Ant Sisley

Finally got to maiden the provost on Sunday which happened to be my club warbird day. Had a few issues with the spinner backplate rubbing and getting the engine tuned. The OS15GT seems to have ample power with a 14x8 wood prop and, once airborne, I can pull power back to mid stick. Flying wise, it needed some down elevator trim even though it needed 100g of nose weight to balance on the recommended cg and also some left aileron trim. No trim change with mid and full flap and the landing approach is steady. I read about the problems with the strut plates and reinforced these with 2mm ply. So far not had any problems on the grass. The tail wheel is definitely naff and I will look at replacing it. In hindsight, I wished I had pursued the electric option further as I hated having to cut the cowling. Overall I am pretty pleased with it and it did get some interest at the club where a lot of the members mistook it for the winjeel which was an Aus design that looks very similar.

I couldn't get definitive numbers on an electric setup, so went petrol. I noticed the cowl is open at the front. Did anyone install baffles to help with cooling?

If I decide on electric, I will go with the Eflite Power 60B, 470kV motor and probably a Castle Creations 80A speedy.

Hi Rod. That's what one of our members was quoted from a hobby shop in Carrum, Vic. A few years back, when I was flying nitro heli's, I was paying over $60 for 5L of 30%. I've got petrol models, so that's the preferred route. I also have a load of 6S packs for my heli's so electric is also an option.

Ok, so the DLE20 looks to be overkill. The only reason I was asking was due to having one lying spare. I want to stay with petrol as glow fuel in Aus is extremely expensive (AU$30/l). The other option I was considering was the OS15GT.

Hi all. Long shot, but does anyone know if a DLE 20 will fit in the cowl? Ant

 Hi All Basically stumbled onto the thread browsing. Saw the photo of the 707 and thought I'd add this one. This pic is from a mag, but I do have some of my own. Unfortunately as I pushed the button, a spectator stood up in front of me, so the cockpit is blocked by some fat head. I know the pilot well. I met him when I started flying RC and he was the first in our club to fly a DF model. A BVM F16 in thunderbirds scheme. As mentioned earlier, he was given permission for this flight, not like the pilot of a Air Zim B767 who decided to do the same thing, although not as low and with the gear out. However it was also during a commercial flight with a full compliment of passengers. Needless to say the 767 pilot did get his fingers rapped. There was also a low pass by a DC8 from a local cargo company, but again not as low as this. Edited By Ant Sisley on 15/09/2011 23:02:01

Hi All I have just bought a 120 size BH Yak 54 and was thinking about a powerplant. It is designed for 1.20 two or four stroke. I was thinking about the OS120AX or the Moki 135. Opinions on either engine or suggestions on others welcome.  Ant

Well, pulled the motor/fan and it is the 3575kV one. I spoke to Overlander about it and was told that as it was sold RTF, the motor was pre-fitted by Lander. Overlander said they would do a reduced price on a new one, but I argued that it should not have failed like this in the first place. I got a call this morning to be told that the motor/fan unit will be replaced FOC and I should, hopefully, have it by the weekend. Many thanks to the lady I spoke to in Overlander's sales office.  As as side note, it seems Overlander are not that impressed with Lander and may not be stocking their products much longer. I also noticed on their website that the Hunter 6S option is no longer displayed.  Anyhow a good result and my credit card can relax for the moment.

Yes, it is easy to miss. It was only when I had a closer look at Overlander's site that I noticed in the 6S option, there is another option stating the model comes with the 4S motor. I guess the original owner also assumed this was a 6S setup and, as he did not fly the model, did not suffer the same fate. I have not yet pulled the old unit out, so cannot confirm what configuration it is.  Ah well, I guess I'll have to dig out the credit card and do some spending.

Hi  I bought a built, but unflown Lander Hunter in December and was informed that it was designed for 6S lipos. This arrangement suited me as I had 3 6S packs I use for my trex 500. Anyhow, due to weather, work and a broken mower, I finally got to test fly the model on Friday. I was impressed with the power out of the fan unit and the take off was without incident. However, approximately 2 minutes into the flight, the motor stopped. I have to say that the hunter's glide characteristics are excellent and I got the model back ok.  Initially, we suspected the BEC had cut in as I had full control, but trying a fresh pack resulted in a click from the fan. We could not see anything fouling it and, after removing all covers, found the fan did not rotate freely. Trying the throttle again produced smoke from the motor. I am of the opinion that this may have been a 4S motor, but have not got around to removing the unit from the airframe to confirm. The ESC is a HK 5.6-26V 60A unit.  Overlander have suggested I send the fan/motor back, but as it was effectively 2nd hand, I will have no comeback. I also had another look on their site and the info for the 6S setup seems to be a bit misleading and it shows the setup for the 4S configuration.  Has anyone else experienced any problems like this or is just I have a duff motor?  Ant

I have flown all sizes from the 30 to the 90 and the only thing I found to be a downside was that both my 60 and 90 tended to put the nose down in fast forward flight. I did not notice this with the 30 or 50's and it could have been due to softer dampers.  So, going back to your original options, the shuttle with be more expensive to fix. If you want to stay with a 30 size and plan to just do sport flying, then the Raptor will be fine. The 30 used to suffer with power problems and many pilots would convert them to 50's, but that was when the .32 was the only engine available.

