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Parkzone SE5A chat


Tony Read
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Haha. The build was around an hour and a half in total. I was impressed with how well it went together, it has been very well designed. I did spend some more time on it after the time-lapse had finished checking things because i was a bit annoyed to get a sloppy servo on the left wing. It had a lot more 'play' than the right one, but hopefully should be fine in flight.
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Red tripes have been done to death. What you boys need is an Albatross DV.
 
I fiddled around with the battery last night and the easiest way to feed the battery in is from the front, whilst pushing the wires towards the rear of the fuz (as per Tom's way). I managed to fit the hatch flush this way. Reckon you can get a battery at least 105mm long in there.
 
Looks like there might be a window in the weather tonight, the winds are forecast to drop a bit in the evening. Might be a maiden flight!
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Just got back from the maiden.
 
Wind had droped to about 10 mph so I decided to go for it.
 
Opened the throttle and she tracked away on the ground straight and true. Climb was a bit steep and she needed a flew clicks of down and a couple of right to fly straight.
 
I found she would rock from side to side at about half throttle - probably due to the gusting wind conditions, at higher speed this did not happen. The wind pushed her about a couple of times and nearly caught me out - you had to fly her all the time.
 
She was very sensitive on aileron so I have reduced the rate a bit for next time.
 
She looked real good in the evening light. This is my first bipe and she's a little corker.
 
After about 10 minutes I set her up for a landing and gradually reduced throttle, she came in slow and settled in for a short roll out -perfek!!!
 
Was I one happy bunny? You betcher!
 
I can't wait for the next flight - but I will pick a calmer day.
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Sounds great, I am still waiting for a day without howling gales, I have had this plane sitting here for a week now and still no opportunity for a flight - it sucks! Good old British summer on the coast.
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I think I've found the achilles heel with this plane.
 
I was flying the little plane around and having a great time when the wind picked up. It was gusting badly. I aborted the flight. Rather than land cross-wind I elected to land as straight into the wind as I could (so I didn't have to think about too many things at once). This meant flying close to a large Oak tree. You can see where this is going.
 
I turned on finals, but either due to pilot error, or the wind (probably the former) I lost sight of the model behind the tree. I probably over compensated on the controls because I attempted to climb out of trouble and she did not appear. I then cut the throttle and hoped for the best. A couple of second later there was the inevitable 'crump'.
 
Fearing the worst I walked over to where it lay. It was surprisingly intact! There were a few compression marks in the foam and a small tear in the lower wing which is easily glued. The main problem is that where the cabane struts fit into the upper wing the plastic mounting was broken on both sides. This mounting has the holes to take the wire retainer, so it is potentially weak at this point.
 
I contacted HH UK and the plastic mounting is only available if you buy a complete new wing! So I have an untouched wing I cannot use due to the failure of the plastic part. Doh!
 
I love this plane but I just wish the mounting was included with the strut spare parts, as if anything is going to break it will be this part.
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Well finally, two weeks after buying my SE5 I finally had a day without massive winds (it's so rubbish living on the coast). The maiden went very well and I have to say I'm very impressed with this plane.
 
My Parkzone Corsair is very different to this aircraft. With the Corsair you get the feeling that if you drop concentration for a split second it will bite you. the SE5 is certainly more dosile, making for an interesting flying experience and is more forgiving with its flight characteristics. I also found it more forgiving with landings. I have knocked the landing gear off my Corsair so many times by 'dropping' it when still too high. I did this with the SE5 and it absorbed the shock extremely well, and is certainly a good choice for an inexperienced pilot as a result.
 
My only slight disappointment was the battery life. I used the Parkzone 1800 Lipo and only got about 5-6 minutes from it which seemed a little short. I was on near full throttle for most of it because I found the aircraft was not very good to turn on low throttle. I feel I should have got more than this which was a little odd. I guess I just need to get a 2200 in it. 
 
I am hoping for low winds tomorrow as I want to fly this plane again! One thing I noticed whilst flying was a strange rattling noise coming from the plane when it passed overhead. I am wondering what this is and have a feeling that it may be the undercarriage rattling in the wind, has anyone else noticed this?

Edited By Jonathan Vickery on 20/08/2011 22:25:47

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Thanks for the comments guys. The plane flies very nicely. If you really go for it then it will fly very fast and turn extremely well, but it can be flow very slowly and scale-like. It also loops extremely well. I have found rolls to be a slightly clumsy affair, but maybe that's just me.
 
To be honest I haven't used the rudder at all when flying this plane so I can't comment what difference it makes, but I found it fine to fly with no rudder. I'm sure someone else here has tried it who can chime in to let you know what effect it has.

Edited By Jonathan Vickery on 23/08/2011 20:29:46

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