Man I love my beast on 2S. It seems to have plenty of power. I can only imagine it on 3S.

Originally Posted by RCBABBEL

Scott,

Good to hear!
Check your email.

rc

Got it. All good. Great service. You should open a shop . Nice work.

Scott

Originally Posted by shastamike

Checked out Foam-Tac and it looks great. I'm tired of brittle joints and using kicker. Gonna need it now as I flew my Beast into the asphalt just a couple of feet away from the nice soft grass. Ripped a wing all the way off. Yuck.
Mike

I just used Fabri-Tac to assemble a new TechOne Venus - appears to be pretty strong with a bit of flex, not brittle like CA.

Sorry to hear about your wing. They do seem to rip pretty easy on the Beast. I put a tear in one of of mine when I had my motor cutting out issues before my board was replaced.

Ya..the wing. I have to fix that today and get back up there. The Beast is really about as fragile as I'd ever want a plane. I have no problem flying the Sbach, The Beast just seems to want to dive into the ground if I let it get closer than 10 ft. By the time I get to flying The Beast consistently without crashing it will be a junker, but I'll keep it flying. Maybe this winter I will buy a wing kit and replace as the fuse is in really good shape. Just looks like a PITA changing out the wings and bracing.
Mike

Originally Posted by shastamike

Ya..the wing. I have to fix that today and get back up there. The Beast is really about as fragile as I'd ever want a plane. I have no problem flying the Sbach, The Beast just seems to want to dive into the ground if I let it get closer than 10 ft. By the time I get to flying The Beast consistently without crashing it will be a junker, but I'll keep it flying. Maybe this winter I will buy a wing kit and replace as the fuse is in really good shape. Just looks like a PITA changing out the wings and bracing.
Mike

V1 or V2?
my B3D is actually the most stable plane I own. I hear the V1 can get a bit touchy though when down low.

Mines' V2. It's just that it seems to have a "death wish" below 10ft altitude, which I never should fly at it's just that "stuff happens".
Mike

So,,,,,,originally I felt safe flying the B3D over grass, & landing it as gently
as possible. Not so much. Even at the slowest speeds that "I`m" capable
of, it always seems to do slight damage of some sort. The hinge/horn
points were all showing signs of stress, not to mention one wing spar, &
the spinner. Went to LHS today & got My 1`st bottle of foam safe CA, &
some kicker. All is looking good now. Not flying it again unless I have a
smooth runway. This plane is a ball, now that I have Babb`s Batts, but
it`s VERY fragile. It still is new to look at, & I want to keep it that way.
Back-Yard bashing will prolly be limited to the Twisted models. It`s
difficult tho, cuz with these batts it`s a SO fun to fly

Scott

Originally Posted by shastamike

Mines' V2. It's just that it seems to have a "death wish" below 10ft altitude, which I never should fly at it's just that "stuff happens".
Mike

In absolutely calm conditions my B3D flys incredibly well, its a joy to fly. In the lightest of winds though it climbs and dives erratically. It's really odd behavior. It's not like the as3x is overcompensating and making it suddenly climb and dive, it's like it just plummets out of the air and then rises again. I was wondering it it was turbulant air from surrounding trees at the park I normally fly at, but I've flown it in an open field too (in light wind) and it does the same thing. So your 10ft rule made me smile since I have the same rule too - below 20ft the gravity is appently much stronger than above 20ft

Originally Posted by erkq

Well! RC! You're quite the genius. Those 3S 180's of yours in the Beast are Nirvana! My TP 250's go like heck, but your 180's float like a butterfly as well as sting like a bee! Thank you. I'm gradually working up my flight times and so far 4 minutes seems good.

E,

Good word...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

I really wanted you to experience the light weight 180s.
I've been flying on '3S cloud nine' all Summer.
The first time I flew my UM Sukhoi, I was hooked but searching for more power.
My 3SB3D is Nirvana for me!!

rc

Originally Posted by Skyepuncher

So,,,,,,originally I felt safe flying the B3D over grass, & landing it as gently
as possible. Not so much. Even at the slowest speeds that "I`m" capable
of, it always seems to do slight damage of some sort. The hinge/horn
points were all showing signs of stress, not to mention one wing spar, &
the spinner. Went to LHS today & got My 1`st bottle of foam safe CA, &
some kicker. All is looking good now. Not flying it again unless I have a
smooth runway. This plane is a ball, now that I have Babb`s Batts, but
it`s VERY fragile. It still is new to look at, & I want to keep it that way.
Back-Yard bashing will prolly be limited to the Twisted models. It`s
difficult tho, cuz with these batts it`s a SO fun to fly

Scott

Scott,

No doubt about it, she isn't the toughest micro out there.

