Originally Posted by TripleW

Chuckman,
Nice Pics!
What kind of foam is that you used for your battery mod?
Walter

Thanks man! I was playing with the balance a bit last night and decided to move the battery back a bit. It ended up quite a ways farther back than I was expecting! Balances perfect now. The foam I bought at hobby people and was stupid expensive, used it to make my first scratchbuilt parkjet. These were just some leftover pieces I had.

Looks like it's some sort of Hard EPS foam.
What dimension are you using for CG?

Do let us know how it flies.
Thanks, Walter

chuckman, nice job on the battery tray! That battery is sure back there!

I'm at 112mm back from leading edge of top wing, just behind the carbon wing spar

Originally Posted by chuckman49

Thanks man! I was playing with the balance a bit last night and decided to move the battery back a bit. It ended up quite a ways farther back than I was expecting! Balances perfect now.

...most definitely believing...

chuckman,
You're on the right track. The Peaks also has, well "had" for me, two hatches & the battery floor extends well beyond the battery bay that's accessed by the first or forward hatch. The battery bay is also much taller to allow the pack to easily move under the forward wing strut. This also moved the CG aft of where the manual states. When I was flying her regularly, & I'd say I got about 40+ flights on her before her demise, I was continually shifting the pack rearward. After awhile, only about 1/2 of the battery was visible after I got the CG set to my liking. I know, different ship but it seems the same thing is happening with this here Devil, too...

Seems like this lil' Devil should've been designed the same way. It should have a lower & longer length factory battery shelf so the pack could pass easily under the forward wing strut. This would've allowed more flexibility for establishing the pilot's preferred CG & for possibly using larger mAh packs if so desired... I'm not an expert with this Bipe's CG (yet...) but after flying her already & doing the battery bay mod beforehand, IMHO of course, this ship will always be nose heavy in stock form, meaning no battery bay mod & not adding ballast to the tail, using the recommended 4S 2200mAh packs...

Originally Posted by pullup!

chuckman, nice job on the battery tray! That battery is sure back there!

+1 on both of those comments. I can almost guarantee the pack needs to extend under the forward wing strut to get this ship to balance out properly. I really think the manual is much too conservative with the spec'd CG. At least I think so. It'd be fine for sport flying but that's about it...

pullup,
How's your lil' Devil coming along? Making any progress in getting her assembled? Like to hear how D2 is taking shape...

pullup,
How's your lil' Devil coming along? Making any progress in getting her assembled? Like to hear how D2 is taking shape...[/QUOTE]

Devils still in the box, but I have been doing some experimenting with different paints and paint removal.

I found folks using Easy Off oven cleaner to strip the paint in the warbird threads on EPO. Tried it out on my old busted up upper Devil wing, and it works dang well. Also have been trying some different spray paints out. We will see, I might just paint over original paint but I'm trying to keep the weight down by stripping it. Right now in the " is it to much of a pain in the rear stage or not". will see.

Acetone works for paint removal also.

As for foam safe paint .... Krylon Fusion. Easy to find at WallyWorld and using several thin coats, you can control the amount of paint so you don't get too much weight on it. Whatever you decide, a good wipe down with rubbing alcohol gets the bad stuff, oils and such, off.
I did CG with 2200 and 2450 batteries and I found the 2200 CG's at the forward part of the tray ... without going into the "tunnel" and the 2450 does well at the rear of the 1st foam thing ... a molded brace or block maybe? Looks very neutral, but sounds like it may fly nose heavy. That is fine for a maiden. Maybe Monday.

Don

Well my new Devil is out of the box, stripped of electronics, and soaking in a toxic sludge.

It had the weird thingy on the esc, did we ever find out what that was?

Originally Posted by pullup!

Well my new Devil is out of the box, stripped of electronics, and soaking in a toxic sludge.

It had the weird thingy on the esc, did we ever find out what that was?

Yeah mine had that too, maybe some sort of rectifier or signal filter

Originally Posted by pullup!

Well my new Devil is out of the box, stripped of electronics, and soaking in a toxic sludge.

It had the weird thingy on the esc, did we ever find out what that was?

...that's probably not needed...

pullup,
I've got the same lead that goes from the ESC to the Rx on the Devil. Left it one but it doesn't appear to do anything so it probably isn't needed. Plus, my old Peaks has/had the same power system as these ships & it didn't have it & ran fine.

There is that slight stutter on a very slow start up or running the motor at REALLY low RPM's that happens on both of these birds. Although, from what I've been reading over on the Peaks channel this can be resolved by changing the motor timing to 'medium' though I haven't tried that yet since it's really only a minor issue for me...

