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January Contents-

E-Flite Ultimate 3-D by Frank Korman 11-04

Cessna L-19, Waco Airisotcrat, Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter, & Ultimate Bipe by Pat Trittle 11-04

E-Flite Ultimate 3D

Frank Korman 11-19-04, FSKorman (at) AOL.com

Maybe it’s the “ravages of time”, or inherent limitations, but my flying skills have stagnated for the last 18 years or so.  Part of that stagnation was my unwillingness to “try stuff” and risk damaging or destroying a model that had taken lots of time and energy to build.  Then along came “blue foamy” airplanes.  Cheap, ugly, and slow.  Before long I was doing rolls, wingovers, and assorted other unofficial maneuvers.  Great confidence builder.  But my blue foamy suffered from too much structural flexibility, too much weight (about 15ozs.), and not enough power (geared S-300 on 8, 800ma nimh cells).

E-Flite’s newly released Ultimate 3D (a bipe) caught my eye.  After talking with Kirk Massey of New Creations RC I purchased an Ultimate, and sprung for my first brushless motor and LiPo batteries, (and LiPo charger).  What a difference!  The plane goes where pointed, stays on track, and the outrunner motor has more than enough oomph for hovering at half throttle, etc.  And it is soo smooth and quiet.

Specs:  Span = 28in.  Wing area = 385sqs.  Weight = 13.25ozs.  Wing loading = 5ozs. Rudder/Elevator/ailerons (one servo each side).

Equipment:  APC 11x3.8 slow flyer prop.  AXI 1212/34 outrunner motor (2ozs. 10amps @ 11.1 volts, 740 rpms per volt).  3cell, 1100mah Li-Poly battery (80 grams).  Castle Creations 10amp brushless controller.  GWS 4 ch receiver.  Hitec HS-55 servos (aileron servos connected by Y-harness).

The Ultimate kit ($49.95) comes with a geared (6.6:1) 370 motor, and proprietary 12x6 prop.  Carbon fiber rods in the fuse and lower wing are pre-installed.  The control surfaces are pre-hinged.  All control fittings and sticky back tape, hook and loop, and so forth are included. Nothing extra needs to be purchased.  The extensive decals really add a lot to the looks of the plane and are easy to apply. Dave Webb, suggested I use thread to anchor the rudder and elevator control rod sleeves to the fuselage. I did so and it works great.  Like Dave I chose not to include the landing gear and wheel pants as they wouldn’t last long at our field. Fortunately Kirk suggested I add a prop saver to the front of the AXI.  The prop is held to the motor shaft with a thick rubber O-ring and so gives when striking the ground during landing.

The “low pitch” prop, (6,000 rpm) which I didn’t think would do the job does.  The diameter gives plenty of thrust (hovers at ½ throttle), and the low pitch good acceleration up to the limited top speed of the Ultimate.

I used 30 minute epoxy to glue the wings and stab to the fuselage.  This gives lots of time to get everything lined up and square with very little extra weight.  I tried using “foam friendly” cyano in a few places, but found it didn’t work.

I’m charging the Li-Poly’s with an Apache 2500 ($49.95).  So far so good.  My only complaint is the difficulty of seeing the “power”, “charging”, and “finished charge” lights in sunlight.

All in all I’m very pleased with the Ultimate, AXI, LiPolys, and charger.  And I think my flying skills are slowly improving which is great for my attitude.  A solid return on investment.

The L-19 has a 40” wingspan with 200 sq. in. area. The power system is a GWS “A”, 6:1 drive unit with a 9-6 GWS prop, a Jeti 5A ESC, a Berg Micro Stamp 4 and 2 Cirrus CS-5.9 servos driving the ruder and elevator. The battery is a 700 2C Lipoly giving flight duration around 35 minutes at a flying weight of 7.9 oz. Cover is Nelson Litefilm.

            The model flies great -- docile, slow, and very relaxing to fly. Kit development is currently underway, and should start to show up in early 2005.

The Waco “Airistocrat” has a 35” span and 310 sq. in. area. The power system is a GWS 7: 1 “B” drive unit with an 8-6 GWS prop, and a Jeti 5A ESC on a 700, 3C Lipoly battery. The alternative drive system is the GWS “A” drive with a GWS 9-7 prop on a 700, 2C Lipoly. The rudder and elevator are controlled by 2, Cirrus CS-5.9 servos and a Berg Micro Stamp 4 Rx. Cover is Nelson Litefilm. Flying weight on the 2C drive system is 8.1 oz.

            The Waco is a very docile and smooth flyer. ROG take offs are a breeze, with no tendency to ground loop at all. In fact, ROG is so good I haven’t even tried a hand launch yet, though I see no reason why it wouldn’t work just fine.

Kit development is underway, and should start to show up in early 2005.

The Porter has a 40” wingspan with 200 sq. in. area. The power system is a GWS 4:1 drive unit with an 8-6 GWS prop, a Jeti 5A ESC, a Berg Micro Stamp 4 Rx and 2 Cirrus servos driving the rudder and elevator. The battery is a 700, 2C Lipoly giving flight duration s around 35 minutes at a flying weight of 7.6 oz. Cover is nelson Litefilm.

            The Porter is without a doubt, the very best flying model I’ve ever had! The model has power enough to give a very scale max performance climb out, and the short field approach can be flown at a 30 degree decent without gaining speed on the down line. But the best part is just cruising around slowly at 1/3 throttle. Watching the model cruise around, you’d think the sky divers were going to be coming out any second!

            Kit development is under way, and should start to show up in early 2005.

            The Ultimate has a 22” span and 175 sq. in. area. The power system is a GWS 4:1 drive with an 8-6 GWS prop, a Jeti 5A ESC on a 700 2C Lipoly battery. The rudder and elevator are controlled by 2 Cirrus CS-4.4 servos and a Berg Micro Stamp 4 Rx. Flying weight is 5.7 oz. Cover is Nelson Litefilm.

            Unlike all the others, the Ultimate is a Spunky little flyer! It has power enough for 3 consecutive loops from level flight, does great snaps, split S and stall turns. The model is very quick and honest on the response, but isn’t at all “twitchy”. With a brushless power system, this could be a full blow pocket sized acrobat!!!

            The design was done for Backyard Flyer magazine. The plans are finished now, and as soon as the article and photo captions are wrapped up, will be submitted for publication.