i actually bought one of these about a week ago so ill totally take a video and post it on here and youtube...with the refund ill be able to put that money towards another new plane.....i like that this new plane looks like the alula since i already have one and enjoy flying it.....since the lighting is epp it will be nice to have it bounce and not break.... also because its bigger and powered it will be interesting to see how it handles in the air.....im can't wait to try this plane out powered park flying and unpowered for slope soaring..

So I got my Lighting, the complete version with kit, motor, ESC and servo from the DW store on Aliexpress. If I do a flight video, will I get the cost refunded or what?



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I'm late to the game but here is a video of my Lighting. It has about two hours total airtime and I like it.

But, I made a change out of the box so I have not built it according to the designers specs. I laminated the tail and fuse with copy shop laminate because I just like my planes strong.

I ordered the whole kit and the only problem was the ESC - it would start the motor up if I plugged the ESC to the battery before I turned on my TX and it would remain uncontrollable. So as I should be doing anyway, I always turn on the TX first and it is ok. But it is a noname ESC so buyer beware. I complained to the seller and they just sent me the ESC programming instructions. No help there.
Also, if you keep the ESC inside the fuse it gets so hot the ESC shuts down the motor after a while so I mounted mine on the outside of the fuse. Works great now and the battery inside stays cool. I also used a 900mah lipo cause thats what I had.

And they show the cg at 5cm back whereas mine is 2 to 3cm back. But where they are measuring from Im not sure, Im just looking at the coloring on the wing to determine where they indicated 5cm was.

Overall, super happy with this plane. My rolls are awful but I think I need more throw. I usually fly at 75 to 80% throttle but 100% when rolling. Loops and turns are a real joy. I have made my own scratchbuilt planks and even a forward swept wing and this beats them handsdown except mine I could power through the rolls nicely, this one I have to finesse it a bit because the motor is really small - but still powerful enough to fly comfortably. The wing and the elevons are thick and very strong yet do bounce a little if you hold the wing by the tips because the spars dont go the full length of the wing. No problems though. Still very enjoyable wing.
I get 8 to 10 minute flight on the 2s 900mah lipo and got a 12+ minute flight on a day with no wind and flying about 75% throttle. Used lots of momentum to get through the turns but the loops always work - very precise. I love how a plank flies.

I am located in china so do not know what electronics you may get with your kit, mine may have been substituted by seller - don't know,
Was informed of this thread by RexGalore.

Lighting EPP Plank Wing Loops and Rolls (8 min 40 sec)

Nice review! What thrust angle and reflex did you use?

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Hi Lentar. I have 0 degrees thrust angle though that would be interesting to see how it flies if I used a couple degrees but I would have to cut off the motor mounting block as the motor is screwed on to it directly from the backside and the mounting block is then glued to the fuse. Would have been good to use a little aluminum motor mount to screw on to the motor mount block but I didnt have one. Gonna be ugly if I have to replace the motor.

Update: Looking at it closer I may a touch up thrust on it which is probably counter productive.

Reflex was surprisingly very little - about half a centimeter. My scratchbuilt wings had to have a ton of reflex but not this one.

One other important note: I thought the elevon hinge was way too stiff to function so I bent mine back until they cracked (but still stayed attached to the wing - probably not a very elegant solution) so you may want to cut the hinge line a little deeper. Now they move very easily and I imagine saved the servos and the battery.
Looking forward to your experiences as I'm sure mine is not set up ideally and could benefit from some improvements.

Posted on my blog site too: I was flying my epp wing when the propeller came off midflight and the wing just kept gliding and gliding. I think this would be a real thermal queen if I put folding propeller on it. Will try that.

NOTE: one more problem with the full kit - my servo leads were way too short to connect to RX - had to use some extensions which I just happened to have on hand. Don't know how anyone built this plane with the supplied servos.
So in sum: kit had:
1. short servo leads
2. bad ESC
3. poor quality clevises
Rest of kit was great.

