Category: Product Commentary

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Spektrum iX12 – 1 month in…

Image result for spektrum ix12

One of my more recent additions to the RC hangar is not a new airplane but instead a new controller.  I have been using a DX18 for a few years and have found it to be an excellent radio.  I have zero complaints operationally with the 18 but I really like the newer designs that have come out without all the excess “chromed” plastic.  What’s the point in putting a coating over plastic that will eventually wrinkle/peal and otherwise just create issues?  It looks nice if you like chrome I suppose… never a big draw for me… and sometimes can create glare issues on especially sunny days.  Also, while not a big fan, there are times when a voice notification would be welcome.   I’ve held off because previously they were rigidly defined.  Want the radio to say “charge my battery!”?  Sorry, the only message available is “low battery”.

Spektrum’s approach of putting an Android tablet functionality “up front” in the iX12 sounded like it would have some nice advantages and I haven’t yet needed channel 13 and up on my DX18… so after a bit of research I took the plunge.  Hey, it’s a hobby!  If I’m going to get a little closer to the “bleeding” edge of technology in some facet of my life, this is the place to do it.  So after some time with the radio here is what I have observed and what I’ve done so far.

So far, I have had zero issues… I am somewhat familiar with Android so I think I have avoided some of the odd issues that folks on some of the forums have reported.  I moved 16 models over from my DX18 Gen 1 and everything has worked great so far.  I’ve flown a couple small quads plus 4 or 5 indoor airplanes and other than messing with the spoken prompts, I haven’t modified my setups at all.  Generally, I like the look and feel of the mechanicals of the transmitter.  If you’ve ever handled a DX9, you will find much of this radio to be very familiar.  Some parts of the box are even better, like the back sliders (which I rarely use) being much smoother.  The UI is not yet totally intuitive to me but I’m getting accustomed to it quickly.  I am beginning to like the text to speech options though I wish the audio defaulted to all OFF.  Will probably build myself a template for future use to accomplish this.

The radio is not capable of terribly loud audio levels and some have complained about that.  It certainly is not capable of the same volume of the DX9… Of course folks complained about distortion with the DX9 so Spektrum may not have been able to win this one!  Volume is not an issue for me as I intended from day one to use a blue tooth headset as I hate hearing the constant chatter of audio from other folks radios while I’m trying to fly.  I like to hear my aircraft (and others) and all that chatter is distracting and irritates me after a while.  I also think it impedes communication with my fellow pilots as needed for safety so I love the blue tooth headset option afforded by the Android interface. 

In order to make the audio usable, not annoy my fellow pilots and maintain safety I intend to use a single earpiece.  I bought the Sentry BT950 so I can use whichever ear I like… So far I like how it sits on my neck and audio seems plenty loud.  I have a couple other Bluetooth sets so I can try some others if need be but this one is a nice cheap option I can afford to leave in my flight case.

I also picked up an inexpensive blue tooth keyboard and mouse (Logitech model K380 and model M535, refurbished).  Both paired up and worked right off.  One oddity that was noted in some of the forums was apparent immediately.  When used in conjunction with the iX12, the enter key doesn’t function as you would expect.  So far the esc key seems to function in place of the enter key for text entry.  I’d bet there is an app that would remap the keys for me but I’m OK with using the esc key for this purpose.  The mouse works great and even has a “gesture” button that can be used to do swipes and such so you can pull up the various “side” menus etc… I’ve only used the mouse and keyboard a bit during setup of new aircraft but so far it seems like a great alternative to using the screen based keyboard to create all the text to speech prompts, timer call outs etc…  Do I need them to accomplish this?  No, but I like to have the option for anything that is going to require much typing.  I don’t even like to send long texts on my touch screen Android phone so having a keyboard is a nice option for me.   All my blue tooth hardware total cost me $70 and I will use some of it for other things so in my mind they are cheap at the price and nice to have options.

I routinely pull pictures directly from the web using the Chrome browser on the radio to use as my icons in the model selection screens and downloading the updates from google play is a nice and familiar way to operate so the ability to connect to a WiFi network directly from the radio is another nice to have option.  All in all, I like the radio so far.  There have been complaints about some issues (minor for me) like the audio level, slower model selection than other radios (30 seconds to change models versus maybe 5-10 on most radios) and the fact that it takes about 2.5 minutes to go from powered down to fully functional the first time you power up at the field.  This last is something you adapt to fairly quickly.  Just turn it on when you get to the flying site.  By the time you get a plane or two out, all is ready to go.  During the day, simply double tap the power button and go into sleep mode after each flight.  Coming back to full power up from there is a couple seconds.  The battery will last all day using this routine. 

