Hay guys,

For those of you who are thirsting after one, Ben at 3D Hobby Shop sez he has 3 of 'em in stock. www.3dhobbyshop.com or call Ben at (830) 990-6978.

That's where I got mine and he had 4 at the time.

CR

I've been searching for the right plane to continue my training for quite some time and had counted among the important factors things like cost, quality, and construction. I'd started with an ultrafly outrage, and tore the wings off her on her third flight...bought a SoarEasy from Hobby Lobby, but crashed due to an insufficient power system (builder error), bought a 2nd one to replace the first and crashed that on the 10th flight recovering from a rolling dive and folded the wings. Almost a month later, she's still resting comfortably at the top of a tree in the area I was flying at - complete loss there.

It was that last crash that left me in such a state of disbelief and anger that I was about to throw in the towel and go back to helicopters...That was about the time I came across this thread (around thanksgiving iirc). They say you shouldn't make emotional purchases, but I gotta say - this kit is quite easily the best money I've spent in terms of value and overall quality.

I was able to pick up the kit for about $10 more than what I paid for the SoarEasy and I couldn't be happier with how it went together.

My rig just for reference:
Scorpion 2218-15 (~210W) w/ 10 x 4.7 (recommended from their motor/prop scale)
Scorpion 35Amp ESC
Blue Bird BMS 371 x 4
4CH Vampower receiver with a "The Don" base loaded antenna
2200's ranging from 146g to 180g
2 Inch Dubro wheels
A beefier retaining collar on the tail wheel.

Total build took ~14 hours at a steady pace from assembly to trim and pre flight.

Few gotchas along the way:
- Oops #1 - Like one poster before me, either the long control rods weren't included, or I threw them away. Luckily for me though, having crashed the first SoarEasy, I had plenty of spare hardware to cannibalize to get her flight ready. (dodged a bullet there!)

- Oops #2 - trying to epoxy the wings with 5 minute epoxy in one step. The mess I created racing against the clock to spread all the epoxy was nothing short of comedic. This after the fact that I TOLD myself - do it in 2 stages...<sigh>

- Oops #3 - I removed the monokote for the wing brace on the wrong side (in my defense it was like 4am in the morning)

- Oops #4 - the 2 inch wheels don't fit inside the wheel pants - minor but an oops none the less

With this setup - it took ~70g foam taped to the inside of the cowl to balance out properly.

.

This plane is absolutely gorgeous and I simply cannot believe the quality of the construction for the price they're asking. It was too good to pass up and I'm glad I took the plunge. After tearing wings off two planes one resulting in a total loss, you can imagine how important it was to me to find a plane with some sort of reinforcements in the wings, and this plane has that in spades...Between the wing brace, the wing joiner, the epoxy and the struts - I'm fairly certain I can wring this plane out without too much worry. Sadly, my total flight training in hours can be counted on one hand, so I'm begging the powers that be to keep this one in the air and out of the trashcan for as long as possible...

In any event - wish me luck!!! Can't wait for the maiden!

Oh and for your viewing pleasure...a few pictures of the almost finished plane and my 10mo niece

Cheers.

Mocha

just curious on the red spinner you used. I'm running the E-flite 450 motor and a 10 x 4.7 prop on the E-flite Tribute FX which is an easy slow 3-D capable plane. My current Taylorcraft setup is the E-flite 450 and 10x8 prop. Havent tried the 10 x 4.7 prop yet on the Taylorcraft but maybe that it would give more thrust/less speed?

Hi everyone; a little info about the aerobatic capabilities of the T-Craft.

Mine has the 480, 11x5.5 prop and was originally balanced at the 2-3/8" point. Flew fine but acted nose heavy. Only trick on controls is that mine uses a 7 channel receiver so the ailerons were in separate channels and mixed. I set it up with about 2x as much up aileron as down (aileron differenctial). Other than that, a standard setup.

Moved cg to 2-7/8" - big difference! The T-Craft is a wonderful flyer. At low throttle settings very smooth and scale like. Takeoff and Land pretty slow with no bad characteristics. Inverted flight requires very little down elevator.

And.....it will do aerobatics with the best of them. Torque rolls, tail slides, hovering, slow rolls, knife edge, inside and outside loops, and really amazing upright flat spins. It begins to resemble a heli rotor after a few turns of a flat spin! Yet it comes right out. Oh, did I mention wing tip spins too? For a scale plane this one does it all.

The 480 is plenty of power, but like the book says throttle back on downlines!

Apologies about my non-scale flying......thought everyone would be interested to know how good it flies. My new favorite in my hangar!

Originally Posted by marketvending

just curious on the red spinner you used. I'm running the E-flite 450 motor and a 10 x 4.7 prop on the E-flite Tribute FX which is an easy slow 3-D capable plane. My current Taylorcraft setup is the E-flite 450 and 10x8 prop. Havent tried the 10 x 4.7 prop yet on the Taylorcraft but maybe that it would give more thrust/less speed?

Dubro 1 - 1/2" Spinner from Todd's Models
http://www.toddsmodels.com/product_p/dubq3662.htm

Just remember to locktite the cone retaining screw.

