Well, with the help of some transparent duct tape to cover my ESC on the bottom of the plane from the snow, I managed to get the maiden of my FRC Foamies F15 MK2 completed... :)
This plane is amazingly smooth and stable. When I launched it, I needed about 1 click of up trim and two clicks of right trim and it was solid as a rock! It tracks like it is on rails and holds it's energy very well, with throttle at 50% or higher, there is absolutely no nose drop in the turns.
I had no problems with zooming at full throttle, the nose just buried itself and it zipped straight ahead, so that is a relief as I was worried I might have to tweak my motor tilt to compensate for the extra lift the F15 body provides.
It looks and flies very, very scale. I played around a bit with the expos and throws, but I think I will leave it with this setup for smooth, scale flying
- rudder - 50% expo, 75% throws;
- elevator - 55% expo, 85% throws; and
- aileron - 60% expo, 70% throws.
In the roll axis, I like to keep the expo up a bit more and the throws down, helps me make smoother turns and prevents overbanking.
I did some speed runs and clocked some pretty respectable speeds on a 3S battery, 74/76/77 and a top speed of 79 mph clocked on the HK Data logger app on my phone. It stayed rock solid stable at high speed, no zooming or torque roll, so I am excited to see what it will do on a 4S... :)
Due to the extra lift of the body, it flies and feels much "lighter" than I expected since I am sure the wing loading is reduced somewhat by the lifting body carrying some of the load, making it even easier to fly smoothly and solidly.
I am sure that with a lighter build than I did, a lighter power setup would work just fine, but this just seems to be the type of plane that deserves the raw horsepower of the NTM Prop Drive 2700 motor on a 6x4 APC prop...:)
All the mods and extra reinforcements I made seemed to work out really well, I didn't notice any wing flex at all and other than a little waffling when I got a bit too slow in a turn, it is exceptionally stable. I didn't really explore the slow speed regime of this plane, but quite honestly it just looks and flies so well at 50% throttle or higher, I'm not sure I will be testing those aspects of it's flight envelope.
This is an exceptionally well designed parkjet, I am very, very happy with how it flew, it is definitely an improvement both in looks and performance over the F15 MK1 in my humble opinion :)
Here is some video of one of my flights today. Not the best quality, but there is just something about the planform of an F15 in the sky that says "Air Power"...:)
Cheers,
Scott
Great blog!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading through all your posts and you have definitely got some great info (and paint jobs).
Any suggestions for a pretty good power set up? I was thinking maybe the 2700ntm with a 6x4 prop, 3s 2200 25-50c nanotech and a 50 amp esc. Do you think that would cut it, (or is the 50 amp esc overkill)?
The NTM Prop Drive 2700 with a 6x4 APC is what I am using on this plane, great choice. I would go with a 60A ESC for this motor, I have bench tested several of them and they can regularly pull up to 60A, despite what the HK website says. If using a 2200 battery (which I would recommend at minimum, it will give you about a 5 minute flight with lots of wide open throttle), I would go with a minimum of 35C discharge to ensure you have enough amps to feed this motor, otherwise you can puff your batteries up fairly easily if the C rating is too low. If you haven't ordered the NTM Prop Drive yet, ensure that you order the accessory pack so you can mount the prop http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=16719
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the kind words and I'm glad this info is helpful to you. Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott
Thanks for your input Scott. Will definitely take your advice.
DeleteKeep up the good work!
Len
Sure, no problem, Len, glad to be of help. Good luck with your builds and thank you very much for the kind feedback... :)
DeleteCheers,
Scott