As I worked with the radio a bit there were a couple of additions I decided were worthwhile.  First, there is a company (Powerhobby) who sells vinyl wraps for the face of many transmitters including the iX12.  I have occasionally dropped something onto the face of my transmitters in the past and I thought maybe this might give it a bit of extra protection.   Also a little individuality never hurts… I already know of one other guy in the club who has an iX12 on order so now there won’t be any mistaking mine for his!  Installation of the vinyl was a bit tedious but not terribly so and I think the result is pretty nice.  Here is what mine looks like after the application.

In addition I quickly noticed that the touch screen was going to often get greasy and spattered, etc… so I decided to take the leap and try to find a good screen protector.  I have not had great luck with the cheap plastic sheets you get for cell phones… they either mute the sensitivity of the screen, cause visibility issues, etc…  so I looked for a glass cover for this use and actually found one sold through Radiocontronics.  It is made of something marketed as “AirGlass” and is apparently from a company called Brotect.  I hesitated to spend ~$24 with shipping for what looks like a highly hyped piece of plastic cut to shape… but I have been pleasantly surprised.

Installation was pretty straight forward.  Clean with supplied lens cloth and carefully drop into place.  Done.  So far I have to say the screen is every bit as responsive as ever, there are zero bubbles or imperfections and so far it seems to pick up less dirt and finger “grease” than the screen itself did.  I wish it were just a millimeter or so bigger in both dimensions than it is… there is a very fine line around the screen that is visible if you know what to look for but is probably not noticeable to anyone else.  That aside though, I have to say it is working as advertised and if it keeps all those microfine scratches off my screen that my DX18 seemed to accumulate regularly (and it wasn’t even touchscreen) than I will be ecstatic.

At around the $600 mark, I think there is a lot to like in this radio.  And yes, I am a bit of a Spektrum fan for which I make no apologies.  I have worked with several other brands like Futaba, Hitec, Airtronics, Multiplex , Graupner and a couple others I can’t even recall.  All of them have some interesting features and strengths but it is hard to beat the Spektrum value for the dollar, excellent support and good balance of feature set with ease of programming.  The iX12 leans toward the more complex end of their line of radios so it may not be the ultimate answer for those who are not smartphone savvy or that are just happy with their DX7s or 9 or whatever but I think I’m going to enjoy it for quite some time.  At least until the iX12 Gen 2… or iX18 or whatever hits the market next! 

 

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X1 Pro DC plus ePowerBox 17A Power Supply

I’m constantly updating and hopefully upgrading my RC gear and recently I decided I needed a new charger. The one I bought is the Hitec X1 Pro.  I bought it in combination with the Powerbox 17A power supply. 

Hitec RCD 61070 X1 Pro DC Multi-Charger E Powerbox 17 Combo

A couple of reasons I think the X1 Pro will serve my purposes.

1. Power
2. Portability

I have been doing some flying indoors as well as running an RC car at the local track and I found that my current charging options (a Hitec X4 CD charger and my PL6) just don’t fit the bill for a couple reasons. The Hitec is adequate for some needs but with only 50W power per channel it can be a bit slow for some needs and requires a DC power supply to run it which adds more weight and bulk… especially since all my 12V supplies are fairly heavy and large. The PL6 certainly has the power but it also needs a DC supply and it is a fairly pricey charger so I don’t like to drag it around very much for fear of damaging it. It usually stays in the airplane trailer or the shop.

After my buddy Corey picked up the combo X1 and power supply I had a brief look at it and decided it might be the solution. Power supply and all it is very small and is capable of charging at 180W! That means I can charge a 2S (for the car) at around 20A if I like! This could be a very quick charge for a single battery or I could charge several of my more common aircraft batteries at once with a parallel board.  Even with the power supply the unit is a <6″ cube so portability is excellent as well. Another bonus is it can discharge at 30W which is better than most chargers so getting down to storage charge when needed is quicker as well. Second bonus is the price for the package.  I have seen them from $130 to as low as $80 for the pair… Hard to beat even at the higher end of the price range.  So I brought one home today.

When you unbox the X1 and the power box you will find that you can connect the two with some nifty little double ended banana plugs.  They supplied 4… 2 are needed.  I suppose they will eventually wear out so having spares is a plus.  I removed the little rubber boot on the bottom of the X1 and plugged the two units together with the double ended bananas and presto, I had a fairly compact and powerful AC powered charger. 

In fact, it is compact enough that I don’t think I’ll be taking it apart anytime soon so I decided to come up with a way to keep them semi permanently attached in this configuration.  I can see where leaving it this way and packing and unpacking it might stress the bananas so here’s what I came up with.

First I loosened some of the cap heads on each side where they are closely adjacent on the two units.  Then I took some wire and bent it around in S curves such that tightening the screws would capture the wire.  Here’s a closeup.

