RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

So what happened to your canopy, I saw someplace where a guy used his plastic canopy as a mold to make a carbon fiber canopy, seems like a good idea to me. What was the model number for the CF landing gear you used?

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

Ron,

BTW- on the DLE35RA, when you get your copy take an hour and open the rear up to inspect the reed cage. Mine was sanded too aggressively by the factory into a slight concave shape which didn't permit flush seating of the reeds. I reshaped the cage on a piece of sandpaper laid down on a piece of plate glass. Fuel draw would be affected with even a small leak around the reeds and you'd have a heck of a time starting the engine

After the treatment, choking became very effective;mine literally started on the second flip.....It's field manners are truly simple and easy

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

Yes I know about that, I received an email from Frank Bowman about it when I rebuilt My DLE 55 it runs great. You get the order for the mount?

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

Yes, thank you; shipping tomorrow

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

Here are the tired canopy photos:<div>http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...psa2bf0e51.jpg
</div><div>http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9630a565.jpg
</div><div>http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...ps874a6619.jpg
</div>

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

I really need to either find a replacement or fabricate a new one.  I absolutely love the way this plane flies, even though it's currently an ugly duckling!!

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

Let me suggest that first you wrap some plastic packing tape around it to even it out as much as possible. Then put some expanding foam inside and let it cook off. Hopefully that will take much of the buckling out and come out reasonably well. (I've done that before to worse with mixed results)

If not happy, remove the clear plastic part and the foam, installa foam block and shape away. Come back with 1/32 balsa sheeting, glass it and paint it. I've done that before and it goes very fast and comes out looking great. A lot of elbow grease tho

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

Yes looks very rough, all those low inverted passes right, LOL. Looks like you did internal repairs to it. Hopefully someone with nothing but a good canopy will step up, try a wanted ad.
good luck

RE: Ultra Rc Evolution
 

how your Evo coming, fly it yet?

FYI, Update,

This plane is being sold now by Richyan in the For Sale, Pattern section. I purchased one and here are my thots. Keep in mind I'm a sport flyer who likes to do pattern type of flying. The kit came double boxed, shipped from California to Pittsburgh, PA via Greyhound. Both boxes came thru as pristine as any I've ever had shipped to me. Upon opening the box I found one of the tabs on the right stab broke off. No biggie piece of cake for a builder with 40+ years under my belt. The wings have the shear webbing horizontal not vertical so off will come the lower covering for some proper wood placement. Now to the bad part (But not too bad) the canopy has two cracks one about 2 inches the other about an inch and a half. Both are at the transition from the clear canopy into the red painted section on the front of the canopy. I e-mailed Richyan about that and got no reply. Kinda what I expected, so I'm not too upset about the no reply. What I have decided to do is paint the inside of the canopy then lay in some 3/4 oz. fiberglass and epoxy to strengthen the plastic. One aileron is not the straightest, I will try removing the twist with the covering (Old sailplaner don't you know). I'm planning on using a Syssa 30cc and a tuned pipe for power. I may have to try building one of MTK's mounts to keep the vibes down.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, in some way I wish I had seen this before ordering the kit and in some ways I'm glad I didn't.

As far as the seller goes, the deal went thru ok. His communications could be better. When he shipped it out and told me it was Greyhound. I was a little concerned, but all was good there. I asked for shipping info and he replied will send tracking info. Well 10 days later I e-mailed again and he finally sent me the info. I called Greyhound and I was told that the package arrived 3 days earlier. Then I had an 80 mile round trip to get to the bus station in Pittsburgh to pickup my prized new plane. Also Richyan does not use the RCU invoice system so no one can rate him I guess. I'd rate him ok but I would prefer that a RCU seller use the system as designed.

Will I post pictures, other info? Possibly but don't hold yer breath.

Mark

Sounds like a good plan Mark and good luck with it. I haven't even started mine yet had it over a year, DLE 35 with MTK soft mount since it's just for sport pattern I will use stock muffler, lets us know how yours come out.

I just bought one from General Hobbies as well. It's got a few small issues with hardware but for the money it isn't bad. I'll be able to practice with it anyway. I'm leaving the landing gear stock with a little bracing inside the fuse. Looks like it ought to work. I did notice the shear webbing on this one is wrong also. I wonder if there were that many wings that folded up or just a few that we all heard about. In any case I'll be putting new ones in mine. There is a mod for a firewall brace in this thread also that looks good that Eric Henderson did when he reviewed it. I had worried a bit about that and was planning some glass reinforcement. Mine will be getting a YS 140 and a Hyde mount is also planned. I know this isn't the newest but it ought to do well through Advanced. I'm also finishing up a Phase One which is an older design than the Evolution but I think it will also be good through Advanced. Guess we'll see when the season starts.

