my MAX THRUST -VORTEX 400 *review* (new thread)

[flightpunch 34 dan]

hi all,

i am new to this forum,so i decided to join in here by posting some of my recent reviews,i started back in to the flying after a 10 year break from it,my goodness has technology come on leaps and bounds,especially in the electric department.

so i started back with a firebird stratos,moved up to a mustang -p51 very quickly,then alpha jet 64mm from arttech,an fms 70mm alpha,to this now vortex -400, god knows what's next,anyway i am no stranger to r/c equipment,i have a substantial history with rc stuff,starting when i was maybe 6years old,having vairous rc machines down through my adult life just messing around,then getting to the larger 5th scale stuff,then in to racing the 5th onroads and to do well enough to get the current team drive from fg modelsport where i currently race here in ireland.

anyway,i feel enough about my introduction for now,so here i am now tinkering about with rc planes and jets,nice to meet you all.

REVIEW:

so on to the review,ok i decided to do my own review on the max thrust vortex 400,well my review is going to simple enough,will involve a quick look around the box and kit,then a build/finish followed by the all important maiden flight.
The plane came pretty much ready to piece together so there was not any major assembly required in the build.it's comes with a glue which is touch dry in an hour and needs 48hours to properly harden,so i skipped that stuff and used some faster drying epoxy i had myself,it will get a few days to dry anyway i assume judging from the weather here now.it was important with the shape of the wings to keep them nice and straight when glued,this was the advantage of the fast drying stuff i used cause it only requiried me to hold them in the correct position for a minute or so and they were good to go.i also used small pieces of clear sellotape over any glued joint because this IMO is extra insurance and it helps big time to hold the glued stuff in place.it also does not effect the finish as it's clear and sticks great.

I got the jet from a shop in county clare (ennis) model heli services,mostly where i get all my stuff now.

The box was small enough measuring width ways 16" by 14" high,and around 3ft 6-7 long.
first impressions were focused on the quality of the foam,it's good quality,it's not exactly epo foam but it's for sure stronger than eps,it feels somewhere in the middle.
all parts came nicely packaged in there own packs.
so i straight away laid everything out in there packs on the floor to see what i had,i bought this kit without battery,charger nor RX/TR.
note-i will still only use an FMS rtf radio,i find it fine,it worked great in my other two jets and it's 2.4ghz,yes it's a shame to not yet have got hold of my dx8 but the budget is tight right now with hobby stuff as i'm only back in it a few weeks and i already have 5planes got,normally the radio equipment would be the first most important thing with me but i seem to have went at things differntly this time,i will give my opinion on the stock fms radio too here.



ok not going to go too crazy with pics,just enough to give an idea.


so first pic is unpacking,from here on i will go in to some small detail about each pack.



ET EDF 64mm KIT RED

FLYING WEIGHTt: 580gr - 850gr (20,5oz - 30oz)
FUSELAGE LENGTH: 940mm (37 in)
TURBINE: EDF 64mm

spec:

MOTOR BRUSHLESS OUTRUNNER 3900KV
BRUSHLESS CONTROLLER 50A
SERVOS: 6 x 9gr
4-CHANNEL TRANSMITTER
BATERY LI-PO 2200 mAh 14.8V

MADE OF EPO FOAM, HIGH RESISTANCE TO IMPACTS AND VERY EASY TO REPAIR

some unboxing...

[flightpunch 34 dan]

[flightpunch 34 dan]

and more assembly pics to the finished thing.

where i fly i have my own runway if you like,very lucky to have this,unused strip of old closed roadway,very long strip maybe 1/5th of a kmh long,with a huge safe area to fly here too,as an added bonus also it's very quite here with no one to bother me,it's a friends so i just use it when i want.

MAIDEN FLIGHT.

went better than i expected,i hope you enjoy the footage,thanks to nicola my wife for the great camera work.
i think luck was on my side too for a few reasons today,firstly this is a very very stable jet,the forecast here for today was gusty 20+mph winds,far too windy,but i'm afraid my impaitence got the upperhand and it was meant to maiden today
when we got there i assume the winds must have been up and around 15+mph.realistlcly too windy,but i'm very surprised at the stability of this thing,it handles the wind great,it did make landings and take off's tougher but i went WOT throttle everytime on the take off roll out so this made the nose wheel less sensitive.
anyway,i had some issues and as i said luck must have played a role,firstly the control rod fittings that clip on to the clevis are not so good,this is one thing i would reccomend any one to replace straight away,they are made out of very brittle plastic it seems,two of mine broke whilst i was doing the preflight checks,lucky,so i just changed the lot of them before the flight to better ones i had,one aileron one and an elevator at one side,i checked over everything to see why they broke,there was no binding to report or any sort of servo issue that could have caused it,everything was moving very freely,so it was just brittle plastic,full stop.

