JP models Electra sport

[twinstar]

Electra Sport review by me

Marketed as an “ideal Introduction” to flying I have recently bought myself a JP models “Electra Sport”, attracted by its easy availability and low cost of replacement parts, transportable “leave it in the car boot” size, good looks. At £70 RRP the kit comes complete with a basic 2 stick transmitter, ready installed Mini servos, mini reciever, 380 motor and XXXX Nimh battery pack, mains (slow) and a handy 12v (rapid) in car charger. The kit also includes a well thought out set of spares including a replacement folding propellor and spinner, tail section retaining bolts (small and easily lost) and even an entire spare foam wing. Unlike many artf models in this class, parts are easy to come by and don’t cost the earth, a new wing, for example, will set you back a mere eight pounds, a rudder and ellevate set 4 pounds…enough said.

Open the box
On opening the box the well thought out layout becomes apparent, the loose parts of the kit such as transmitter and chargers are anchored down to prevent transit damage, the box can be used to transport the broken down model in when heading out to your flying site and the anchored down sections act as a handy kind of internal tool box for any bits and pieces.

The instruction manual is clear and not overly complicated and explains how to put the model together and charge the battery up without any confusing terminology or longwindedness to confuse a beginner, some basic instructions on suitible flying sites and how the controlls work and how the model flies are given but should not be relied upon. A complete beginner should read a decent book on how basic rudder / elevator gliders work, such as “gliding with radio controll” by Nexus special interests. Naturally, the aid of an instructor is invaluable when starting out expect many breakages if you dont go the instructor route

Putting it together
Assembly is very easy with this model, simply pass the rudder and its protruding vertical bolts through the tailplane / elevator section and then on through the fuselage, tighten with the two retaining bolts and then attach the rudder / elevator clevises. Details are not given in the instructions about the required throws but it suggests that the outer “eye” is used to attach the control surfaces to the pushrods and to move the pushrods in an eye, when you want a more responsive model at a later date. Wings are attached with a conventional rubber band system and bands are supplied in the kit. The centre of the foam wing has marker arrows to make sure the wing is aligned square to the centreline of the moulded plastic fuselage. The battery pack is well shaped to fit into the nose but did require some additional packing in order to make it snug, particularly to stop it moving backwards in flight and altering the Centre of Gravity. This sorted a centre of gravity check was carried out and the model checked out well at between a ¼ and 1/3 of the average chord. If you are a newcomer learn how to do a proper measured C of G check, it’ll save you money and heartache.

With the wings attached the model was eyed head on, revealing a slight drop on one wing tip caused by poor seating of the undercambered wing section with the fuselage, this was rectified by epoxying a thin sliver of balsa to the wing seat on the offending side and sanding to the correct thikness to make the wing sit square.

Overall the model looks good, particularly for a "beginners" model, the stick on graphics can be easily peeled off for more custom paint jobs should you desire. The canopy is retained by an internal ruber band and on my model wasn’t entirely flush with the fuselage, eventually, with repeated openings, the hinge at the top of the canopy split due to the thin ABS plastic.

The transmitter, although basic is pleasant enough with trim settings for both sticks and a simple on / off flick switch on the top for the motor. There is a basic led battery indicator and power is supplied by eight AA batteries, (not supplied), reversing switches are inside the transmitter battery compartment. All the radio gear can be taken out and put in another model hence the reversing switches can be used to correct for “upside down” mounted servos, etc. Perhaps the biggest down side to the transmitter is that it operates on 27Mhz rather than 35Mhz. As 27Mhz is the frequency for model cars and picks up lots of CB radio, you need to choose a flying site carefully, replacement crystals are available but id have been happier with a 35 MHz set. On a transmitter in this price range buddy box set ups are not possible and there is no facility for plugging the transmitter into a charger, each AA battery has to be replaced manually, i found that the LED battery lights were a poor indicator of transmitter battery power and so, chose not to rely on them to tell me when to change the batteries.

Like many ARTF modles, components are not of the highest quality and i decided to change the clevises and contol horns for a more robust type. The battery is seperated from the motor by a small piece of glued in polystyrene, angled to accept the front of the battery pack and facilitate its removal, there is nothing to stop the battery moving backwards so i added some packing and wrapped the battery in foam to stop it being so loose in the fuselage. if you crash or go in hard, the battery slides forward over the polystyrene and the battery wires get but by the sharp edges on the back of the motor, so cram in some packing of your own.

