GrumpyGnome

Popped into my LMS the other day - something I rarely do, I'll admit; I find the internet just too convenient. I only popped in to get some cyano but ended up buying an E-Flite C-Ray 180 PNP as well ! First impressions ? Is that ll you get !? One largish box containing a complete flying wing, a bag of self-adhesive velcro, small instruction booklet, a very large sheet of stickers - I reckon if they cut the sheet in two, they could halve the size of the box Took 10 minutes to: a) Add the micro Rx (had to use the one from my Inverza that's grounded following a collision with the planet b) loosen the elevon hinges c) Stick the velcro on the three batteries I have for it. Took an hour to decide which of the myriad of stickers I'd use, and to bung them on. I guess I've used about 15% of those available. Still, lots of spares for the 'sticker box'. As you do, had to make sure the motor ran up to speed OK, holding it in the garage. Disappointed that it didn't 'howl' like my Slinger, micro-jet or other pusher wing/deltas. Tad disappointed and thought it may be a little sedate. Managed to maiden it yesterday morning. Disappointed ? Sedate ? Not a bit ! Great fun, flew straight and level despite my rather inaccurate measuring on the balance point .......... loops nicely, rolls are a little slow at the mo', needs a large dose of down for inverted (as expected), glides surprisingly well. Doesn't howl but the tiny motor on 2s suits it just fine and gives it a good enough turn of speed - it is rather small Great fun. Recommended. GG

This may be a dumb question, and is something I've not really thought about before........... I have dozens of leccy models, and have used many more motors. I have very few instructions for these and most don't have any information at all. So if I need to replace one on, say my Mini Ultra Stik, I just bolt one on that looks about the right size, stick a prop on that looks the same size as the one that was on there previously, and fire it up with the Wattmeter attached. Provided the amps aren't excessive, I go fly. What if I pick a prop that's too small ? Does it matter ? I really only ask as I just bought a cheap replacement motor for my foamy HK Spad and it says on the side of the motor 11.1V 9-10" prop. I bought it 'cos it's the right power and weight - didn't look at recommended prop size There's not really enough ground clearance for anything bigger than 8"...... will it matter if I use a prop of that size ? GG

Start of a new poll ............. how many planes do you take to the field .......lol..... The blue and white one at top left isn't going to fly very well Anyone know what the sleek blue/blue/white one is ? GG

The purple paint is from the acrylic MODEL COLOR range -- Violeta Azul 70.811 Blue Violet. Good match to cover up the little bits of white foam that soon appear ...................... GG

Yeah, in the horizontal plane, opening the throttle increases noise far more than speed.......... seems to make more of a difference in the vertical plane. I suspect it's quite 'draggy'with that frontal area. Still love it - 50+ flights on it now ...... Incidentally, I found a really good match for the purple paint that got chewed off my cowl - I'l write down the details when I get home, in case anyone needs it. I suspect I'll be searching for blue and lemon soon GG

Nope - me too. I blamed my incompetence............. Logged out and back in and seems OK niow ......... GG

I thought I'd add my two pennurth. I've ordered quite a bit of stuff from HK: Nano-Tech batteries - I must have going on for 20 of these now; no duds; all work really well - much much better than some 'premium' varieties that cost twice as much Couple of Rx's - work fine Couple of ESC's - work fine Foam Spad - everything works, looks lovely, flies well; it's a little underpowered (but probably right for type), and a little heavy but still a nice model Foam Spitfire MK 24 - loverly ! I've only had 2 order issues which they cleared up immediately. I tend to use the forums for any support questions tbh. I'm one satisfied customer. I know they aren't perfect (no rose tinted specs !) but they're good enough for me. GG

William If you find a reply from Scott (Page 4?) and click on the top left grey box with his name in it, his profile will come up. There's an option near the foot of the page that allow you to send a PM. You need to be logged in yourself. Hope that helps, GG

