Precision Aerobatics - Addiction X

[Matt Chamberlain]

I’ve toyed long and hard over the past month or so whether to buy the E Flight Carbon Z Yak 54 or not, but having read a lot of negative comments on RC Groups about quality issues around servos, motor mounts and other niggles on the Carbon Z, I decided I would invest elsewhere.

I essentially wanted something that was aerobatic, could help me move into the 3D flying space and would be very easy on the eye.

Enter the Precision Aerobatics Addiction X in red, white and blue.

Luckily for me, my trustee local hobby store had some in stock at a very good price and having opened the box for me to show me the contents; it took me less than 5 minutes to make up my mind. I opted for buying the kit which included the power system:

PA Thrust 40 outrunner motor
PA Quantum 45 Programmable ESC

Later when I got home I opened the box and was presented with everything neatly bagged up (I’d already taken out the fuselage to inspect in more detail).

 

 

As can be seen from the following picture, the fuselage is very well put together and is strengthened with carbon.

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 08/06/2011 08:31:35

[Matt Chamberlain]

Having studied the comprehensive black and white manual first, I started work on the wings first by adding the large ailerons. These are attached to the wings using the supplied hinges. Once the pre-cut slits have been opened up on both the wing and aileron with a sharp knife, the hinges were put in place and glued with thin CA ensuring that the aileron deflect the recommended 50 degrees up and down.

 

I’ve decided to go with four Hitec 82mg’s for this build and once the ailerons were hinged, I prepared the slots in the wing ready to take the servos. As recommended, a 3mm gap was left to iron down the overlap.

 

The motor box was next on the agenda and this was aligned up to the fuselage. Five carbon rods hold the motor box in place and having secured all these in, the motor box was then secured in place using 5 minute epoxy.

 

Having allowed the glue to set for a good hour, I then mounted the Thrust 40 motor into the correct position and secured it with the supplied washers and screws.

 

One thing that did surprise me about the kit was the fact that it did not include a propeller. Having subsequently tried to source this recommended propeller (VOX T-40X), it seems my only options are to try and get one direct from Precision Aerobatics in Australia or one of the other distributers in Europe. Thus far I’ve not been able to find anywhere in the UK, but have been recommended to go with a XOAR 14 * 7 prop as an alternative.

I will post more as I progress, so far so good, the quality of the kit looks excellent and it’s going together without any major issues. I found the following thread is also a very good source of information. Addiction X Community Build Thread as well as the various threads on RC Groups which look at this model.

My problem now is splitting myself between the two builds which I have on the go, this one and my 52” Marstons Pterodactyl. More information and other RC related stuff can be found on my blog http://mjc70.blogspot.com/. Please take a look and if you have time make a comment.

More to follow soon. Hopefully I’ll be able to capture a couple of video’s leading up to the maiden flight.

 

Edited By Matt Chamberlain on 08/06/2011 08:54:51

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Its a striking looking model Matt - very tasty!

 

BEB

[YakMad]

I have several of their models including the original Addiction, all have excellent flight performance and very strong and light.

[Olly Giles]

Looks fantastic matt, i shall be keeping up with your build. Im contemplating whether or not to get one of these, from whot i have heard its the best model in its class. The only thing that has put me off is the cost. If you dont mind posting it how much did the kit and power train cost? and who did you get it from as it seems that these are a little thin on the ground.

[Tim Mackey]

Matt...please read THIS

[Olly Giles]

Thats alot for a motor and speed controller of that size. I think i would shop around forn a different motor/esc. does look nice though.

[Andy Harris]

Matt

 

I'm really enjoying my Addiction-X, however its not been in the air as much as I'd like:

 

http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=46811&p=2

 

Subsequent flights have revealed that the pull-pull rudder scheme is not so good. If you get a chance use proper nylon covered trace rather than the supplied thread.

 

Also be very careful when handling the model, hangar rash is triple easy to encounter on this one.