30 size helicopters are not that common these days as most pilots go straight for a 50. More power for not much more cost and many of the spares are the same price. However, as popular the Raptor is, it has been superseded by the Trex 600. This is now the favoured helicopter for novice to advanced and is cheap to fix.

Hi All I've posted something similar on other forums, so apologies to anyone who may have seen this before. Essentially, I'm after DSX12 user's opinions on the set.  I downgraded from a 12FG on 35Meg to a DSX9 for the simple reason that to convert all my models to FAAST would be costly compared to DSM2 and also I found the 12FG offered a lot of features I didn't need. (or so I thought).  So, now I'm looking at possibly upgrading from the DSX9 to a DSX12. The DSX9 is capable of virtually all my requirements,  but there are some functions that the 12 could do much simply. The thing is I'm trying to decide whether I can make do with the DSX9 or should I spend the extra cash and get the DSX12.

My LHS discharged to pack at 5A to 3.7V/cell on a Fusion Paladin L120 Pro charger/Discharger. All cells were within 0.035V. However, cell 5, which is the one that went overvoltage, had the highest value. The pack was then recharged on my charger and all cells were within 0.021V. Again cell 5 had the highest value. My charger settings have not changed.   Robotbirds maintain the problem is with my charger and say that because the Align battery charged fine, it does not mean the charger is working fine. The basis of this was the fact the Align pack wiring is different to the Hyperion/Polyquest wiring. I don't really see how this is relavent as the cell voltage is still the same. What I don't understand is that Robotbirds did not ask me to send the pack back to them for checking. In their position, this is something I would have done. Suffice to say, I don't think I will be doing any future business with them.   Anyhow, it appears the pack has recovered, but the real test will be in the flying.    

Checking individual cells shouldn't be a problem. I have a DVM and a lipo cell checker. I've taken the pack and my charger to my LHS to check.

You say faulty in inverted commas. Is it possible the charger was misreading the cell voltage? From what I can understand, when the charger changes to CV, the battery tell is how much current it needs. So, if the cell does not "appear" to be at full capacity, would the charger not keep pumping volts into it?Edited By Ant Sisley on 07/07/2009 15:25:45

Ok. The way I understand the charging process is that the charger checks each cell and knows what current is required to get them to full capacity. What if one cell does not indicate it is full and the charger continues until it reaches the overvoltage threshold.    I spoke to Ripmax about this and their opinion was that because I had tried a different battery which charged fine, then they felt the new pack was at fault. Robotbirds replied to say they cannot understand why one cell would be faulty.

Hi All.   I have a Ripmax Sigma EQ charger which comes with balancer adaptor boards for Impulse, Thunderpower and Flightpower. I have used it extensively to charge 3S packs for my Mini titan and 6S packs for my T600e. At Wings and Wheels the other weekend, I bought a Hyperion 6S 5000mA pack from Robotbirds. I made a point of stating the type of charger I had and was told to use the Polyquest balancer board. I believe this is the same as the Impulse board.   Anyhow, on Saturday, I decided to charge the new pack and set it up on the charger with the current set to 2.5A. I generally charge all my packs at less than 1C. Switching to the cell info display, all voltages were roughly equal. Checking the charger periodically showed the cells to be charging at a constant rate. When the cells were nearing 4.2 V, I was confident the charger would stop charging  , but was surprised to hear the alarm sounding instead. The balancer overvoltage alarm was dispalyed and when I checked the cells, one was showing 4.35V. I charged one of my Align packs and watched it as it got near full capacity. true to form the charger stopped charging when all cells were at 4.2V. I spoke to my LHS from whom I got the charger from and they think the new pack is faulty. I contacted Robotbirds who suggest the problem is with the charger and therefore any warranty claim is void.   Has anyone had any experience with this combination and can they offer any advice. I fear I am going to be stuck with a duff pack.   Ant Edited By Ant Sisley on 06/07/2009 18:39:26 Edited By Ant Sisley on 06/07/2009 18:41:04