Can I have your address....I want to send you some Cheese to go with that Whine! LOL

Only if you promise to hand deliver it!!

C

Personaly I want to thank Eric for all the time and effort he has put into this thread , time , effort and and info that he did not have to share with the rest of us.

I left pattern 7 years ago to raise kids etc but as much as that I left because there was to much of the score bassed on the equipment you were flying and not soly on the manuver as it should be

Before I returned Investigated several contest to investigate this and in that time I was mostly convinced that we were indeed scoring the manuver and not the plane, with trained judges and classes on judging that seemed to make a difference. So I bought a Venus 2 to start back in Sportsman I only flew on contest But scord higher than several name brand high dollar Planes and had I not had dead sticks in three rounds may have gotten a nice plaque . So even a Venus 2 can score well if flown well.

I think the Evolution is far more capable than everyone is giving it credit for and the pictures of Erics plane look as good as any.

Again Thanks Eric for all you do.

Kirk

I agree with you 100% Kirk. I do believe this plane will be competitive up to Masters. I have my issues with it, but it does seem to be just a few kits I think. And I feel the plane has the right moments to it to fly good in today's demanding patterns.

On another note.

I should be a happy customer soon as Bryan contacted me today. I can't wait to fly this thing!!

C

Kirk,
Thank you for the thanks. I just wanted to show folks how to get one of these things working. I like writing reviews but doing it this way was a lot more fun because it came out in a real-time manner.

I'm not really into how beautiful the ARF was or was not or how pretty the color scheme is etc. I am into how well it would fly both in my hands and the hands of a new pattern pilot. I also think that as I get older I become more like a new pattern pilot in the sense that the airplane needs to do a lot of the work for me.

I have five more flights under my belt and here is what I did to get it to fly for me.

3% up elevator mix with rudder on KE, both ways.
1% anti-roll with rudder on right rudder.
1% down drim with low throttle.
12 degrees of aileron
18 degrees elevator with 3-% expo.
Half of their rudder throw

You can't really see the mixes when setting up the mixes but they make the plane fly very easily.

You can roll all day with this thing with very little rudder and elevator input. The rudder lets you do KE figure eights and KE cuban-eights if you are so inclined. [Not in the schedule BTW]. If you put it in a vertical dive it will go all the way down with no pull or tuck with the 1% mix.

It will easily fly last years Masters and this years P-07 and the bits F-07 that I could remember. Does the positive and negative snaps on down-lines very well. With spin-entries you have to be patient and be sure your idle is correct. If the idle is high it keeps on flying. The break is however clear and it enters the spin very legally. With rudder elevator only it stops in about 1/8 of a turn. Almost as quick as with an aileron spin. I under-rotated quite a few times until I began to trust the accuracy of the stop!

If you keep about two clicks of throttle-stick held in right up to the moment of rudder application at the end of the up-line, in a stall turn, it rotates neatly around its CG in a pin-wheel fashion. You can make it go either way in a cross wind.

Four and eight point rolls were solid, just be careful not to use too much rudder. The transitions to KE and in those in the reverse KE were smooth. The nose stayed put. The rudder is very strong. Great for a rolling circle or a loop. I have always needed to add some power in the back/down part of a rolling loop. The Evolution will do this part on idle only. This is with a 17 x 13 APC. I expect that the 18 x 10.1 will need some power added.

A word on take-offs. Maybe the high landing gear or the weight makes it do this, but it took-off at 1/4 throttle in about 15 feet. I think I might get another set of landing gear and lop off a couple of inches. Once in the air at this low speed it was very stable and it became a bit of a party piece to do these short-field take-offs! Good for rough fields though!

Landings would be long if you don't use the airbrake set at 5-degrees-of-up on both aileron. No elevator trim needed.

It is tempting to fly this plane in a 3-D manner due to the very strong rudder but you have to remember that it has a pattern-elevator. It will hover but not for long on a 17 x 13

If I had not been and was not still in the process of selling and moving house etc. and active in competition, I would fly this plane in a contest. I would also say that an OS 1.40 would be more than adequate. I know of one that I can see fly locally that will have a YS 1.40 Sport in it. I expect and predict that it will be just right.!

Gotta get back to some writing and building for 2007.

Regards,

Eric.

Hi Eric,

tell us more about the airbrake - 5° of up aileron - do you apply on final or during the entire landing approach?

thanks in advance, dean

You can apply them any time during your landing approach. I usually kick them in on final unless the plane is going to be a bit short of the field. Not everyone subscribes to the airbrake practice. You should try it for yourself and see what you think. I use the "Land" switch on my radio.

Regards,

Eric.

thanks Eric for the info. I'll give it a try this weekend. It would be a great option when flying at a small strip, a number of the contest fields here in the SE are fairly tight, with little options if you end up over shooting. Also once dailed in - do you use the airbrakes when landing in strong crosswinds? would it be an advantage when dealing with a strong crosswind...??


dean

[quote]ORIGINAL: Eric.Henderson
. . .<snip>. . .I use the "Land" switch on my radio.

Regards,

Eric.

[quote]
.
.
.
You must fly JR. . . I've looked over all my Futaba's for that switch. . . .
.
.
.

Hey Keith,

it's the one next to the take off switch : )

see ya at districts.

dean

Futaba has that switch, at least on my 9CAP's.

I use the low idle switch, position two, for airbrake :-). It's one (to the left) in from the dual-rate that most folk select for ailerons. It' s in the menu as well :-)
Eric.


[quote]ORIGINAL: klhoard


[quote]ORIGINAL: Eric.Henderson
. . .<snip>. . .I use the "Land" switch on my radio.

Regards,

Eric.

