EDFrules

This is one sweet model. Putting together one for a friend of mine. He's got a Neu 1509-2.5D/6.7:! gearbox on 6s shipping to me shortly. He's stationed in El Paso-5000ft appr. altitude. So he needs extra power and prop disc size to slow the downlines a little. I can't wait to see some video of him with this plane. It's got his name written all over it! He 3D's with the best of them and is a national pattern champ so the Bipes' aeromusical/pattern flight characteristics suit his flying style to a "T". There's a few of them flying locally and all I can say is this plane is nothng but suweeeet! I've got a Wind S 50E mono for myself and can't wait to get mine going too. It's a Sebart Fest in the man cave right now LOL

alcarafa

Looks like it'll be a good flying machine, you'll have a great time with it.

Excuse my ignorance about english but assembling and building are not two different things?

An ARF is assembled and a kit is build, is this correct?

kyleservicetech

Ah, the translation issue. I've spent more than a few weeks in Mexico City with our company bilingual agent conducting training schools on our company circuit breaker controls.

And, we ran into translation issues many times. I do not speak ANY Spanish, but our Mexican Agent could both English and Spanish, very well. (I once worked with a South Korean person who spoke 12 languages fluently!)

In my humble opinion, assembling and building pretty much mean the same thing. You can assemble a model airplane kit, or you can build a model airplane kit.

As you indicate an ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) model has most of the hard work done by the kit builder. They leave the final assembly to the modeler, and that allows them to use a smaller shipping box.

And a Kit Build model gives the modeler a whole box of balsa, plywood, and hardware stuff, that must be built piece by piece, often taking several months of a lot of work.

Nowdays, it can actually cost more to build a kit, than to buy an ARF.

alcarafa

Dennis thanks for clarifying the terms, it must be more an interpretation issue than translation one.

You 'r right about building a kit , nowdays is more expensive than buying an ARF, I dont like'm very much .

Sometimes common sense must prevail over my wallet, even if I prefer a kit or building from scratch

kyleservicetech

Ah Ha, Mexico.

Right now, in Wisconsin, it's 16 degrees F outside. Little bit to cold to fly.

alcarafa

Not to upset you but i live in the mexican caribbean and there is lots of sun and fabulous 65 F temperature.

So lots of flying here, you'r welcome to join us.

kyleservicetech

LOL

Let's see, pack one airplane, pack suitcase, pay for airline tickets, pay for hotel, that would be about $2000 per flight.

Come to think of it, some of the gas turbine jet jocks in our club have had just five or ten flights on an $6000 model before a crash.

gazzacov

Ha ha, like that last one Dennis! (Not to wish Ill on my fellow flyers of course). Weather here is awful. Spent nearly an hour trying to drive up a 1 mile hill today, got stuck in ice and heavy snow, grr. So looks like the maiden will have to wait a while. Frustrates me just sitting here looking at it, but I'm trying to be sensible, honest!

gazzacov

Hmm, just trying to think of a way I could get this in my case next time I visit Cape Town....

gazzacov

Hey EDF, have you come across any of the issues I had.. i.e. undercarraige covers, pushrods too short?

EDFrules

No issues so far, just a standard assembly except for the addition of the inrunner rear support bulkhead I've got to fab out of carbon plate. I hope to get my Phlatprinter(DIY CNC machine) online soon so I might be able to CNC cut one. If not I'll just dremel one out and incorporate it into the nose to keep the motor from torquing in flight. I'm also adding pin hinging because we don't like CA hinges on a precision plane. I'm going to use Central Hobbies ball bearing horns and carbon pushrods on my mono as well as pin hinging. Going to make it as trick as possible for pattern. That way I can't blame the plane for lack of precision-just my crappy flying skillz LOL

gazzacov

I thought about pin hinging, but I've never had issues so far. Maybe something to think about though.