Rick H.

Rick,

I never owned one, but I personally know of two locally in my area that had wing failures. I know there were enough of them that I'd definitely look at fixing it. There may be a few that didn't have a problem, but better safe than sorry I think,

Archie

I'm going to do that Arch. I'd been debating it until I saw this thread and spent two hours reading the whole thing. There have been enough incidents that I think it's just prudent to do this mod. I wonder where General Hobbies got these. Could they have been left over from somewhere? Looks like they have an extensive product line. Mine also came Greyhound and I had to push to get it shipped a week after I ordered (and paid for) it. I also had a broken tab on one elevator but it was easily repaired. I went and glassed all of the tabs. No cracks in the canopy but that is apparently a standard problem. I haven't competed much in pattern the last few years but this looked like a good way to get back into it.

Rick H.

Once its fixed up, I think you will be happy. The ones I have flown all flew well once the mods were done. The planes manufacturing definitely had some issues but it should work fine once you get it repaired.

Arch

I had two of them and I had to add balsa shear webbing to the wings on the leading and trailing edge side of the wings and stabs ( the first batches had none). The plane was much, much... better once I took all the elasatic type rebound "flex" out of the wings (very bad). I eventually gave mine away to two guys entering pattern..., as I moved on to other products.

The carbon tube landing gear design works ok, but not great. I eventually went to regular gear after I hit a hole in the runway and snapped one in half at a contest. I flew mine with a OS 140 RX with the wings positioned in the forward position and I think I had a 1/16 shim under the front wing anchor tab for additional + incidence.

They fly good.... best of luck. I still have fuse/stab covers for mine,if you need any, you can have them if you're interested.

bholsten

Yes, Fix the wing, change the gear straight off to something better, and it honestly, is a good flying plane. You will be very happy with it. Especially for the price that guy is asking. But fix the wing for sure!

Chris

The shear web mod has been completed and Monokote put over the repairs. I would have worried about it every time I flew the thing. I also painted the canopy inside and will be cutting some bulkheads to fit inside it to see about reducing the problems it has. As for the landing gear I have gone with what is in the kit but have done a few things to beef it up withhout adding much weight. We'll see. BTW the cowl definitely did not fit until I got out the Dremel and removed some wood in a few places.

Rick H.

No its not flown yet. I ended up waiting a long time for a header so I bought a 2nd hand Wind S110e in the mean time. But then my daughter was born so pattern came to a real slow down. Pickin it up now and the Evolution is back on the work bench. Pipe tunnel going in this weekend. With the DLE35RA I needed to lengthen the existing tunnel to accomodate the Mintor 38 pipe. Should have it in the air by next weekend if building progresses as planned. Will report then.

bump

I have one coming on the Greyhound bus. Lots of good info. here on this "low end" F3A. Thanks Eric for all your input. I'll look her over VERY closely, and check the shear webs and glue joints. There was one reported wing tube failure that I know about...some doubt whether or not it was carbon fiber.

Received the bird....undamaged except for a cracked canopy. General Hobbies has been contacted. Shear webs were all wrong, I have corrected the webs. Ordering props and servo extensions today. What props work with electric power (240kv...thinking 20-12 to 20-14) and what diameter spinner do I need?...(At work, away from plane).

I used a 21x13.5 APC Thin Electric on mine and I'm running the AXI F3A Outrunner in it. I just bought a new spinner for it and it looks to be a perfect fit. It's a Tru-Yurn Turbocool FAI 2 3/4 " spinner. I will be taking photos of the facelift in progress to my Evolution. It always flew great and it's already had the wing and landing gear fixed. Now I just want to make it look as good as it flies. Stay tuned for the before and after photos.

Ok, so here are some photos of my ugly duckling before her long overdue facelift:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993790http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993791http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993792http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993793http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993794http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993795http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993796http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1993797

Gonna be replacing the cowl, canopy, and spinner. Then doing a covering strip down, then repairing any hidden dents and dings, then a nice re-cover job. Should be a fun project to do with my son(who this plane is getting handed down to). Look out D7 Sportsman pilots........