As previously stated, I was only intending to use the 10mil in place of the extreme tape (if it's a suitable substitute), not to cover the whole wing.

I have an Assassin that I have been flying in combat that I built without extreme tape and is only covered with the 3mil laminate. I think it is the plane I built in the video instructions come to think of it. It is still flying strong and has held up well and is one of the lightest Assassins I have built.

There are many ways to do things that will work. There are also many ways to do things that add weight or are not as strong. Do some testing and see what you come up with. You will like your plane better if it is light.

Thanks for the input Lee. I'm going to try a tapeless build and see how it goes. Good thing HK is so slow otherwise I'd rush the build. I'm dying to maiden this wing!

We have swept a couple of the Reapers back to where the wingspan is 55". We chose this angle because it is about as far back as you can sweep the wing and still have prop clearance if you put the prop on the end of the shaft on the 35-30 motor. We don't like notching the trailing edge for prop clearance because then you can't use the shock cord in construction. There are pictures in post 115.

At the request of some of the locals we have compromised and changed the kit and swept the wing a little more and now the kitted Grim Reaper has a 58" span although the wing area is almost the same. I can't tell much difference in the way they fly but some think that it adds a little lateral stability. We have some flyers sweeping the Titan back too. They never seem satisfied with things the way they are always trying new things.

This plane is coming in at about 2 lbs. I am pleased it glides so well. It is easy to overshoot the runway because it will be 5' high out 50' and 4' high as it passes by. It retains it's speed very well.

Lee

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Rumor has it you will get a free Scythe kit if you buy a Reaper.

Looks like I ordered my Grim Reaper 21 days too early.

Great deal!

It's a good time to get a Titan or a Reaper too. We appreciate your support.

Originally Posted by Lee

Here is a link to my "How to permanently destroy a motor and get the shaft out the other end". I do it to all my big motors.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...67&postcount=6

Do you think it would be overkill to add a notch to the Turnigy motor shaft so the setscrew has a flat spot like it does in the stock configuration/position?

Almost done with my Night Reaper build. Hopefully I will be maidening it twice tomorrow. It will be my first flight with this wing and my first night flight ever. It's coming in quite heavy but it's looking great. The lights are awesome!

Bombay, what's the AUW on your night flying Reaper?

Trees, I'm thinking about lighting my Reaper up. Do you have any pictures of it all lit up? Oh and dont worry about the weight. I cant be heavier than mine with my gopro HD and downlink.
Ryan

I should have pics and mayyyybe some video soon. What's your AUW with all that gear?

I'm just under 3lbs.

Cool. I should be under that by a bit. How well does she float unpowered at that weight?

Ok, I maidened the Night Reaper this afternoon. No night flights yet. I've had worse maiden flights but I can't say this one was smooth.

First off, I've never flown a powered wing so I had to figure out the launch technique. It was the school of hard knocks but I have it down now. TX in the left hand, holding the left wingtip with my right hand. Slowly ease the throttle to full, let the plane start to spin you in a circle, adjust it so the wing is level and let it fly out of your hand. With more experience and a lighter build I'm sure I could launch with less throttle. Previous attempts with other methods resulted in crashes or near crashes every launch. My first boomerang/punch-the-throttle launch resulted in an inverted crash. It was ugly but luckily nothing broke. When I saw a clump of grass jammed into one of the servo horns I thought for sure the gears were going to be toasted but luckily they weren't.

So, I'm in the air and things are going ok if I'm easy on the sticks but things get ugly fast with any aggressiveness or low speed activity. It seems to tip stall quite easily and just generally behaves badly. It's so whacky it's hard to explain. I was flying high for most of the testing so I was able to pull out of most of the drastically bad behavior but one thing finally did me in. I was doing a full throttle shallow dive, approximately 40 degrees, as I got closer to the ground I started to slowly pull up but it wasn't responding much so I started to pull up at a greater rate, not much was happening. I was getting closer to the ground and it was all or nothing so I yanked the elevator back all the way. It barely responded and the plane came crashing to the ground. Luckily it did not hit nose first and instead came down with a hard belly slap that ripped the motor and mount off and flung them about 20ft in the air and 30ft away. This was the jaw dropping moment we're all familiar with. The only other damage was a popped off winglet which a little hot glue has already fixed. After approaching the plane both control surfaces were operating properly so I'm not really sure why this happened or why the plane is just not performing in a stellar manor.

I know one thing working against me is weight and I take full responsibility for this. I added a lot of equipment for night flight thus breaking the first rule, "keep it light". My AUW is 44.4oz.

My sweep is stock, CG is spot on at 9.5", throws are setup as suggested on this page, I'm running HS-82MG servos with the control rod sleeves for rigidity, my servos fit tightly in their slots but I'm going to go over them again with hot glue to be sure they are as firm as possible. I used 10mil laminate instead of extreme tape but I do feel like the wing is quite rigid. I suppose it's possible but I am not suspicious of fluttering.

The only thing I can think of other than the plane being too heavy is the angle of the winglets. I measured improperly when cutting the tip angles resulting in a longer slant on the front part of the wingtip. I am horrible at math but I think the angle formed by the slanted wingtip section and the LE is 160 degrees. Could this improper winglet angle be the root of my problems? One other thing I haven't checked is lateral balance but I'm not sure if that would have such a drastic negative effect on handling.

I eagerly await your responses and suggestions. I'm hoping for a little RCG magic!

A heavy plane it has to be launched fast. A wingtip launch is hard to do and get the speed up especially if you are also the one flying the plane. On a heavy wing you may need to have someone else launch for you and launch from the middle of the plane. This wing will fly well and fast at 44 oz but it won't like to slow down.

It almost sounds like you are tail heavy. A tail heavy wing doesn't control very well.

The 82MG servos may be a little weak for the weight of your plane We are pushing them at 2 lbs and you are closer to 3 lbs.

Check the strength of the servo linkages and make shore that on that hard of a hit the horn are still firmly attached in the elevon.

Ryan (Chicken Hawk) has more experience with a plane this heavy than I do. Hopefully he can also help us our.

Lee

I have the launches down. It launches easily at full throttle with a wingtip launch.

I measured back to 9.5" and balanced the plane there. Due to my build it actually came in very nose heavy so I had to add weight to the rear. I'll double-check the CG after I get the motor mount back on.

Hmm, bummer about the 82MGs. I hope they are up to snuff since I bought 6 of them.

Linkages and horns are nice and stiff.

What do you think about my question on the winglets?

"The only thing I can think of other than the plane being too heavy is the angle of the winglets. I measured improperly when cutting the tip angles resulting in a longer slant on the front part of the wingtip. I am horrible at math but I think the angle formed by the slanted wingtip section and the LE is 160 degrees. Could this improper winglet angle be the root of my problems? One other thing I haven't checked is lateral balance but I'm not sure if that would have such a drastic negative effect on handling."

Looking forward to hearing from Chicken Hawk.