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Post by sean on Oct 24, 2007 14:01:14 GMT 10
My new toy arrived this morning, a 1.5M Carbon Bird. I bought it from Andrew at www.falcongliders.com, and I have to say his service has been excellent, answering lots of questions by email and dispatching it very promptly, being on my doorstep within a dew days. It was so carefully packaged it took half an hour to remove all the parts from the box! The finish is really superb, literally glass smooth. The wings are very strong, you can bend them slightly but in torsion they're rock solid, I couldn't twist them a bit. My only complaints are the paint is a little thin in places and some of the seams are a bit daggy in places, but I have to point out that I'm really nit-picking there  . After the first bad landing I won't notice things like that. For a hand built model it's amazing quality for the money, most of us would have to toil for years to build something approaching this quality... Glassy wing surface:  Lovely proportions:  High Vis bottom:  |
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Post by jase on Oct 24, 2007 14:36:07 GMT 10
i think you've really outdone yourself this time sean.. that bird looks amazing. let me know when your taking it out and i'll bring the camera up and snap some footage of it zooming around the slope. ezza ... watchout. sean is on your tail  |
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Post by mangy on Oct 24, 2007 16:36:36 GMT 10
Is it ok to start drooling now!? Man, that is pretty, nice job dude!
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Post by sean on Oct 24, 2007 19:15:05 GMT 10
She sure is sweet but I must stress that all I've done on it up to this point is sign the cheque, this is how they come from the factory ;D.
Looking forward to DSing it, but I'm sure I'll be a real woose with it till it has a few scratches at least. It'd be nice to give Ezza a run for his money but he's got skillz and that Opus is one amazing plane!
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Post by ezza on Oct 24, 2007 21:00:26 GMT 10
Great shots. That is one sweet looking bird!! I like the color scheme.
Sean is one one of the smoothest ds'ers/fly'ers I have ever seen, there is no doubt he has the skills (and now the plane)to beat the current Aussie record. Just going to need some 20+ conditions.
Sean, you will appreciate just how quick you can get this thing in the air, compared with a foamie. So easy to build. Do you have to install the aileron, flap and v-tail horns?
Andrew, is a very helpful and informative guy, a true expert. I think you bought really well. The Carbon Bird looks to be the best 60 inch ds'er, that is easily available on the market. Can't wait to see you flying this......Get her done!!!!
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Post by laanguy on Oct 24, 2007 21:58:55 GMT 10
Sean,
Thanks for the kind words and glad the plane arrived ok. Something that has given me the poos a few times before has been ordering a new model, only to have it arrive poorly packed and damaged. I hate that and I am sure everyone else would to. The reports I get on the packaging make it worth the extra time and also not having to worry about claiming the insurance.
Like Eric said, you will really love how easy it is to DS a mouldie compared to a foamy. Just happy to help the keen DS guys here and try to get more people hooked...and try to get someone past Eric so he does not stay on top.
The Bird is also the strongest 60" mouldie I have owned and I have had alot. My Bird lost the tail at 240kph and went into the side of the hill. Just 10mm missing from the nose and small area of damage on one wing tip...very strong.
Eric, the aileron/flaps horns are supplied and need to be installed. Some people custom make new ones but if you install properly they are fine. Fuse push rods are installed with the ball sockets attached, ball links on the v-tail are also done. I am trying to find the time so I can supply each plane with the extras like carbon servo tray, clevices, ballast, etc.
Andrew
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Post by sean on Oct 25, 2007 0:26:18 GMT 10
Eric, as Andrew says the control horns are included, they're small brass screw-in type horns. I had been pondering using something different becasue I've read a few complaints about them on RCG, my only concern is they don't look like they'd take a knock well from a crash or bad landing, I'm sure they'd be fine for flight loads. I'm also pondering top driven flaps but it might add a bit of complication to the build, either way I probably won't have it in the air for a few weeks at least. I've been really impressed with how easily my Reaper Dses compared to my overweight Bat so if this is easier again it should be pretty special. Hopefully good conditions for it won't be too rare, lately whenever the wind's over about 15kt our local DS spots have been really turbulent, the kind of turbulence that makes crashing inevitable if you stick at it so I can't see myself throwing it out on those days. Fingers crossed. Something I'm really looking forward to are slow flap-assisted landings  . |
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Post by mangy on Oct 25, 2007 11:47:35 GMT 10
I'm interested to know, what would be the "standard" servo used in a bird like this, the 9 gram type or something bigger? I read someone got up to 240km/h without any trouble, that is very, very fast indeed!