Lookin' forward to seeing some progress photos of your Devil getting that special treatment you're talking about...

My stutter went away by pulling the power trim down a bit. I presume that the timing thing may be the correct cure.
Tomorrow should be the maiden, wind permitting.
Don

Well this morning there was a bit of a breeze, not enough to stop folks from flying. But, for a maiden on a plane that no one in our club knew anything about? Sure, why not. Our club President is a well seasoned veteran and I asked him to give it a go. He took off and asked for some up trim, about 5 clicks on my DX8. Handed me the radio and said it is a bit sensitive but I had it set up just fine. I had ailerons, rudder, and elevator at 50% with 30 expo on low rate. I thought it was fine except maybe a bit more expo, so I landed it and dialed the low rate to 40% and 40 expo. BTW ....... that 1st landing was a greaser! Easy, easy plane to land, if you are not afraid of a bit of speed. Took off and finished that battery just easy flying to get a feel for it. That landing was perfect also. 2nd battery, takeoff was easy and smooth with a bit of rudder until it was up to speed. Nice, gentle, climb out. Did a short inverted and found it nearly flat, just a bit of elevator needed. Roll rate, on my low rates, is slow but smooth. Reverse half Cuban was smooth and easy. Immelman (Sp?) was beautiful and rock solid. Forgot to try vertical, and did not spin it. Why, you ask? Dunno, just enjoyed the way it flew and was having fun with basic stuff and feeling it out. 3rd landing was a thing of beauty also. Good thing, since about 20 club members were watching all of my landings ... new plane you know! Our field is SMOOOOTH grass and the grass is just long enough to give a bit of cushion.

So, IMHO, this is one fine plane .... for the money it can't be beat. It does not "feel" like my 3DHS balsa planes, but it feels pretty darned good. It is faster than my friends Peaks biplane (he was there and we flew together) and needs more speed on landing. Pretty sure it is because the whole airframe is cleaner and has less drag than biplanes usually have. Probably not the plane for a newer flyer, but if you can fly a fairly fast taildragger, you would love this plane.

Don

Congrats!
Were you aileron and elevators a bit droopy? The two I helped put together were not flat. I had to try and flex them straight without breaking them .
Walter

Originally Posted by dkrhardy

Well this morning there was a bit of a breeze, not enough to stop folks from flying. But, for a maiden on a plane that no one in our club knew anything about? Sure, why not. Our club President is a well seasoned veteran and I asked him to give it a go. He took off and asked for some up trim, about 5 clicks on my DX8. Handed me the radio and said it is a bit sensitive but I had it set up just fine. I had ailerons, rudder, and elevator at 50% with 30 expo on low rate. I thought it was fine except maybe a bit more expo, so I landed it and dialed the low rate to 40% and 40 expo. BTW ....... that 1st landing was a greaser! Easy, easy plane to land, if you are not afraid of a bit of speed. Took off and finished that battery just easy flying to get a feel for it. That landing was perfect also. 2nd battery, takeoff was easy and smooth with a bit of rudder until it was up to speed. Nice, gentle, climb out. Did a short inverted and found it nearly flat, just a bit of elevator needed. Roll rate, on my low rates, is slow but smooth. Reverse half Cuban was smooth and easy. Immelman (Sp?) was beautiful and rock solid. Forgot to try vertical, and did not spin it. Why, you ask? Dunno, just enjoyed the way it flew and was having fun with basic stuff and feeling it out. 3rd landing was a thing of beauty also. Good thing, since about 20 club members were watching all of my landings ... new plane you know! Our field is SMOOOOTH grass and the grass is just long enough to give a bit of cushion.

So, IMHO, this is one fine plane .... for the money it can't be beat. It does not "feel" like my 3DHS balsa planes, but it feels pretty darned good. It is faster than my friends Peaks biplane (he was there and we flew together) and needs more speed on landing. Pretty sure it is because the whole airframe is cleaner and has less drag than biplanes usually have. Probably not the plane for a newer flyer, but if you can fly a fairly fast taildragger, you would love this plane.

Don

...has been recruited...

Don,
Nice maiden flight report. So now you know what all the fuss is about with these Dynam birds. They are built for fun flying & for aggressive aerobatcis depending on your mood, skill level or both... One thing's for sure is the more you fly this D-3D Bipenista, the more you'll want to fly her, especially when it's windy as she can handle it no problemo...