I fly off a smooth parking lot attached to a large soccer complex.
Keep that throttle on all the way in.
She lands and taxis like a dream.

rc

Originally Posted by khooke

In absolutely calm conditions my B3D flys incredibly well, its a joy to fly. In the lightest of winds though it climbs and dives erratically. It's really odd behavior. It's not like the as3x is overcompensating and making it suddenly climb and dive, it's like it just plummets out of the air and then rises again. I was wondering it it was turbulant air from surrounding trees at the park I normally fly at, but I've flown it in an open field too (in light wind) and it does the same thing. So your 10ft rule made me smile since I have the same rule too - below 20ft the gravity is appently much stronger than above 20ft

This is so weird, My B3D as well as most of the videos I've seen are rock solid especially in winds. I've flown mine in 20+ mph sustained winds and will do it again. The only thing close instability I've found is when the plane is light BB180 2S; The plane seems to get caught in up/down drafts from trees/thermals. I usually only notice this when flying slower and plane will rise or sink in a level attitude. even when it does this the wings stay locked level. I just increase power and pull up if it is sinking.

I know it is doing this from air movements as it it repeatable when flying back through that same location. I fly in my yard and there is an area where there is a downhill slope. When the wind is blowing just right the air swirls over the trees along the property line and lines up just right with the slope. This creates quite a column of descending air. On my V1 Sbach I've had to point it up and a 45* angle and go WOT just to fly a level path through that 30ft area! What is really fun is flying out the other side where the ground makes a sharp uphill turn and I get an almost equally strong updraft!

-Brian

Originally Posted by Skyepuncher

So,,,,,,originally I felt safe flying the B3D over grass, & landing it as gently
as possible. Not so much. Even at the slowest speeds that "I`m" capable
of, it always seems to do slight damage of some sort. The hinge/horn
points were all showing signs of stress, not to mention one wing spar, &
the spinner. Went to LHS today & got My 1`st bottle of foam safe CA, &
some kicker. All is looking good now. Not flying it again unless I have a
smooth runway. This plane is a ball, now that I have Babb`s Batts, but
it`s VERY fragile. It still is new to look at, & I want to keep it that way.
Back-Yard bashing will prolly be limited to the Twisted models. It`s
difficult tho, cuz with these batts it`s a SO fun to fly

Scott

Mine got to the point Ca weighed as much a the plane! still flew but the it getting so brittle the slightes bump would break something. Have new air frame and wings and now transfering all the guts. Although fragile it can take a beating and still be flyable. On new one I am going to try foam tach and see if repairs will not be so prone to cracking. Tim

Yea, I`m getting the Foam-Tac also. Got a couple nice places w/smooth asphalt
near here. Just been too lazy to travel, till I realized that grass landings were doing
damage. I onle CA`d small areas near the control horns. No major damage yet.
On a side-note,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,now it`s COLD outside. Our 1`st freeze is `sposed to
be tonight,
Scott

I recently got one of these awesome planes. It handles heavy wind really well with AS3X.

I'm using Turnigy 2S 260mAhs on mine, lowered my battery tray and used 1/32" stiff ply in lieu of the coreplast board. Weldbond (white glue) to the foam after cutting about 8-10mm down and it's got more room for mounting batteries.

I also used diluted Weldbond (~1:1 with water) as a coating for all surfaces, exc. the hinged ones. I do this with ALL my micros and foam planes. I apply lightly with an acrylic paint brush (modelling type). It makes them much stiffer, tougher, and less prone to bending, dents and so on.

My Beasty with all the improvements (Also replaced all battery connectors with Dean 3MCs (3-pin micro connectors, and built a custom charging harness to work with my standard chargers to balance them like a normal 2S battery) weighs in at around 65g without battery, 80.3g AUW. CG maintained with proper battery placement, and I can fly easily 7-9 minutes no problem! Oh! Almost forgot - I also used some 5-min epoxy on the control horns to strengthen them. worthy effort...

Check out my blog entries, done within the last couple weeks regarding the improvements and stock changes. FYI, I had a hand launch day 2 where my ailerons locked over (didn't see this and they popped off the arm's "Z" to be on only the straight portion of the control rod) and the plane flew at near WOT spiralled into the ground (grass field - dry). Only casualty was the spinner (replaced) and a VERY minor dint in the top battery cover and the tiniest compaction dent near the underside of the motor mount. Had I not done the white glue mod, I's bet this would have been a LOT worse.

These puppies ROCK! Smooth flyin' all!


Darren/SkyCadet

Mine seems to be tough as nails!

I have had several flip overs on grass, one 360 right around on TD back onto the mains, A few hops and even one inadvertent death sprial on a hand-launch at WOT (ailerons got bumped and locked full down on one side, and I did not see it).

I use weldbond white glue diluted by around 50% with water and brush it over ALL surfaces, top/bottom, tail, fuse, cowling (gets 2x coating) and even the spinner. I have pics on my blog showing the plane, and it's like new, despite flying it several dozen times over mostly grass and bumpy dirt. I also replaced ALL wheels (and those goofy pants!) with Dubro 123 sport wheels, and a Dubro 1/2" tail wheel. They fit on the stock gear, and run way better - yes they add some weight, but I can still manage the CG just fine, and even with my newer 260mAh 2S Turnigy NTs, th eplane still goes up unlimited at 70% thottle or less (dep. on wind, etc.) even though my AUW is now 80.3-80.5g.

SkyCadet