 

Finally watch the fus at the rear of the canopy, on mine the top two struts broke away whilst doing knife edge loops (the result is the canopy comes off and the model no longer flies straight). I've stripped back the covering and strengthened this section with CF, and micro bubbles/epoxy

 

Compared to the smaller Addiction which for me was virtually service free for 200+ flights.

[Matt Chamberlain]

Andy, thanks for the feedback. I'll review the pull-pull system and the use of the HS-82MG as you've highlighted in the other thread. I've purchased four HS-82MG's already, but they're still boxed and I'm sure my local hobby shop will replace with the slightly bigger 85MG's if I go with those.

With the help of a fellow modeller, we've managed to add the covering strips to the wing/ailerons last night. It proved to be a tricky task, but looks good now complete. I get well over 50 degrees of deflection in both directions too. I've managed to get hold of some of the 2.5 cm Carbon Fibre servo arms, so will use these on the aileron and elevator servos to provide that extra throw.

 

I'm going to move onto the preparing the Elevator and Horizontal Stabilizer tonight, so will add some more pictures as I progress.

 

Feel free to add any further comments if you feel relevant. All contributions gratefully received!

Cheers

Matt http://mjc70.blogspot.com/

[Matt Chamberlain]

I did a bit more work on the elevator and have now added the hinges as well as cutting out the slot ready to mount the horizontal stabilizer.

 

The carbon wing tube was also positioned and I attached the wings for the first time to see how it all fits together.

 

Finally I prepared the ESC with an XT60 connector and tested the motor out. I've managed to order a VOX T-40X prop direct from Precision Aerobatics which is now on route. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long!

 

[Matt Chamberlain]

A bit more progress over the weekend, following advice, I managed to swap the Hitec 82MG servos for Hitec 85MG's and have installed these in both the wings for the ailerons. I'll also use these for the rudder and elevator too.

 

The Carbon Fibre control horn in place

 

All linked up and tested after I shortened the CF pushrod very slightly. I've also used the add-on CF servo extended arms which give greater throw.

I've also attached the elevator to the horizontal stabiliser and this has been glued in place now the covering has been applied. Although not shown, I've also added the little supplied balsa wedge into the rear of the fuselage. I'll cover this later to finish off.

 

I've made the cut outs for the elevator servo and will hook this up next and then move onto attaching the rudder.

 

I was going to attach the wheels to the carbon fibre stuts, but I haven't been supplied with the 2 M3 20mm bolt/axle's, so have had to order some of these separetly. The first real negative I can note from this kit! It appears I've also only been supplied with one side of covering to finish off the rudder covering strips. The instructions make reference to "strips", so I'm assuming I have to do both sides of the rudder? Luckily I have a friend who has some spare red colouring the same as the Addiction X, so it's not a problem.

 

I will try to add a video later this week showing the electonics connected up and the control surface movements.

 

[Matt Chamberlain]

A bit more progress over the past couple of days, I've now added the elevator servo using the supplied equipment.

 

Moving onto installing the rudder next, I first installed the tail wheel and glued in the rudder control horn ready for the pull pull system. I struggled to find the pre cut slits in the rudder and rear of the fuselage, so following a tip I read elsewhere, I used a bit of masking tape to attach the rudder into position. Cutting down the hinge line of the tape then provided the guidance where to make the incisions for the rudder to be fixed:

The hinges were then inserted and then glued with thin CA

 

Next I'll move onto installing the rudder servo in the motor box and rig up the pull pull rudder system. All the control surfaces will then be operational then which will just leaving fixing the ESC in place, attaching the cowl and finally the under carriage.

 

 

[Matt Chamberlain]

Phew...... The Rudder pull pull system has now been installed in my ADX. This has been pretty much the trickiest task of the whole build and took me well over an hour to complete. I opted for making the cut in the slot recommended in the manual and just need to tidy this up now with a carbon sticker or tape. I get full deflection in both directions which is good.