I did this near all 4 corners and now the unit is practically one piece.  Since I used fairly small, semi-soft wire I can easily take this back apart if I decide I want to modify this setup later.  I may eventually make something more like a “latch” from servo arms or something but for now I think this will work well.

My only trepidation at this point is I need to find a proper box or padded bag to put the unit in to protect it when it’s in my car “satchel” where it might get rubbed against and scratched.

I have only run the charger a couple times so far but I am quickly getting accustomed to the controls (just a slight difference from most I have used). 

Finally, the first time I tried to pull the connection that goes to the balance board from the charger, I had real trouble releasing the catch.  There didn’t seem to be enough room between the connector and the case to release it and pull it out.  I almost pulled the connector right off the pins!  A razor knife took care of the pesky latch!   Nothing else I have needs a latch on this connection so I don’t think I’ll need it.

So far, I think the little X1 with the Powerbox 17A is going to be a welcome addition to the charging lineup around here.  I have seen some indications that they may soon do away with this charger and power supply!  I hope not as it seems to fill a niche for me and think others may be interested as well. 

 

 

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Dumas Windy… now “This sucker’s electrical!”

After swapping in the power system from an E-Flite Timber, the Windy seemed to be ready to go but then I started to notice what sounded like a stutter on startup and sometimes even at higher power settings.  I did some research and found a lot of speculation around causes. 

Some report that connection issues cause the problem.  It seems a poor connection on one of the 3 wires coming from the speed controller can be to blame.  Others claimed it was a setting in the speed controller (timing) that creates the issue.  As best I could determine the connections on the motor end seemed fine so I tried re-soldering the bullets on the speed controller, then replaced the wires entirely but neither made a difference.  Since the motor is fairly inexpensive, I decided to try that next and placed an order.

While awaiting the new motor, I did some research and tried to program the timing on the 40A ESC that comes in the Timber.  I didn’t consider this to be a very likely scenario as most Timber’s don’t seem to make this sound but I thought I’d give it a try.  Based on my experience… don’t bother!  I have programmed several brands and types in the past and I tried to follow the published directions to no avail.  After researching on-line, I have found that this is the experience of all but a lucky few with this ESC.  Remind me to bypass the E-Flite line of speed controllers in the future.

Unfortunately, in my experience, E-Flite tends to have an appalling lack of information on the products installed in many of their ARFs.  This makes it very difficult to pick an upgrade part or replace a failed component, especially in the case of a part that is difficult or impossible to acquire from the manufacturer.  I am quite fond of the “Power” line of motors however, but I usually stick to that product set and avoid the motors that come only as part of an ARF.  I only tried this one as it was so inexpensive.

In any case, after the new motor arrived I tested and found it made ZERO difference!  Back to the drawing board.  The next step was to get a new speed controller.  My “go to” on speed controllers has always been Castle Creations.  In my experience, not only has the quality of the Castle products been high, but they offer many features that your average ESC doesn’t come with.  With the Castle ESC, I can get real time or recorded telemetry, programming either through my radio or via a cable to my laptop plus features like a throttle cut switch.  Yes, they are one of the more expensive manufacturers but I think they are generally worth the extra dollars.  Of course I am always looking for a discount!

A few days later I found a good deal on a 50A Phoenix Edge.  With a little extra overhead in the current handling capability plus the ability to handle up to 8S, programmable setting concerning timing, braking, etc… along with telemetry capabilities, etc… (I like to be able to move my gear on to other projects down the road) I cashed in a gift card to help soften the blow and made the purchase.  

After soldering on the appropriate bullets and power connectors, I tested with the Castle and the motor purred like a kitten… or screamed like a vacuum cleaner gone berserk once the  prop was affixed!  Since this controller is not water proof I decided to take some precautions.  First I hid it away in the pod to shield it from most water and second I did a quick water resistant treatment with my handy bottle of Corrosion X.  I have had good luck with components treated with Corrosion X being dunked (complete submergence)  and continuing to run so it has become my go to for insurance against water damage.

Here’s the dunk process to apply the Corrosion X. 

   

Then I let it drain for 10 minutes or so.

After a quick wipe with a paper towel to remove some excess from the wires I nestled it in the top of the pod with some foam around it to keep things snug

Then I buttoned it all up and tucked the wires well away from the propeller!

In testing with a 4 cell battery, the Windy was able to taxi around on my short carpet in the shop and readily pick up speed and turn.   I am looking forward to getting some test runs on the snow and later at the pond.  Best guess is that I may have a bit more power than before… I’ll try to at least add a comment here after some testing.  Wish me luck!

 

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Tugster Tug Boat kit by ZippKits.com

During our sojourn to Toledo, Ohio for the annual weak signals show many of us picked up some new toys.  One of the items that found its way home with us was the ZippKits “Tugster” tug boat kit, purchased by my friend Steve.  He had the idea of building up the Tugster for use in aircraft retrieval.

