Originally Posted by VIDEOPRO

Has anybody thought about replacing the 64mm for a 70mm? Will there be enough room for the 70mm unit?

I have thought about it becasue some people say that it is to slow or not enough thrust. I have a 70mm from another plane that crashed and I just have to figure out how to do it, the 70mm EDF came from the big f-18 that bananahobby had advertized at 95+ mph, so I guessing this one should have the thrust needed to climb stright up, like the f-18 did before it's crash.

I replaced mine with a Hobby King 70mm, 2900 KV motor.. Still not 1:1 thrust to weight, but makes it fly much better.. It's faster, more thrust, and pulls less amps..

It weighs more, so I took out the 1 1/2 oz of weight I put in the tail.. Balances at around 90mm.. Flies nicely..

well.. Still trying to get the CG right.. even with the new cyclone and battery full to the back the plane was noseheavy

I'm very dissappointed with it to be honest. seems that starmax is wayyy back than other companies like LX models and flyfly.

I might even retire this plane or I'm going to make it a handlauncher... to remove weight from the front.. the I will see.. but I'm definetely thinking of moving the power system to a Vextor-X plane

First post.........

Had to chime in.

Received this plane ~2 months ago.

On maiden, stock fan blade exploded before leaving the ground.

Good excuse to pick up don's 4000kv motor with balanced edf setup.

Two subsequent fights, not so good.

Just today I decided to test thrust in situ, as I bench tested the edf by itself, and works as advertised.

Used the stryo box the plane came in, cut a hole for the fuse to sit in and mounted the plane/styro assembly on the scale.

Max thrust with balanced 3200 mah 4s 30c: 746g.

Plane weighs in at 1213g. Had to add 60g lead to tail to achieve the 85mm CG

I did not get a chance to measure thrust with the stock edf, but I would summize its not anywhere near this setup.

Just thought I would pass on this info, as I'm going to measure static thrust with the EDF in the plane from now on.

Mines flies nicely now.. Took off all bombs and missles (evem the sidewinders on the wingtips). Took off the gear doors, new 70mm fan and 2800kv motor. Metal upgrade parts to elrvators. Removed the 1 1/2 oz of weight I had put in the tail.
It now balances at 90mm (had to move the battery forward a bit).

Flies faster, better vertical and actually pulls less amps. Having fun with the VT now that it has the power to recover.

how much work to fit in the 70mm?

I'm leaning towards a WM400mkII fan.

Ok, so i see Pete flying this jet like mad. Fully loaded and "stock" setup. Flying high aoa stuff, inverted low on the deck spins etc. So what gives here?
I'm scratching my head at all this to the point where I don't even want to fly it. Kinda sucks really cause it looks like good quality jet. I tested all my gear over and over. Run up the fan at all speeds and it sounds smooth, powerful and in balance. So from what i get from reading this thread is that the tail setup is garbage the plane is nose heavy, under-powered and the fan will explode at anytime...hmmm. So did Pete pull a fast one w/ all aftermarket gear or is he just that good of a pilot that can make any pos brick fly and look good doing it? I kinda doubt it. Good thing it was only 100$ I guess.

I don't really feel ripped off, I knew it was a nice looking jet with crap components, and was going to require mods.

Looking at pete's flying you see him using his own radio, right away you know all that hi alpha flying is programmed with flaperon/elevator mixing.

I knew that, would be nice to see him fly it with the supplied radio.

The stock setup really flies like Pete demo'ed in the video.. However, just watch that he never climbs it higher than about 40 feet.. That's because he's using all the thrust to turn and nothing left to climb.. Also realize that that video is a compilation of more than one flight on more than one battery cause he's at full power the entire flight.. Especially the part were he does any tricks with the VT at altitude.. Must have taken him almost the whole battery just to climb high enough to do some tricks..

I've learned alot by modding and fixing this one.. But if I had to do it all over again, I think I'd buy the Hobby Lobby f-35.. Heck, I still might..

