sorry for your crash derek. Ive been there with my first rclander panther. Balooning up and still going up and crashed real bad while trying to land. tip stalled it while trying to land. Never rebuilded that one. When i mentioned that on the panther thread and found that the reason was a bad manual cg tim wan (owner of rclander) jumped in and offered me a free of charge kit with flaps and everything just to regain trust to rclander. I got 4 rclander fans and 2 rclander planes since then.
With that support who wouldnt. Anyway. So the 10-20cm cg correction must be a typo right? Itsx 10-20mm. correct?

As for an esc despite that i have a 70amp brick laying around im going with the proven and trustworthy turnigy plush 60 and using the escs bec. I have that in 3 planes and in the two im pulling 69amps peak on the bench (should be a little less in the air though).

My vampire was sent yesterday. My 3300packs should be here sometime next week. Anyone in here tried that 70amp red brick from hk?

Originally Posted by flypaper 2

Binbin: Wondering where you got the switch for the retracts. Two of mine crapped out pushing the switch off the end of the circuit board. I have new retract coming but it'll take a month. I'd sooner fix the old ones.
Another point when landing. Not having a prop to act like an airbrake it doesn't want to slow down to quick. I shimmed up the nose gear about 1/4 in. and it really helps with the takeoff. The nose not being driven down.

Gord.

I've replaced the stock retracts on my Starmax P-51D so had 2 spare retracts. I could have taken the whole board as it's the same size as the Durafly's. I think it is the same manufacturer ( Change Sun probably ).

Originally Posted by Goody63

Was gonna ask (as well) where you got the parts for the retracts from.

Also I flew mine with 4000MAH 4S lipos last weekend. Apart from the lipo having to sit a little bit further back (than my 3000MAH lipos) I didn't notice any other actual differences in the flights.

These Vampires are great flyers!!

Nice to hear the 4000 will be OK, mine are still stuck at the HK Europ warehouse. With them, the Lipo won't be the weakest link of the chain.

oh . What 4000lipos did you use? I used to be using the 4000 45-90c nanos and then replaced them with the 4500 35-70c . They have the exact same weight. If thaey r at that weight 485g then that would be really convinient

After 2 hours and 17 minutes in surgery, the patient was in good spirits. She even cracked a few jokes, "So, I hear my ass was sagging and they called me a lawn dart". Then, like a rush of wind, she sprinted out the door and vanished in the darkness, yelling, "I will fly again".....

(I swear I was not sniffing the glue)

The nose is a little wrinkled, but a trip to the spackle surgeon should fix that.

All systems check. She will fly again this weekend. This time with CG 10-20 mm ahead of the manual.

Nice work Derek, looks good... A few war wounds but she still looks sexy.

omg. Some guys are really good on fixing these foamies.. Congrats on the surgery...
Btw your struts look like the rclander ones.. Do the hold on well on landings?

Good job Doctor, now to get out and get some fresh air and find the runaway Vampire before it bites someone

Shaun.

A bit more progress. My balancer is in customs and I hope to have it next week and too finish the Vampire in the following week.

So I have to ask. Has anybody bought an extra vampire for spare parts that might be willing to part with their canopy, pilot, and hatch? If not, Im thinking of doing it myself. Buying a vampire kit, taking what I need, an selling the rest. Let me know if your interested

Very nice Clive

Shaun.

Originally Posted by clive45

A bit more progress. My balancer is in customs and I hope to have it next week and too finish the Vampire in the following week.

Look'n good Clive.

It'll be interesting to read what you think of the balancer.

I'm thinking about having another go at pulling my stock EDF out (maybe trying the hairdryer method this time) so I can put it on the balancer.

It's sounds pretty smooth already but I'd like to see if I can get it running even smoother.

Originally Posted by pavcon

omg. Some guys are really good on fixing these foamies.. Congrats on the surgery...
Btw your struts look like the rclander ones.. Do the hold on well on landings?

If you have read his story you would know he hasn't actually landed it yet!!

Originally Posted by taz101

If you have read his story you would know he hasn't actually landed it yet!!

Ouch, hey Derek t let me help pull the dagger out from your heart

Originally Posted by pavcon

omg. Some guys are really good on fixing these foamies.. Congrats on the surgery...
Btw your struts look like the rclander ones.. Do the hold on well on landings?

Originally Posted by taz101

If you have read his story you would know he hasn't actually landed it yet!!

I truly wish I got to test the gears properly . I think nose first does not count as a landing. The struts are the stock Vampire gear.

The first flight on Monday in high winds, I chickened out and kept the gear up for a belly landing in the grass, which was nice and gentle.

I'm trying to get off work early today to re-maiden for the 3rd time (that's like a double mulligan in golf). I need about 30 minutes to re-secure a few servo wires and the mounting plate for the nose gear is now at an angle, so I need to add a shim to get the strut back to vertical. Then add some weight to the nose. My battery is all the way forward. I guess those two tiny 3.7 gram servos plus the carbon tubes add up. From what others say about how she flies, the extra weight in the nose should not matter.

Originally Posted by clive45

A bit more progress. My balancer is in customs and I hope to have it next week and too finish the Vampire in the following week.

Clive,
She is looking very handsome. I see you got the airbrush out for some nice weathering effects!! Very good. The decals look great too.