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Post by thevon on Oct 25, 2007 12:07:03 GMT 10
Sean will no doubt reply and is putting a lot of thought into servo choice. The most critical ones in this plane will be the wing since they need to be thin, but have the highest load. The tail surface servos are fuse mounted so the options are wider and they don't have such a big load.
On another thread there's a link to a servo calculator, where you enter the control surface area parameters and speed etc and it tells you the torque you need. Digital is the best choice for such fast stuff because they have such fine resolution, high power/torque and generally higher speed.
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Post by sean on Oct 25, 2007 12:27:20 GMT 10
Yep, Andrew Barnes (Laanguy above) got his over 150mph (240kmh) DSing. I believe they've gone over 220mph (350kmh  ) in the US where the conditions are better for that kind of thing. The wing servos need to be pretty thin, around 10mm, I'm planning to use Futaba S3155 and s3150 digis in the wings and like the look of the s3153s for the tail. For digital servos they're a good price and I really like the Futaba servos in my Reaper. Regarding the horns, they don't screw in as I said earlier, they need to be epoxied in... reading a thread on RCG it looks like they'll do the job nicely so long as you use lots of microballons to thicken up the resin, to spread the load. |
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Post by laanguy on Oct 25, 2007 17:48:08 GMT 10
With the horns just make sure you drill the clevis holes first before they go in the wing (common sense but I saw someone do it the wrong way). I then dremel a few fine grooves in the brass area that goes into the wing and epoxy...mine have not come loose yet. I also put an extra bead of epoxy around the tail ball links......and next time I will fix my tail on better.
Futuba 3150's for flaps and 3155's for ailerons seem to be the best choice for the wings, though I have the hitecs, no problems but never again. JR 375's or Hitec 65s fit nice in the fuse but I will check out the others you mention. Pick a good receiver too for the carbon in the fuse.
Top recorded speed that I know of for a carbon bird is 222mph (357kph).....looks like I am no trying hard enough.
Andrew
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Post by thevon on Oct 25, 2007 18:07:42 GMT 10
Nah Andrew I'm sure you're trying very very hard! Just lacking the perfect sites and conditions that those spoilt yanks have! It's like a DS testing laboratory, some of those slopes over there! Re: the carbon fuse, that's a real potential problem - someone said recently that it worked well to have the aerial soldered to a fine piece of piano wire sticking out the tail end.
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Post by sean on Oct 25, 2007 18:11:16 GMT 10
I ordered the servos today, 3155s for ailerons, 3150s for flaps and 3153s for the tail. The 3153's only have 20oz-in torque but as far as I can tell, using a servo torque calculator, that'll still be enough for the kinds of speeds I'll probably never see (over 200). For a receiver I plan to get a JR RS70 PPM, I have one in another plane and it's served me well. PCM would be nice but it'll break the budget, and I got a 3 or 4 second control lock-out at Bald Knob the other day using PCM anyway . Fortunately I was flying straight and level with a bit of height... Andrew, how do you recommend fixing the tail to the fuse? I'm leaning towards good old epoxy. |
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Post by laanguy on Oct 25, 2007 22:52:04 GMT 10
Check your email.
I did mine a bit different this time but epoxy with a bonding agent seems to be going well.
I have only ever had problems with my carbon fuses when using a cheap receiver. Now just stick to the JR RS70 and RS77...no problems so far. The schultz 835 has also been good for me until one day I had one in someones Birds and somehow part of the battery plug touched the receiver pins and cooked everything. There also seems to be alot of issues with 2.4ghz and carbon, several US sites now list whether the planes are 2.4ghz friendly.
Andrew
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Post by ezza on Oct 25, 2007 23:29:55 GMT 10
I have used a JR RS70 in both the carbon Destiny and the Opus, which has real thick carbon. No problems so far. I ran the aerial in a small plastic tube that hangs about 100mm out the back of the fuse. I have heard of aerials snapping off after a while, if left to flap around at the tail. |
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. After the first bad landing I won't notice things like that. For a hand built model it's amazing quality for the money, most of us would have to toil for years to build something approaching this quality...
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) in the US where the conditions are better for that kind of thing.