Ed Darter

Hi, Just bought one of these at my clubs annual auction. Unflown but built with engine. Does anyone have any experience of this model? flying characteristics, things to look out for etc. It looks really well built etc but there is precious info out there on it! Thanks Ed

used standard JR591's throughout when I built mine. Even in each bottom wing for the ailerons. They do fit, just, if you get them as far forward as you can towards the main spars.

Vulcan please please pretty please!!!

haha - well glad I've kicked off a bit of a debate and hopefully its clarifying a few points for people. I'm no electrical numpty but I was concerned / confused about parallel charging so I'm sure that others who may be a little less electrical savvy would find the same.   I've now charged the 3 x 300mAh cells in parallel for the first time and all was well. What I did do beforehand though was to connect them up to the charge lead and leave them for a few minutes (I was in no rush) so that the voltages would balance out. Then I set the charge off as a single cell 900mAH battery.   Thanks Ed

Cheers Pat, thats what I suspected but just wanted to make sure....   Thanks Ed

Hi, Just about to try parallel charging for the first time and I'll be doing it with 3 single cell lipo's for my MCP-X. The packs are the 300mAH nanotechs from hobbyking (I got the parallel charge lead at the same time, also from Hobbyking). Question is, for a 1C charge rate should I set the charger to single cell 900mAH, or single cell 300mAH? Then, what should I set the charger to if they are able to take a 3C charge rate for example.   Thanks Ed

just to reiterate Steves post though, although the three separate pieces are quite small for the SE5a wings, they are glued together permanently as part of the build. So the resulting panels are a touch over 50 inches long. They can be redesigned to be separate without too much effort though, but you would need to be comfortable with modding plans and adapting the build.   Ed

hmmm.. varying opinions then! Thanks for the replies guys, think I will err on the side of caution though on this occasion.   Thanks Ed

Hi,   Title says it all really! Indeed, are they any good? I have been offered a NIB one at a good price.   I usually fit full range RX's to my helis but the HH website is a little vague as to whether this one is full range, though I suspect its not. I guess the other question is whether a full range RX is actually necessary in a 450 size heli at all!   Thanks Ed

Cheers Lee, 845's that was it!! I guess the holding power of a digital is greater, but I just assumed Seagull said digitals to give a step up in load capability. It would seem not though! Given that fact that they are all rated about the same they are all likely to fail under roughly the same load which backs up what you say.   Thanks Ed

Solly - yup, both are CD's and as you say can be used as per any other standard 4st.

cool - looking forward to getting mine in the air, though its not likely to be started for a few weeks yet.

Cheers Stephen - I was erring on the side of those and will now to be honest, but still curious as to how they are better than the 591 when that has similar specs (just over 5kg/cm). 6V is tempting, could well be a LiFe battery me thinks!   Is your 2nd one still flying?

Hi All,   I've got one of these sat in its box in the loft waiting for some bench space, but I'm having trouble deciding on appropriate servos to use. I read the RCM&E review and Lee fitted Hitecs (can't remember the exact servo and I'm at work currently so can't check). There was a review in errrr...... another magazine..... as well but no mention of the specific servos. All the instructions say is 'digital servos'. Now the Hitecs Lee used seem to be fairly cheap and good quality but no mention of them being digital in any info I can find. I've taken to using Spektrum DS821's of late which are digital, but looking at the spec of both the Hitecs and the 821' they don't seem to have particularly higher specs than my other servo of choice which is the JR591. All have just over 5kg/cm torque.   So why would the instructions say to use digital servos? I thought their advantage was better holding power but if the torque rating is the same for each of these does it make a difference? I'm not suggesting that I would fit 591's as the price difference to the other two is not massive, but it does make me curious as to whether the others are of a high enough spec for the model!   It also makes me a bit nervous that I'm flying my 10lb Kyosho Spitfire 90 on 591's but as thats grounded at the moment I will save that worry for another day!!   Thanks Ed

another vote for the RCV, got one in my SE5a.... lovely engine. Liked it so much I bought the 91 to go in my Spitfire

