Durafly EDF Vampire

[Piers Bowlan]

Just wondered what elevator throws you are using Goose 10? I am using +- 8mm with 25% expo and cg 290mm from the nose. I noticed that after I reinforced the tail booms (following an arrival!) the model needed more nose down trim. I should think that this is more to do with the tail plane randomly acquiring a more negative pitch after the surgery/glueing rather than the 15g of carbon strips I added to the booms altering the cg.

I use strips of Duct Tape under the belly to protect it, seems to work for me. I'll have to get some plasti-kote to try.

[Goose10]

So got back out later on, and the addition of some extra weight in the nose plus moving my Overlander 2200 further forward has sorted the CoG issue; dear god, the thing shifts and the sound....

Agree with the comment about elevator trim but not a big issue. Havent paid much attention to any elevator adjustment or throw , but may do now that it flies so well. The Plasti-kote seems to have done the trick , at least from a wet grass perspective...wipe down with a sponge afterwards and it's fine. I do think that a more durable solution will be necessary for those frosty grounds looming..will give it a thought.

I did drop one and ran out of power, but was amazed at the speed ( or lack of) that his thing is capable of landing at; was able to just about hurdle a fence at he last minute and get it to glide in slower than a Hawk Sky. Like Martyn, it's a relief that there is an EDF that combines speed with stability but also you end up taking it home in one piece...already charged the LiPos up for next week!

[Piers Bowlan]

Lead in the nose? How about a bigger LiPo instead. I have been using 2650mAh batteries but recently I got one of these, It weighs 330g and sorts out the CG. More capacity, longer flights and more omph!

The model makes a great slope soarer too as I said in one of my previous posts, no need to remove the motor/fan.

[Goose10]

After a distraction on one flight resulted in a extended landing glide and subsequent cartwheel, snapping both booms, I repaired booms by dowelling and hot gluing back together which seemed to work. What I hadn't noticed or appreciated was some give in one of the boom joints at the wing; this manifested itself in a very strange takeoff then settled down, followed by a low pass which ended in a sharp nose down into the ground. Have rebuilt as fuselage was in umpteen parts plus some cables snapped.

Does anyone know a suitable rotor replacement as the rotor disintegrated on impact?

[Ian Jones]

Hi Goose10,

I believe these 10 Blade High-Performance 70mm EDF Ducted Fan Units are popular.

Also the reviews in the HK website for the ARTF version have some suggestions - that's here

 

Ian

Edited By Ian Jones on 07/12/2012 23:44:32

[Tomtom39]

Hello Goose10

Had similar issue, I replaced mine with a much stronger one from E-Flite . Its the Power 15 which is the one used in the Parkzone Habu . It flew like a dream until receiver locked out!

[Garbo]

Tomtom I never heard of a Futaba locking out!

[Goose10]

Thanks all for feedback, I thought that use of the 10 blade increased draw on the battery. Also is there a UK source for the fan units as these are out of stock and could do with before Xmas if poss?

[Tomtom39]

Hello Garbo,

It does if you hit it with a hammer! (In this case a problematic DSM AR500 )

[Garbo]

Oh I wish I used those DSM receivers, the garage is full of planes and my Futaba gear is no where near as good at recycling models

[Tomtom39]

Those are very good for unwanted models that you don't really care too much about (my Vampire was a post twice crashed version)

[Goose10]

Some help plse.

Repairing my vampire at the moment after an unfortunate experience resulting in serious repair work; several wires snapped, all of which bar one I have been able to sort. The offender is marked 3 and I suspect it's the one that powers the receiver, but does anyone have a pic of what and whe it connects to?

Down to what color wire is soldered to where?

Just for info, when I switch on t DX6i and attached battery, there is a regular beep but no power to the receiver.

[Ian Jones]

The wire labelled three is for channel three - throttle which would explain the beeping (as it also powers the Rx).

So, being the throttle wire, one end goes to the Rx channel 3 port which I expect you knew and the other end goes to the ESC which I presume is the end you have a problem with.

I'll nip and have a look at mine and see if I can get an answer to that for you.

 

Back again.. before the edit timer ran out too! Hopefully these answer your questions:

 

 

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 22/12/2012 14:31:09

Edited By Ian Jones on 22/12/2012 14:33:02

[Goose10]

Seems like the circuit board is damaged as one of the cable seats has been ripped out; question therefore is what is the like-for-like replacement ESC , preferably available in UK. I note that its also connected to a UBEC that also connects to the ESC and receiver. 45A I think?

[Ian Jones]

In that case I think you are after:

Yep the spec says 45amp ESC

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 22/12/2012 16:44:28

[Goose10]

Thanks Ian; it transpired that I have a similar ESC, which I connected up to the UBEC, test ran all and now fine. The ESC seems fine after a good run so just need to reinforce the joints where booms connect to the wing (this was the original issue I think as the boom flexing made the flight strange), plus where the elevator/Rudder assembly sheared. I will fillet out and reinforce with some rigid ply I think, then check the CoG again.

