FMS Olympus F3A

[Steve Colman]

After the demise of my Sebart Angel S30e I am looking for a replacement. My initial thought was to upsize to the 50e version but my finances just can't quite stretch that far. So, as one does, I've been looking for an alternative and the FMS Olympus seems to fit the bill nicely.

From what I've read and seen it appears to be a good performer.

 

Anyone have any first hand experience with this model that they care to share? Alternatively, any other similar model I should consider?

 

Thanks in advance,

Steve.

Edited October 26 by Steve Colman

[Bruce Collinson]

 Is very good, three flown just this afternoon at NLMFC.   Two more in the pits.   Fully aerobatic and fairly vice-free but need flying in to land and the u/c is made of Chinesium.   Replacement with 10 swg is a big improvement.   Wing fix bolts can be fiddly, worth swapping s/s for magnetic steel and use a magnet on a stick to extract them.

 

i think I’m on my third …..

[Bruce Collinson]

One of my clubmates passed his A and B using his, on the same day, earlier this season.   He's now flying C schedules with it.

 

Two coats of polyurethane varnish make it infinitely easier to clean, if you fly off grass shared with sheep.   Front-on visibility can be indifferent so judicious use of Oraltrim in fluo colours and/or invasion stripes may help.   Two pilots use gyros which arguably extend their usefulness in blustery or turbulent air, although you'd presumably turn it off if flying any sort of schedule.

 

Opinions differ on the benefit of the winglet.   Probably only helps with knife edge, but it didn't help me with my first one.   Spookily, two of us are "progressing" to Angels; fly on the same LiPo.

 

I hope this helps you to make up your mind and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. 

 

BTC

[Colin Carpenter]

Loved my Angels 😇! Lemon Rx killed the first and I killed no2 after a winter flying UMX. First flight after saw me loop it into the huge bramble bushes on other side of runway. 😭😭Stupid!! Continually looking for no 3 in yellow a sensible drive away !! Meanwhile Sebbie SBach does the job. Colin

[Learner]

Olympus is a good flyer and  ideal for smooth aerobatics, loads of power on 6s, but plenty on 5s.

For it's performance its good value but it's obviously not in the same league as a Sebart Angel, and being foam trimming can vary between sessions especially when its well used.

 

 

Edited October 26 by Learner

[Steve Colman]

Thank you for your replies gents. Much appreciated.

[Konrad]

Sorry I'm a little late to the discussion. I have this FMS Olympus and fly her as my daily sport/pattern ship. FMS seems to have the foam stiff enough as I don't have to retrim her after every landing.

 

I do have some mixed opinion about the battery tray. I love that it makes it easier to set the battery for a bit more consistent CG. But one needs to make sure the tray is well seated when reinstalling the battery into the fuselage!  Do spend some time on the stab mount to added some rigidity. The cantilizer does help! I've had 4 E-flite Splendors (still have 2). and have to say that on balance the FMS Olympus is the better ship. A lot of this can be traced to cantilizer and the fact that I'm using a FrSky stabilized RX. The Splendor uses an antiquated AS3X RX. The cantilizer gives the rudder cleaner are for improved power in knife edge resulting in less rudder coupling.

 

Servos are a bit weak, less than appropriate. I'd like to see folks upgrade the servo to an E-Max DS3054 as the airframe can use the better power and resolution, the model is worth the upgrade!  Actually I'd like a faster servo if using a gyro but the DS3054 is hard the beat at $11 US. 

 

Spinner and prop could be of better quality so do spend some time balancing them.

 

You might see her in the background.

 

P.S.

I'm using SMC  6 cell 4400 HV v1 batteries

 

Edited October 28 by Konrad
add photo

[Learner]

6 hours ago, Konrad said:

Sorry I'm a little late to the discussion. I have this FMS Olympus and fly her as my daily sport/pattern ship. FMS seems to have the foam stiff enough as I don't have to retrim her after every landing.

