kcforsythe

Well....break out the champagne....she flies!!!

Flew the first two flights today and everything went great. When I added weight to the nose, I added slightly too much making it just a bit nose heavy but I think with this plane, it will aid in stability. It felt most comfortable flying on high rates. I was expecting all of the controls to be more sensitive bit they're really not. I had plenty of expo on both the aileron and elevator but I'll be flying it on high rates from now on.

I flew the first flight with gear down for the entire flight. The second I retracted the gear and tried out the flaperons. I didn't need to program in much down elevator at all with the ailerons both down. The plane looks UNBELIEVABLE in the air with the wheels up. Very scale like.

I was also surprised at how well it slowed down to land. The second landing I was just above stall speed and it didn't feel like a wing wanted to fall off at all.

I'll try and get some video of the next flight and post a link to it.

More later....

Kent

handyman 220

My Feedback: (54)

That's great news!! Glad to hear it !!

JoeMamma

Kent,

A good maiden is always great news ! Glad to hear she wasn't pitchy like one particular flight I saw in a youtube video.

There are only a few BH Commander flights I found on line, so be sure to post yours when you get the time.

Joe M.

aerocom20

HI Kent,

Thanks for the flight report!
Could I ask a couple of questions?
When you mention high rate are you meaning the high rate throws as in the manual?
Also what amount of expo had you dialed in?
Regarding your ailerons/flaperons did you slow the aircraft down to a landing speed with the flaperons deployed?
How many degrees down travel do you set for the flaperons?

Thanks,

Adrian

zob007

Hi Kent,

congratulations for your successfull maiden flights. Electric option is often a good one with twins. Which total weight did you achieved?
Can this plane fly slowly and land slowly?

regards

zob007

Hi Kent,

congratulations for your successfull maiden flights. Electric option is often a good one with twins. Which total weight did you achieved?
Can this plane fly slowly and land slowly?

regards

kenair

My Feedback: (10)

Awesome, look forward to the video and more flight reports!
cheers -ken

JoeMamma

My original idea was to make mine up like Bob Hoover's Commander.

That was until I got some prices $$$$$$ for all of the complicated graphics. That shot down that idea in a hurry !

Joe M.

JoeMamma

Hey Kent,

Put on any more flights on your Commander ?

I finally started to work on mine. I decided to go with electric power and EFlite electric retracts. Just ordered most of my parts.

Boy, the assembly manual sure leaves a lot to be desired.[&o]

Today I was attempting to fit and adjust the cowls (nacelles) before I install the motors.

When they installed the landing gear doors on mine, they really messed up........they are already pre-glued, are sticking, crooked, binding up and also the installed return springs are very weak. Obviousley NO quality control is used here ! Because they were already pre-glued and installed, they will now be a real pain to attempt a repair.

You mentioned those wing screws going into the wing support tube. I didn't know what you were talking about until I spotted them. I agree........wayyyy overkill so mine won't get those wing tube screws.

Our club is having its annual electric event on May 19th and 20th, so I'm shooting to finish her up for that date. It may not be completed by then, but I wanted to at least put it on display.

Joe M.

Quigleywins

Hi joe can you tell me what set of retracts you are going to use as that is the way i will go to get mine back in the air.I did contact e flite and they sent the information on the non rotating ones when questioned again they said they never had a set that would fit. If you have used the 60 size ones I will like to know how strong they are.
On that build I put a small piece of the air retract tube over the screw on the rudder actuator as the brass centhe in the nylon arm can come lose later. Its a good fix.the tube fills the gap between the thread and the nylon. yours Paul T

JoeMamma

Hi Paul,

Retracts ? I'll be using the EFlite 60-120 size for the nose gear.

EFlite doesn't yet make a set of 60-120 rotating gear, but they do have a set of rotating mains in the 25-46 size. The actual aluminum case on the 60-120 size is slightly larger than the smaller 25-46 size. The strut wire size on the 60-120 size is 5mm. The strut wire size on the 25-46 size is 4mm. I'm hoping the 25-46 size main gear will be beefy enough for the Commander.

Both the EFlite nose retract and the main gear are far from a drop-in fit, so it's going to take some wood fabrication to get them all to work.

This afternoon I started to spend some time on drawing up what will be needed for the EFlite retract gear conversion.

I didn't care for the supplied spinners, so I ordered a set of Tru Turn 2.25" Ultimate spinners. I'm planning on using a set of Master Airscrew 12x6 3-blader's. Tru Turn is going to do a custom-cut for me to fit the 3-bladers. I used the same spinners with the same EFlite motors, and the same 3-blader's on my Hangar 9 Twin Otter.

The Tru Turn's have always fit perfect for me. The only problem is they are a little pricey.

Rudder ? I haven't really looked at the rudder hookup as of yet.

