RC POWERS T50 V1 BUILD AND MAIDEN COMPLETE

Hi everyone -

I'm playing a little bit of catch up here today... :)  The build and maiden of my RC Powers Sukhoi T50 PAK FA V1 are complete.  Plans are available here for $9.99  http://www.rcpowers.com/community/threads/rcpowers-t-50-v1.10082/

It is the blue and white one in the picture above.  First I will discuss my build and then talk about how it flies.

My build -

• 6mm depron for the main airframe with 4.5mm paperless dollar store foam for the Kf airfoils.  Construction is primarily with Foam Tac glue with a few dabs of hot glue, epoxy, Gorilla Glue and 3M Super 77 spray adhesive;
• Power setup is the NTM Prop Drive 2700 with 6x4 APC prop, Turnigy Plush 60A ESC, 2200 3S 40C discharge battery;
• controls are elevons and ailerons, I used 9 gram metal gear servos for the elevons from RC Timer and 9 gram nylon gear servos for the ailerons also from RC Timer.  Hinges on the elevons are Foam Tac and mesh drywall tape, hinges on the ailerons are Foam Tac with a piece of mesh tape at each end of the aileron hinge line for extra strength;
• all leading edges are bevelled and sanded, paint is acrylic craft paint from the dollar store/Walmart/craft store; and
• AUW with a 2200 battery is 667 grams/23.5 oz, thrust to weight is approximately 1.8:1 and wing loading is approximately 8.4 oz per sq ft.

Based on some suggested mods from colorc of the RC Powers forum and other ideas I also had, I made the following mods to the plan -

• moved the motor mount about 3/4" inch forward, I just left the back edge of the motor mount where it was on the plans and then cut it straight across and bevelled it to give the prop lots of room to breathe;
• I made the vertical stabs about 1/2" taller;
• I put Kf4 airfoil on it and extended the top airfoil all the way into the fuselage and forward along the intake;
• since my ultimate plan was to put the NTM Prop Drive 2700 motor on this plane, I reinforced the wing and back end significantly with carbon fibre; and

• I trimmed the engine "nozzles" to look a bit more scale rather than the squared off look.

I am very, very impressed with how well this plane flies.  As many others on the RC Powers website posted before me, it does like to be kept fast, but with the speed set just right, I was very surprised with how stable yet responsive it is.

I am still working on the hand launches, it is a bit trickier than some planes.  I haven't quite found the perfect match of throttle and toss angle but 5 out of 8 takeoffs were good, the others well...exciting... :) as it torque rolled or was very unstable until sufficient air got flowing over the wings and vertical stabs.  But once it got up to speed it was very stable even in a little bit of wind.  But fortunately the "RC Gods" were with me and no incidents, so it is completely intact to fly another day.

I found it very crisp in the loops and rolls.  I actually have only about 3/4" travel on the elevators up and down for a total of 1.5" and about the same in the roll axis.  Aileron travel is about 3/8" which gives great authority for turns and rolls.  These numbers equated to about 70% throw in both the elevator and aileron channels in my transmitter and I think they will stay there.  More throw than that and it would be too much in my humble opinion.

It is fast even at half throttle with the NTM Prop Drive 2700 motor.  I was cruising at half throttle at about 45 mph (based on my HK Data Logger app on my phone).  At full throttle it is fast and appears faster because of it's small size, but it's top speed of 86 mph is still a bit slower than the Mig29 V3 and the FRC F15 MK2 which are between 1.5 and 3 oz heavier.  I think from how it felt and looked I was pushing it right up to it's drag limit.  Perhaps 4S will push it a little bit faster...so time to try that out next time.  One really cool thing was I think the air gets going through those shallow intakes and makes a really cool, deep "howling" sound...Always like it when my planes go fast enough to make noise other than the sound of the prop and motor (as long as it is not the sound of the plane self destructing...).

What I was impressed with was how stable it stayed at full throttle, no noticeable torque roll or zooming or diving at top speed, it just stayed straight, level and fast at full throttle.  I tried a couple times slowing it down and found that one it was down about 40% throttle it just was not a happy park jet, it wobbled and wing rocked and generally started to behave like a toddler about to throw a tantrum, but give it a little candy (throttle... :)) and it got very happy again.  There was a bit of a breeze today, about 5-7 mph and it handled quite well, there was the expected "tail wag" like the F22 does in a bit of wind, but not as pronounced as I found the F22 V1 in the wind.  I actually found this plan with the speed up at 50% throttle or higher to be quicker, more agila and more stable than the F22 V1, but then as the speed bled off and it got slow, it was not as stable as the F22 V1.

