I ordered this sucker today. Can't wait to get her in the air! If I remove the ballast you're thinking a 2200 3s will work? My nanotechs weigh in at 199gr or that's what they claim, haven't weighed it myself.

Also do most people go with V-tail for more protection during landing or are there flight performance bonuses that I'm missing?

Originally Posted by TyCarp

I ordered this sucker today. Can't wait to get her in the air! If I remove the ballast you're thinking a 2200 3s will work? My nanotechs weigh in at 199gr or that's what they claim, haven't weighed it myself.

My 1500 was advertised at 133 grams, and the 1800 and 2200 I'm expecting are 153 and 173, respectively. I'll let you know how it works out tomorrow.

Also do most people go with V-tail for more protection during landing or are there flight performance bonuses that I'm missing?

I hadn't flown a vtail prior to the solo. I'd always heard that vtails underperformed in terms of rudder authority, but I didn't find the solo lacking. I also thought that a vtail would be less likely to incur landing damage, but it didn't seem to help when I lawndarted

Originally Posted by xatled99

My 1500 was advertised at 133 grams, and the 1800 and 2200 I'm expecting are 153 and 173, respectively. I'll let you know how it works out tomorrow.



I hadn't flown a vtail prior to the solo. I'd always heard that vtails underperformed in terms of rudder authority, but I didn't find the solo lacking. I also thought that a vtail would be less likely to incur landing damage, but it didn't seem to help when I lawndarted

Let me know how it goes!

Think I'll probably go with the v-tail for the added landing protection.

With the 2200 and my FPV gear, I get an AUW of 30oz or so with no ballast, and the CG looks decent. It may take some fiddling after the pan/tilt stuff is back in; might need to downshift to the 1800. With any luck I'll be able to fly it this weekend and report back with more information.

Can someone measure the angle, span, and root chord of the vtail surfaces?

It flew great with 2200, with and without fpv gear.

Originally Posted by xatled99

It flew great with 2200, with and without fpv gear.

Good to know, that's what I'll be running without the fpv gear. What kind of flight times were you getting with the 2200? I know it all depends on throttle usage but could you give me a ballpark figure?

I can't say exactly. I flew around at about 40% throttle until I got tired of flying and landed with about half a pack left.

Assuming it pulls 120W at peak, that's about 10 minutes of WOT for a ~24Wh pack with a 20% safety margin.

Flight time wasn't really a concern even with the 1300 or 1500 packs, so it's probably a nonissue with the 2200.

Originally Posted by xatled99

I can't say exactly. I flew around at about 40% throttle until I got tired of flying and landed with about half a pack left.

Assuming it pulls 120W at peak, that's about 10 minutes of WOT for a ~24Wh pack with a 20% safety margin.

Flight time wasn't really a concern even with the 1300 or 1500 packs, so it's probably a nonissue with the 2200.

Gotcha. Got mine put together but haven't glued the wings in yet. I want to try and find a way to keep them removable. Anybody have any ideas? Five foot of wings isn't exactly easy to transport.

I wasn't sure about the motor being so angled but have realized it's designed like that. I cut the top of the Nacelle off and the foam was angled that way. Looks like too much to me but I haven't flown it yet either.

Mine flew fine with just friction holding the wings on, but I've since put a couple pieces of clear packing tape at the wing roots as a safety net.

The thrust angle worked fine out of the box for me. You can split the top part of the fuselage if you pull at it carefully; I wound up doing this during my rebuild. I just taped it back together rather than glue it. This allows easier access to the motor and wiring.

I finally got around to balancing my plane laterally; the left wingtip needed a few washers taped to it.

Thanks for the tip on the carbon boom rod. maiden is tomorrow if the wind holds down. awesome! I also hot glued a stip of large zip tie to the "bump" on the tail to act as a skid for landings that might otherwise tear up the fuse. it works great on my DW foamie

I've had this thing up and flying for about a week now and man it is a fun one! Using a 3s2200 the balance is right where the manual says it should be if you place the battery where the servos are just about hitting it with up elevator on a v-tail. ESC gets terribly hot inside so I placed it outside and cut two slits for the wires to run back in just below the canopy. No heat problems this way. In a dive it'll probably do 60 to 70 mph. I know it out runs the cars I've flew beside going down the road Had to mix some down elevator to throttle as it wanted to climb pretty bad with power on. Think I put it at 6 or 7%. Just ordered some LEDs off of hobbyking, gonna make this puppy a night flier. Haven't put the GoPro on top yet to test that out. Definitely a buy in my book.

my maiden went great. You dont need much aileron throw but you need a little more elevator throw with the V tail. flew perfect, CG was just ahead of the servo wires. And in my quest to screw up a perfectly good airplane, I installed a wheel to land on. Our club runway is paved and tears up foam airplanes with a vengeance.

wheel works great. nice smooth landings even on dirt. Flew the solo today in 15mph winds! really fun little plane!

Nice paint job!

colored packing tape rules! It makes it easier to see with my old eyes.