 

 

I've also blinged my wings up a bit and I've installed the optional carbon fibre vortex air generators which look rather menacing.

I'll be using a DX8 (Just got to wait for Horizon Hobby to send back my recalled DX8 now) with this ADX so this gives me the opportunity to set all three rates to a rates switch as detailed in the manual.

 

I've also got a couple of the VOX-T40X props now which look very nice.

 

The final steps were to add the under carriage, wheel spats, ESC and cowl all of which were very easy to fit.

 

Finally the finished article all ready to go!

[Matt Chamberlain]

Having completed the build on Saturday, a couple of weeks after purchasing I was pleased to see that we'd been forecast the best Sunday for about 12 weeks. The forecast was for bright blue skies, 8mph winds and nice and warm.

 

The forecast was right and my new Addiction X was carefully loaded into the car ready for its maiden outing.

 

The final pre flight checks and getting ready for the maiden.

 

 

Cleard for take off!

 

And off we go!

 

Wow! The trimming comprised of two clicks of right aileron only. In low rates she was very docile and handled very nicely. I had about six flights and managed to knife edge and prop hang without any real problems!

 

I'm certainly looking forward to getting more practice in with this bird over the coming weeks.

 

Thanks for Colin Wilson for the excellent flight pictures along with a nice selection of other pictures which were captured on the day.

 

The first few flights were captured on video too, so I'll get these uploaded over the next couple of days.

 

First impressions are very good though and I'm looking forward to get this bound up to my DX8 once it comes back. Initially flew it with the DX6i yesterday and miss a lot of the features the DX8 offers. The 3S Overlanding 2200Mah batteries worked fine with the Addiction X.

Edited By Matt Chamberlain on 27/06/2011 12:51:12

[Andy Harris]

Matt

 

-- Nicely done, you've avoided all the AddX pitfalls -- time to give it a damn fine thrashing -- 'The Ground is the Limit'

 

Andy

[Tom T]

Nice plane!! Could you make it nitro? Also would this be a good plane for starting Aerobatics??

 

 

Thanx

 

Tom

[Matt Chamberlain]

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

Tom, no this is an electric plane and no need to go nitro.It's been designed around the Thrust 40 electric motor.

 

In terms of whether its good plane for starting aerobatics, I would say so, but it depends on your budget. She flies nice and stable and virtually floats around on minimal throttle. Switch to high rates and kick in the throttle and as you've probably seen from other videos on youtube, you can virtually make this plane do anything.

 

I should have the maiden flight video uploaded in the next 24 hours.

[Matt Chamberlain]

Here's the maiden flight. Nice and steady for the first few flights. She only required a couple of clicks of right aileron. Still experimenting with the location of the battery.

 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Nice one Matt, I wasn't sure about the looks of this one at first but it's better in the flesh, grows on you.

 

 

 

[Lee Smalley]

I have just compleated mine and HS82mg have been fine there is no slippage under full power, i think the problem stems from using the wrong arms, the blue ones Andy has used are for JR servos HS82mg are Hitec the spline count is not the same, the arms you should have used are the black ones like mine these are for hitec and do not slip, in his own picture you can see Jr stamped on the arm.

 

My new HS82mgs have been fine use with confidence

[Michael Whiting]

Hi

I have just looked at my early birthday present to myself (wife's not too pleased).

Addiction X - Red. I am amazed how good the construction is and great quality.

Cant wait until I'm allowed to build it, been told i must wait for my birthday.

Only 3 weeks to go.

Mike

[Rob Lewis]

She brought you 4!!!! Lucky fellow

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

There - just did a bit of moding Wasn't so hard.

Hope that's OK Michael, just deleted three of your four identical posts?

Who's a lucky boy then? Looks a nice model.

[Michael Whiting]

Thanks. Not sure how 4 of the same got posted.

Mike

[Matt Chamberlain]

I'm sure you'll love your ADYX Michael. I'm looking forward to some warmer days so that I can get out with mine again.

Enjoy!