So glad I picked up all the pieces afterwards , as at the time I was ready to bin it all. Just so happy to see the whole machine in one piece again, as its such a sweet flyer.

[Goose10]

So first flight today after much repair work with hot glue, further carbon rod for the booms (this has been essential IMHO) ; replaced the broken fan with a Windrunner 4 blade (large blade area).

Wind today was about 6-8 kts and gusty when up high; very pleased with the repair , some rebalance of the CoG but she launched fine. Very steady but the wind seemed to provide a challenge. The light was also fading so decided to play safe and get her down after about 3 minutes, so wound down throttle, took her downwind then turned her around and glided her in.

Slid on grass perfectly and a happy camper.

love this bird so much, have ordered an ARF version and will build with a Change Sun 10 blade with an upped motor and larger 4S.

Just want the Sea Vixen now.

[Ian Jones]

Betcha dead chuffed Goose10.

Erm... if your going to have another go faster Vampire then why not leave the Sea Vixen stock for everyone else , you will have enough to fly .

[Goose10]

Its in my DNA now Ian...

No point in ordering anything direct from HK at the moment as its the yearly chaos what with the oriental new year .

Funnily used to be heavily into plastic modelling of commercial airliners; then with kids, etc thats fallen by the wayside and have honestly found something am passionate about. Plus this is such a great forum with helpful (and humerous) contributors.

Oh and the by-product of this is you can never be satisfied ....

One thing I did notice when repairing the Vampire was a triangular piece on the underside of the wing that frames the air intake; that had disappeared so had to cannibalise my 35mm Sabre that was a waste of time from the start. The wing from that when cut fitted really well.

Now back to the BBC weather website....

[Mark Jones]

Got mine,built it (pnf version) no problems with the build. going to install the flat cf strip in the booms today, different story with the electronics, nothing happened when i plugged my lipo in-well i say nothing there was a brief twitch a flash of the light in my rx....and thats it. so i had another esc from another plane connected it up to all including fan- hey presto it all works (including the retracts).

off to hobbyking goes an email to customer support, to which i got an almost instant reply asking for a pic and order no ect, which i promptly sorted. well that was on Monday the 21st Jan- not a peep since..(i know its only been 5 days ) even after me contacting them three more times,Not that impressed!!!

on another note ive heard somewhere about making the nose leg retract either longer or raising the mount to aid the take off??? can anyone confirm or point me in the right direction of this being done

no flying today.... five inches of crusty snow on the runway

[J BENNETT]

Hi Guys, maidened mine this morning. First run wouldn't lift off after about 80m on grass. Had a second go with high rates on elevator and away she went. Flew nicely on half to three quater throttle. Then, after about 2 minutes I had no power above half throttle, followed shortly after by no power at all, although all flying surfaces were working. Turned into wind, but to far out and landed in corn field on top of corn, absolutely no damage.

When recovered it was making 5 beeps, all surfaces working and no lock outs. Battery showed 60% remaining. Reconnected the battery with battery monitor on balance lead and everything worked fine, ran motor at full power until down to 3.7v under load and no repeat of the problem.

My first thought was the the ESC low voltage cut-off had activated but surprissed it did not go after further running on the ground. Has anybody else had similar problems. Also, does anyone know the make off the ESC, and are there any instructions for setting the cut-off voltage. Battery was a Zippy 4S 2650mAH.

First impressions are this is a great model and easy to fly. Club mate has one and gets long flights on similar battery.

[Tony Read]

At Saturdays HK fly-in I was speaking to one of their chaps flying his Vampire. He put on a really good show and it was stock, with no boom strengthening. I was very impressed.

One thing he did say was to balance the fan and ditch the metal 'dome' as this throws the fan out of balance too. I'm interested to know who is flying as-is and who have balanced their fans?

Just a thought, but could part of Colin's problem have been caused by low performance due to a fan being way out of balance?

[Colin Bernard]

Tony, While this could not be ruled out, it certainly sounded smooth enough and had been flying well on previous days.

I still think it was a case of simply forcing the model up too early.

I have since bought another, strengthened the booms and hand launch (unless the strip has just been cut), and the Vampire has flown brilliantly and is great fun to fly. (Just don't try coming in for a low high speed pass at twilight!!)

[Tony Read]

Glad you have had success Colin.

Did you have to balance your fan?

[Piers Bowlan]

I did balance the fan but it was only slightly out of balance. I also fitted the 'dome' as it should in theory keep the airflow smooth entering the fan and also it is unlikely to be out of balance as it is spun aluminium item. It would seem that the Achilles heal of this model is sometimes the unbranded ESC supplied with the BNF version that can suffer from poor quality control. My 60A Turnigy 'Plush' switch mode ESC although a bit 'lardy' has never missed a beat.