem it necessary.
2. Never gun the engine on take off. Slowly apply power.
3. Hold full up elevator before you start your take off roll
4. Never attempt turns with more than half throttle. If you do the airplane will tend to slide and will not turn
5. Never pull up from full throttle level flight. If you do, you might regret it.

750 class turbine:
1. #1 above does not apply
2. Same as #2 above
3. Same as #3 above
4. Not as noticeable as #4 above
5. Not a problem as #5 above

500 class engines
1. #3 applies
2. You can ignore #'s 1, 2, 4, & 5

Modification:
1. I extended each wing half by 4 inches to make it more than IMAA legal
2. Left the CG on a little tail-heavy side. I can land and let the ROO run down the runway with the nose up for more than 50-100 ft. (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE FIRST 30 FLIGHTS. Gradually move the CG until you are comfortable with the handling)


IMOHO, Hotspot and ROO are good entry level turbine kits.

Anthony

Which ever one you choose, drop me a line and I'll give you a great price on gear.

Ed

Some guys (Dennis Lott being #1) really get a kick out of the wild carp you can make a Roo do becuase of the high thrust line. But if you want to calm it down, get rid of pitch down with throttle (and therefore at least #1 above in Ben's post) and make it generally fly real sweet, go here: http://www.Conceptserviceselectrical.com/Richard's%20Home%20Page/richard3.htm . This is the mod that I designed for Richard's 500 powered Roo. I gotta say that by keeping it light, it flew almost just like my old 750F powered Roos, only nicer. Truly a pleasure to fly.

Thanks guys -- Ben, Dave, Mark especially. Good comments on the Roo. Now can you HotSpot guys make some of these types of observations about that rig.

Jason -- how does it fly? Is it more neutral inverted than the Roo seems to be? What are it's quirks?

Ed -- thanks for the offer on the gear. I will be in touch at the end of the decision making.

Antony

Antony,

The HotSpot is totally conventional in flight characteristics. No strange behavior with throttle application, it accelerates straight ahead.

Takeoff with my P-80 is 200-300 feet on short, rolled grass. I hold the brakes and release as thrust approaches max, acceleration is fast.

Inflight the HotSpot is incredibly smooth and stable, absolutely rock solid. I set mine up using Bob Wilcox's throws and CG recommendations, this is definitely the way to go. Rolling manuevers are gorgeous with enough rudder for four-point and slow rolls. Side area is not an issue as the speed gives you enough momentum to pull off these manuevers with just a tap on the rudders.

Landing is a piece of cake, you just have to remember you are landing a combination delta/flying wing. There are two things that will cause bouncing with a Roo or HotSpot: excessive speed on landing and additional back pressure on landing. One of the best ways to avoid a bounce is to immediately release back pressure the instant the wheels touch. You will be surprised how little speed it takes to get a HotSpot airborne.

For landing just pull the throttle to about a third, maintain altitude by slowly raising the nose as the airplane slows down. A HotSpot can be flown slow, real slow! Once you've got the nose up and the jet slowed bring the power up to about half or maybe a tad more, anticipating the throttle lag. Now you are in slow flight. Make a gear pass then just pull back on the throttle, maintaining your nose high angle and let the airplane descend for a landing, slowly reducing power until you are at idle over the numbers. You don't even need the speedbrake.

When I it get right I can set mine down in 300 feet on hard, rolled grass. I accidently set the brakes instead of deploying the speedbrake once and that worked great! I was stopped in about 200 feet! If I screw up, get lazy or both my landings will stretch right out to 400-500 feet.

I love flying the HotSpot, so much I don't even want to fly my giant scale prop planes anymore. It's a great flying machine. You'll love it!

both roo and hotty are easy to fly and land.

once on our hotty we had the CG a little too far backwards resulting in a reverse flat spin (because we experimented with spins, we never did it again )

this caused the loss of the nose

otherwise wonderful to fly

mec

p.s. can anyone explain the need for a full composite trainer modell?

The pitch down problem at slow speed powerup is easy to fix.
Just put a 1/16 inch shim under the rear of the engine, no more problem.

Otherwise it's a blast to fly.

Pete Stapleton

The best way to mark the CG on a HotSpot is the way Bob Wilcox does it. Put a piece of masking tape on the leading edge of the wing about 6 inches out from the vertical fin. Using a ruler held along the leading edge and butted against the vertical fin, make marks on the tape at 7 and 7 1/2 inches. I fly my HotSpot with the CG just ahead of the 7 inch mark and it flies beautifully.