As for prop selection, I selected that size based on recommendations from scorpion's website for most thrust/least amp draw. One thing I was NOT looking for was speed and have been quite happy puttering around the sky at a snail's pace. Now if I can just figure out this whole landing business I'd be golden

Cheers...

thanks for the spinner size info.

You win the prize. I just got back from a dinner with a flying buddy of mine and he suggested checking to see where the aileron end points were on my DX6 for that particular model. Well, they were set at 70%, so that wasn't the problem. Odd that it only did it with the Spektrum receiver and it went away with the Hitec/Berg setup. I bought three of these Horizon S75 servos from the widow of a friend of ours who recently passed away. Short of using the Hitec/Berg setup, which worked smoothly, I took another S75 servo (one of the four that came with the radio when I bought it that has been flying in my 3D SU 31 for over a year) and it works perfectly in the T Craft wing. Three new in package servos and two were bad. What the heck are the chances of that. I will button it up tomorrow and have her flying on Monday. Thanks for all the suggestions. Tom

Tom,
You are welcome. Fill out an RMA and Horizon will more than likely repair/replace those servos.
Gary

Originally Posted by aftica

oops#3...haha! i did the same thing! hey Mocha, as a heli guy myself, i am really interested in how you get along with the Tcraft. i too, bought mine because it was just to pretty to leave sit on teh shelf! i am worried planes will be too hard, after flying only helis, but i'm hoping to somehow manage.

please let us all know how you get along with your first flights!

Yep it was encouraging to see another heli pilot in this thread too. As for difficulty? Having flown the SoarEasy (another aileron high wing in the same'ish weight class), I can say with all honesty these are too much for someone to use to learn to fly. It can be done, but you need to make sure your throws are set for the low rate settings and make sure you use plenty of expo - at least for the maiden, and by all means set and double check the CG.

It was as difficult as I remember my first few helicopter flights to have been but for absolutely different and avoidable reasons. I just didn't know enough about plane building that I built a plane (the Outrage) that should have crashed on her maiden. All the time I spent on the sim saved me and I was able to get her down to adjust her center of gravity. As for the folding wing issues...I expected way too much from these planes and had to develop a lighter touch than the way we stick bang with our helis.

The part that I find comical is that once they're in the air, they're a breeze to fly. I'd figured out coordinated turns by my third battery and was doing axial rolls and loops by my 5th. My problem was LANDING. Practicing that on the sim just doesn't translate over into the real things (especially when the real ones were trimmed as poorly as mine were). I read a link I got over in the beginner forum to some aussie's site where he spent like 2 chapters just on landing and I immediately saw what I was doing wrong. Instead of 3 point turns, I was doing a "great circle"/carrier landing, quite possibly the hardest type of landing to start with because you're adjusting altitude, heading, AND speed simultaneously, rather than doing them in 3 stages.

You never think about that stuff with helicopters, you stop her in place then lower the collective and land, but I have to say I find the challenge of setting up a plane for a landing quite exhilirating - even if it did take me like 20 attempts to finally get her to land lol...

Anyhoo I digress, batteries are charging now...going to do another lookover and should have her in the air in a few hours

Gary, what is a RMA, and where do I find one, on the Horizon site? I have no sales receipt with these because my my buddy Art Schroeder passed away a few months ago and Lord knows where he bought them from. Might have come with his DX 7, but someone else bought the transmitter and receiever because I already had the DX 6. Tom

Tom,
RMA is a Return Merchandise Authorization. Go to Product Support and you will see what you need to do. Explain to them exactly how you came about the servos and see what they say. The worst they can say is no and I doubt seriously that is what happens. They are very good about service and fast turnaround. They updated the firmware in my early 6100 receivers quickly. Out and back in only 9 days at the height of the recall period.
Wish the weather was nicer today. I have my T-Craft just ready to go and it is freezing outside
Gary

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Support/...t/Default.aspx

Mochaboy, do you think 5 minute epoxy is okay if you do one side at a time? I have plenty of 5 but no 30...I don't mind spending the five or six bucks for the 30 but prefer to use what I have.

Thanks.

Use at least 15 minute epoxy to give yourself some working time! Have alcohol and a rag at hand as well to clean up any residue. 5 minute will hold but longer curing epoxy is stronger as it can leach into the wood. Also you do not have to rush so much while getting everything perfectly aligned.
Gary

Originally Posted by blakevan

Mochaboy, do you think 5 minute epoxy is okay if you do one side at a time? I have plenty of 5 but no 30...I don't mind spending the five or six bucks for the 30 but prefer to use what I have.
Thanks.

You're much better off using 30 minute. Gives you time to get things aligned correctly and clamped down. A little thing I noticed is that the dihedral brace is just barely long enough to reach the 2nd rib in each wing panel. Good thing it can be seen from behind when the panels are joined because it has to be carefully centered.

Another thing is that the 30 minute glue has time to penetrate the wood. A tip is that it's a good idea to punch holes in the center ribs with a big pin so the glue can penetrate and form little "rivets."

I used 30 min on the wing and 6 min on the tail feathers.

CRE