Now, about 6 months later, the little tug boat has been assembled and prettied up for its big debut.  I think Steve put it all together in just the last couple weeks.  Here is the big launch.

From Steve’s description, the little tug went together quickly and fairly easily. And it appears to have good power!

Steve also reported that the Hardware Kit was quite complete and had pretty much everything needed minus the radio system (receiver and transmitter needed).

Here is a side by side with my Timber out on her floats for the first time.

The little boat seems to have quite a bit of power.  Certainly it easily shoved the Timber around!  The supplied batteries (2 x 6V 4.5AH batteries) needed only 450mah to recharge to full after out poking around at the pond for the better part of an hour the other night so it is hard to imagine recharge being needed during a day at the lake.

The Tugster may see some action here in a couple days as we have our club float fly this weekend.  We’ll see how she does as a real work boat.

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Telemaster 40 becomes glider tug

I recently installed a glider tow release into my Telemaster 40.  Partly I did this because I could and partly it was because I have a couple of fellow RC club members who own gliders that I have towed up before and I sold the old tow plane (the Carbon Cub) so felt like I needed to have a replacement.  The Telemaster sports an Electrifly .80 motor along with a Talon 90 speed controller.  This combo, powered by a 6S battery (usually a 4000 but now frequently a 4500mah) has a lot of pull to spare.  The Telemaster only weighs about 5.5 lbs ready to fly so pulling a couple pounds of glider is fairly effortless.

I found a nice release to use and with a little surgery it was firmly ensconced in my airplane.  Here are a few pics of the install.  

Here’s the unit I purchased.  This one is made by TopModel and is very stout but not extremely heavy.

I want to install it just ahead of this bulkhead near the trailing edge of the wing

To do that requires access to the other side so cut open the bottom…

Mounting it requires getting  a good grip on the nuts on the far side so forceps to the rescue!

 

And the construction of a tray for the servo to run the thing.

In my case I mounted this tray across the body with the servo shaft pointed toward the rear of the plane to give a nice straight up shot through the release.

Once the release is mounted, install the servo “tray” and cut the rod to length.

With a little radio magic, assigning a channel to a switch, setting endpoints etc… and you are all set.

Aside from getting access to mount it, nothing really difficult about the process.  It was easier to mount it just forward of the bulkhead near the trailing edge of the wing than to build out a bunch of new structure so that’s what I did.  It did necessitate notching into the trailing wing edge right at the root, but on this aircraft that is simple enough.   I was a bit concerned about whether it would hold up but based on this video it looks like we are in business.

 

https://youtu.be/fWAyZZC7gTA

 

As you can see, no all glider tows go smoothly.  One of the two KA-8s I was towing had some pretty nasty habits when in tow.  We are investigating but we are pretty sure either the wing or tail incidence is off or even variable due to damaged mounting hardware at the back of the wing.  It does make for some “exciting” flights for all concerned!!

I’m looking forward to more glider towing.  Using an electric plane makes this even easier as the preparation between flights is simple and while you are hooking up etc… you are burning very little “fuel” so more tows between “fuel stops”.  All in all this has been a success so far and I’m hoping for better tows in the future as both I and the glider pilots get more experience.  The tow release is working like a charm so far and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to get into this facet of the hobby.

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Flying the E-Flite Timber

I have been putting the majority of my flights lately on my E-Flite Timber.  It’s a rare trip to the field where I don’t run 4 or 5 batteries through it and some days I may do 10… especially on days when I just want to relax and not spend a lot of time assembling or hauling out the larger/more complicated stuff.

The airplane is just fun if you enjoy STOL and just slow relaxed flight as well as being a fair platform for basic loops, rolls, and other basic aerobatic maneuvers.  Since I added the multi-connex (see this article for details on those) to make it a two plug operation to connect the wing, getting it up and running is quick and easy.

Here is a video compilation of Timber flights to give you an idea of the flight envelope.  This includes looking forward/backward and out over the starboard wing over the course of several flights.

I have read thousands of posts outlining all the things that are “wrong” with the Timber and warning of dire consequences if you don’t “fix” the aircraft immediately upon assembling it.  For the most part, in my experience (we have 5 of these at our club right now) if you simply follow directions and assemble the plane according to directions it will fly wonderfully!  Even the battery tray favored by some, I find to be unnecessary and possibly even inconvenient/limiting as the battery compartment isn’t overly large to start with and this just uses up more room!  Loved that same concept in my Carbon Cub but not for me on this one.