Hello Eric

I'm trying to mount my OS160, on the "A" type hyde mount, what our your measurement's
from to fire to the back of your T.T. spiner, the manul say's 6 5/8 from the fire to the drive washer, but with those measurement. I have a hard time bolting the cowling on with the bind nuts and also the wing tube is it all the way forward in the slot to get the C.G.

Thanks Jarvis

Hey Jarvis,

It makes sense the wing would be full forward. The OS 160 is the heaviest engine in in the class at 2oz more than a YS and the A style mount is also heavy at 6.8oz. A normal Hyde AR mount is only 3.8oz and then the weight of a nose ring less than 1 oz. So total you are about 3 on the low side and as much as 5-6oz heavier than the 4 stroke option this is before any pump, or header and pipe options you choose. The perry pump alone adds another oz to the setup. Then add in a KM header out of stainless and these are another extra ounce or so over the nmp header.

All this weight is up basically right behind the spinner. That will give it enough power for sure but all that weight up front makes it tough to balance sometimes. As you can see above Eric had the wing in the same spot full forward for CG. Stick servos in the tail to help it balance.

Hey Jarvis,
I used the measurement in the manual to mount the engine and the blind nuts to mount cowl were in front of the former that sticks up between the canopy and cowl. He used a OS 140 on the hard mount and have the wing in the rearward point in the wing slot. I got to fly the Evolution today, and it felt pretty good at the throws he had, went through the current manuevers pretty good and even flew through some of next year's Masters pattern. Oh yeah, Yuma next year March 17,18 keep the dates open.

It flies!

The maiden flight went well; it took 3 clicks left and 1 click up to get it track straight, and it feels fairly light in the air. The OS 160 pulls the plane straight up effortlessly, and other than vertical, very seldom throttle needs to go beyond 60%, which makes the fuel consumption very reasonable.

The CG is right behind the wing tube, and at this position, it only needs very slight push on the down elevator to maintain inverted flight, and it feels about right for now. The rudder is very efficient; it doesn’t need much to KE, and after reducing the throws three times, it still needs more reduction. Down line goes straight and stayed locked in, but since there were some slight breeze, it will be checked again when the condition is better, but it feels pretty good for now.

I only had time to put in four flights today, and it feels better each flight. The landing gear held up so far, and this is with two crosswind landings. The only modification was inserting CF rod into the stock CF tube.

If I decipher your note correctly the answer is that the rear of the cowl the should fit exactly to the rear edge of the first former, just touching the top deck. Check out the photos of where I put the blind nuts. (post 207) Position the engine on the mount to match the fixed placement of the cowl.

As AAM1024 said, I put the wing forward to deal with the OS 1.60. Mine are lightened but your tube would still need to be in the forward position with an OS 1.60

Eric.

I have this Idea !!!!

Comments ?

I plan on inserting this into the carbon rod with epoxy or JB weld.

Here is my $0.02...

I think with the steel wire glued into the CF tube, the landing gear should hold up fine in harder than normal landings, but the landing gear plates will crack. In my case, with the CF rod inserted into the original CF tube, and adding additional plywoods to improve the landing gear plates's strength has been holding up fine for about 30 flights.

Kevin

Hey Kevin.
Glad to see your ship is doing well. I look forward to seeing you at the contests this year.

I'm almost complete with both Ev's finally. The Electric should be done today. Maybe I'll test fly tomorrow.
Looking forward to it.

Chris

Edit:
BTW the gear on the electric is the escomposites long gear that central sells, and the gear on the glow is the bolly electric with the white carbon pants.
It's not that difficult to put a block in. We'll see how they hold though..

Hey Chris
Nice Job, on both of your Ev's. My Evolution is finished, I just need to find
time to fly it.
Could you post picture on how you put in the Blocks for the landing gear.
Is that a OS140 in the glow version Evolution ?, here is my set-up
Dry wt. 10.5 lbs
OS160 with pump
JR 8231 on Ail's and Elevator's
JR 8611 on Rudder
JR Mini thr.
ES 160 Pipe
APC 18.1x10.1 at 8000 rpm on Cool Power 15%

Hey Jarvis.
How ya doing man?
Glad to hear you have yours done!!
How many pattern ships does that make it now?

Anyway, I didn't take any pics while doing the work. I'll try to take some tonight if I get a chance. I'm trying to finish it right now so I can fly it tomorrow. Not looking so good for that right now..
The glow one that I built for Vic is a os 140rx on a 17x13 with a greves pipe.
I had to make the pipe tunnel longer for this setup.
Vic sure does get me to do alot for free! LOL

I'll try to email you some pics of both, as I did them both different.

Chris

Yes please post some pictures . I am going to try the stock gear but feel like I will have to change them. Great looking planes .

Thanks Kirk

Hi Chris,

Good looking planes. Would be great to hear your flight report if you get to fly them tomorrow.

I am starting to practice the 2007 schedule, and like it very much. Hopefully I can join more contests next year to fly with you guys.

On the other hand, if you don't know what to do with those original landing gears, I sure don't mind to get a couple of spares...

Have fun and enjoy tomorrow's flight.

Kevin

Kevin

I have two set's of the stock gear if you want them.

Flight tomorrow isn't looking so good. Unless I finish it before my doc appt.
Which I may. Still working on it now.

I'd be glad to help you retro some bolly gear in there if you want. I have the materials..
I'm not that far from you. An hour and 10 minutes with no traffic.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Sounds great, I sure would like to take the stock gears and use them as spares.

I have made some reinforcements to the stock landing gear mounting plates to increase their strength, and along with the CF rod inserted into the stock CF tube, they seems to hold up fairly good thus far. If you don't mind, I would like to take a rain check for now until this set up fails. Since I already have an extra Bolly landing gear, with your help in the future, it should be a quick retrofit.

What is the best way to pick up the stock gears?

Thank you,
Kevin