"And they show the cg at 5cm back whereas mine is 2 to 3cm back. But where they are measuring from Im not sure, Im just looking at the coloring on the wing to determine where they indicated 5cm was."
Did you add weight to get the CG where you have it? I'm nearing completion of my "Lighting" and it's looking very nose heavy.

The 5cm cg should work fine, at least it did for me. You can always do a glide test and check before applying power.

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Originally Posted by Sack

Did you add weight to get the CG where you have it? I'm nearing completion of my "Lighting" and it's looking very nose heavy.

Hi. I don't know why my cg has to be so far forward but mine won't fly at 5cm. But I have messed with the cg probably by adding laminate to the tail and the fuse and I am using a slightly heavier battery (900mah) and yes I have taped a chinese coin to the outside of the fuse just behind the motor block. Maybe mine is too nose heavy but it flies great. Like Lentar says, his flies at 5cm and do a glide test first.

A question about your kit, did you get the servos with the kit and were the leads long enough? I don't want to criticize the kit maker if they are supplying good electronics. Mine were not good but they may have been substituted by the supplier I bought the kit from here in china.

I flew again today using a folding prop. Lots more power but only 5 to 6 minute flight. Couldn't test it's gliding ability as I haven't programmed the brake on the ESC so the prop just windmilled and wouldn't fold, so will do that next. It seems to fly much better with the folding prop which is heavier and much less flexible than the props supplied. I am using a cheap 35mm aluminum spinner for a 3mm motor shaft with 7*6 Gemfan folding props.

Hi Lentar. What do you think of the plane and were the elevons flexible enough as they were and does yours roll well? Also, does the ESC stay cool enough inside the fuse? Now that the weather has cooled off mine would probably be fine inside the fuse but I like it outside too as it gives me more room for my larger battery.

"A question about your kit, did you get the servos with the kit and were the leads long enough? I don't want to criticize the kit maker if they are supplying good electronics. Mine were not good but they may have been substituted by the supplier I bought the kit from here in china."

My kit was bare bones, no electronics at all. Just plane, prop, motor mount, pushrods and cheap control horns. Standard servo leads (6"?) are just long enough to protrude from wing but not far enough to work with. I added servo extensions which added to clutter inside the fuse but hey, what can you do? I'm using an FrSky V8R4-II 4-channel receiver which I have mounted on top, just ahead of the tail piece, on the fuse. I did that to free up some extra room inside and also help with the nose heaviness. I'll take a few pix to share and upload them soon.

Here are a few pix of my Lighting. Just brushed on a coat of Mod Podge to help with hanger rash and the like. Since space is at a premium inside the fuse I move the receiver out and on top. I cut an additional hatch on top for extra access, running some 2mm carbon rod through for reinforcement. I plan to add some slight reflex before first flight to see how it goes.

Thanks for the pics, Sack! Despite having that hook deflector servo protector thingie, it looks like top mounting the servos would be a worthwhile mod. My Stryker & Delta Ray are both belly landers and come with the servos and arms mounted on top of the wing & out of the dirt (& grass, & rocks & etc).

Originally Posted by RexGalore

Thanks for the pics, Sack! Despite having that hook deflector servo protector thingie, it looks like top mounting the servos would be a worthwhile mod. My Stryker & Delta Ray are both belly landers and come with the servos and arms mounted on top of the wing & out of the dirt (& grass, & rocks & etc).

Thanks! Yep, if I were to do it again..

I knew they'd be a liability so that's why I added what are tail skids to minimize the problem. I fly off grass so maybe not as bad? Would be easy to poke them up through the top. Maybe DW was going for aesthetics looking down from the top?

Sack I see your motor is advertised as a drone racing motor. What makes it different than a motor that is not advertised for drones? Just wondering.
Also it is 2600kv whereas my motor is just 2050 so you should get a nice performance boost. And it is 30 grams where the motor I got with the kit was 26 grams. Not enough to account for your nose heavy issue.