Graham
03.10.00, 16:45
I've recently written to a BB member king enough to write to me. Thought more would like to see the comments on various models, so here they are: -
I fly a number of slow fly / park fly, which tend to be a bit more relaxing than the Piccolo indoor helicopter. These include -
The Champion glider with power pod on a speed controller, Taube and Bleriot from Ikarus, the Nora high wing semi scale ultra light from McGregor, the Spad and Suchoi SU31 from Simprop, an SE5 from Rcscale.co.uk. Others in build.
The Suchoi SU31 has only just been finished, I’m waiting for a less windy spell to test it. Looks promising. Sounds as though this is the noisiest electric I have based on ground test. 8 x 600mAhr nicads, as the power of the 280 6v motor is beyond the Tadiran capacity. I may try different combinations once I know how it flies.
The Nora is the odd one out so far, in that it can be flown in windier weather, but precision landings trickier as it tends to want to keep going. It must be quite clean compared to the others. Also very quiet compared to the Spad. I plan to add flaps to aid dropping it on the spot more easily.
Spad lacks power, but is great for precision landing, as it drops very quickly with the power off. A bit noisy by electric standards. Perhaps all the Simprop foam/electric power set ups will be noisier than the others. Still acceptable on most sensitive flying sites.
Lift Off yet to be proven, due to a problem with the brushless motor / controller. The first motor melted the cooling fan with a shortish ground run. The replacement will have additional airflow around the motor, in addition to the original design intent ducts. X250/6, twelve 1,700mAhr cells and Ikarus controller.
The Champion can carry four battery packs at a pinch, and hold the Coventry Club electric endurance record, by a margin. Had to land it due to weather, not lack of power. One fine day I will fly until the power is exhausted, and expect between 1 hour 25 minutes and two hours. Difficult to gauge the additional power needed vs the extra capacity added by the extra packs of cells. In glider only mode, good on the slope, and slow enough for fun, i.e. hand launch / circuit / catch.
Bleriot needs a dead flat calm for best effect, and flies very slowly indeed, under full control. I have flown this in a school gym. Need to keep the power on for the very tight turns needed indoors.
SE5 a bit too fragile for my liking, gets damaged far too easily. The covering is simply too thin for sport use. A scale indoor flier for the dedicated. 2/3 AAA tadirans on this, with very light radio.
Other models include a Simprop Lift Off, Filip 400 T tail slope soarer / HLG, Zagi slope soarer, and Baron 30 with 56 four stroke. I’m a bit scared of the latter, as I know too well the cost of fixing bigger heli’s. The Zagi is AMAZING on the slope, flies as if on rails over a wide speed range, and BOUNCES back from the slope without damage so far. The Filip is a very pretty, efficient model, and seems to go very well indeed. Stays up when all the others can’t, either because the wind is too weak or blowing too hard ALONG the slope for the others. I’m a bit worried about getting it down when it’s turbulent, as I do not want to damage it. The Zagi could be landed downwind onto a rock without worry…… I didn’t mention a Bullet slope soarer, because it is so ugly. Flies OK in reasonable lift, and is as bouncable as the Zagi.
Rambling on a bit, gues it’s because I like flying… Have fun.
[This message has been edited by Graham (edited 10-03-2000).]
I fly a number of slow fly / park fly, which tend to be a bit more relaxing than the Piccolo indoor helicopter. These include -
The Champion glider with power pod on a speed controller, Taube and Bleriot from Ikarus, the Nora high wing semi scale ultra light from McGregor, the Spad and Suchoi SU31 from Simprop, an SE5 from Rcscale.co.uk. Others in build.
The Suchoi SU31 has only just been finished, I’m waiting for a less windy spell to test it. Looks promising. Sounds as though this is the noisiest electric I have based on ground test. 8 x 600mAhr nicads, as the power of the 280 6v motor is beyond the Tadiran capacity. I may try different combinations once I know how it flies.
The Nora is the odd one out so far, in that it can be flown in windier weather, but precision landings trickier as it tends to want to keep going. It must be quite clean compared to the others. Also very quiet compared to the Spad. I plan to add flaps to aid dropping it on the spot more easily.
Spad lacks power, but is great for precision landing, as it drops very quickly with the power off. A bit noisy by electric standards. Perhaps all the Simprop foam/electric power set ups will be noisier than the others. Still acceptable on most sensitive flying sites.
Lift Off yet to be proven, due to a problem with the brushless motor / controller. The first motor melted the cooling fan with a shortish ground run. The replacement will have additional airflow around the motor, in addition to the original design intent ducts. X250/6, twelve 1,700mAhr cells and Ikarus controller.
The Champion can carry four battery packs at a pinch, and hold the Coventry Club electric endurance record, by a margin. Had to land it due to weather, not lack of power. One fine day I will fly until the power is exhausted, and expect between 1 hour 25 minutes and two hours. Difficult to gauge the additional power needed vs the extra capacity added by the extra packs of cells. In glider only mode, good on the slope, and slow enough for fun, i.e. hand launch / circuit / catch.
Bleriot needs a dead flat calm for best effect, and flies very slowly indeed, under full control. I have flown this in a school gym. Need to keep the power on for the very tight turns needed indoors.
SE5 a bit too fragile for my liking, gets damaged far too easily. The covering is simply too thin for sport use. A scale indoor flier for the dedicated. 2/3 AAA tadirans on this, with very light radio.
Other models include a Simprop Lift Off, Filip 400 T tail slope soarer / HLG, Zagi slope soarer, and Baron 30 with 56 four stroke. I’m a bit scared of the latter, as I know too well the cost of fixing bigger heli’s. The Zagi is AMAZING on the slope, flies as if on rails over a wide speed range, and BOUNCES back from the slope without damage so far. The Filip is a very pretty, efficient model, and seems to go very well indeed. Stays up when all the others can’t, either because the wind is too weak or blowing too hard ALONG the slope for the others. I’m a bit worried about getting it down when it’s turbulent, as I do not want to damage it. The Zagi could be landed downwind onto a rock without worry…… I didn’t mention a Bullet slope soarer, because it is so ugly. Flies OK in reasonable lift, and is as bouncable as the Zagi.
Rambling on a bit, gues it’s because I like flying… Have fun.
[This message has been edited by Graham (edited 10-03-2000).]