drcuzo
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Post by drcuzo on Jul 29, 2008 21:19:18 GMT 10
I have a lust for something big, black and expensive. I am teetering on ordering an Erwin XL (800 euros delivered = approx $1300). Sean loves his Erwin 5 and it looks great. Something attracts me to the bigger Erwin. I think it will be a while before I am ready to DS a mouldie and the 3m planes look awesome on the slope. Am I ready for a crunchie? - be honest Does anyone have any alternatives that I should consider Thoughts on how a 3m will DS in light conditions? Steve www.pcm.at/downloads/Testberichte/ErwinXL-review.pdf
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Post by sean on Jul 29, 2008 22:00:16 GMT 10
Hey Steve,
The Erwin XL would be awesome and very versatile. Empty it would stay up in light lift and ballasted (over 4KG with the steel joiners) it'd be ballistic. I'm sure it would DS very, very well in light air. It's hard to say how it'd go in big air - there's a lot of things that can flex and twist on big planes when going fast, and even my 2M Erwin DSS is a little flexy in places.
If you order one it'd be a good idea to get one with paint on top - the naked carbon is prone to softening when exposed to hot sun, something we get a lot of around here! The bare carbon does look nicer than the paint though so you might be OK if you kept the wings in wing bags on the ground (apparently it doesn't soften when flying, because the airflow keeps everything cool).
It wouldn't be as aerobatic as the 2M Erwin - bigger wings mean slower roll and it has a fair bit more dihedral than the 2M, though it'd still be quite aerobatic in the right conditions.
I think you'd be OK flying it - the bigger planes are much easier to fly, but one thing to remember is the bigger asnd heavier they are then the harder they fall so a mistake near the ground would mean more chance of damage compared to a smaller/lighter plane. But they fly so nicely you're less likely to get in that situation, still it's something to consider. Also would be a good idea to DS your JW for a while before trying it with something like this. It would be much easier to DS than the JW but of course the consequences of a mistake are much greater.
Sean.
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drcuzo
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Post by drcuzo on Jul 29, 2008 22:13:23 GMT 10
Thanks Sean I am nervous just thinking about flying it on the slope so DS is on the distant horizon. I am thinking of Yellow top like Chris Callow's. Your observation that the red can be hard to see below the horizon was noted and I never considered Naked carbon in this one for the same reason. Delivery in September for father's day?? Then saving again for the servo's. Did you say that you thought CC used a 2.4gHz JR in his Erwin? Steve
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Post by sean on Jul 29, 2008 22:28:30 GMT 10
Hey Steve, Yeah Chris had a 2.4 JR setup in his Erwin and it appeared to work perfectly on the day we met him. Personally I'd be a bit worried about it though! I recommend doing a search on 2.4GHz in the RCGroups F3X forum, then you'll see why I feel that way... The yellow did look nice, better in the flesh than it looks in photos and stood out well. I've gotta say for a plane this big and desirable $1300 seems like a very good price! If you do get one I'll be very interested to see it
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Post by Pij on Jul 30, 2008 6:51:23 GMT 10
I have a lust for something big, black and expensive. Am I ready for a crunchie? - be honest Does anyone have any alternatives that I should consider Steve Maybe a big black expensive racehorse. Or an exotic hooker. They'd both be great ways to lose a lot of money quickly. Personally, I'd go for the crunchie. Or maybe something from a Custom Cars magazine.
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drcuzo
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Post by drcuzo on Jul 30, 2008 8:54:42 GMT 10
Pij As always your insight is inspiring. But: Horses bite. I have done the car thing - boring. I will save the hooker for mid-life crisis or crunchie crunch. Looks like the Erwin Steve
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drcuzo
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Post by drcuzo on Jul 30, 2008 23:35:09 GMT 10
Sean Thanks (I think) for pointing me to the rc groups discussion on 2.4gHz. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=872971Those guys sound really clever. The take home message for me was my 2.4gHz radio will not be safe in a large carbon model. The project then takes on another level of complexity and cost!!. I will need to buy a 72mHz radio to operate a carbon plane. Reviewing options Steve
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Post by Pij on Jul 31, 2008 5:38:13 GMT 10
Is 36MHz a problem with carbon, too? Moreso than 72MHz, I mean? I know we are warned against running our 36MHz Rx aerials across (or between?) carbon spars, and I have one electric that has radio problems that I partly blame on the carbon tube used to stiffen both pushrods (my aerial goes through the fuse, parallel to the carbon tubes), but I'd have thought that all radio frequencies would be affected.