Switch on.
Switch on and the servos move to their factory set positions, trim-wise my model seemed to be fairly well set up out of the box. Press the motor on / off switch on the fuselage and f

• Quote

[twinstar]

part 2 of the review:

 

Switch on.
Switch on and the servos move to their factory set positions, trim-wise my model seemed to be fairly well set up out of the box. Press the motor on / off switch on the fuselage and flick the motor on switch on the transmitter and the electric motor erupts into life, initial testing seemed promising with reasonable power, using the tried and tested c of g rule of 25 to 30 % of average chord at 45 % of span, the C of G checked out at exactly where is should do.

trimming out.
on a windless day i headed out to a local hill for an initial, motor off glide test, i gave the electrasport a lob and thunk, it plummetd nose first into the ground, hmm, it needs a jolly good throw then. test 2 proved better, thrown with more oomph the model glided away nicely, i added a couple of clicks of up trim and i could pretty much maintain a steady gliding descent with just gentle rudder inputs to keep things on track. with the motor on the model is a lot livelier, it climbs quite well but is rather twitchy.

flying
on a windier day i headed to a suitible flying site, cursed that id left the hat at home, set up, range check gave it a lob and off she went, after an hour or so id had numerous short duration glide only flights, a few hard landings and had creased the wing, ..although theres a spare in the box, it is quite dissapointing how weak the wing is given that this is a beginners model and so is likely to have a number of "unplanned landings". the wooden spar running along the wing is too short and the polystyrene wing tends to crease at the end of the spar, on the other hand, the abs plastic fuselage has taken a number of beatings and is still perfectly fine.

in moderate winds the model glides quite fast, for its class, the wings do flex quite alarmingly, partly due to their thin section and partly due to the short spar., its not the most responsive model, but by no means the least either, the undercambered wing limits the glide speed, perhaps for the better, though a faster wing could be made and easily fitted to the model using the tried and tested rubber band method, in a good blow, the controlls were a bit sloppy as there is flex in both the pushrods and controll surfaces. being on 27mhz I had numerous experiences with interference, with the motor often tuning itself half on,..not great when you are trying to land!., it would have been better if a 35mhz transmitter was included. i also found that the rudder and ellevator, both being made of plastic coated polystyrene, are way too thin and flimsy, even some fairly gentle landings resulted in a broken fin and after numerous instances of replacing them, ended up making my own out of solid sheet balsa, resulting in much greater durability.

conclusion.
a nice looking, reasonable attempt at an "everything you need in one box" glider, best suited to someone thats had a few hours on a more dosile model and buddy box... you can teach yourself to fly with this model but expect to break several wings and tails in the process. its not a great slope soarer in light winds and too lightweight for the more blowy days, as being small and light it tends to be bounced around, sometimes quite drmatically, so overall the slopesoaring potential is a bit limited. All parts and radio gear components are replaceable and different crystals are available for the transmitter, however i was frustrated at poor build quality and cheap components.

likes
everything you need is included
low price
good looks
availability of all parts
radio gear can be used in other models

dislikes
poor quality components
limited slopesoaring options
polystyrene wing and tail too fragile.

[Tony Read 2]

Whilst I agree with nearly all of what Twinstar says, my experience with the very similar Electra Fun (I think they share components) has been good. True, they are a bit crude and the radio can be glitchy but I still have the original airframe from the one that went in full bore from about 100 feet when It dropped behind some power lines. Thats tough! My wife found it about a year later. The servos just about moved when I hooked up a battery but the Rx was fine! I even managed to thermal mine! I still reckon the Electra Fun is good value when you consider that you get a flight simulator controller with it. I've got two and use them for giving friends a taste of flying. I am in the process of changing the radio gear though!

[Big Bandit]

Hi both,

 

Didn't bother with the full kit as I wouldn't risk anything on 27 these days. The parts for mine came from The Model Shop in Leeds £20 the lot. Add a couple of 9 gram servo's £10, and a cheap 35 RX. Fitting the servos was a bit fiddly. The first motor was a 6v speed 400 on 7 cells which was OK. Changed the 400 for a Blue Wonder 2300KV from robot birds for £7.99 Plastic mount £2.99 6x4 prop, and a cheap 18Amp ESC, again RB's. I flew like this for a couple of years, and can't think of a cheaper way to go flying or stooging about over the local park. In the end I gave it to a mate to learn to fly on, it's a really steady trainer for someone who wants to go it alone, and with spares so cheap £8.99 for a spare wing, £3.99 for a complete tail unit. I'd recommend this set up for anyone.

 

Chris.

[Stephen Grigg]

I learnt loads with the Electofun and it took all the abuse I gave it.Often digging the nose back out of the ground.Is the Eletra Sport similar

[Stephen Grigg]

I found a Photo.The electrfun has a pusher behind the wing hence you could dig it out sraihten the wing and away it would go again.The wing did get  chewed by the prop when you landed heavily,but the parts a so cheap to replace.I did repair a couple of wings but after a while they would clap hands.Fit another wing and back in the air.Really good model to learn with

Electra Sport