EDFrules

I also use pin hinges on my 6mm foamies if that tells you anything! They are a great way to provide less drag to the servo and provide a more stable hinge line than CA hinges. But that's just me-CA hinges do alright for most setups. Plus the dude that I'm building the bipe for is a national pattern champ and he's pretty picky about his setups.

pablo27

I'm in agreement with Mike, she's a great looking plane, looking forward to the maiden Gaz ! We missed the recent snow, we just had rain instead, hope it clears for you soon .

gazzacov

Well, I finally found some time for the maiden flight this weekend, and all went well, eventually! First flight lasted about 30 seconds, the prop adapter came off on the take off leg about 30' up. A bit of a 'brown trouser moment', but managed to about turn and land smoothly, which, considering I had no idea of trim, stalls, or landing speed, I guess I was very lucky. I had done that thing up so tight I was almost bending the prop, but obviously wasn't enough.. Returned to the field on Saturday just for an hour or so, with everything refitted and locktite-ed. This thing flies fantastic! There are still a few trim/control issues i need to sort out, but other than that, really pleased. You can harrier along just off the deck, then point it up, open the throttle, and it just accelerates like a rocket, arrow straight! Its as fast in the vertical as some of my planes are in straight and level, very impressive. Only had time for two flights, but a few things became apparent. Firstly, the low rates as recommended by Sebart are useless. Not enough movement for any sort of positive control, and way too much expo. At one point I thought I'd lost communication, so small was the reaction from stick input!. The high setting, whilst fine at full stick, again had way too much expo dialled in, much too soft around the centre, then bam, loads of movement. I'll be dialling both of these to about half of recommended, and doubling the movement on low rates. Also, the CofG was set at the forward recommended, for safety. This was too nose heavy, needed about a Quarter of my trim to get it level, and around three quarter stick down to stay inverted. Moved the battery back 10mm for the second flight, this improved it, but still not right. I will wait till I'm happy with the expo/throws issues before trying further back. Its fast when it needs to be, and a cat (almost) when going slow. Very easy to land smoothly, all three landings were greasers, no bounce at all even on grass.
Battery wise, I set my timer to 5 minutes for the first couple of flights, as they are new packs, and wanted to be safe. I haven't yet recharged them to see what's been used, but will post the results on here. I do have some Video, but it's really poor quality, so I'm gonna have to edit all the blank and blurry bits out before posting. Phew! Thats all for now folks!

gazzacov

been trying to post a video link, but not working, grr

gazzacov

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkkH2SXDdFo[/media]

EDFrules

Nice Gazz. After seeing some of our local pattern pilots flying their Bipes, I know this is a stellar airframe. Can't wait to see vid of my friend having a go with his on a Neu motor system. He's @ 5000ft altitude in TX and has to overpower his a bit to overcome the thin air. We calc'ed it out and came out around 18-21lbs of thrust depending on prop diameter. He should be able to hover @ 1/3rd throttle! Doing some firewall strengthening to handle the extra power. As soon as the motor arrives I'll post some pics of the install. This plane suits his style to a T. I'll make sure and post some vid when it becomes available.

gazzacov

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNdFRjB3yHU[/media]
Second and better quality video.
Also, re batteries, after 5 minutes flight I put 1850mah back into 4000mah 6 cell, so now setting timer for 8 mins & see how it goes from there.
Have the throws and expo about right now, and CofG is 115mm back from le, though could possibly do a bit more. If anybody wants to know what the radio settings are (futaba), let me know & I'll post them on here

gazzacov

Hi man. Thanks for the comments. Did you get that Neu motor yet? Interested to see how that one goes in.
I bought a couple of bags of robart pin hinges the other day, but not planning to swap yet. to be honest, everything is good with this bird at the mo, and if it aint broke, dont fix it is a good motto. However, if any issues do surface, i have the parts to hand.

EDFrules

No motor yet, looks like it should arrive by the weekend. I'll post some pics of build and motor mount. I guess I'm a pin hinge freak now. Even my foamies have them. When I see the pro builders using them on TAS/XFC planes I figure they know what they're doing, so when in Rome...Plus with 4 x S3156's on the ailerons, we want the hinge line to be as smooth and drag free as possible. Not like they're going to get any stress on them

EDFrules

Here's some shots of the motor install. Blake will have to open up some more cooling area as it gets hot in TX! He reports it flies as well as expected and has plenty 'o power. Probably going to use a Turnigy wood e-prop in place of the 17 x 10 Xoar to drop the amps a little. He says the ailerons (after adding a drop of oi)l will droop right down-sweet!

kyleservicetech

Several club members have that model, powered by a Hacker A60-16S motor and 6S Lipos. That, is a very nice looking model, and it flys better than it looks.

Enterprise

I'm not sure if this was discussed in the build log, but can you detach the wings easily for transport. I have truck with a 6' bed that I can not haul this beauty fully assembled in.

kyleservicetech

The two models our club members have use several carbon fiber "pins" that hold the top and bottom wings in place. Takes only a few minutes to unplug the pins and servo cables.