Elegant from HL

[Flatspin]

Does anyone have one of these yet or are they too new? any mini reviews? TIA

Ron

[dave_lilley]

LiftZone review coming soon (later this week or this weekend)

[Flatspin]

Thanks Dave.. be looking for it!!

Ron

[fledge]

im also interested in that glider,,does anyone have any pics?? fledge

[Allan Wright]

The review should be loaded with pictures. Once I see which ones Dave uses, I'll post some of the ones he didn't use on my personal pages.

There are also some movies that should be posted with the review.

[Joedy]

Allan,
Thanks for the good review of the Elegant on the LiftZone site.

One thing that I am unclear on is the issue of using 6 servos on the Jeti 40-3P BEC. The literature with my similar Hacker 40-3P BEC says that it is only good to 5 servos.

How did you get your BEC to support the Elegant?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give on this issue.

Joedy Drulia
Shendandoah Valley, VA

[Allan Wright]

Well, 2 of the 6 servos are only for flaps so as long as you're not
using rudder, ailerons and elevator while doing a flap change you're all set. I haven't had any problems yet.

If you used your radio in a mode where flaps were used full time in conjunction with the ailerons then you might want to get a separate radio pack or the UBEC.

Al

[Joedy]

Thanks for the feedback.

Do you think that the Elegant would benefit a whole lot from full span control (mixing flaps with the ailerons)?

With the polyhederal on the wing design, it seems to me that it wouldn't be all that beneficial.

What do you think?

[ms_stew]

Been looking for some good info on the Elegant, and that review didn't let me down. I think I got a good feel from your text for what skills it will take to put one together - assuming I can work up the nerve to whack the nose off of a 248 dollar sailplane, that is! Maybe that's chump change to these guys with the 2K+ scale ships, but messing that up would bring a tear to my eye, for sure. I think the Elegant is a pretty plane, and is surely all it would take to keep a permanent grin on my old mug.

And that nose job is why I'm writing this post. The only plane with some serious power I have so far is my E3D. And that one has some downthrust angle, as well as about the same amount of right thrust as well - 3 to 4 degrees. But the E3D is a relatively short-wing slow-speed sport plane. Do the ultra long wings of these thermal ships take care of any need for right thrust to compensate for these powerful motors? I have no experience with electric-powered thermal planes. The two I have are hi-start models.

One other question (you can see I'm obsessed with this nosewhacking thing) - I don't at present have a belt sander setup which I can dial in like you did. And I've never whacked fiberglass before. Are there any alternatives to the way you did it that won't tear up the fuse?

Again, thanks for taking the time to put together an excellent review.

- Michael Stewart

[Allan Wright]

Joedy,

Sure, any sailplane will have more control with the flaps linked to the ailerons and the Elegant is no exception, although I wouldn't be too concerned with that. The maneuverability of the plane with just the Ailerons alone is actually extremely good. I was surprised at how small of a turning radius this plane had. Better than most of my 2-meter planes.

Ms-Stew,

You could use a razor saw or hacksaw to cut off the nose, proud of where you wanted the final cut, then use a great planes sanding bar, or perma-grit sanding bar to 'sneak up' on the line by hand. I like the idea of using an abrasive for the final adjustment for the additional control it gives you.

I believe the new kits that are shipping are supposed to come with the motor firewall, and an indentation in the gel-coat where you cut the nose off, but still, abrasive to get the cut to this line is my preferred method. You can see in this photo the results of this method:

http://pease1.sr.unh.edu/aew/rc/Elegant/nosecut.jpg

I used 3 degrees of downthrust which worked well. I have no sidethrust, and I can't notice any tendency for the model to pull to either side on power up, so I'd recommend no side thrust.

Any more questions, I'll be glad to try to help.
Al