The sky was a bright blue but that contrast of white and darker blue in my paint scheme helped me keep track of it very easily.  It is a paint scheme loosely based on a paint scheme I found for one of the first prototypes of this plane.  It was a bit tricky to do with all the masking to keep lines straight, but I think turned out really well.

As I started to dial it in, I found I moved the battery back quite a bit and ended up with my CofG about 1/2 to 5/8" behind stock.  Luckily, I seemed to have hit the jackpot on the roll balance by putting my 60A ESC right of centreline just behind the canopy as I needed no trim in the roll axis.  In the picture below, the pen shows where the stock CofG is and the tip of the screwdriver shows where my current CofG is.

Approaches to land were fairly fast and hot, so I needed a little more room for approach and landing than with some planes.  I chopped the throttle at about 8-10 ft in the air and let is slow and glide down with it's own sink rate keeping the wings level until I was just in ground effect and then about a foot or so off the ground, a gentle flair and it slid in nicely for a smooth landing on the grass.  Very impressed with that, but getting too slow on approach with this plane I think would be welcoming a lot of trouble as it did like to misbehave when it got slow.

So other than the fact it is not a plane that likes to to slow, I give this plane a 10 out of 10 for cool factor!  It looks and handles awesome in the air, goes fast and makes very cool noises when you really get it wound out.  Can't wait to see what it will do on 4S... :)

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES F15 ON 4S IS FAST!

Hi everyone -

Had a couple of "heavyweight contenders" out at the field today, my 25.6 oz FRC Foamies F15 MK2 and my 25 oz RC Powers Mig29 V3.

I managed to have some 4S (4 cell) fun with my F15 today, but a bit of a "fail" on my part as I forgot to get video of it.

I am happy to report that the F15 on 4S is FAST!  I clocked 4 good speed runs on HK Datalogger of 96/93/92 and 90 mph as the battery ran down.  Not quite as fast as the Mig29 which I had up to 102 mph, but so solid!

I had a bit of torque roll as it wound out to top speed, but nothing that slowed it down or made it unmanageable.  It is rock solid on 3S, so I was worried a bit that zooming might be a problem on 4S, but I just put in one click of down trim in the pitch and when I hammered full throttle, it just buried the nose and took off straight ahead like it was in pursuit of it's prey!

It is also the coolest sounding parkjet at speed, the howl of the NTM Prop Drive 2700 on 4S with a 6x4 APC prop couple with the wind howling through those big long intakes makes for the coolest howling sound I have ever heard from a parkjet.  I can't wait to get some video shot of it as it sounds so cool!

So far I have not detected a single bad habit with this plane, it is rock solid even at very high speed, stable and tracks like it is on rails!

The FRC F15 is just an amazing plane (at least for the way I like to fly...:))

Cheers,

Scott

FRC F15 MK2 HANDLES AWESOME IN THE WIND!

Hi everyone -

Had a couple of FRC Foamies planes out at the field today

It was the first time I had a chance to fly my FRC Foamies F15 MK2 in any kind of windy conditions.  It was one of those early spring days where the wind was swirling around and going from dead calm to gusts up to 10-15 mph with very little notice!  Challenging flying, but lots of fun!  The F15 MK2 handled the wind exceptionally well as I expected it to, like most foamy parkjets I needed to keep the speed up a little higher in the turns, say about 60% throttle instead of about 50% throttle when winds are calm.  It did tend to get "waffly" or wing rock if I let the speed get down too much, but other than that it handled rock solid.

In my experience, planes with perpendicular vertical stabs like the F15/Su35/37 and Mig29 all seem to handle the wind much better than planes with angled vertical stabs like the F18, F22 and F35.  

I have about 30 flights on my F15 now and I am very happy with how it performs and I'm feeling very comfortable flying it, so I think the next time it is a bit calmer and wind isn't a factor, time for a little 4 cell fun!

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS MIG29 V1 SPEED TESTING

Hi everyone -

It was RC Powers Mig day at the flying field today!  I had out my "baby Mig" (14.5 oz RCP Mig29 V1 with the Focal Price 2700 motor) and my "big daddy Mig" (25 oz Mig29 V3 with the NTM Prop Drive 2700 motor).

