Electrifly Ultimate Bipe (ARF) Build log

I've been working on the fuse and got the FirePower 10 (3536-10) mounted.
The canopy is now installed.
I also have the cowl ready and the magnets set in place.

Once my 4 Emax 12g servo's come in, I can set up the elevator and rudder.
I have a couple of pictures of what i've done so far.

More to come as the build progresses.......

I'm working on the tail section today.

Like the look of your new plane , should be good for some 3-D flyin, might be a bit touchy with such a short tail, but a hell of alot of fun.

Originally Posted by beam e4

Like the look of your new plane , should be good for some 3-D flyin, might be a bit touchy with such a short tail, but a hell of alot of fun.

If it flies anything like the foamy version I have of the Ultimate, i'll have a smile from ear to ear.

I just finished building mine after 3 month (too many projects at the same time) and maidened her last Monday. What a beautiful plane and great flyer!

My setup:
Omega 72g with 11x5 APC
No name 35A ESC (I think it is from Leaderhobby)
TP 9G MG all around
Blue Lipo 3s 1800 25C

The CG is a hair behind the recommended spot and I felt she flied very neutral at that location, no trim needed at the maiden, that was new to me. So, I would think with a 3536 (110g) she will fly nose heavy and fast.

I set the push rods at the outer most holes on control arms and second outer most holes on the horns, 120% on servo travel and that easily exceed the recommended throws for 3D on all control surface. I maiden her using 50% on low rate and she flied like a kitten.. I tried a dead stick and she floated through the whole school yard. But I only got one flight on her so far, she nosed over on the not-too-short grass after a prefect touch down and the wing spar on the low right wing separated from wing root. So, I suggest you dropping some thin CA at the wing root/spar before you epoxy two wing spars together inside the fuse.

Thanks for the heads up on the wing spar. I'm actually planning on trying to finish mine tomorrow if possible. I just need to get the wings all together so i'm glad to hear this BEFORE it was already together. Thanks.

I have some 1300mah 45C Nano-Techs that I could use to help with the CG issue i'm likely to have with my heavier motor and original though of using 2200mah packs.

How does the build go? Finishing the wings and cowling in one day would be challenging. I spent almost three nights on the wings, and one night for fitting the cowl.

Went through four batteries the past weekend. Tried a Gens ECO 3S 2200, and a Zippy 3S 2200. The Ultimate flew fast on the 2200. Even though only 2oz heavier than the 1800 on the paper, the extra weight give her lots of momentum in high energy stuff. Real fun! But still I like the 1800 better for harriering and hovering. At high rate she has the fastest roll rate in my whole fleet (the previous winner was my Pitts Special). During the first flight I did a tumble and immediately heard scratching sound. After landing I found the cowl was loosen and touched the back plate of the spinner (the gap is about 2mm per instruction). So I pressed the cowl down hard and flew her again. flew find until I did a KE Spin, the cowl get loosen again and make terrible noise. Landed and went home, solved the problem by trimming the back plate and adding a 2mm washer between the spinner and the prop adapter. But I think eventually I will add screws to secure the cowl.

I am still dial-in the expo and mix on this plane. At 50% expo on high rate she is way too sensitive for high AOA stuff. Needs a ton of rudder to aileron mix in KE, I have 20% for now and have not addressed coupling yet. So far I have done rolling circle, KE, KE spin, blender/invert flat spin, pop top on her. Harrier and hover are challenging. I flew her in about 5mph wind, and she just hung in the air with 1/4 of throttle and 15% AOA. but if anything higher than that, the left wing just dips. Anyway she is definitely a keeper and head turner. She attracted more spectators than my other planes including 3DHS ones. Seems everybody likes a bipe!

So my next bipe will be Reactor Bipe or 3DHS Vyper Bipe!

I got a little more done. All I really have left to do now, is the bracket that connects the top wing to the fuse and then connect the linkages all together and she's ready for the maiden flight.

Looking good!

Originally Posted by Vince_TT

Looking good!

Thanks

But now i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not with building it, but because of the simple fact that it's a discontinued model. I'm not sure if I want to fly it and take a chance of crashing it one day.

(I know, that probably seems a little ridiculous)

I have the skills to fly it, but still...... you know.
It was given to me from a friend for building him a couple of planes, so it's all that much more sentimental to me.