There are a very few things that I would recommend doing to make things easier or avoid issues…  

  1.  The only critical issue I’d be concerned with is to check the prop balance.  Most will never have an issue if they don’t do this but I’m sure there are some that the prop is so badly out of balance that the airplane will destroy itself due to vibration.  If you run the motor and hear a lot of vibration noises… balance the prop.
  2. Do something (lots of choices) to make taking the wings on and off a bit easier like the connectors I mentioned earlier.  Some folks keep the wires attached and build holders that allow for easy transport in that mode.  Some don’t mind the wires as is.
  3. I did a wax job on my plane using floor wax.  This is excellent for keeping the plane clean and protecting the finish.  Not a necessity but helps with longevity.  I have an article on this here.
  4. Take the screws for the float pull-pull connections and hide them somewhere as soon as you find them.  They have a habit of disappearing, especially if stored on the airplane when not being used!
  5. Finally, I did not even try using the floats with the standard rudder linkage.   I had a similar setup on a previous plane and found both the “fishing line” pull system and the spring return to be problematic at best.  I removed one rudder and rigged the other for pull-pull using standard pull-pull braided cable just as I did on the previous plane.  If you want to read about that modification on the other plane you can find it here.

That’s about it. 

I fly mine without the optional slats right now… though I may add them later and really wish they were removable (sigh).  Reports vary widely but on a good 2200mah 3S, I average about 6 minute flights with 30-40% left in the battery at landing.  You can burn up a battery in 4 minutes on lots of throttle or you can coax it closer to 8 minutes if you are gentle… I’m measuring time spent above 20% throttle so actual flight time is usually a couple minutes longer.

In closing, this is quickly becoming my go to flyer for quick and easy flight.  It has a fairly wide flight envelope, is easy to assemble and transport and with the lights and floats, very versatile.  It may take the place of my Parkzone T28 as my “gotta have one” foamy.  Get one soon!

I will do another article soon on the SAFE and AS3X modes of this airplane and its included receiver.  For now I wouldn’t let that get in the way if you are interested in this airplane.  It won’t hurt you and it may be just what you’ve been looking for.  If you want to put your own receiver in it or turn all that off, that is possible as well and the plane flies well without it too!

 

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Re-Programming the AR636a in the E-Flite Timber (Part II)

Part I of this post is here.

When I reconfigured my Spektrum AR636A and reloaded code to make it into (essentially) a standard AR636 receiver and used it as a non-AS3X model by setting all the gains to zero… all was well.  But when I then decided to add back in some AS3X functionality in certain flight modes I overlooked one important plot point.  Luckily while reading some forum posts on the subject of the Timber in general one comment about reversing the servo direction got me thinking.  So I ran up to the shop and checked and guess what?  My elevator and aileron were responding exactly the opposite of what I would want when I tested the AS3X reaction to uncommanded roll and pitch movements!!  This could have been disastrous had I flown in this mode.

Here’s the problem.  When I went back to what I’m calling “standard” receiver mode with no gains so no AS3X functionality at all, I decided to treat this just like every other receiver.  I relied on my transmitter to make all servo adjustments including centering, movement direction and speed, expo etc…. That’s great in standard mode.  The problem comes when I decided to re-institute a switchable AS3X mode.  With the servos all set to standard (not reversed) and the servos reversed as needed (Aileron and Elevator) in the transmitter the stick command work fine.  But, when the AS3X is on and sees an un-commanded pitch change it command the elevator in the opposite direction.  Unfortunately since it does not know the transmitter is acting in reverse it command what it thinks is the opposite direction from the pitch but (the way these servos are connected and linkage attached) is simply more of the same!!  This would result in a sudden increase in whatever uncommanded pitch occurred.  I’m guessing the plane would try to loop… continuously.  For the ailerons a constant roll would likely have occurred and in my case both would have happened and things might have gotten ugly from there.  Of course I could have overridden those command but as soon as I neutralized the sticks it would have just reoccurred and we would have been off to the races again.

Honestly my only shot to control the plane might have been if I could have reached the switch to shut off the AS3X function in time.  Since this likely would have occurred quickly after launch… I imagine there would have been some unscheduled contact with the earth and a lot of cursing and gnashing of teeth!

Lucky for me I have been reading a lot of posts and so this came to mind before an ugly incident forced me to learn the hard way!  So lessons… 

  1.  When working with the AS3X receivers, servo reversing is best done “on board”
  2. Make sure you have a known good working flight mode to use when changing these things.  Take off in that mode and test up high in the air so you have time to switch back to the known good mode if anything seems amiss.
  3. Don’t trust anything you read or are told if the person telling you has not flight tested his tweek/update or whatever!

OK, so quit wasting your time reading on line and go fly!!  ðŸ™‚

 

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Re-Programming the AR636a in the E-Flite Timber

Please read Part II (located here) when finished with this post… it has vital information if you are reprogramming as I did!