So far, this $139 (shipped with tax) has cost me around $240..
$45 for the Hobby King ESC, 70MM and Motor, $45 for 2 batteries from ValueHobby, and about $10 is parts for the elevator mod.. I also added carbon spars to the wings, but I had these parts already.. It flies very well now..

It's my first EDF, so I think the learning process was worth it.. But even as I hit the buy button, I never thought that you could get a good RTF EDF for such a cheap price.. I was right..

I'm dead set to get this fly'n right....I will buy more airframes if need be.....I here you on the video being many flights, edited together.

Originally Posted by indy2000

First post.........

Had to chime in.

Received this plane ~2 months ago.

On maiden, stock fan blade exploded before leaving the ground.

Good excuse to pick up don's 4000kv motor with balanced edf setup.

Two subsequent fights, not so good.

Just today I decided to test thrust in situ, as I bench tested the edf by itself, and works as advertised.

Used the stryo box the plane came in, cut a hole for the fuse to sit in and mounted the plane/styro assembly on the scale.

Max thrust with balanced 3200 mah 4s 30c: 746g.

Plane weighs in at 1213g. Had to add 60g lead to tail to achieve the 85mm CG

I did not get a chance to measure thrust with the stock edf, but I would summize its not anywhere near this setup.

Just thought I would pass on this info, as I'm going to measure static thrust with the EDF in the plane from now on.

I believe every word. . you have have the skills of Pete to be able to fly this plane. it's very tricky needs weight to the back.. and the thrust it offers is terrible.
generally it needs Trust tube .. carving in the battery compartment to fit 2200mah pack as back as you can anad still need weight to the tail.

it's a smart design but it doesn't work.. I was able to do my first high alpha up at a reasonable altitude to be safe.. but still when I got a powersystem (cyclone) to provide 1.2kg of thrust then I expected something more..

the ducting is poor and in general it needs a lot of work to become a good flying plane.. I don' thave that much time.. got many things to do. I prefer a migation of the power system to a concept X plane where it will have the performance and buy a good TV plane from LX models for example or a RClander F-16 to be sure it will work just fine.

Originally Posted by DesertRC

Ok, so i see Pete flying this jet like mad. Fully loaded and "stock" setup. Flying high aoa stuff, inverted low on the deck spins etc. So what gives here?
I'm scratching my head at all this to the point where I don't even want to fly it. Kinda sucks really cause it looks like good quality jet. I tested all my gear over and over. Run up the fan at all speeds and it sounds smooth, powerful and in balance. So from what i get from reading this thread is that the tail setup is garbage the plane is nose heavy, under-powered and the fan will explode at anytime...hmmm. So did Pete pull a fast one w/ all aftermarket gear or is he just that good of a pilot that can make any pos brick fly and look good doing it? I kinda doubt it. Good thing it was only 100$ I guess.

I think that the flying we see it's just Pete. We need a lot of thrust to do what he is doing. he's one of the best pilots I have ever seen so that sometimes can be deceiving. anw.. The only saviour of those 100dollars make this plane handlauncher so that I will remove the front servo and it will balance better. and put the rudder servo in the rudder. and also fly with that stock power system ... maybe maybe a thrust tube but I won' tbother seriously.. only if I got free time..

Originally Posted by pavcon

it's a smart design but it doesn't work.. I was able to do my first high alpha up at a reasonable altitude to be safe.. but still when I got a powersystem (cyclone) to provide 1.2kg of thrust then I expected something more.. .

Is that thrust number with the edf in the plane?

I had over 640 watts at 44amps, and know that these numbers are input power and since I don't know the eff of the motor, suspect output power at best to be 500watts.

Originally Posted by indy2000

Is that thrust number with the edf in the plane?

I had over 640 watts at 44amps, and know that these numbers are input power and since I don't know the eff of the motor, suspect output power at best to be 500watts.

No.. that's the problem weve been talking about in all those posts... DUCTING .. in the plane, no EDF unit can perform

pavcon, I'm not sure i'm following you there?

Are you saying there is a 64mm edf on 4cells that can produce ~1.5kg of thrust with proper ducting?