I got a chance to do some speed runs with my Mig29 V1 today as I wanted to see truly how insanely fast it is.  I used the HK Data logger app on my phone and got in three good runs of 66/63/59/56 mph.  So I went back and checked what sort of speeds I got on my first V1 Mig that weighed 17.3 oz and had the HK D2826/6 motor with a 6x4 prop and I barely broke 50 mph, so amazing what dropping almost 3 oz and kicking up the horsepower in the motor will do.

It was also the first time in a while that I had flown the heavier 25 oz Mig as I have been flying the lighter German Mig a lot as of late.  I had forgotten how smooth, stable yet fast and responsive it is at that weight with the NTM Prop Drive 2700 motor.  I also realized I have yet to put some appropriate decals on it.  When I built it and first flew it, weather conditions were damp and cool, not too great for decals staying on, so I didn't do it then, but time to pretty it up now that spring is coming fast!

The RC Powers Migs are just too much fun!

Cheers,

Scott

FLIGHT FOOTAGE OF MY NEW RC POWERS MIG29 V1

Hi everyone -

After getting too cocky and "dumb thumbing" my Mig29 V1 into the ground at a rapid rate of knots and breaking the nose off during the maiden flight, I did some repairs and it is good to go, even some great battle scars!

At 14.5 oz with a 1600 Mah battery and the Focal Price 2700 motor on a 6x3 EMP prop, the pop, acceleration and vertical on this plane are insane!  But sometimes insane is good... :)

It will take me a while to get used to how amazingly responsive this plane is in the pitch, a couple times I did some 90 degree turns when I wasn't expecting it!  The great thing about the Mig29 V1 and really the Mig29 V3 for that matter is that if I get into a wild situation or attitude, I just just centralize the right stick, it stops doing what it is doing and then I can recover and fly out (within reason...as you can see in this next video of my first Mig29 V1).

I had forgotten how crazy I can get with this plane, so after a few flights, the g forces broke the hot glue joint that was holding my ESC in place... :(  Fortunately no catastrophe, so I stole an idea from Flitetest that I had used recently on my FRC F15 MK2 to secure my ESC.

The zip tie works awesome and the little piece of popsicle stick helps keep the foam from getting torn up... :)  The other added benefit is that it puts more weight away from the centre line to make the roll balance more neutral... :)

Just love this little plane for when I am in the mood to just go out and get some good "thrashin' and dashin' " (crazy aerobatics and high speed runs... :)) done.

Cheers,

Scott

HOW DOES THE FRC F15 MK2 COMPARE TO THE RC POWERS V3s?

Hi everyone -

I managed to get out to the field yesterday and get in another 9 flights on my FRC Foamies F15 MK2 before the rain started up again... :), :(, happy to fly, sad it started raining)

Through my You Tube channel I have had a couple of questions on how I feel this plane compares to the RC Powers V3 lineup.  Tough question to answer really as each plane is unique in it's characteristics and I have thus far only 18 flights on my F15 and 250+ flights each on my F18s and Mig29s.  I have also not had a chance to fly the F15 in any sort of windy conditions to evaluate it's performance there.  I also have not flown the F15 very much below 50% throttle nor have I tried any high alpha with it, but I haven't seen too many real F15s do a lot of high alpha, so I'm not sure that is a flight regime I will explore for reasons explained in the next paragraph.  I won't compare it to the RCP F22 V3 as that plane is kind of in another category, not bad, just more challenging to set up and fly correctly and less forgiving than the Mig, F18 or FRC F15 by far.

I should caveat that as of late I have been trying to fly my planes more scale (ie more like the real thing).  Thrashing a plane around doing flips, tumbles and crazy aerobatics is a lot of fun, don't get me wrong and is one of the reasons I recently built another RCP Mig29 V1, but I find that trying to fly my planes more smoothly and in a more scale fashion is a great challenge and actually gives me a much better feel of how my plane is flying and responding to inputs.  So what I am about to say is based on personal opinion and flying style.  In truth, I love flying all three of these planes, each for their own characteristics, but perhaps you have already flown the Mig29 and F18 V3s, this might put the FRC F15 MK2 in context depending on what sort of flying experience you might seek.  Or if you are looking for an alternative plane not in the RC Powers V3 lineup, perhaps this will help.