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Post by sean on Jul 31, 2008 11:24:45 GMT 10
Hey Pij,
You're right 36MHz does have a problem with carbon, but the difference is you have a long antenna that can be routed in various ways to give a good signal, whereas the short 2.4GHz antennas cannot be easily routed outside the aircraft, and even when outside the they're easily shadowed by carbon wings, tail etc. I am by no means an expert on the subject but before I bought the radio I have now I seriously considered going 2.4. I went with 36MHz because I read too many stories of people crashing their carbon planes due to loss of signal, even people who were very careful to rout the antennas outside the aircraft properly. It seems for every one or two people who have no trouble with all-carbon planes and 2.4, there's someone who loses their model - not good odds I reckon. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but the only real disadvantage 36MHz has compared to 2.4 is the possibility of a frequency clash.
However these concerns are only with 100% carbon planes, these days you can buy "2.4 friendly" planes that have glass or kevlar noses for mounting 2.4 recievers. But the Erwin is 100% carbon.
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drcuzo
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Post by drcuzo on Jul 31, 2008 11:56:20 GMT 10
Any thoughts on the radio choice for this model??
They emailed me today to say they have one ready to go.
Steve
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Post by thevon on Jul 31, 2008 15:17:42 GMT 10
Steve, I'm no expert but have gone the Newbie Moldie route lately. I think if you can fly and land you'll love a good moldie. I'd say the crux of the matter is not which plane you're ready for ... I think it's a matter of choosing a nice site and good conditions while you get used to flying it. If you've got lift, space and a nice big soft grassy landing area you could probably comfortably fly anything.
But as far as choice of model goes, go for the one with least bad flying habits first. If everyone's saying it doesn't snap or spin and is really friendly, put it to the top of the list. All very well to buy some highly reviewed plane, then pull back too much with the left thumb in a tight spot and crack it into the deck from 5 metres height. Not good. The Fazer is unreal like that. You have to do something REALLY dumb to make it fall out of the sky, and I even did that in the heat of the moment at the thermal comp.
I have to also add (as I've said to everyone getting infected with the moldie bug) 2nd hand is a great way to go. Less time, cost and less upset if you trash it. Then maybe buy something more specialized and new later.
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Post by Pij on Jul 31, 2008 17:11:26 GMT 10
I will need to buy a 72mHz radio to operate a carbon plane. Reviewing options Steve My question was, why 72MHz rather than 36MHz, if you decide not to go 2.4GHz? Does 72 have some advantage?
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Post by sf2 on Jul 31, 2008 18:04:18 GMT 10
good question Pij,also when I came from the uk I had a 35 megs how about that ? This drama with carbon is it just kits or if I make a model with carbon will it suffer the same problem ?
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drcuzo
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Post by drcuzo on Jul 31, 2008 18:10:38 GMT 10
Pij I have no idea about these radios (72 just sounded better than 36). I started a thread in the radio section of RC groups to try to get some help Steve
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Post by thevon on Jul 31, 2008 19:55:44 GMT 10
Any carbon blocks the signal. My Bat and Reaper with carbon dragspars suffer the same problem. If the aerial's embedded in the foam it will cut out when the plane's heading away from you. So I run aerial wire extensions streaming back from the trailing edge. All of us with carbon fuselage moldies run our aerials outside the fuse and extend it to trail back a bit too. Various guys have played around with different aerial positions etc. If you read from this page of Ezza's thread here you'll see a lot of experts from around the world giving opinions on how to sort out carbon problems causing radio glitching on his Aussie Record Opus, and how Ezza finally sorted it out. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=788888&page=5
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