RC Planes

That looks very nice.

Bearing in mind I have no experience, and this is only based on a lot of reading, if you want to put a camera in it you'll have to see how much space there is (presumably you'll need to do some chopping of the fuselage if you want it facing downwards), and it will affect the centre of gravity.

Too much at weight at the front and potentially not being able to move things about will restrict you in that regard.

It's made of EPO foam which is (supposedly) very good for strength and seeing as you have 2m wingspan with an efficient puller prop set up (i.e. in front of the plane and not behind like mine, which is less efficient as the air is disturbed by the plane by the time it gets to the propellor) it must be able to haul itself along nicely.

The Skywalker is apparently very good - huge space inside the plane for lots of camera type stuff. It's not as big and again it's a pusher like mine, but it might be more suited for what you want to do with it.
 
It is a glider though, the motor is really just to pull it up to height and then you glide around for a while, when you get too low you power back up again.
You won't be able to just point it skyward and go.
 
Look at the Bixler or the AXN Floater jet from Hobby King. Both very similar, with the AXN being slightly smaller, but doesn't require any mods to get it flying well. The Bixler needs the tube running through the wings strengthening (so they don't fold), and something to hold them in place as they're supposed to be removable.

Both are good gliders, but will do about 70mph when you peg the throttle.

These are both pusher props, so any hard landings should not hurt the prop, unless you land upside down.

If you want to buy in the UK, you can get the Bixler under the name "Sky Surfer" for about £55 from brc hobbies, but it only comes with a motor, so you'll need to buy your own servos, ESC, battery and radio. The upside of that is that you can choose kit to suit your budget, or better kit where you want it.

You can buy the AXN (Clouds Fly) from the same place for about £80, but the ESC that it comes with is junk. It should have a 25A speed controller (minimum), but it must be an old model as it comes with a 20A, with a 2A BEC. You really need a 25A-30A ESC with a 3A BEC, so it's worth budgeting to change it. I got mine from there, so that's how I know.
 
How many amps do servos draw Bigpops?

My understanding is that you need a separate BEC to drive the servos, as when the ESC can't cope, through drawing too much power, there's nothing left to drive the servos, thus leaving you with a plane you can't control.

The one I've ordered (which has still yet to ship :mad: :p) has 4 x 9g servos, with a 30a ESC, which is supposed to be pap. Just wondering if I should get a higher amp ESC that I could keep if I choose to get something else later down the line, along with a BEC?

Are BECs wired in between the ESC and batteries?
 
Depending on the servo, less than 500ma at high loads. Obviously when not moving they barely use any and if they are stalled they can use a lot more.

Most modern ESC's contain BEC's. If the wire from the ESC to the receiver has 3 wires the ESC contains a BEC!

BEC's are wired between the battery and the reciever.
 
You can run a separate BEC, if you want to. The thing that makes the 2A BEC I'm talking of so bad is that it's linear. To drop the voltage from 12.4 (3S fully charged) down to 5V for the servos, all the excess energy is expelled as heat, and when your ESC is nearing it's limit, it will already be getting warm so the last thing you need is more heat. 4x 9g servos is at the tipping point for a 2A bec, unless you aren't using them all at once. It could work fine for many flights, then all of a sudden, give up in flight.

ESCs for planes are so cheap anyway, you're often as well to get a new ESC with built in switching BEC (usually abbreviated to SBEC or UBEC) to save weight and space.

If fitting a separate BEC, you wire it into the battery wires that go to the ESC (in parallel to use the electronic term, so + to +, - to -) and then you remove the +ve wire from the servo plug that goes into the receiver. This disables the BEC in the ESC and stops it interfering with the new separate BEC.
 
SimonCHere said:
It is a glider though, the motor is really just to pull it up to height and then you glide around for a while, when you get too low you power back up again.
You won't be able to just point it skyward and go.
Click to expand...

Some videos on youtube show that plane/glider making pretty impressive flights, including some with cameras onboard.. Thats very temping as the price is very reasonable and it's a complete kit...
 