To be honest, I was scared to maiden this plane for the same reason. But if you can fly a GWS zero, flying this plane is a piece of cake! And she is pretty robust, she flipped over at landing because of the long grass 4 out of 5 times. I only needed to reapir the wing root problem once and the LGs hold up well.

Originally Posted by Vince_TT

To be honest, I was scared to maiden this plane for the same reason. But if you can fly a GWS zero, flying this plane is a piece of cake! And she is pretty robust, she flipped over at landing because of the long grass 4 out of 5 times. I only needed to reapir the wing root problem once and the LGs hold up well.

Yeah, i've been flying for over 10 years now and gotten to the point where I can fly close to anything. The only thing left to "master" for me, are really fast jets and giant scale 3-D planes. And heli's because I don't really fly them much. I see some of the guys at the club flying field do some seriously amazing aerobatics with their 3-D capable heli's. It's really something.

As for the jets, i'm finishing up a HobbyKing Sniper (pushy cat) EP. I want to make it a fast plane. I'm shooting for at least 80mph at level flight.

Wait, you have way toooooo many projects going at the same time! no wonder it took you weeks to build this little Ultimate.

I also see you in GWS' forum a lot. So it seems that we have some common interests. I had a GWS Spit that I put a KV1600 motor with 7x9 prop in her. On the paper she was capable to do 100 mph. But once she reached probably 60mph, the wing got torn out, and the fuse flew like a dart! I also have an EDF that is capable to do 90mph. But after a while I just got bored on the fast stuff and do 3D mostly now.

What motor will you use for the Sniper? I have a Turnigy old sk 3536 kv 1400 and a Aeolian 3536 kv-1450, and I found Aeolian performs much better than Turnigy. I would think putting a 3530-1700 would be very interesting in that bird!

Going to maiden my EF 60" Edge this weekend, Ultimate now is my warm-up plane, a great little plane to toss around the field.

Originally Posted by Vince_TT

Wait, you have way toooooo many projects going at the same time! no wonder it took you weeks to build this little Ultimate.

I also see you in GWS' forum a lot. So it seems that we have some common interests. I had a GWS Spit that I put a KV1600 motor with 7x9 prop in her. On the paper she was capable to do 100 mph. But once she reached probably 60mph, the wing got torn out, and the fuse flew like a dart! I also have an EDF that is capable to do 90mph. But after a while I just got bored on the fast stuff and do 3D mostly now.

What motor will you use for the Sniper? I have a Turnigy old sk 3536 kv 1400 and a Aeolian 3536 kv-1450, and I found Aeolian performs much better than Turnigy. I would think putting a 3530-1700 would be very interesting in that bird!

Going to maiden my EF 60" Edge this weekend, Ultimate now is my warm-up plane, a great little plane to toss around the field.

You can say that again! I'm in the process of building over a dozen different planes right now, so I jump back and forth between all of them. I was going to make a build log for each of them, but that's just too tedious, so I only make a build log for 1 out of ever 5 or 6 planes i'm actually building.

I kind of have a deal going with a friend of mine. He has a basement FULL of ARF's still new in their boxes, so I build them for him and get free planes and electronics in exchange for that. He has TWO of several different models, so he tends to offer me the 2nd one for doing the building for him because he just doesn't have the time to build them all.

And since I enjoy building them, I gladly took on the task.

As for the GWS forums.... that's where I really got started into this hobby. I have (or had at one point) most all the warbird collection that GWS makes. I love the way they fly. The newer EPO versions are nice, but I prefer the older EPS foam because it's lighter. But then, the EPO can take more abuse on those "rough landings".

Regarding the Sniper, I think i'm going to be using the very same Turnigy 3536 motor you mentioned. I have a smaller brushless motor (D2826-6 2200kv) that i'm going to try out first. It's rated for about 342W using a 5X5 prop. I figure that should give me some really nice performance on a 45C 2200mah Nano-Tech lipo pack. If it's not quite what i'm hoping for, then i'm going to take it up a notch and get that 3536 1450kv and use a 4 cell 2200mah 45C battery.

Speaking of EPS, I still have a GWS P-40 NIB in my basement..It is about 40% weight saving comparing to my GWS FW190. Have to get to that P40 someday.

At one point I did a maiden or two every weekend until my wife complained a lot.... So now I "voluntarily" teach my friends' kids flying RC. Thus I can build their models when my wife is busy entertaining their parents. Wish I could see the basement of your friend's..