 

I do have some mixed opinion about the battery tray. I love that it makes it easier to set the battery for a bit more consistent CG. But one needs to make sure the tray is well seated when reinstalling the battery into the fuselage!  Do spend some time on the stab mount to added some rigidity. The cantilizer does help! I've had 4 E-flite Splendors (still have 2). and have to say that on balance the FMS Olympus is the better ship. A lot of this can be traced to cantilizer and the fact that I'm using a FrSky stabilized RX. The Splendor uses an antiquated AS3X RX. The cantilizer gives the rudder cleaner are for improved power in knife edge resulting in less rudder coupling.

 

Servos are a bit weak, less than appropriate. I'd like to see folks upgrade the servo to an E-Max DS3054 as the airframe can use the better power and resolution, the model is worth the upgrade!  Actually I'd like a faster servo if using a gyro but the DS3054 is hard the beat at $11 US. 

 

Spinner and prop could be of better quality so do spend some time balancing them.

 

You might see her in the background.

 

P.S.

I'm using SMC  6 cell 4400 HV v1 batteries

 

I bought mine to improve my aerobatics and take my test,so have no stabiliser fitted. seems fine without but then I'm still using the fitted servos, which also seem OK and don't seem weak for smooth aerobatics.

I wasn't  sure about the longevity of the lugs on the battery tray, so glued it in for peace of mind. I had to extend it to hang  the 6s 3000 off the back to get the cg where I wanted it.

Agree about the prop balance a genuine apc would be better.

[Steve Colman]

13 hours ago, Konrad said:

Sorry I'm a little late to the discussion. I have this FMS Olympus and fly her as my daily sport/pattern ship. FMS seems to have the foam stiff enough as I don't have to retrim her after every landing.

 

I do have some mixed opinion about the battery tray. I love that it makes it easier to set the battery for a bit more consistent CG. But one needs to make sure the tray is well seated when reinstalling the battery into the fuselage!  Do spend some time on the stab mount to added some rigidity. The cantilizer does help! I've had 4 E-flite Splendors (still have 2). and have to say that on balance the FMS Olympus is the better ship. A lot of this can be traced to cantilizer and the fact that I'm using a FrSky stabilized RX. The Splendor uses an antiquated AS3X RX. The cantilizer gives the rudder cleaner are for improved power in knife edge resulting in less rudder coupling.

 

Servos are a bit weak, less than appropriate. I'd like to see folks upgrade the servo to an E-Max DS3054 as the airframe can use the better power and resolution, the model is worth the upgrade!  Actually I'd like a faster servo if using a gyro but the DS3054 is hard the beat at $11 US. 

 

Spinner and prop could be of better quality so do spend some time balancing them.

 

You might see her in the background.

 

P.S.

I'm using SMC  6 cell 4400 HV v1 batteries

 

Thanks for your input Konrad. I'm still undecided as to get one of these or try to raise the extra funds needed for a Sebart Angel 50E. Either way I'm not interested in competition flying, I just enjoy attempting to fly in a smooth and graceful fashion that is typical of F3A Pattern planes which I also like the look of. The extra size of the Angel would be nice but It will need an additional 200+ notes to realise this. I will, as always, procrastinate further before coming to a decision.

[Steve Colman]

6 hours ago, Learner said:

I bought mine to improve my aerobatics and take my test,so have no stabiliser fitted. seems fine without but then I'm still using the fitted servos, which also seem OK and don't seem weak for smooth aerobatics.

I wasn't  sure about the longevity of the lugs on the battery tray, so glued it in for peace of mind. I had to extend it to hang  the 6s 3000 off the back to get the cg where I wanted it.

Agree about the prop balance a genuine apc would be better.

The prop will most likely be replaced by an APC and will definitely be properly balanced

[Konrad]

6 hours ago, Learner said:

I bought mine to improve my aerobatics and take my test,so have no stabiliser fitted. seems fine without but then I'm still using the fitted servos, which also seem OK and don't seem weak for smooth aerobatics.

I wasn't  sure about the longevity of the lugs on the battery tray, so glued it in for peace of mind. I had to extend it to hang  the 6s 3000 off the back to get the cg where I wanted it.

Agree about the prop balance a genuine apc would be better.

Now that you mention it, my tray rails were easy to remove. This allowed me to move them aft about 40mm to 50mm to help with the balance using 595gram batteries. I wish I had two more trays preloaded with batteries.

