pipercub6

My Feedback: (16)

I have never done a review so please endure this!!! I have been in modeling for about 20 years and mostly have either kit built or scratch built from plans. This is my first electic plane, I have had just about all sizes of planes, from my 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup to the Ace Simple Series with a foam wing. So here goes.

I got the Electra as a Xmas present and was suprised at how well everything was packed, It comes in a large box providing plenty of room for all the assembled parts.

I always start with the wing, and this one was no exception. With the wings already covered the only real thing to do was to join the halfs together. A ply dihedral brace is provided and the fit was very good. The instructions were easy to follow and the wing went together in just a few minutes. A few minor sags were in the covering but the heat gun quickly took care of them. The only thing I didn't like was that they provided nothing to match the covering to seal the seam after it was epoxied together. I used some 2 inch wide black vinyl electrical tape and it really cleaned up the look.

The stab and tail were next and I opted to use medium CA instead of epoxy to hurry things along. Again just follow the instructions to get the alignment straight. Installing the elevator and rudder was easy. The same holds true for the cowling and canopy. They provide specific instructions for installing the supplied motor and switch but also recommend using a speed controller for more control. I had a Hitec 3 channel AM radio with no home so it was a logical choice for this plane. I used a C-30 speed controller from Great Planes and following the instructions provided had no problem getting it set up(some soldering is necessay) and installed This size speed controller is capable of handling 2 to 3 standard size servos and the fuse is already set up to mount regular size servos in it.

My first problem occurred when I went to install the prop. The adapter for the motor was not drilled straight and it also had the wrong size set screw provided for it. Rather than go through the rigamarole of getting a replacement from Goldberg I just bought an adapter at the hobby shop to replace it. radio setup was easy if you have ever installed them before.

I broke the motor in by running it with the prop supplied by weighting the fuse on the table and just running it through about 5 times with a fully charged battery until the controller kicked the motor off due to low voltage. Every time the motor showed improvement on both duration and rpm. One big flaw I found with the fuse was that the cover for the battery compartment was really weak and I glued a few strips along it to strengthen it.

CG is very critical with is aircraft and I set mine up as dead center on the allowable range as I could. Because of this I double checked that the receiver and battery could not shift around.

I completed a range check with both the motor off and running and it came out ok. I tried several short hand launches into the wind and things seemed ok. So it was time to try the motor. To my suprise the setup seemed really well. I am only using 6 cell 1500Mah batteries so my motor run is not as long as I would like it, but satisfactory. Being use to gas and glow motors I had a hard time getting used to how quiet it is. The climb rate could be better but I attribute that to the battery power. Overall, it flew pretty much as I expected and got some nice long glides out of it. Having several batteries helped me get back in the air quickly each time but changing them out each time takes some getting used to. The glider itself showed no bad tendencies but I haven't tried anything big with it.
It cruises around smoothly and responsive with the suggested throws to elevator and rudder and showed a very flat glide. As soon as I can I will get a pic of it attached. If anyone has questions about it feel free to reply. Also, if you have any suggestions for improvement please forward them to me.

Thanks, Pipercub6