now another thing i would like to say that i done by choice,i would NOT reccomend this unless you have good expierience with EDF something i don't have,but it went good for me none the less,thank god,i would reccomend maybe cutting the ailerons and making them shorter,don't take off any of them,just put a slice with a stanley knife to make the aileron that is moving shorter,this is all,you can tape the rest of the aileron and it's fine,all you need to do in future when you to reuse the rest of aileron is retape it all together again and it's like new.
i had to this on my second flight, i shortened them by at least half the witdh,the reason for this modification was because i used the stock FMS radio,as i am only back at flying it's the only decent 2.4ghz i have right now,in a few weeks i am going for the dx8,but right now my budget is maxed,so will stick to the fms one for now.

so the reason i say i done this aileron modification was to limit sensitivity,to be honest the first two flights were almost uncontrolable,with this radio and no option for dual rate or anything else i had to do this modification.
with this modd done the plane flew excellent,i just seemed to have made the aileron the perfect length for this radio and it flew great,still was very agile and sensitive but had much more control this way.

the third thing i done was gave my self more throw by moving the control rod on the elevator clevis,this made the flying better again.
i used 2150 optipower 4cells,the flying time was poor today with something like little over 3minutes,i blame the heavy wind for this though,i will see how it all goes the next mild day.

the COG was fine,i moved the battery back to it's fully pushed back towards the tail direction as i could push it and wedged it back with some foam,it worked fine.

there was one other big issue with the plane,the nose wheel was very flimsy,it fell off at one point even,it came completly out of it's mounting point,not where it screws on to the pin coming out of the fuselage but it just sort of fell apart inside and started moving from side to side with a lot of slop,lucky i was almost stopped so no damage done,i had to do some modds to fix this and make it better,i would reccomend looking at this big time if any of you go for this jet.

that's all i can think of right now and i'm tired of typing,so enjoy the vid and please feel free to comment and question anything about the jet.

dan

P.S

this jet needs to come in with some power,if you lay off the power the landings suffer,but it's nice and predictable and feels stable in slow flight.

[flightpunch 34 dan]

NOTE:

when i mention about the third modd i done to the plane,the elevator area is very small on this and out of the box needs to be adjusted closer in on the control horn for better throw,even with this stock radio the ailerons on the furthest away point on the control horn has still heaps too much throw but the elevator the opposite,by the way i also didn't use the rudder casue it was crazy sensitive during the taxi runs,it just made turning a nightmare,maybe it would be fine to use the rudder if you are handlaunching it,but i would only reccomend this if you got a good radio with the possibility for lots of adjustments to tone things down such as your expos and dual rate and whatever else you got.

[flightpunch 34 dan]

and another video of it,flying better and more relaxed.

[Rainhold Nucu]

Hi.looks amazing..i just bought one kit for my son and me.i want to ask what remote and receiver for the plane you recommend?many thanks

[Piers Bowlan]

Welcome to the forum Rainhold. Is this your first radio controlled model aeroplane I wonder? If so, this type of electric ducted fan model is quite small and very fast, so anyone new to the hobby will struggle to keep up with it. It will become a small speck within seconds of launching, so that orientation will be come a problem and it's first flight will likely be it's last, unfortunately. The other problem is that even a 'ready to fly' model will need a certain amount of trimming and setting up of the radio control system which most people new to the hobby can struggle with without a little help. My best advice is to join a local model flying club where you will get help and some instruction. In the UK finding a club to join is easy if you go on the British Model Flying Association website here. If you are abroad I am sure an internet search will find a club local to you.

If you want to 'go it alone' then I suggest a high wing trainer type model to start with, which will be more stable and importantly, slower flying. Spares will also likely be available to get you quickly back in the air if you do have a mishap.

Good luck and happy flying

 

Edited By Piers Bowlan on 13/04/2020 07:58:33

[Piers Bowlan]

Regarding your question to the original poster about choice of suitable Radio Control system, he has not been on this forum since 2013 so perhaps he has moved onto another hobby?

Any good branded radio with six channels or more will probably be satisfactory, so the choice is yours. If you join a club you can see which brands others choose. If you buy the same brand, then other members will be well placed to help you as they will be familiar with the radio and its programming. Some brands are more popular than others, so for instance, if you buy Spektrum, Futaba or Fr Sky, you will likely find someone else with that brand too. This is a an example of a popular radio here . There are many cheap radios on the market nowadays but my advice is to buy a main brand as receivers and service will be available. Buy cheap, buy twice!

 

Edited By Piers Bowlan on 13/04/2020 07:53:59

[ken anderson.]

hello FP 34,afraid I cant see any vid's..?

ken anderson...ne..1....blind dept.

[Engine Doctor]

Just a little beware for the Vortex.

If you choose to fly thr Vortex in Knife edge then be aware that the aerodynamic forces acting on the air-frame can cause the canopy to un-clip and eject !!. The model without its canopy fly's very differently and not very nicely . This has happened twice now to to two different flyers at our club , admittedly when the vortex first came out . So make sure the canopy has a secure fitting(front) to prevent it coming off or modify it .