 

"Servos are a bit weak, less than appropriate." is a reference to the fact that the servos don't center as well as we would like for pattern work. They don't follow my stick movent near as well as I would want (resolution is weak/poor). They are too slow and I think I stripped the rudder servo once (hanger rash). I will say the Olympus is worth the added $40 for a set of E-Max servos at least!  I was thinking of adding another elevator servo, splitting the elevator but chose to use the dual ailerons for my fine tuning of the ship. (Still using the FMS servos other than on the rudder).

 

The use of a gyro was to try to mimic the E-Flite Splendor as a 3D ship. The gyro does help at low speed (croos wind and turbulance) and with hover manuvers. It can cause issues at higher speed mainly as a result of the slow servos.

[Konrad]

13 minutes ago, Steve Colman said:

Thanks for your input Konrad. I'm still undecided as to get one of these or try to raise the extra funds needed for a Sebart Angel 50E. Either way I'm not interested in competition flying, I just enjoy attempting to fly in a smooth and graceful fashion that is typical of F3A Pattern planes which I also like the look of. The extra size of the Angel would be nice but It will need an additional 200+ notes to realise this. I will, as always, procrastinate further before coming to a decision.

The Olympus is perfect for that! But there is the foam issue (I find it difficult to repair to like new condition). I don't think the APC prop will fit the spinner. You will need to rework the spinner. Most of my balance issue were in the spinner and that she didn't run true.

[Learner]

1 hour ago, Konrad said:

Now that you mention it, my tray rails were easy to remove. This allowed me to move them aft about 40mm to 50mm to help with the balance using 595gram batteries. I wish I had two more trays preloaded with batteries.

 

"Servos are a bit weak, less than appropriate." is a reference to the fact that the servos don't center as well as we would like for pattern work. They don't follow my stick movent near as well as I would want (resolution is weak/poor). They are too slow and I think I stripped the rudder servo once (hanger rash). I will say the Olympus is worth the added $40 for a set of E-Max servos at least!  I was thinking of adding another elevator servo, splitting the elevator but chose to use the dual ailerons for my fine tuning of the ship. (Still using the FMS servos other than on the rudder).

 

The use of a gyro was to try to mimic the E-Flite Splendor as a 3D ship. The gyro does help at low speed (croos wind and turbulance) and with hover manuvers. It can cause issues at higher speed mainly as a result of the slow servos.

I had thought about changing the rudder servo as the fms servos aren't the best,

But then it's a sub £300 plane (£225 when I bought mine)

I didn't think emax servos or any other budget servos were any better and have  learned to live with it as is.

Although it's marketed as a 3d plane it certainly isn't, not in my hands anyway.

 

Edited October 28 by Learner

[Learner]

1 hour ago, Steve Colman said:

Thanks for your input Konrad. I'm still undecided as to get one of these or try to raise the extra funds needed for a Sebart Angel 50E. Either way I'm not interested in competition flying, I just enjoy attempting to fly in a smooth and graceful fashion that is typical of F3A Pattern planes which I also like the look of. The extra size of the Angel would be nice but It will need an additional 200+ notes to realise this. I will, as always, procrastinate further before coming to a decision.

Don't forget the angel comes as bare airframe, and the olympus just needs battery and receiver. The Angel will be much more than £200 difference kitted out.

 

Edited October 28 by Learner

[Konrad]

Its a 3D like the Slpendor is. If you are Quique you can get them to 3D but us mere mortals not so much.

 

The E-Max servo usually are of a much higher build quality than most foam OEM servos. But they are still only $10 to $25 servos. I have a post here showing some of the reasons I say this. 

 

[Steve Colman]

6 minutes ago, Learner said:

Don't forget the angel comes as bare airframe, and the olympus just needs battery and receiver. The Angel will be much more than £200 difference kitted out.

 

Yes, I know this. I have suitable servos so would need just a motor + ESC which should be attainable within the 200 additional cost.

[Learner]

16 minutes ago, Steve Colman said:

Yes, I know this. I have suitable servos so would need just a motor + ESC which should be attainable within the 200 additional cost.

I think the Angel 50 airframe alone is now over £500, and getting one isn't easy!