Have to say I use 12% Optifuel and don't have a problem. I only swapped to it though as the source for getting this was/is a lot more reliable than relying on the two (very poor) local model shops. Other than that I would have stuck with 5% model technics. The other bonus (being fully synthetic) is that it is a lot cleaner, the residue from the exhaust is a lot less and a lot less goopy. Recently used an old gallon of some Southern modelcraft fuel I had from a while back in our club trainer and the model was absolutely covered in thick sludge from the exhaust. I do not miss that at all !!   I have not had engine wear or corrosion problems in the 2-3 years I have been using the 12% Optifuel though.   I would suggest you find something that is a) reliable in all your engines b) easy to source then just stick with it.....

coming along very nicely, can't wait to see the finished model. Will you test fly it before painting?

and if you swap the servo out for a new one, you are swapping it out for a servo thats not been proved... you are venturing into the unknown. I know of some guys flying larger models and turbines that put new gear in a hack model to prove it before it goes anywhere near their 'pukka' models.   There are risks either way. If theres no sign of problems then just fly it.

I love JR, but they didn't have a viable 2.4Ghz option for me when I switched so got a spekky module for my PCM9 XII. Still love it now. If I had the option I would still love to stay purely JR, but I now have a number of Spektrum (and clone) RX's so swapping to JR would prove expensive in comparison, especially as their RX's are a lot more expensive. As already stated a lot of the park fly and BNF models etc are also based around the Spektrum standard so if you think you will be getting into them this may well steer your decision.   I have now backed away from buying further RX's unless I have to, trying to hedge my bets a bit for when the time comes to get a new TX.

definately get the TX set to heli mode, it will be so much easier to set up throttle and pitch curves etc if you do. You have probably sussed it already, but just in case....to clarify Pete B's point the gyro plugs in to the rudder channel, its the gyro gain lead that plugs into the gear channel (usually) Also, as Dave mentions, don't set the physical travel amount via the TX, that should be done mechanically by choosing the right hole in the servo arm or via the gyro (I think that HK one has the end point adjustment feature). Setting the end points in the TX just adjusts the pirouette rate of the model ! May be useful if you feel the tail is a bit lively, but it will not stop the tail pitch slider binding.   Last thing from me - don't scrimp when it comes to blades, generally they are cheap for a reason and I know of at least one failure (albeit on a 450 sized model) where cheap blades were to blame, turned out there was very little material holding them all together near the root, trouble is you can't see that until after they have let go!   hth Ed

I told you it was more like a vat of worms   Didn't get to see the one at Hendon when I went, must go back there soon....

thats not a can - thats a vat of worms!   The original colour is called PC10 and to be honest there are a few different shades of it. As far as I understand it, at the time they basically mixed what colours they had to get a close match, so there is no real right or wrong. Have a look on the Warbirds site as an example, there are 3 types of PC10 listed.   When I built my Flair SE5a I went to old warden and took lots of photos, then bought the closest warbirds colour, along with a few others and played with mixes until I got a close match to the one at Old Warden, which has a slightly warmer reddish tint than the warbird colour I had bought.   The HK one does look too pale though. Mine is a closer match to the replica above, Photos in my gallery.   Hope this helps Ed

Not just wing loading to take into account really, how 'draggy' the airframe is will have a bearing on how the combo performs.

new gyro - you'll be needing to get your head round remote gain etc on the tx as well then! its moved on quite a bit Steve!!   Good luck, its al good fun   EdEdited By Ed Darter on 14/10/2011 21:42:25

another vote for the RCV91CD. Got one in my Kyosho spitfire 90 and its lovely and scale, and still running in! Do a youtube search on 'kyosho spitfire 90' and there is a clip of a guy flying his and its not hanging around at all.