Aros,

Those decals look AWESOME! Let's hope she stays that nice for a LONG time!

Fly Safe!

Thanks man!

(((Crossing fingers)))

Yep, looks awesome. Callie's decals do make a difference.

Yeah, she's always the final cherry on top of any of my planes.

Today was fun.

I met some older gentlemen (fellow club members) at the field today...When one of them saw me bring my Blackbird out of the car he was immediately interested. Turns out he had built a much larger scale version many years ago and he proceeded to tell me about his adventures with her...Boy did they sound familiar! We had some good laughs over our respective follies and he went on to exclaim some true Habu stories from his years working in the military for classified departments.

It was obvious he knew his stuff as he went on to talk about the aerodynamics, materials used, how the chine acts as part of the wing surface, the importance of maximizing pitch and limiting roll, CG, on and on...I told them my story of how this was #9 and the reasons why. They were getting ready to leave but really wanted to see her fly. I said I may as well as I need to get over the anxiety of hand tossing and flying her due to my history.

I first flew my Hobby Lobby F/A-18E Hornet Blue Angel which in itself is a heck of a show. I switched out the stock 6-blade fan for a 12-blade fan and it not only screams, but actually has that turbine/jet sound like the real deal! They were oooh'ing and aaaah'ing that one pretty good. Now it was time for the main attraction.

There was a good head wind, and with that SkyLipo and minus the whale tail mod and afterburnerz, she feels much lighter and more manageable to hand toss. I haven't weighed her but I have to believe she's much closer to the acceptable AUW range than what I was flying with previous versions.

I throttled her up and took a couple running steps and chucked her into the wind and off she went with about as much hoopla as any of my other ho-hum hand chuckers. What a pleasant change of pace!

I quickly banked her and brought her on the downwind for a low, WOT pass...WOW does she ever scream by! My F/A-18 gets around 105-110mph on a fresh charge, downwind WOT pass and I would swear the Habu looks much faster on her first fresh charge pass. Judging by how my audience behind me sounded as she screamed pass I believe they would agree.

I kept her in the pattern for about six or seven spins before setting her up for final. I got her on the glide slope and throttled managed accordingly...Everything looked great. I brought her in with some power and about a foot off the ground (I thought I was in the safe zone) I chopped power and gave her a gentle flare but she bit me. With the lack of power and airflow the nose lifted straight up. This has happened to me about five times before. I jammed the stick down and it landed on it's tail and broke the tail off but luckily the elevons were unharmed and that was the only damage.

I dodged a bullet but as far as the guys thought, it was a success from start to finish!

Next time I will keep some power all the way to the ground. The maiden was pure dead stick on the glide slope from about twenty feet high but I did a better job keeping some down stick to keep the nose from doing what she did today.

All-in-all, I will consider sortie #2 a success!

Since this model is now out of production and the last handful were almost given away, this becomes somewhat unnecessary to keep handing out advice. But I suspect there'll be a new and larger foam SR coming out, most likely twin 70's, but I'm guessing. But in any case, the weight will rise faster than wing area as the model gets larger. Delta wing will help there, but wing loading will make this model we have now seem mundane. This smaller version we have now will be a great trainer for the next gen SR...

These are some things we learned on this tiny model.

So using Aros last flight as an example, the need for an extra elevator becomes obvious. And rudders for the wheeled version. Doesn't need these things to fly normal, but what's normal with this model. An SR with only elevons...yikes, that's asking for trouble. The prototype needed them and so does a model. The drooped leading edge will stabilize the model a bit, but also slow it down, both due to more camber.

Not knowing the weight of critical components and the AUW of the final model will make advancing almost impossible. Individual components must be weighed to determine if it goes in or not. Wing loading must be obeyed or else...

Never chop power unless you're in a dive...and then, only for a few moments as the drag is bad on an SR and it will lose all speed within seconds. Again, Aros provides good footage from on board and ground video of a flight that went south...cutting power in a dive and staying at idle all the way through the trap and then into the climb without significant throttle advance, resulting in extremely rapid speed loss and ultimately disaster.

Our plane has survived because we took these things and many more into consideration and we always have a flight profile BEFORE the model even touches the runway. No other model in our large fleet needs this type of kid glove treatment, but if you do, it'll pay off big.

Opinions based on observation is all we are offering, others will have had different experiences and different thoughts...and that is good. And sharing the bad with the good can only further the taming of this magnificent plane. The trials of others always benefits the larger group.

I have couple of MJ's if anyone is interested...

Joe

Hey Joe, why do you think an extra elevator would have made a difference today? Wouldn't the extra pitch authority have caused even more of a violent nose pitch with some flare on dead stick? Also, I had dead stick on much higher approach on the maiden without any problems, mainly because I was more committed to some down elevator to keep that nose down.

Other than that, these two flights have been about as comfortable and tame as I have ever experienced. Obviously credit goes to you, Don and many others on this thread that have helped me tremendously.

I'm sorry I'm confused on the extra elevator issue. Which confusion appears to be my comfort zone when it comes to this bird.

Unless I'm not getting the gist of your landing, when the nose starts to flare up wards at a rapid rate during slow landing speeds, just elevons is not enough to apply leverage to get the nose down. Hence the extra elevator will add more force in making the nose respond. Of course, if the elevator is applied at the wrong time, the extra surface will act against you.

