RC POWERS V3 SIZE PLANES AND WEIGHT

Hi everyone -

I have been doing quite a bit of flying and testing with 4 of my planes in recent weeks, the RC Powers F18 and Mig29 V3s and the FRC Foamies Su37/35 MK2s.  I have been trying to fly my planes in a more scale manner, smooth turns, aerobatics, pin point rolls, that sort of thing and have discovered that all these planes being a little heavier helps make this type of flying easier.

With a 2200 Mah battery, these 4 planes are in the 20.5 to 21.5 weight category.  I do lose some top end speed, with the Mig for example I lose about 10 mph over using a 1600 Mah battery, but the flying and handling feels much smoother to me at the heavier weight.  I have written that with the F18 I have always felt that about 21.5 oz is my favorite weight for handling, aerobatics and high alpha, so not much change there.

I know at one time I published my thoughts on having a wing loading of 6.4 oz/sq ft on the F18/Mig 29 and F22 seemed to be an ideal place to be, but now it seems that even though the wing loading on the 4 planes mentioned above won't be the same, they all handle more smoothly and more scale at weights above 20.5 oz in my opinion.

I also think that this performance has much to do with the power setup that I use, that is the Focal Price 2700Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop.  This is by far my favorite motor for all the V3 size planes.  I do build a few with the NTM Prop Drive, but overall I personally like the FP 2700 motor the best.  It weights about the same as all the other popular parkjet 2200 Kv motors like the Turnigy D2826/6 and the RC Timer 2212/6, but has 8-10 more ounces of thrust.  I do like to use a heavier (40A) ESC with this motor than would be required with the Turnigy or RC Timer motors, but I have found with experimentation a 40A works the best.

Getting about 36 oz of thrust from this motor, my thrust to weight ratios in the 20.5-21.5 oz range is about 1.7:1 which still gives pretty decent top end speed, but the pop and acceleration for aerobatic is what I really like as well as at 50% throttle I have a thrust to weight ratio of almost 1:1, so that is great overall performance.

The nice thing about this 20.5-21.5 oz range is that the planes fly smooth and stable in just about all conditions.  The RCP Mig29 V3 and the FRC Su35 MK2 handle very well in windy conditions up to about 15 mph/25 km/h at this weight, so that allows me to fly in almost any situation.

Granted there are calm days when I just love to put the lighter battery in there and really rip around the skies, but for overall smooth, scale flying, I have found this to be a great weight for these planes.  Good stability, good penetration through the air and smoother handling and with the 2200 Mah battery, slightly longer flights as well.

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS F18 V3 HIGH ALPHA MARATHON

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, I was doing a lot of work trying to improve my high alpha skills with my workhorse F18 V3 that I had used to test all my motors with.  I tested 8 motors in total with this plane, but now with testing over, I have returned to my favorite parkjet motor for this size plane, the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop.

We had been having a lot of very still days with nice cool, dense air and the day before I shot this video I tried to fly for a full five minutes non stop in high alpha and missed it by five seconds!  So that was kind of bugging me, so I set myself up to try and fly high alpha for the entire life of my lipo battery which is normally about 7 minutes 15 seconds.  It is not always the greatest quality high alpha in the world, but I think it turned out pretty well and it was fun trying to keep it like that for such a long time.

I measured my angle of attack and it is about 40 degrees for the most part (this is a rough measurement as I froze the frame and measured it on the screen).  Once I tried to get about 10 degrees higher than that in angle of attack and the wing rock started to become pretty severe.  This plane does high alpha so well if the CofG is per the plans.  My other F18 has the CofG about an inch behind plans and does not high alpha as well.  It does other maneuvering and aerobatics better than this one, but not high alpha.

Anyway, it was fun to try out this marathon and satisfying to fly the entire battery at high alpha!

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES SU37 AND SU35 MK2 FLYOFF

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, I did a flyoff between these two planes.  They are essentially the same plane, the Su35 is a mod of the original Su37 plans without canards, modified intake and slightly angled on the top of the horizontal stabilizers.

I built these two planes pretty much identical from a standpoint of servos, power plant, etc, both have Kf4 airfoils.  I did not activate the canards on the Su37, rather I left them static to give me a little lower wing loading and for the aesthetic value.

For this test, both planes weighed the same, I went as far as setting the throws and expos in all three axes the same as well and did my best to fly all maneuvers with the same amount of stick movement so that I could evaluate the differences in handling and aerobatic response.

I tried to fly maneuvers as scale as possible, in other words not wild aggressive tumbles, drill rolls, etc.

If I had one word to describe the Su37, it would be smooth, I think the extra lift of the canards helped make it a bit more smooth and stable in turns and the pitch.  Loops were very smooth and round with only about half deflection.  

The Su35 could be described as aggressive.  It turned just a little sharper and in the pitch with the same amount of stick deflection, it really "dug in it's heels" in loops, making them more elliptical than round compared to the Su37.

