Archive for December, 2015
2015 was my third year in this hobby. The year was windy and quite lousy from flying perspective, especially spring. During autumn we were finally blessed with better weather. Nevertheless I managed to attend several events as a spectator and also had some demo flights in some smaller local events. I have to be quite satisfied as anyways I'm a working father of two kids with limited time available for personal hobbies.
I've also moved to fly mostly balsa planes. Foamies were still used in spring and I still use them for some quick flights on nearby farm field, but otherwise I'm flying my balsa aerobats practicing both 3D and precision flight (IMAC Sportsman). I've logged my flights on the balsa planes & Mini Edge. Total flight time with these ended up being 26h 20min including 300 flights.
Couple of crashes were also mandatory. My Slick shook it's motor mount on several occasions and I replaced it with 48" EF Yak-54 EXP as I spent more time repairing it than flying. And my 87" Pilot Yak-54 also crashed in the end of autumn due to power brownout (faulty PowerBox Sensor). It's being rebuild as we speak.
Foamies were also flown into a (same) tree in several occasions.
Ranking based on flight time
1. Sebart Katana S 50E v2 (8h 48min)
2. Exteme Flight 48" Yak 54 EXP (7h 12min)
...Continue Reading
I've also moved to fly mostly balsa planes. Foamies were still used in spring and I still use them for some quick flights on nearby farm field, but otherwise I'm flying my balsa aerobats practicing both 3D and precision flight (IMAC Sportsman). I've logged my flights on the balsa planes & Mini Edge. Total flight time with these ended up being 26h 20min including 300 flights.
Couple of crashes were also mandatory. My Slick shook it's motor mount on several occasions and I replaced it with 48" EF Yak-54 EXP as I spent more time repairing it than flying. And my 87" Pilot Yak-54 also crashed in the end of autumn due to power brownout (faulty PowerBox Sensor). It's being rebuild as we speak.
Foamies were also flown into a (same) tree in several occasions.
Ranking based on flight time
1. Sebart Katana S 50E v2 (8h 48min)
2. Exteme Flight 48" Yak 54 EXP (7h 12min)
...Continue Reading
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48" Yak 54 was for sale at Staufenbiel during early summer 2015 so I grabbed one to replace Slick. This is somewhat smaller plane than the Slick so I needed a lighter motor for it. Finally decided to get an 140g Emax as a practical alternative. I used the original Castle ICE ESC from Katana as it had adjustable BEC and thus I could skip using external BEC - wanted to keep this plane as light as possible. Otherwise I used cheap servos that I originally planned to use in the Slick, but then were left dusting as I ended up using Savox servos in the Slick.
First I had some trouble getting Yak properly trimmed and I also found out that it was quite front heavy. I ended up removing one former to be able to move the batteries next to wing tube. Also ESC was moved into the fuse. Once the CG issues were sorted the plane flew wonderfully. Yak was my preferred plane for good weather flying opportunities and I clocked a lot of flight minutes with it in the late summer and autumn. I haven't had any technical problems with it once the initial setup was finalized.
Yak serves really well as a quick plane to grab for a proper 3D flying session. 2200mAh batteries are also quick to charge as I can charge four of them at once with my (somewhat) limited charger. With Katana I realistically can only charge two at once. I have a feeling that this won't be my last Extreme Flight plane...
Flight log 2015
First I had some trouble getting Yak properly trimmed and I also found out that it was quite front heavy. I ended up removing one former to be able to move the batteries next to wing tube. Also ESC was moved into the fuse. Once the CG issues were sorted the plane flew wonderfully. Yak was my preferred plane for good weather flying opportunities and I clocked a lot of flight minutes with it in the late summer and autumn. I haven't had any technical problems with it once the initial setup was finalized.
Yak serves really well as a quick plane to grab for a proper 3D flying session. 2200mAh batteries are also quick to charge as I can charge four of them at once with my (somewhat) limited charger. With Katana I realistically can only charge two at once. I have a feeling that this won't be my last Extreme Flight plane...
Flight log 2015
- 82 flights / batteries emptied with total flight time of 7h 12 minutes.
- Motor: Emax GT2820/07 (140g, 850KV, 590W)
- ESC: Castle ICE lite 75 (BEC @ 6,0v)
- Propeller: DFDL 13x6
- Tail servos: 2 x Turnigy TGY-2216MG, digital servo, 15,8g, 6v 0,13s 3,9kg/cm
- Aileron servos: 2 x HobbyKing 933, digital servo, 12g, 6v 0,10s, 2,0kg/cm
- Receiver: Lemon RX 10 channel DMX receiver with satellite
- Batteries: 2200mAh 4S Zippy Compacts and Turnigy Nanotechs
- Empty weight: 1255g
- AUW: 1506g
- Max measured amps (peak): 46A
- Max measured watts (peak): 670W
- Watts/kg: 445
- Watts/lb: 202
- Flight timer: 5min 10s
Seems like Slick has been phased out by HobbyKing recently, too bad.
Slick is a really good 3D flyer, but for some reason I managed to break the motor mount time after time. It might be due to those ridiculously fun knife edge spins that I couldn't resist doing.
I also had my share of bad luck with NTM motors. The plane is really fun and does excellent 3D. It's only vise is a slight wing rock on upright harrier.
Nevertheless my Slick spent a lot of time being repaired and motor mount rebuild and eventually I got a bit frustrated with it and I sold it. It was replaced by Extreme Flight 48" Yak 54 EXP.
Flight log 2015
Slick is a really good 3D flyer, but for some reason I managed to break the motor mount time after time. It might be due to those ridiculously fun knife edge spins that I couldn't resist doing.
I also had my share of bad luck with NTM motors. The plane is really fun and does excellent 3D. It's only vise is a slight wing rock on upright harrier. Nevertheless my Slick spent a lot of time being repaired and motor mount rebuild and eventually I got a bit frustrated with it and I sold it. It was replaced by Extreme Flight 48" Yak 54 EXP.
Flight log 2015
- 70 flights / batteries emptied with total flight time of 5h 46 minutes.
- Motor: NTM 4238 750kv
- ESC: Turnigy Plush 60A
- BEC: Castle Creations 10A BEC
- Propeller: APC 14x7, DFDL (wooden) 14x6
- Servos: 4 x Savox SC-0255MG, Digital servo, 15,8g, 6v 0,13s 3,9kg/cm
- Receiver: Lemon RX 10 channel DMX receiver with satellite
- Batteries: 2200mAh 4S Zippy Compacts and Turnigy Nanotechs
- Empty weight: 1342g
- AUW: 1608g
- Max measured amps (peak): 52A
- Max measured watts (peak): 817W
- Watts/kg: 508
- Watts/lb: 230
- Flight timer: 5min
| Slick 360 RC plane 3D flying, NTM motor failure (5 min 56 sec) |