Just my Cypher 3D in the garden yesterday - bit windy at the field ........ Had a few this morning though, as the sun started coming up - a deep deep orange/red. Bit of a mixed bag: Trashed the fuselage on my Mini Ultra Stik fooling about doing inverted circuits Broke the prop driver on my umx Sbach on landing in what is, for it, long grass. Then added insult to injury by damaging the rudder putting it into the boot. Found another issue on the Inverza. Took off on 3/4 as normal, opened the taps to WOT and heard a horrid vibration - not hideously loud, but noticeable. Thought I'd dislodged the wire u/c from the plastic leg fairings........ nope, the cowl was loose - couldn't see a scrap of glue holding it in place. It's now sporting a jagged white ring where the foam's been attacked by a vicious whirling prop ! Wonder if I can find a matching purple paint in the plastic model shop (a shop that sells plastic models, not a model shop made of plastic !) Best flight was with the Durafly Spit - nice long rollout and gentle take off, u/c up when she's about a foot off the ground, flaps up at about 10', loops, rolls, fast and low 'beat ups', nice curved landing approach to a perfect three pointer about 15' away, rolled gently to a stop after about 5', with the prop still free wheeling. Beautiful ! And no dog walkers ! GG Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 14/07/2013 19:25:54

Summer's back ! Out at 5:10 this morning - got about a dozen flights ijn before taking son to his swimming club Great apart from the midges ! And the occasional dog-walker.............. what are they doing out at 5:10 GG

I had one - my first aerobatic soarer, following on from a Cambria Capstan and a Phoenix 1000 (blue foam winged Nev Mattingly design - I think!). Flew it off Hunts bay in Swansea and occasionally from Rhosilli. Scared meself witless first few flights. Fuselage may have been bullet proof but wasn't 'large rock proof' - easily patched up with car body repair stuff ! Not sure my all black colour scheme helped ..... or the slightkly misaligned wings. It did fly rather well though. GG

Nice to hear positive feedback about HK. I thoughts it was just me - but I've only ever dealt with their support centre. The plane is lovely - get it in the air! It's great ... GG

I just wack the Ailerorn/Elevator stick into a corner.................. any will do Must try it with rudder when I next fly. GG

You may also want to push some local reinforcement into each piece to act as a sort of spar - I've used cheap bamboo kebab 'sticks'. GG

Not got any flying but have some in the eaves in case I trash some of my current armada: Hawes Tucan - large Hawes Tucan - small IFO Howard Metcalf Sunburst (?) Mirage 2000 Mini Laser 3d Balsacraft FW190 Razor Flting Wing I think some of those count ....... Does a Mini Untra Stik count ? I've had it about 7/8 years and stil fly it regularly. GG

It's adding more weight to my view that you don't always get what you pay for - my sentiments about the Mystique a few months ago...... You may not need to change the wheels - I fly mine off the local park that is mostly football fields - it gets mowed by the council semi-regularly only, so I just choose a piece that looks flattest and with shortest grass and use that. Take off is only a couple of metres, and even I can land this one so slowly that grass length is pretty irrelevant Touch n go's are a no-no though ! Shame you had issues with both this and the UMX Sbach - I have one of those too and that was/is fabulous. However, the batteries I bought from HobbyKing at half the price of a genuine e-flite one give much better performance. I would have been able to compare lifespan if I hadn't managed to pull one of the balancing wires off one of the cells In case anyone thinks, I'm anti E-Flite, I'm not - I have a Mini Ultra Stik (love it), had a mini Funtana (loved it), got a UMX Sbach and mcpx (love it). Just surprised at quality for, as we all agree, a premium brand plane. GG P.S. anyone know how I can move this thread out of FPV ? Do I need a mod ?

IanR Try pressing the 'compatability' button at the top of your browser ............. may help GG

Best tell chapter and verse what my 'niggles' were ! Save people reading the review... The moulding has a little 'flash' around the cowl and the wings are a VERY tight fit into the fuselage recesses - I was nervous about damaging something. There are quite noticeable gap lines at the nose, and the white foam shows through. The battery hatch is noticeable and white foam can be seen all around it. Each wing is retained by a screw through plastic mouldings - one of the holes was in the wrong place. I substituted a self tapper for the machine screw (?) supplied There was a noticeable amount of up trim that needed dialling out The battery retention velcro came off the first time I took a battery out. I've been thinking about the vfm whilst wandering around town in the sunshine and comparing it to my recently bought Durafly Spitfire (HobbyKing): Inverza - £120 with four servos (which I thought were decent but maybe not!), decent ESC and decent brushless motor. Spitfire - £112 with 6 servos, flaps, electric retracts, unlabelled ESC, powerful but unlabelled motor Moulding quality - Spitfire wins by a large margin Finish - Spitfire wins by a large margin Durability - the Spitfire feels like it's more likely to survive any 'incidents' - hopefully a way off Noise - Spitfire is whisper quiet and turbine smooth - Inversza is much noisier and rough sounding Flying - they're both excellent fliers for their type. Within my limitations ! I can't do 3D for example but with the Inverza I can loop, roll, spin, flick, inverted - i.e. 'normal' aeros so please bear that in mind for any responses Looks - I think both of them are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous I did think they were minor niggles with the Inverza that I forgave as soon as there was air under it's wings but YakMad's sound more significant. GG   Edited By GrumpyGnome on 18/06/2013 12:52:33