A few days later, I tested them both again (no video this time) in fairly windy conditions, winds were between 12-15 mph 20-25 km/h.  I found the roles almost to be reversed in the wind.  I increased the weight on both by using a 2200 Mah battery, but I found that the Su37 was more of a handful in the wind perhaps due to the canards, it got bounced around a lot more and was more susceptible to being caught by the wind in turns.

The Su35 was surprisingly stable in the wind, it did get bounced around a bit, but I found it more predictable than the Su37.

Both are amazing planes and fun to fly, but since I am not really a canard kind of guy, I will probably stick with building the Su35 in the future.  I also prefer it's more classic look as it looks more like it's predecessor the Su27/Su30.  I will continue to fly the Su37 on a regular basis, but not so much on windy days.  

Great little planes to fly!

Cheers,

Scott

25 OZ RC POWERS MIG29 V3 ON 4S

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, I finally got around to testing my 25 oz Mig29 V3 on a 4S.  I built this plane a little heavier and stronger to withstand the punishment of the NTM Prop Drive motor and was excited to try it out on 4S.

I clocked it at 102 mph on my HK Data Logger on my phone :)  It was very stable at that high speed, a little susceptible to torque roll and it zoomed a little bit once the motor wound right out, but other than that it was very solid.  It didn't seem to be right on the edge of coming apart like my first speed Mig I built did.

The Mig29 V3 is truly an exceptional plane!

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS F22 V1 POST FLIGHT REPORT

Hi everyone -

I am very, very happy with how this amazing little plane flies!  It still has a little of the characteristic "tail wag" tendency that the F22 V2 and V3s have, but it is a real joy to fly in this configuration.

I built and flown it once before, elevons only, far too heavy, I am actually lighter with this plane with a 2200 battery and 6 servos!  Build techniques have come a long way!

I found aerobatics to be very smooth and crisp, speed is not that great, but I think if I trim out some of the nose section where it goes into the intakes, it will be more streamlined.  Also I think the prop slot needs to be opened back further, I can hear the air being forced over the back deck between the vertical stabilizers.

It does not have the "floatiness" of the V2 and does not have the crazy slow speed instability of the V3.  It still likes to be kept going fast, 50% throttle or better, but it is a real joy to fly.  I would have to say in this configuration it is my favorite F22 that I have built and flown... :)

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS F22 V1

Hi everyone -

I was cleaning up my work area a couple months ago and found a copy of the plans for the RC Powers F22 V1.  Having also found some templates that Scott Lott of RC Powers made for rudders, ailerons and Kfs, I decided to give this great little plane an "upgrade" and build it again with all these mods added.

I extended the Kfs on the top all the way up to the intakes.

My build -

• 6mm depron with 4mm paperless dollar store foam for Kf4 airfoils.  Construction primarily with Foam Tac glue, with dabs of hot glue, epoxy, Gorilla glue and 3M Super 77 spray adhesive where needed;
• Power setup is the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with 6x3 EMP prop, Turnigy Plush 40A ESC and I normally run a 2200 Mah battery in it for CofG, CofG ended up being right on as per the plans.  AUW with battery is about 21.5 oz;
• using a 6ch receiver compatible with my Turnigy er9x, rudders connected with Y harness, elevons and ailerons all have their own channel; and
• all leading edges bevelled and sanded as well as a good sanding all over the plane, paint is acrylic craft paint from the dollar store/Walmart/Michael's.

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES SU35 MK2

Hi everyone -

Lots of catching up to do!  About two months ago I built the FRC Foamies Su37 and Su35 MK2s.  Plans available here Su37 and Su35 MK2 plans, please donate if you download.

I had previously built the Su35 MK2, but built it way too heavy and it never flew properly, way too twitchy, very susceptible to torque roll, never really enjoyed flying it much.

Anyway, I wanted to try it again using much lighter build techniques and a lighter power setup.

My build -

• 6mm depron with 4mm dollar store foam board for Kf4 airfoils, bulk of the construction done with Foam Tac glue with a few dabs of epoxy, hot glue, Gorilla Glue and 3M Super 77 glue here and there as well;
• wing spar is 4mm carbon rod, elevons reinforced with 3mm carbon tube;
• power setup is the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop, Turnigy Plush 40A ESC, normally I fly with a 1600/1800 battery, weight is about 19.5 oz, or in windy conditions I fly with a 2200, weight is about 21 oz;
• receiver is a 6 ch compatible with my Turnigy er9x, six servos, rudders are connected with Y harness, elevons and ailerons each have their own channel; and
• paint scheme is based on Kazakhstani Air Force paint scheme, all leading edges bevelled and sanded, paint is acrylic craft paint from the Dollar Store/Walmart/Michael's. 

Here is some flight video of it

In a future post, I will post video and post flight reports on a flyoff I did of the Su37 and the Su35 MK2s.

Cheers,

Scott