After waiting out the weather, I managed to get some flying in with my Su35 MK2!
This plane in this configuration flies rock solid awesome! In all speed regimes (especially top speed) it just tracks like it is on rails even in a wind. I detected no torque roll once I go the trim sorted out. Anytime I just flew thumbs off straight and level, it just stayed going exactly where I pointed it with negligible wobble or bad habits.
The smaller elevons still gave plenty of authority, but I had less "washout" or "fishtailing" in crosswind turns. With ailerons and elevons working together, rolls and turns were crisp and scale, even with only 70% throws. I found I preferred the ailerons and elevons working together when the wind was up as I had just that extra authority and stability. The main thing I did like was that with the smaller surfaces and other stability factors going on I was able to drop the expo down on both the roll and pitch by about 20% each and ended up with a better "feel" for my plane.
In my excitement to get flying I forgot to take any 2200 batteries to give me that extra wind stability, but I didn't really need them. I found this Su35 with this configuration flew as well in the wind as my stock one did with the extra weight of a 2200 battery and empty this plane and my old one are identical in weight. Unfortunately I no longer have my old one as too many "gonks" forced it into retirement.
It also felt much more stable and smooth in another very important phase of flight...approach to landing, very smooth and stable even with a wind.
The extended Kfs and kicked out vertical stabs might be causing a tiny bit of drag, but I will take a small loss of top speed for increased stability any day!
I noticed no problems with tip stalls or thrust vectoring stalls, the two areas where I tended to get myself into trouble with my old stock Su35 MK2, so I am very happy with that.
I have a lot going on here with all these mods and after only 9 flights it is tough to tell "what is doing what", but no matter, all these changes just work so darn well together, if I never figure it out, I'm not worried, it just works!
I have considerably more testing I want to do, but mostly different control surface configurations with the aileron being used as spoilers, flaps, spoilerons and flaperons, better to do those on a calmer day perhaps.
So lots of fun to test out a few different things on this amazing plane and nice to be able to soften and stabilize it a bit to allow me to keep up with it a little better... :)
Here is a walkaround and maiden flight video I shot yesterday. The flight portion is not the best, mostly white plane gets washed out against a white/grey sky quite a bit... :/
Cheers,
Scott
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