Just got an EFlite Inverza - flies really nicely and looks absolutely gorgeous. There were though, a couple of minor niggles, which surprised me for an EFlite product........ nothing serious I added a review in the review section. Would be interested in other's experiences. GG

Had a bad week last week: 1) Smashed my UMX Sbach 3D up - broke a wing off, several large cracks in nose, cowl hatch in 5 pieces 2) Broke my Cypher 3D heli - bent main shaft, bent flybar, dented paddles 3) Got some weird virus that made me sleep loads and loads - not like me at all ! But ..... Feeling well now ! Fixed the SBach (good old UHU Por) and got three flights in before work this morning; fixed the Cypher (and set up the Gyro properly this time !) and got a couple of back garden hovers in yesterday evening. Also maidened my Inverza this morning. It's even prettier than the SBach and flies absolutely brilliantly........... making up for the minor gripes I had: 1) Moulding quality 2) Paint - already rubbed/chipped off in a couple of places 3) Wing fixing - one of the holes drilled in wrong place. I had expected better. My recently purchased HK Durafly Spitfire felt of much higher moulding and build quality; although I suspect the electronics on the Inverza are better. Happy flying ! GG

Great day yesterday, flew: Webbit - and crashed it Spad x2 Sbach x3 T28 x2 Elektro Junior Mini Ultra Stik Spitfire Spacewalker Tempest x2. Then in the afternoon, I had an hours instruction on a full size Robin at Multi-Flight in Leeds/Bradford airport. Haven't stopped grinning. The air around Leeds/Bradford is surprisingly busy and I must have seen at least half a dozen light planes and about the same number of gliders. All bar one of the gliders was below 1,000 feet and so a goodly way down - they looked like models ! My 13 year old son also had an hour at the same time - he's not stopped grinning either. Thoroughly recommend Multi-Flight - brilliant ! GG

When I clicked on Pilot Error, I included anything that I could personally have prevented. Including bad prep, bad building, bad launches (by me, the pilot!), etc. etc. Even the last two I can remember that were caused by lack of radio control were, in the cold light of day, down to me using unsuitable equipment/not doing a range check. I think (and it's only think) only one has absolutely been down to something I couldn't avoid. I puit that down to interference on 35Meg and no time to recover. So that leaves 3,765 down to me GG

When I posted at the start of this thread, I appreciated the 'keeps the tail out of the grass' for T-tails but completely forgot a V-Tail'd be just as good. I love forums ! GG

90+% of my flying is on my own - maybe I'm a little anti-social ! I have been a member of few clubs (not currently a member of any) but even then tended to fly alone as I'm an early riser and love having the sky to myself. But it is a very personal thing, I know a number of people that do belong to clubs and will happily spend a good few hours at the field but only fly once or twice - for them, it's possibly the social side that's most important. Spending 'quality time' with you maybe what your day actually likes the most .............. GG Edited By GrumpyGnome on 10/05/2013 06:02:34

T-tail - good for keeping out of the long grass; looks nice on gliders with long slender wings. Oh and on a Pucara.... Conventional tail (on fuselage) - simple, and works or else you wouldn't see on the majority of planes ! Cruciform (?) i.e. same shape as conventional but higher up the fin.... more complicated but I gues works as well. V-tail - can't possibly give such good response as 'conventional', but looks nice on some planes. That French jet for example - but looks pants on a Bonanza . Maybe it's an effort to reduce drag .... I have 20+ planes and only one has a T-tail - none have V-tails. Although some have none. Easy to tell I'm no aerodynamicist ! Or aeroplane designer ! GG