After a dozen or so flights on the Timber I started thinking it was time to either replace the receiver with a non-SAFE/AS3X model or find a way to disable the SAFE mode (which I will never use) and be able to at least switch off the AS3X mode.  There is a fair amount of contradictory information out there and apparently there is no reliable way to tell which AR636A can be adjusted and to what extent.  Some, you can adjust the rate gain and priority but not the heading (this seemed to be the case on the Timber) while others apparently are locked down.  It wasn’t clear to me if I could setup the receiver from the Timber to keep the safe switch selectable as well as have multiple AS3X settings or not…  

I did find one place saying you could “upgrade” the code on some of these receivers and basically bring the receiver back to standard AR636 functionality.  Of course there are all sorts of warning that you are on your own if something goes wrong.  Since I’ve got a new receiver sitting on the bench ready for install… I decided to take the shot.

So I went into the Spektrum web site and registered my AR636 so I could download the code.  When the site took the serial number successfully I was heartened that just maybe this would work.  After viewing a few videos about how to program the receiver I decided to just go forward with sending the code and see what happened.  The software recognized the 636 SAFE receiver and allowed me to download the code.  To do this using a PC you will need the USB cable.

Here’s a link in case you decide you need one of these.

I immediately went in and changed a few settings and quickly thereafter the SAFE mode was lost for good!  No big loss for me… would be nice to be able to reactivate that somehow just in case I wanted to sell this plane but it seems unlikely I would do that… it will likely crash or be cannibalized at some future point.  Hopefully thousands of flights from now.

I now have all the settings set to zero gain for all three (switch selectable) modes… as well as taking away a couple servo reversing settings.   So I have effectively converted the the 636a to a dumb standard receiver!  Well actually it seems to be equivalent to a 636 now with expo, channel assignment and reversing and all the “gyro” settings available.  I can see where this would be really nice for someone with an inexpensive radio that didn’t have all the expo, assignment etc… already available.  For now I’ll just use it as a standard receiver and be happy with that.  Looking forward to flying the Timber without the stabilization to see how it goes.  Will be nice to see what the air frame and my skills can do without any help from the receiver.

Eventually I may re-institute some of the stabilization settings on a switch in case I want to do some “poor condition” flying and need a safety net or perhaps if some other folks want to get a flight or two in on a stabilized aircraft.  I kept an export of the original settings so hopefully, I can go back and re-import the original settings if I want to.

Looking forward to getting a flight or two on it soon to test it out.

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E-Flite Timber

While most of my money and efforts have lately gone into a large electric Aerobat, I still love to have some simple, easy and fun to fly aircraft in the hangar as well for those times when time is limited or perhaps the trailer isn’t making the trip… something I can easily throw in car with a hand full of batteries and go fly for just an hour or two that is fun to fly and easy to transport as well as being economical.

After seeing a couple of Timbers showing up at the field and being forced to fly them a couple times I thought it might be time to expand my fleet in this area.  The floats being included and the ability to fly using the most common battery I have (2100-2700 3S lipo) combined with a reasonable price made it even more tempting.  My original T28 is my go to in this area but while it is a great flyer, STOL and rough field handling are not among its virtues.

I initially went looking for the PNP as I’m not typically a big fan of AS3X (or gyros of any sort) in a plane that is already large enough and stable enough to handle most conditions with only modest input from the pilot, but my local shop had a BNF at the price of the PNP and no BNF models in stock so I picked it up.  Here’s a link in case you need one!

My first thought was to simply pull the receiver and drop in a non AS3X model before I even put a battery in the thing, however that plan was foiled when I picked up the wrong receiver at the hobby store so I decided to leave it be for now.  In fact, what I did was to go out on my first flights with a completely stock setup.  Since I have a DX18, I followed the instructions in the manual for the switchable SAFE select mode and the only other option I chose was to NOT install the slats at this point.  With those choices made, my first trip to the field was destined to be purely stock.

Before I get to the flying, let me talk about fit and finish, ease of assembly, etc…  First, the Timber is NOT a scale plane… there is no full scale version of this plane.  It is designed from the start as purely an RC craft so there is no comparison to how it looks versus the “real” plane.  This is as real as it gets!  So best comparisons are to other foamy type airplanes.  So here is the good and the bad for the model I got.

First, the edges of the plane in many places had what I would call “excess foam”.  Ever overfill the waffle iron?  Then you know what I’m talking about.  Glue also appeared in some places beyond where you would want it and I saw a few spots where there didn’t appear to be any that I would have thought would have had it…  On the aircraft itself, there were quite a few dings, dents and scratches.  None very bad, no crushing or gouges that were worth worrying about in my book at least.  Not the prettiest finish, but nothing that would affect flight.  Unfortunately, the floats didn’t fare as well.  One of the floats had a spot where it had been crushed with the tape that was wrapped around the packing that contained it and the whole aft end of the float is warped downward 10-15 degrees from that point back!  It looks like they were maybe wrapped while the foam was still warm and pliable??  That float is back at the hobby shop awaiting replacement.

