Originally Posted by jbird

Hondajet,

Nice review. I've got an email this weekend indicating mine has shipped. I was afraid at this price, there might be quality issues with the mechanical bits. Sounds like a total refit is in order.......

I have a radian that pitches up under power as well but solved that with a mix.

The minimoa is quite a bit heavier than the radian. Do you have any info on wing area or wing loading?

Thanks,

Jim

I would say each wing is 7" x 36" on average (give or take an inch here and there) ......

so two wings will equal 504 sq inches or 3.5 sq ft ......

using Honda's auw of 38.25 ozs gives a wing loading of 11.0 ozs per sq ft or approx 33 gms/dm2 .......

not sure how this would rate for RC Gliders ......

Originally Posted by jbird

Hondajet,

Nice review. I've got an email this weekend indicating mine has shipped. I was afraid at this price, there might be quality issues with the mechanical bits. Sounds like a total refit is in order.......

I have a radian that pitches up under power as well but solved that with a mix.

The minimoa is quite a bit heavier than the radian. Do you have any info on wing area or wing loading?

Thanks,

Jim

it is on that ART TECH manual link posted earlier.

Attachment with details....if you can make sense of their parameters!

HJ

Originally Posted by hobie14

I would say each wing is 7" x 36" on average (give or take an inch here and there) ......

so two wings will equal 504 sq inches or 3.5 sq ft ......

using Honda's auw of 38.25 ozs gives a wing loading of 11.0 ozs per sq ft or approx 33 gms/dm2 .......

not sure how this would rate for RC Gliders ......

Thanks for the info.

Jim

Originally Posted by hobie14

I would say each wing is 7" x 36" on average (give or take an inch here and there) ......

so two wings will equal 504 sq inches or 3.5 sq ft ......

using Honda's auw of 38.25 ozs gives a wing loading of 11.0 ozs per sq ft or approx 33 gms/dm2 .......

not sure how this would rate for RC Gliders ......

Yes...Me to....not up to speed with those tech Aerodynamic details..only know how to Fly em!!

My DG 1000 as mentioned appears to kick up a little better in gusts of wind ...may be due to the inbuilt rear camber of the inboard trailing edge. I think I will modify the Minimoa the same way....easy to do with some hot water and gentle coaxing of the EPO foam.....that way as airspeed increases with gusts or thermal activity...the wing automatically gains lift from this increased camber surface. We'll see if that works.......it will help in any case.

HJ

Originally Posted by MAX FISCHER

With these reports of quality issues and non floater performance I'm kinda bummed I ordered one.
Can anyone say this is capable of thermalling?

Fear not .... I think you will change your mind ..... it's a fine looking classic glider that I'm sure will be good for thermaling ....... if you don't have any lift then get her up to altitude ..... set the throttle at a very low level, and you can stay up for an hour if you want .... no problem ....

Any changes you make in hardware terms in the future will be well worth it ...... rem it's a 99 dollar plane with 4 servo's ..... a motor ..... an Esc ..... I wont mind upgrading the electronic parts if and when necessay but in the mean time I'm running fine in stock form with the exception of the Esc which I explain above (11.00 dollars if I rem correctly) ........

Originally Posted by jbird

Thanks for the info.

Jim

Well the Art Tech Manual gives 35 gms/dm2 whatever that means?

is that better or worse that my measurement of 33 as calculated by H14....

HJ

Originally Posted by hobie14

Fear not .... I think you will change your mind ..... it's a fine looking classic glider that I'm sure will be good for thermaling ....... if you don't have any lift then get her up to altitude ..... set the throttle at a very low level, and you can stay up for an hour if you want .... no problem ....

Any changes you make in hardware terms in the future will be well worth it ...... rem it's a 99 dollar plane with 4 servo's ..... a motor ..... an Esc ..... I wont mind upgrading the electronic parts if and when necessay but in the mean time I'm running fine in stock form with the exception of the Esc which I explain above (11.00 dollars if I rem correctly) ........

I concur!!

The Design is just beautiful....and well worth it. The upgrades if you have to are just not an issue for the average modeler.

H 14 is right....get it up high and she will stay there for a long time....I am flying in cooler weather now....but I am confident she will soar in the right conditions. Anyway you have the inherent high and long endurance power in one minute runs to keep you up there for over an hour!

HJ

Originally Posted by Hondajet

Well the Art Tech Manual gives 35 gms/dm2 whatever that means?

is that better or worse that my measurement of 33 as calculated by H14....

HJ

I believe the 33 gr/dm2 would be slightly lighter wingloading. I'm trying to get a feel for the thermal speed compared to the radian.

If anyone has flown both the radian and the minimoa, I'd like to hear your subjective comments on how they compare in thermal and when hunting (flying in sink).

Also looking forward to checking out the slow thermal turns with the minimoa's wing shape. How much flatter can you turn as compared to an RE plane? and compared to a flat wing REA plane?

Thanks,

Jim

Originally Posted by Hondajet

Well the Art Tech Manual gives 35 gms/dm2 whatever that means?

is that better or worse that my measurement of 33 as calculated by H14....

HJ

it's the same number effectively ..... to be exact 6 percent higher loading than my calculation ...... lipo vendor/weight could explain that variation but it's not important ....

A typical IC engined plane may well be flying at three times that wing loading ..... say 100gms/dm2 or more ......

A simple powered glider type plane like the Multiplex Easystar might be around 20 gms/dm2 .......

ps. 1 oz/ft2 = 3.03 gms/dm2 ..... a usefull ratio to remember

At the above ratio , the radian has a 6.5 oz wingloading, the mini has a 11.5 oz loading, nearly twice the radian. In my understanding wingloading dictates how fast a plane must fly in order to achieve lift. This explains why radians at altitude can appear to float or hover and in the minimoa vid it flies quite fast. Does this mean that our minimoa is just as good of a sailplane/thermaller but must be flown twice as fast?

Also the art tech manual shows a 9.6v nicad, could this be the reason there are reports of over heating and nose weight being needed? Nicads are heavier right?

Originally Posted by MAX FISCHER

Also the art tech manual shows a 9.6v nicad, could this be the reason there are reports of over heating and nose weight being needed? Nicads are heavier right?

9.6V nicd are about 10 oz. or about 280g. a 2200 mAh 3S lipo is only about 190g. Can probably put in a 3000~3300mAh 3S instead of the nose weight.

The motor is covered by the spinner and does not have much airflow over it. Probably a bad idea to run it constantly and at full throttle. I guess you can handlaunch at 50% throttle and do a gentle climb to altitude before turning off and just glide/thermal.

Well my point is, is that the esc, motor, and prop are designed around a lower out put battery, 9.6v which packs less of a punch than a 11.1 v pack.
F it, maybe I'm outta my realm here....

My thoughts are just to fit smaller diameter graupner cam folder blades ,as this it seems is overpowered and suffers overheating just reduce the amps problem solved.
All said and done its not a supposed to be a hot multi ship.

The pitch problems are due to the horizontal stab Incedence it is way out. I have to pack the leading edge up about 3mm to be able to get her to fly level under power.She is a floater as i fount with my first short flight,short due to the pitching problem while under power,also there is no down or right thrust set.

she is a very nice plane for the price and once the minor issues are sorted out ,should be very happy with it.

Michael

Had another 30 mins flying time today ..... here's a few photo's of the detail in mine ....