Epsilon or Infinity
 

I have narrowed down my list to just two planes and i'm a bit confused which one to get. I have seen the Epsilon fly and their great but havent heard much about the Filton Infinity.

Anybody there who has extensive stick/flight time with the Infinity please post since theres only just few flight reports on the said plane.

RE: Epsilon or Infinity
 

Hello-

Do search on this forum, there have been several informative threads on the Infinity in the past 3-4 months, and many on the Epsilon.

For strictly pattern use? Infinity.

RE: Epsilon or Infinity
 

Hi pmr,

Congratulations for the win at the nationals last weekend. I'll let you fly the Epsilon on friday to help make your decision easier.

RE: Epsilon or Infinity
 

I have flown my Infinity about a dozen times so far. It is powered by a 1515/2y Neumotor turning a 19 x 12 with 10s3p battery. It weighs 8.5 lbs ready to fly. Power to spare.

As far as the way the plane flies, I can say it is the most axial rolling plane I have flown without differential. It holds knife edge easily without any mix so far. Point and slow rolls are effortless. The elevator response is very balanced either up or down. Sometimes a plane is more responsive one way or the other. The rudder is very effective. I am using about 40% expo on the rudder to calm it down. The up and down lines remain vertical. I haven't checked where my balance point is yet, but I like a very neutral balance point and this plane requires very little down stick inverted. The thrust angle is set to the nose cone and I don't find any issues with torquing in the up lines with the 19" prop. It is very easy to land. If you run more than a 17" prop, you will need a taller gear. The hardware in the kit is great. Ballbearing pushrod ends etc.

The build quality is like no other ARF I have seen. I checked the alignment of everything, tip to tip, etc and got less than 1 or 2 tenths of a degree difference. This is excellent. The plane is well designed structurally to be strong and light.

I would highly recommend it.

Jeff

RE: Epsilon or Infinity
 

My Epsilon is being delivered now, so I haven't flown one yet. But, I do have a Widebody 40 that is also by CA Models, and a friend has the 60 sized kit. Both are perfectly axial when rolling. My WB is my first pattern kit, so there are a lot of mistakes that I probably made with setting it up. Still, it is an incredibly solid plane.

I'm mentioning the Widebody because CA Models says that the Epsilon is a refined version of the Widebody for sharper snaps, smoother knife edges, and an improved airfoil for the wing. Mine has straight verticals and downlines. The rudder is incredibly effective for perfect stall turns, even on very low rates. I have no worries how the Epsilon will perform after seeing how the WB flies.

RE: Epsilon or Infinity
 

I'd have to say that I'm very satisfied with the flight characteristics of my Infinity. It was easy to get trimmed due to it's straightness right out of the box. To date I have 100+ flights on it including two contests flying F3A. It is a capable plane.

Having said that, I must note two areas where there's room for improvement:

1) The covering is a continuous maintenance issue. Every flying session seems to require that a piece of trim be tacked down. Some pieces have long since disappeared. In retrospect, I would have preferred to buy the plane sans covering and finish it off myself with monokote.

2) The engine gusseting and landing gear mounting plate cannot handle the stress of hard flying and a fuel-spewing YS110. My gear have now been torn out twice. Builders should add some glass, carbon and/or other beef to these structures if using this type of setup. Don't skimp on the fuel-proofing.

My aircraft is showing a lot of flight wear. I'm on the second gear struts, engine, tank and motor mount (as a matter of preference, not necessity). It balances perfectly with the YS110, but if I had it to do over again I might put in a 2-stroke 90-100 with a plain muffler. The Bolly FAI STD gear are a perfect match for the dural struts included.


The Infinity is not a $3K custom-built composite 2m pattern bird and is unlikely to take the 500+ practice & contest flights that one would expect from such an aircraft. However, to get a beginner started in pattern or to act as a backup for the experienced flier, it's a derned good plane.

-Ron Ellis