BTW, the weather was finally nice today... and I had to go to work. Tomorrow too... But, of course, come the weekend, there'll be plenty of wind...

Thanks Doc
Today was awesome! Didnt get to fly though! Dang short winter days!

Jon

Mexico,

I think a more appropriate sized comparo would be the G-Ride and the Stella. The Groove has a bigger fuse overall. But I'll leave the comments to Bill as stated above.

BTW I want my Mojo too! The legit CDROM sized balsa planes are the MiniTOC and the Nemesis II as far as I know....Definitely WAY outnumbered by those foamy things.

-Ted

Originally Posted by mexico

OUCH!
But seriously. Is the main difference in design between the two the wing size and shape or am I missing the subtleties?

Wing area, wingspan, length, wing taper, aileron chord, airfoil shape, airfoil thickness, wing and stab incidence, tail shape, vertical stab taper and hinge taper, counterbalance and tail surface area (no counter balances on the Groove), to begin with. Most of those are subtle, but definately effect the performance of the model. That is just what I am aware of, and I'm sure that Bill has lots of other changes.

Scott

She flies!!

Well, today must have been nice all the way up the East coast so I did what any responsible person would do and took an extended lunch to maiden Stella.

First impressions are;
1. Nice stable plane that needed very little trim on the first flight
2. Only had a chance to run three packs through but the Razor 400 and Polyquest 3s850's were a perfect lightweight combo. Both batteries and motor were cool and flight times were in the 7-8 minute range. Solid vertical but not a rocket.
3. CG is a little aft of the recommended range with the lightweight packs and motor
4. Hovers very easily
5. Tumbles effortlessly
6. Flies a little faster than I expected
7. Landings are a non-event

One thing I did notice was that I had a lot less rudder authority turning right, even with monster throws. I'm wondering if the 12x6 prop had something to do with that. Since I'm considering a new motor and battery combo to help with the CG, I'm thinking of going down to a smaller prop, say a 10x4.7, on a lower gearing. What do you experts think?

Also couldn't get blenders to flatten out but I haven't dialed in all the down elevator that's available and that may have something to do with it.

All in all, a perfect day for the maiden of an awesome plane.

Ron

Originally Posted by ronrandle

One thing I did notice was that I had a lot less rudder authority turning right, even with monster throws. I'm wondering if the 12x6 prop had something to do with that. Since I'm considering a new motor and battery combo to help with the CG, I'm thinking of going down to a smaller prop, say a 10x4.7, on a lower gearing. What do you experts think?

Also couldn't get blenders to flatten out but I haven't dialed in all the down elevator that's available and that may have something to do with it.

All in all, a perfect day for the maiden of an awesome plane.

Ron

I run an APC 11x5.5 E prop and think it is perfect. Good speed and thrust combo.

What technique are you using on the Blenders? Get the max throw and be sure to use at least 1/2+ throttle during the transition. With over 3/4 throttle mine are stationary or climbing

Congrats!!

Scott

Congrats, Ron!
Man, how I envy you getting to fly through 3 packs on a beautiful day. All I got to fly today was my desk at work and the blackboard...
Got any inflight shots/vid?
Doc

Scott, I climb to a crash-proof height, nose over and full left aileron, cut power to 1/4. After a few spins, full down and full right rudder. I don't think I had enough throttle as the nose was pointing down and looked more like a bad knife edge spin.

11x5.5? I may just have to try that.

Originally Posted by ronrandle

Scott, I climb to a crash-proof height, nose over and full left aileron, cut power to 1/4. After a few spins, full down and full right rudder. I don't think I had enough throttle as the nose was pointing down and looked more like a bad knife edge spin.

11x5.5? I may just have to try that.

Why do you have the power at 1/4 on the way down. I usually cut the throttle off completely once I nose it down, and then all I need is about 1/3 throttle (along with elevator of course) to get it into a blender. It's almost instantaneous, and, as Scott said, once you go past 3/4 throttle you start to climb.

One other thing: In a blender I usually find it necessary to reduce the aileron input (and sometimes give even a little opposite aileron until the spin flattens). Keep full down elevator and full rudder, but play with the ailerons a bit...
Doc

Originally Posted by ronrandle

I climb to a crash-proof height

That exists? darn, I've really been hosing it up of late

Try this. crash proof height, close the throttle, vertical line down, full left aileron for 3-4 rolls. Add full right rudder, full down elevator, a split second later add 1/2 throttle (it will look REALLY violent - and it is), and add approximately 1/2 right aileron. Modulate the aileron (probably be neutral to 1/2 right aileron), but hold the rudder and elevator controls constant.

Scott

Anybody see the new upcoming Razors? I'm liking the numbers on the bigger 1" diameter motors. Should be a great Stella or even Groove geared setup...

http://razormotors.com/

-Ted

Ted, the RZ-H2 also looks sweet. 4274 kv at 39g, put that on a 6.6 gb and it'd be nice.

I wonder what GB fits the bigger motors?

Ron

I just started building my Stella (this thread is about the Stella, isn't it?). The only problem I'm having is getting the parts out of the sheets. Seems like I got some hard balsa and the laser didn't quite cut through in a lot of places. Anyone else have this issue with their Stella?

This is my first SA kit, so far love the construction techniques.

Several pieces of balsa in my kit had to be gone over again with a knife becuase of the difference in wood density. I've had the same with other kit manufactures as well.