All of this is disappointing as it just seems to indicate either a lack of concern or effort on the assembly line and a lack of quality control… or perhaps its just not something the Horizon team cares about.  Yes, I know it’s only a ~$250 plane… made of foam… etc… etc… but I’m a believer that you just don’t do things half way or with lower quality when doing it right just isn’t that hard…  I’m not even sure it would really cost much either.  There are other products from E-Flite that exhibit NONE of these issues out of the box.  Why not this one?  Again, I am talking fit and finish here.  Other than the float damage, none of this is worrisome when it comes to flight.

I went through the manual and easily programmed my DX18 with the recommended settings and everything worked as advertised.  All I added was the use of the throttle cut, assigned to my usual switch and that part was all ready.

The one issue I found that did concern me as far as flying and staying together was the way the motor felt and sounded out of the box.  When I turned the prop, it felt and sounded like there was something dragging occasionally or a bearing with a high spot or ????  I took the nose apart, removed the motor, examined it, blew some air through it, etc… Found nothing.  From here on, I’m counting on Horizon’s great service if something untoward occurs.  On to flying…

For a maiden flight, the day was… pretty much crap!  The wind was somewhat across the runway (not down it as we all hope for) and was a solid 10-15 with gusts to 20, maybe 25.  I stalled, did some battery charging etc… and then when the wind appeared to be  dropping a bit, I went out and took her up.

For the first flight I kept the plane in the full SAFE mode and it handled the wind phenomenally well.  I have to say it was fun and I forgot about the fit and finish issues and even that I was in safe mode for a minute or two… until I tried to pull a loop… tried again… Ahh!!!  SAFE mode!  SAFE from fun for me… 🙂

It appeared anything beyond about 60-75 degrees of aileron bank or more than “almost” vertical  in pitch are prohibited by the SAFE system.  That’s not a terrible thing… probably very helpful for a new pilot and much better than some of the settings I’ve seen on previous aircraft that were so limited they seemed almost uncontrollable due to lack of authority on the surfaces!  Some are so limited that they are hard to fly in any wind as they take forever to turn due to lack of available throw.  Not so the Timber.  It was still very controllable and with the added stabilization it handled the wind very well.

I quickly found the SAFE switch and shut that off and was now very able to maneuver the Timber and do all sorts of rolls, loops etc… some wind gusts aided in some new “unnamed” maneuvers… par for the course with this kind of gusty conditions, but recovery was quick and easy… .

I even added SAFE back in for the first landing and it was remarkably smooth considering the breezy conditions.  I’m not a big proponent of using this type of aid on a regular basis but I’m OK with it if it allows a pilot to get in the air and back down again (you can always turn it off when that nasty, hard ground is far enough below) as nothing beats actual stick time to make you a better pilot.  Once you can do good landings with SAFE, I’d encourage switching it off and preceding to do these landings with only AS3X enabled.  Continue the progression and eventually you can do the same things with no aid at all.  Then you are really flying.  It doesn’t hurt to have some level of safety blanket, as long as you don’t allow it to impede your progress.  That’s assuming you want to progress to completely controlling your Timber or controlling other aircraft that may not have these abilities.

Over the next week I was able to get out on two more occasions.  Both times were the last few hours of daylight and both involved quite a bit of wind.  I’m mostly flown with SAFE off but the AS3X still at factory settings.  I must say the little Timber is a very capable STOL aircraft and I have spent most of my time during each flight (usually 5 minutes on a 2200mah and 7 with a 2700) over the course of probably 15 flights, doing lots of touch and go’s, landings and takeoffs with all combination of flap settings and wind conditions.  I have thoroughly enjoyed flying this little plane.  I’ve also managed extended flight while inverted, stall turns, loops, rolls, teardrops, immelmans, split S, etc…

Here she is while still stock right before it got to dark to fly at all… about 9:30PM in mid-June in Indiana.

As you can see, those lights are quite bright and they gave me confidence to fly for 30 minutes or so each evening when I would have never put anything else in the air!  Love the light package… it really adds a dimension to flying the Timber that wasn’t available with my other aircraft.

I noticed after 10 flights or so… hadn’t checked earlier… that my motor has apparently smoothed out.  No grinding or catches when it runs now.  Hope that means I will escape any motor problems.