Originally Posted by redlite

An SR with only elevons...yikes, that's asking for trouble. The prototype needed them and so does a model.

Never chop power unless you're in a dive...and then, only for a few moments as the drag is bad on an SR and it will lose all speed within seconds.

Our plane has survived because we took these things and many more into consideration and we always have a flight profile BEFORE the model even touches the runway. No other model in our large fleet needs this type of kid glove treatment, but if you do, it'll pay off big.

I agree 100% with these statements. Having more pitch control centered on the airframe rather than at the wingtips makes a more stable platform. The whale tail mod and using more elevator deflection in the center doesn't mess with the lift of the wing as much as running elevons only.

This bird needs to be flown "on the wing" and flown under some power right down to the deck. It takes practice and some nerves to resist trying to flair this for a soft or slower landing. Bring it in under power, land it hot and it won't pitch the nose up and become a big airbrake. If you were to stall it like that at altitude, you would experience the dreaded ( and usually unrecoverable) flat spin.

Originally Posted by redlite

Unless I'm not getting the gist of your landing, when the nose starts to flare up wards at a rapid rate during slow landing speeds, just elevons is not enough to apply leverage to get the nose down. Hence the extra elevator will add more force in making the nose respond. Of course, if the elevator is applied at the wrong time, the extra surface will act against you.

Oh yes of course! I understand now. You are totally correct...Had I had that whale-tail authority it could have absolutely helped get that nose back down to a much less exciting landing when I was applying down stick. However, the paradox for me is that added weight. It may not be as bad as I am thinking without having the afterburnerz as well.

Originally Posted by Joe 1320

I agree 100% with these statements. Having more pitch control centered on the airframe rather than at the wingtips makes a more stable platform. The whale tail mod and using more elevator deflection in the center doesn't mess with the lift of the wing as much as running elevons only.

This bird needs to be flown "on the wing" and flown under some power right down to the deck. It takes practice and some nerves to resist trying to flair this for a soft or slower landing. Bring it in under power, land it hot and it won't pitch the nose up and become a big airbrake. If you were to stall it like that at altitude, you would experience the dreaded ( and usually unrecoverable) flat spin.

Excellent points! I now finally understand (don't worry it only takes me 50 times to get something in my head) why the whale tail mod is worth the weight and time investment. I don't think I will add it to #9 but I will most definitely heed the advice here and make dang sure that when she's on final, that throttle will never drop to idle, until she's safely and flatly on the ground.

I clearly got lucky and was tempting fate with the maiden landing.

Thanks fellas.

Originally Posted by Aros

Excellent points! I now finally understand (don't worry it only takes me 50 times to get something in my head) why the whale tail mod is worth the weight and time investment. I don't think I will add it to #9 but I will most definitely heed the advice here and make dang sure that when she's on final, that throttle will never drop to idle, until she's safely and flatly on the ground.

I clearly got lucky and was tempting fate with the maiden landing.

Thanks fellas.

When I was building my atomic micro warbirds, weight (especially tail weight) was a problem on some models. I had to get creative with servo placement at times. Dubro control rod tubes became my best friend. The elevator servo(s) can be placed further toward the nose (ahead of the CG or even on it) and control rod tubes routed to the rear. That helps prevent it being tail heavy.

Originally Posted by redlite

This smaller version we have now will be a great trainer for the next gen SR... Joe

Hey Joe, do you have any inside knowledge about a potential 70MM or even 90MM Habu in the works or are you just speculating/hoping based on what you might think the industry would progress towards?

No doubt, this 64MM is a spectacular trainer for anything that the industry ever decides to produce in a larger frame. Do you think BH Hobbies will get more LX kits or do you think the inventory is all but extinguished?

Made it to sortie #3!

Normally that's one fat big whoop, but there's nothing normal about me and this bird so I feel like celebrating, lol...

No wind, near dusk, without question the best total flight I've ever had with the SR-71 Blackbird. Hand toss was non-eventful, flew her for several spins in the pattern, mostly at WOT the entire 3 minutes and change. Brought her in on a good glide slope UNDER POWER thank you very much...Kept some throttle on all the way to the landing (a little hotter than I would prefer) where she slid a few feet and that was that with that!

FINALLY I feel I have the best blend of knowledge and setup that I see no reason (careful Todd) for any major malignant events...The battery is perfect, the motors sound tremendous and she is flying magnificently.

Thanks again to everyone who have given me the wisdom I need to fly her like she is meant to be flown.

Nicely done, my friend! I spent my evening getting my nose gear fixed. I opted to go with servoless electric retracts... and since I had to modify the wheelwell to fit the retract, I ended up adding some 'extra' epoxy around the gear when I put the nose retract in (Build mistake #1). That was definitely a "success oriented" decision... which came back bite me. So, after about 45 minutes of skilled incisions through layers of epoxy with the Dremel, I finally got the retract out so that I could get the strut back into the assembly. Build mistake #2 was not putting any thread locker on the set-screws that hold the gear into the retract. All of that work because one of the two set-screws worked its way loose...

Once I get her back to a FMC (Fully Mission Capable) state, I started working on the decals. Granted, I didn't spring for the custom stuff from Callie's... but I think that even the stock decals look pretty good. I will admit that I forgot to put the red striping on... will have to do that tomorrow after flights #2 and #3 (I only got two of those 4000mAh batteries).

Todd,

Congrats! Glad to hear of the success you are having!

Don