Hi

Thought I would share today’s experience of maidening my Unicorn.

I had been flying a 16/15/4. 3s 2300 powered excite wing for most of the summer. I had seen that the Unicorn had almost attained cult status on these pages but didn’t think that, using the same power train, it would be that much better than the Excite. Well, the excite expired a couple of weeks ago and so I ordered a Unicorn from Bill of Uk-Wings.

The build was easy …although the covering using Maplins spray adhesive was fiddly. My initial thoughts were that I really liked the way all the gubbins were installed in the wing and therefore out of the airflow but the aircraft felt a bit heavier than the excite.

First flight was aborted quickly when I realised the prop was on the wrong way

Second flight was pretty good...performance akin to the Excite. The handling was excellent but roll rate a little slower than the Excite but overall it felt right. This flight was cut short when I realised that was down on power Ooops, the battery could not have been fully charged

Third flight....was fantastic!! I didn’t change any of the throws etc...I wanted first to make sure it was balance. On a fully charged pack the aircraft went nuts...picked up speed v quickly and disappeared into the blue yonder! It does HUGE loops. High-speed dives were fine with no sign of wing flex. (Did manage to get some aileron flutter pulling out of an inverted high speed dive...I keep telling myself to take test flights easy but this aircraft was sooo positive!) The stall was tame but it would spin with aileron input. Low speed handling seemed fine. So, within the first 10 mins, it was clear that despite using the same power pack, it was clearly faster than the Excite. But the thing which really pleased me was the glide performance. The weather conditions were cool and calm but this thing glided better than the Excite on the best thermalling days in the summer. A minute or so of full throttle run and it would be up to speck-out height and then I could spend ages poodling about or pull the nose down for a high speed beat-up of the field. It was great. In fact the only problem was underestimating the glide performance on finals...had to go around twice!!

If you have been debating whether to get a wing, especially a lipo brushless powered one, you will not be disappointed with the Unicorn...it is really good fun and in a different league to my poor old excite. If you are in the UK and want a Unicorn, Bill from UK Wings is extremely helpful and a good chap to do business with.

Roger

Welcome to the 'Corn - next step - try the Gryphon, the 'Corn's 28 inch little brother.

Unicorn for President!

I've been known to pimp the Unicorn around here & now you know why. My favorite thing is the gliding/thermaling ability. It's amazing!

Also try flying it slow. I'm surprised how slowly it can be flown while still maitaining control.

Again, welcome to the club.

Brad

Thanks guys...

I did try the Gryphon during the summer and was impressed not only with the performance but its stability....still I went for the Unicorn because I was hoping for a good mixture of outright speed and gliding ability...and thats exactly what I got during today's sorties!

Originally Posted by Dodgie

Thanks guys...

I did try the Gryphon during the summer and was impressed not only with the performance but its stability....still I went for the Unicorn because I was hoping for a good mixture of outright speed and gliding ability...and thats exactly what I got during today's sorties!

After you think you are getting tired of it, cut it down to 40" or 42". It looses a bit of glide ratio (not all that much) and it rolls like mad.

After your tape job starts to look a little worse for wear, recover it with a low temp film like UltraCoat. The film makes it faster and makes the wing stiffer.

Welcome to the Unicorn Brotherhood. (Drop into the current Unicorn thread http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292111 and say hello to the other Unicorn pilots)

FoamCrusher

How thick is that Lipo pack?

Originally Posted by Dodgie

Hi

Thought I would share today’s experience of maidening my Unicorn.

I had been flying a 16/15/4. 3s 2300 powered excite wing for most of the summer. I had seen that the Unicorn had almost attained cult status on these pages but didn’t think that, using the same power train, it would be that much better than the Excite. Well, the excite expired a couple of weeks ago and so I ordered a Unicorn from Bill of Uk-Wings.

The build was easy …although the covering using Maplins spray adhesive was fiddly. My initial thoughts were that I really liked the way all the gubbins were installed in the wing and therefore out of the airflow but the aircraft felt a bit heavier than the excite.

First flight was aborted quickly when I realised the prop was on the wrong way

Second flight was pretty good...performance akin to the Excite. The handling was excellent but roll rate a little slower than the Excite but overall it felt right. This flight was cut short when I realised that was down on power Ooops, the battery could not have been fully charged

Third flight....was fantastic!! I didn’t change any of the throws etc...I wanted first to make sure it was balance. On a fully charged pack the aircraft went nuts...picked up speed v quickly and disappeared into the blue yonder! It does HUGE loops. High-speed dives were fine with no sign of wing flex. (Did manage to get some aileron flutter pulling out of an inverted high speed dive...I keep telling myself to take test flights easy but this aircraft was sooo positive!) The stall was tame but it would spin with aileron input. Low speed handling seemed fine. So, within the first 10 mins, it was clear that despite using the same power pack, it was clearly faster than the Excite. But the thing which really pleased me was the glide performance. The weather conditions were cool and calm but this thing glided better than the Excite on the best thermalling days in the summer. A minute or so of full throttle run and it would be up to speck-out height and then I could spend ages poodling about or pull the nose down for a high speed beat-up of the field. It was great. In fact the only problem was underestimating the glide performance on finals...had to go around twice!!

If you have been debating whether to get a wing, especially a lipo brushless powered one, you will not be disappointed with the Unicorn...it is really good fun and in a different league to my poor old excite. If you are in the UK and want a Unicorn, Bill from UK Wings is extremely helpful and a good chap to do business with.

Roger