Next, I intend to see about reprogramming the AR636A so I can fly the Timber without stabilization.  My flying buddy Gary has one with a standard non-AS3X receiver and it seems to fly well so I’m anxious to see how much of what I’ve experienced is basic air frame design and how much is the AS3X system helping out.  In other planes I’ve flown with AS3X, it always seems to me that there is something a little odd about how they fly.  To locked in or a bit “stiff” feeling like the plane is just not quite making the mistakes I normally expect to see when I fly!  So far the Timber hasn’t left that impression but I want to honestly fly the bird and see what it’s like.  There is a bit of contradictory information out there about whether it is possible to reprogram a 636a or not.  If not, it may be time to move to a non-AS3X receiver.  I don’t expect that stabilization is probably necessary for this craft to fly well, so looking forward to that.

Also looking for a way to make the slats a quick install/remove.  I have not used them at all yet, but I’d like to try without a permanent installation.  I have an idea for stiffening and using some magnets…  more to come.

Finally, I will likely soon do some adjustments to the control surface throws, similar to what I’ve done on others like my ParkZone T-28… which is to say maximum available throws without modifying anything and adding expo to keep things smooth.  I especially would like to have more rudder as knife edge flight is pretty sad at this point.

All in all, so far the Timber is a nice flying, if not highest build quality, aircraft.  I’m looking forward to many more fun evenings in the twilight!  Time to try to make a few adjustments and see how it works.

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Extreme Flight Laser 200 – First flights and Telemetry reports from the speed controller

Saturday was my first 2 flights on the new Extreme Flight Laser 200.  It’s not even quite “finished” but I deemed if safe to fly and took it out for the clubs “Electric Only Fly”.

All I can say is WOW!  The plane flew very well with perhaps 2 clicks of aileron trim and nothing else…  I need to experiment with balance as I think I had the batteries a bit to far forward as the nose wanted to fall  during inverted flight or inverted 45 degree up lines… but otherwise the Laser drew a line just like it’s namesake.  It also flew light while still handling a bit of wind without issues. The smooth power from the 35cc Xpwr/Castle 120HV and 12S 4500 45C Pulse battery setup was awesome to behold.  Using a Xoar 20×10 for these first flights and the prop noise is minimal.  I love being able to hear that and the air over the air frame instead of the din of a gas motor.

The 4500mah Pulse batteries seem to be able to give me about 7 minutes of mixed IMAC style flying and time to land with 35% or so of capacity left over… which is sufficient though I might wish for a tad more flight time.  I’m thinking of moving to 5000s as the plane only weighs 11lbs 4oz +/- so I think an extra 4-6oz of battery pack wouldn’t make a big difference.

A new item of note that I am running in this bird is the Castle Creations Telemetry Link for Xbus.  Here’s a link if you have to have one after reading this:

This nifty gadget feeds back information like the current draw, voltage, watts, RPM and FET temperature based on information directly from the speed controller.  Getting all this information from a standard Spektrum telemetry setup required a lot more work and several sensors that cost a lot more than this module.  Based on the information it provided I was able to get pretty graphs like this out of my telemetry viewing program on my PC:

Some interesting information can be had by examining this data closely… for instance at on peak point during the flight, the motor was pulling around 86 Amps!  This was at a point just a minute or two before landing and this caused the battery to sag to about 40.5 Volts.  At this point the prop was turning slightly above 11,300 rpm!  At another point after some sustained mid-throttle flight, the FET on the speed controller reached 145 degrees Fahrenheit.  The reported max power was just over 3600 watts!  For this light an aircraft that is almost insane… which is fine with me!  I’m not in full throttle very often and certainly won’t need to be with this bird.  To quote an old friend “To much power is almost enough.”

The FET temp reading tells me that the 20×10 Xoar is not over stressing the electrical system when flown in this manner though the RPMs seem a bit high so perhaps the 21×10 or 22×8 that I have may be more suitable.  It will be fascinating to run those and get some comparison data.  This kind of data is priceless when you consider it is going to allow me to choose a propeller that maximizes speed or torque or battery life as I see fit and to insure that I’m keeping the power system in a “happy place” while doing so.  Not having to worry about the health of that system is going to keep money in my pocket (not buying more components to replace the burnt out ones!) and give me one less thing to be concerned about.  That makes me happy.

I will update some more and do some comparisons as I try out more/different prop choices.  I’m really hoping the 22×8 works well as I’m thinking that it will give me more low end pull and less speed overall (which is fine with me) while giving me a bit more down line braking effect…  time will tell.

So far, I’m loving the information this little module provides.

I’m also using the arming lockout key from Castle.  This little gadget signals the speed controller to enter the lockout state whenever the key is inserted into the socket.  It’s another layer of security for the very powerful motor and attached prop.  Between this and the throttle cut I have programmed into my transmitter, I feel much more safe plugging in the two 6S packs!  This system is nearing the 5HP level and spinning a 20 inch prop at 11000 plus RPM.  What that can do to unprotected hands, arms, legs, etc… is worth considering.  An extra measure of safety is always welcome.

 

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