So, where do I start?  Well, I do fly a Mig29 at almost the same weight as my F15, so I will compare those two, they both have the same power setup (NTM Prop Drive 2700 with a 6x4 APC prop) and all the same control surfaces (elevons, ailerons and rudder).  The F18 unfortunately is much more weight sensitive and when I tried to fly my first F18 in the 25-26 oz range, bad things happened...broken wing, horrible death spiral...blah, blah, blah...:(

So perhaps because of the lighter weight, the F18 V3 feels just a little more floaty than the F15 and the heavier Mig.  Not floaty in any way that in my opinion is detrimental to flight characteristics, but rather makes it very easy to handle at low speed and in high alpha.  The F18 in my humble opinion is a great second plane after say the F35 if you are just getting started as it's handling and tracking are still amazing, but since you really need to build it light to keep the weight and wing loading down, it will be "floatier" in comparison to the Mig and the F15 and therefore give you a little more time to react to a situation.  Plus as I have written in the F18 V3 thread of the RC Powers website and on my blog, it almost has self correcting tendencies without the benefit of on board stabilization.  Also I find that with the right weight and power setup (I like to fly mine around 21.5 oz with the Focal Price 2700 motor with a 6x3 EMP prop), the F18 can be very responsive and aerobatic but is never going to be a speed demon.

The Mig29 could also be a good choice for a second plane if you are just learning, but I would keep it light with low wing loading to make it a little easier to handle and then work your way up if you want to get it going fast.  The Mig29 V3 of all the parkjets I have ever flown is by far the most flexible from the standpoint of weight and wing loading, proven to fly well from 15.5 oz to 40+ oz with very light setups like the MJV2 all the way up to huge powerful 6 cell setups.  The Mig29 built at a heavier weight and with the higher speed of a big power setup might make it a bit too challenging if  you are still learning.  Not that this is a bad thing, but the difference between my lighter Mig at 21 oz with a 2200 battery and my heavier Mig at 25 oz is significant in the feel I get in the sticks when flying aerobatics and turns, more stick travel and pressure required for the heavier Mig than the light Mig (and the F15 for that matter).  Even at 25 oz the Mig does feel just a little more agile and snappier than the F15, but again, just my humble opinion.

The F15 MK2 would probably be a good choice for maybe a third plane, not because it is difficult to fly, but it is a bit more advanced and challenging build than both the F18 and Mig29 V3s.  In handling, the F15 tracks maybe even a tiny bit better than the heavier Mig29 (again just my opinion), yet it feels much lighter on the sticks.  The extra lift from the body of the F15 makes it feel more like my 21 oz Mig29 rather than it's 26 oz AUW.  Not sure if that makes sense, but if feels and handles like a lighter plane that it is.  The weight and wing loading still keep it exceptionally stable and smooth, but not as much input required to maintain the same amount of turn rate as with the 25 oz Mig.  I have yet to find any bad habits with the F15 MK2 and not only does it look very scale, it flies very scale as well (at least in the setup I have).  In the regimes I have flown it, I would say it is the most scale looking, feeling and stable yet responsive (not as agile as the FRC Su jets of course... :)) of all the FRC Foamies planes I have built and flown (again, my opinion, I have built and flown the F15 MK1 in 100 and 120% sizes, Su37 MK1, Su37 and Su35 MK2s and the F35 600).

As I said earlier, I love all three of these planes for their own unique characteristics, but boiled down, here is how the F15 compares in my opinion -

• tracks and handles a bit more smoothly than both the F18 and Mig29 V3s (Mig29 is very close);
• doesn't handle quite as well at slow speeds as either the Mig29 or F18 and a little bit less agile than the Mig29;
• with the extra lift of the body, flies lighter than it is, lighter than the Mig29 of comparable weight;
• it is fast, very close in speed to the Mig29, I'm excited to see how it handles 4S;
• more challenging build than the F18 and Mig29, good choice for maybe a third plane if you are just getting into the hobby and are learning to scratch build; and
• in my humble opinion, it really deserves a heavy power system like the NTM Prop Drive 2700, you could build much lighter I'm sure and use a lighter power system, but some planes just deserve some good old raw horsepower and I think this is one of them... :)

So if you are looking for an amazing looking and amazing flying classic US designed and built fighter jet to add to your hangar, the FRC Foamies F15 MK2 would make an excellent addition in my humble opinion... :)

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES F15 MK2 MAIDEN COMPLETE... :)

Hi everyone -

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