Ive not flown for about 12 months, but im into large scale Aerobatics, heres a few of the planes in my garage, some are poor as were on my old phone -

P010810_1706.jpg


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P010810_1706_01.jpg


P060810_2012_01.jpg


P290810_1401.jpg
 
BusError said:
Some videos on youtube show that plane/glider making pretty impressive flights, including some with cameras onboard.. Thats very temping as the price is very reasonable and it's a complete kit...
Click to expand...

After having a look, there are some pretty good flights. Not straight up but a reasonable climb.
I did like the Sky Climber V2 390 Watt Brushless Power von Modellbau FlyMex video, now that's a climbout!

You'll have to practice your hand launches though.
 
SimonCHere said:
After having a look, there are some pretty good flights. Not straight up but a reasonable climb.
I did like the Sky Climber V2 390 Watt Brushless Power von Modellbau FlyMex video, now that's a climbout!

You'll have to practice your hand launches though.
Click to expand...

Yeah saw that, it's not clear where that "v2" is for sale tho, the hobbyking doesn't mention that sort if things...

I got my finger on the trigger here ;-)
 
Herro!

been into RC planes a year, currently have a hanger of 5 planes

Hawk-sky(original and best starter plane) upgraded with a 2800kv and 30a esc.. Can pull Silly aerobatics with it. great fun, but can also just get up high and glide about if thats my fancy.. Great for slope soaring too.
EDF FMS Mig15, A little on the heavy side and a bit of a handful. Good for low wind days. Roll rate is amazing.
Then I got into scratch building.

Depron F22. First build depron plane KMF4 air-foil with a 2600kv and 25a esc. Thrust vectoring pusher prop.. can high alpha so easily. Crashed so many times but just Hot glue it back together. airframe cost £5, electronics around 20. best bang for buck ever.
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Depron F14 Tomcat with swing wing. Great fun, quite floaty with the wings out and very fast with it swept.

Depron Spitfire in BoB inspired livery, Took 2 months to build, great fun looks scale and flies scale.
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Hobbyking is good, but Giantcod.co.uk rules. they have great info on their forum too.

doesn't have the stock of the rtf's but for spares and upgrades, you cant beat it.. as i build my own planes from depron foam all I need comes from giantcod.
 
Wow. In comes the big boy. :D

That huge plane looks epic. Is that one of those 3D planes? The prop looks like it would happily chew through your arm.

The depron foam plane - how easy is it to put into shape a plan you get online? I'm guessing the fuselage is the easier part, but the wing, how do you ensure it's aerodynamic and provides lift?

Would you be able to make a flying wing out of that stuff?
 
This is quite annoying, I order from Giantcod the FlySky transmitter on the same day that I order the programming board for it from Canada, and the programming board turns up before the transmitter. :o 6,000+ more miles in less time.

I've also just realised that my postman is signing the Special Delivery receipts of evidence for me. Think I might complain... grrrr... :mad:
 
alexthecheese said:
The depron foam plane - how easy is it to put into shape a plan you get online? I'm guessing the fuselage is the easier part, but the wing, how do you ensure it's aerodynamic and provides lift?

Would you be able to make a flying wing out of that stuff?
Click to expand...

Depron is very easy to bend and form shapes when a little heat is applied.. I use a wine bottle with hot water in or a hair-dryer for larger surfaces. 3mm depron is perfect for skinning.

the aerodynamics come from the profile of the spar;s and ribs that you see on the plane.

cheapest place to get depron ive found is TLC http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Information/branches/default.htm

Its classed as underfloor insulation but makes for great starter foam. Once your confident about making a plane from plans get some better grade Depron from Ebay.

RC powers youtube guides are pretty good to start off with. I've not done any of his plans though.

edit: Its also very important to get a decent charger and a lipo charge/storage bag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcwOwf55Rtc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vYn2lbBh0Q&feature=related
 
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