Joe M.

kcforsythe

Hey Joe,

I have about 5 flights on it. Unfortunately I had the nose gear stop working while doing some testing on the bench so I had to send it out and have it replaced. I think the electronics when bad on it. Max at ParkRCModels sent me a new one out within a few days and I'm back in business. I haven't had it out since then though. I still plan on taking some video but haven't had the chance. Sorry.

Paul, the electric gear I used is the RC Lander tricycle gear with rotating mains. They handle up to 15lbs total weight. These mains require that you build up the gear mount on the plane and use longer screws. Mine turned out to be a great fit though. The struts that come with the kit slide right on this gear and work like a charm.

Kent

duanen

My Feedback: (1)

hey guys,well i just had the phone call from my LHS that my aerocommader is finally on its way will be here in about 10 days.Ive had this plane on order for 3 months.Im thinking about trying the new NGh 9cc gas engines in this plane.for those who have the plane who do you think these will fit?

JoeMamma

Looks like you may be the first to try using the NGH 9cc gasser in this particular Commander.

Joe M.

Jas65

Hello guys

JoeMamma

Hello Jack,

I'm really not familiar with HK motors or ESC's, but maybe somebody else here at RCU can help.

For my Commander I'm going with EFlite Power 32's, EFlite 60 amp ESC's, Master Airscrew 12x6 3-bladers and Hyperion 4-cell 3300 mah lipos.

The reason for this power setup is I have the identical setup on both a Hangar 9 Twin Otter and an EFlite Deuces Wild. For about two years both of these planes have performed perfectly with this same setup.

The Commander weighs about the same as my Twin Otter, so I'm hoping this same power setup will work out equally as well on the Commander.

Joe M.

Jas65

Thanks joe, I think i found what i was looking for..     
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/%5F%5F19025%5F%5FTurnigy%5FG32%5FBrushless%5FOutru nner%5F600kv%5F.html

Jas65

Hello

JoeMamma

The supplied plastic spinners are 2.25 inches. I chucked them up to see how straight they were. Discovered they are fairly wobbley so they got sent to the junk pile.

I am using a set of Tru Turn, 3-blade, 2.25 inch, Ultimate spinners, part number TT-2283-B. Tru Turn keeps a list of most of the prop manufacturers, prop diameters and prop pitches, so I had my spinners custom machined to fit the Master Airscrew 12x6 3-blade props. Tru Turn always does a great job ! I also used a set of Tru Turn prop/motor/spinner adapters. Tru Turn's only problem is they are a little pricey.

We have a saying on this side of the pond.........."You get what you pay for". That saying usually is true.

As far as the metric size, 2.25 inches comes out to be 57.15mm. If you measure your cowls, I believe a 60mm spinner will fit. Maybe Graupner has them ??

Joe M.

Jas65

Today the shrike arrived with a lorry to mine door, hehe...what a neat size of the box..

Decided to go on the bigger motors (G46) from Hobbyking, equal to a Ic 46 engine stated by HK, also ordered 2 alu spinners from HK (57mm) and 12(5/7 3 bladed props from Graupner, im gone inspect the kit tonight and specially the landing gears as I understand thru earlier post they are not realiable?any more tips anyone can provide me with?

cheers for now
/Jack

kcforsythe

I used the E-flite 46 motors and I've been happy with the power. It has plenty of power but doesn't seem overpowered. I had to add weight to the nose to get a good balance. I'm using 2, 4S 4000mah batteries mounted just behind the cockpit but it was still tail heavy without the extra nose weight. It's a beautiful plane in the air! It gets a lot of attention.

Kent

Jas65

Glad to hear about that, especially the motors since im was a little worried I had ordered some Kind of to big motors

Thanks
Jack 

Quigleywins

Joe one or two questions about your retracts. 1 Did you use the 105 deg retract on the front. 2 Have you finished the instilation of the gear.3 Were the rotating strong enough for the job.
I will in the next week be ordering the set up you have. I am working on the repair as well as the duel ace and piper commanche. so progress is some what slow not to mention the mess. Yours Paul T

Jas65

Hello again

Also I would like to hear moore about the retract issue, you guys that had problem with the origin mounted retract was this caused by a weak baseplate or the legs, or maybe something else, I inspected mine retracts yesterday and from what I can see they looks solid and the finnish is
ok, if to spend another 200$ on new retracts I want to exlude that the origin has some inbuilt weakness as they seems fine in a first look, on another side Im not willing to risk whole project due  poor quality installed by BH

Cheers
Jack

Quigleywins

HI Jack In my case I was not a great fan of the under carrage straight out of the box. On the first flight it stalled on take off and came down on one wheel at the end of the runway.This resulted in the left retract breaking loose.After it was repatred the composit part of the retract having far too much slop, it had a fair bit even before this. they do track straight when in forward motion. they are buiilt like a cray fish ,no guts. Its all ready to go but I will install the Eflite as soon as I get them. I have a set for the Commanche and they do look good. I also have a Great Plnes Tomcat that has only been flown with the retracts down so I could end up being E flites best customer. Yours Paul T