Reserved for future additions to this ongoing review.

Nice review Mike. I have the little 3.2M RES sister to her and she too is a beautiful flying machine as are all the Pulsars. I'm looking at the 4M as a full house ALES contest sailplane for a build this winter so this is a timely article. The quality of both the Pulsars and Neu motors are well worth the price. You know you have the best and I think it gives a certain satisfaction and confidence knowing you have good stuff when you step up to the flight line. Esprit is also in this catagory being one of the best vendors for R/C items I have ever dealt with, absolute top shelf all the way.

I have a friend that has the 3.6 full house pulsar. He doesn't like the removeable front with the motor and battery. It's awkward to change batteries in a ales contest because it takes a while to unassemble and reassemble between rounds. Everyone has to wait while he gets his pulsar ready. Or he needs to find someone to do his turn timing his flying partner. A battery hatch is much faster than taking your model apart to change the battery.

It is a beautiful flying machine on the ground and in the air.

James

I agree that the nose setup is a bit clumsy, but no way should it take an excessive amount of time to change out a battery. I've flown in a number of contests with mine and never got jammed up like your friend. Last contest I flew there were 4 Pulsars of various models and everyone was fine on making calls for their flight group. It's not hard to do, only two screws, one for the nose and one for the battery tray and I can do it in a minute or so. A canopy would be nice like on the Pro models, but the nose setup is very workable in it's present form.

Originally Posted by leaktech

I have a friend that has the 3.6 full house pulsar. He doesn't like the removeable front with the motor and battery. It's awkward to change batteries in a ales contest because it takes a while to unassemble and reassemble between rounds.

It is a beautiful flying machine on the ground and in the air.

James

I have owned probably every single size of the Pulsars. All of them from 2, 2.5, 3.2, 3.6 up to 4m version. Exchange battery pack is absolutely not a big deal. You have to realize for few hours of flying all is needed is one, max two batteries.

My 4m uses 3300mAh 4S pack, with this battery I can do 15-18x 10 seconds climbs. If there is no thermal activity I can glide for 8 minutes easily. 15 x 7min = 105min = 1 ½ hour of flying and usually I get at least few thermals.
After so much time I am sick of flying.

Zb/Esprit Model

The nose cone is held in place in the pod by proper fit and one screw. As pointed out one battery should supply all the launches needed for a day of ALES contests (At least the contests they have been holding in CA.) To change the battery is a very quick and simple process. While a hatch is probably quicker, I honestly can't see this as a real issue. Michael Heer

Can always dispense with the screw altogether and tape the nose cone to the fuselage. Two wraps of electrical tape is more than enough. And you can get white tape so it doesn't show. Been doing this since I got tired of looking in the grass for dropped screws. And if it is good enough given the power of an F5B model...

So what is the all up weight ready to fly with the battery in it?

Originally Posted by JeffD

Can always dispense with the screw altogether and tape the nose cone to the fuselage. Two wraps of electrical tape is more than enough. And you can get white tape so it doesn't show. Been doing this since I got tired of looking in the grass for dropped screws. And if it is good enough given the power of an F5B model...

On my Pusar 4M electric, I changed the locking screw to the top. I didn't like having to balance the plane on its nose to unlock the motor-battery pod screw on the belly of the plane. The new top position works great. There is so much power in those motors, I would not trust tape to be the only hold on that pod. I guess if you use fresh sticky tape, it might hold. Parasitic drag though, that much tape vs. a little screw.

Once the pod is out the battery change is easy. I do use tape to fasten the battery at the balance point, so it won't slide.

Once the pod is out you can recharge the battery from within the pod without taking it out. That works good too.

Kirk

The plane has not been weighed so the RTF weight of the plane is not available at this time for me to report.

Originally Posted by Michael Heer

...she went up as if she was connected to a high speed wench...

Great review, and this part made me smile.

Gonna have to keep an eye on this one.

I just lost my Pulsar 4me when the stab ripped off in flight.

Turns out the carbon fibre stab "v" mount broke away from the fuselage taking the stab with it. The V is completely gone! The control horn is still attached to the clevis but it was ripped from the carbon baseplate that attaches to the stab.

I have to leave town for a week, but I'll post some pics of the failed V mount next weekend when I'm back.

This plane has been prone to stab flutter since day one. After the last episode I installed a new servo and tightened up the linkage and added a few drops of blue threadlock in the clevis threads and the clevis pin/holes. It was as solid as any F5B racer I've had and maybe better.

I think there's some aerodynamic instability with the way the stab is mounted that triggers flutter at only moderate speeds (I saw it on climb-out at 30 seconds to 200M - NOT fast for a sailplane.) I also heard it in a shallow 'dive test'

I just want to know if anyone else is having this issue? I'm trying to gauge if this is a one-time problem with my airframe (#42 BTW) or is there a more widespread issue stemming from the design?

Too bad because it was flying pretty much hands off for the 20 minutes of flight before failure. It really is an excellent airframe, when all the bits stay attached.

Pulsar Pro is now made by Vladimir's Models, the maker of AVA?