[Steve Colman]

That's a very timely remark Learner.

 

I emailed Sebart this afternoon about the availability of the Angel 50. I received a reply that stated that the Angel 50 and the Wind 50 are no longer in production, leaving only the Mytho S 50 pattern model in this size. Of course, the Mytho airframe is more expensive and requires 5 servos as opposed to the simplicity of the 4 standard servos needed for the Angel. And, many say that the Angel was the best flyer ot the three.

 

Now, the only way to get an Angel is to find a retailer that still has one in stock or find a second hand model and take a chance with it. Sad times.

 

I guess this does make my decision somewhat easier towards getting the Olympus? We shall see.

[Colin Carpenter]

I have the Mytho 30 S and despite using the same throws etc as the Angel I do not find it as pleasant to fly ! Same motor , same servos . The Miss Wind is very nice but takes longer to set up at the field so doesn’t get out as much 😂😂Colin

[Peter Jenkins]

Probably a lot more than you wanted to pay but this BJ Craft Anthem 70 size airframe is a cracker.  It's available in Spain and Juan Rombaut is currently the top Spanish F3A pilot.  I fly the 2 m version of the Anthem.  

[Steve Colman]

6 hours ago, Peter Jenkins said:

Probably a lot more than you wanted to pay but this BJ Craft Anthem 70 size airframe is a cracker.  It's available in Spain and Juan Rombaut is currently the top Spanish F3A pilot.  I fly the 2 m version of the Anthem.  

Thanks Peter, and as you surmised, unfortunately it's way over my budget. I'm selling a couple of models in order to fund the new model.

I do follow Juan's youtube channel and find it very interesting and helpful. Although I live in Spain I have not met him and no-one in my club flies F3A. When the club organises an event it tends to be Jet Turbines of all descriptions because that's what one member flies and the whole club tends to be run around him and his wants.

Edited October 29 by Steve Colman

[Peter Jenkins]

3 hours ago, Steve Colman said:

Thanks Peter, and as you surmised, unfortunately it's way over my budget. I'm selling a couple of models in order to fund the new model.

I do follow Juan's youtube channel and find it very interesting and helpful. Although I live in Spain I have not met him and no-one in my club flies F3A. When the club organises an event it tends to be Jet Turbines of all descriptions because that's what one member flies and the whole club tends to be run around him and his wants.

You could always try and make contact with him via his website and see if he can source a good example of a second hand 70 size model.  Most F3A models have a long lifespan and even after 5 year's of use can look like new.  You could find the equivalent of the UKF3A Association in Spain and see if they have a For Sale board.  

[Bruce Collinson]

Peter,

As you know, I’d defer to you in all matters F3A but it seems to me that Steve asked about a Ford Focus and is now being steered towards an M3!

Bruce

[Peter Jenkins]

This is true Bruce but you would be surprised at what can be bought for relatively little from the F3A community and in which one can have a much higher degree of faith in condition and performance.  Generally speaking, you can buy a second hand 70 size model ready to go for around £300-£400.  And yes, this may well be outside Steve's budget but I thought it worth flagging up.  I agree that the Olympus is a very good precision aerobatic airframe but it suffers from having to be retrimmed almost every flight as it is prone to changing its shape by small amounts during a flying day.  This is a great advantage in the Olympus' ability to absorb damage that a crunchie would not readily survive.  It's just an alternative route to take and if Steve is interested he might choose to follow - or not as the case might be.    I'm not trying to stuff my suggestion down his throat as he has stated he doesn't want to fly in competition so the need to retrim regularly may not be an issue.

[Steve Colman]

Thank you all very much for your input.

Whether I end up with a Focus or an M3 I don't know. I'm still conducting research into each option and have put feelers out concerning second hand models. If I can find something along the lines of a Sebart Angel/Wind/other of similar size that doesn't stretch the budget too far I will go for it. However, if that proves not to be fruitful, something along the lines of the FMS Olympus will probably do all I want and more.

 

I've also seen the "Inspiration" foamie kit, as sold by 4-Max. I have all the necessary electronics including batteries to kit one of these out so that may be another option.

Edited October 30 by Steve Colman