RCMCM F3F Predator or Typhoon or Vector 3

[Tom Foreman]

Been day dreaming about gliders again today, they are all desirable but with limited funds which one should I be saving for and why? Or is there somthing better out there for my grubby mitts to fondle!

 

Predator - big and fast, but expensive

Vector 3 - large and aerobatic, but I have a WazEco

Typhoon - cheap and small, but would the money be better spent on somthing else?

 

 

http://www.rcrcm.com/

 

Cheers

 

Tom

Edited By Tom Foreman on 20/01/2010 15:50:23

[Peewhit]

Suppose a lot depends upon your budget Tom.

 

The Typhoon is my first mouldie.

 

Yes it is only 2 metre, but has the stability of something far larger.

 

It will fly slowly or fast, has no bad habits, and lands like a pussycat using crow.

 

Designed for the sports flyer, it is nicely aerobatic and great value at £285.

[ken anderson.]

hello tom-few of the lads i know -like the 'blades' from x models......they seem a reasonable price and perform well---i'm still new to gliding,only flying the gliders for my 2nd year now.........but what i've seen and learnt.......these seem worth considering.......as well as your choice above...which the typhoon is the only one i've seen...

 

 ken anderson...............

[Lee Morgan]

the phoon or the Vector are very good models , they stand out on there own , I would say you will enjoy either , Th pred is also a good model but if you have no plans to race there is no point spending the money when you could have as much fun with one of the other two. If the blade is a choice then get a second hand one and fly it like you stole it cos its an old model now and will only get older as all these new models come out ( and there is a lot of models coming out at the mo ) 

Just my 2p 

Lee

[Tom Satinet]

It depends on what you want to do doesn't it. And what you want to spend!  I would say the Typhoon - it just seems a good package for the money.

 

I think all three are fine as your first mouldie.  All three have crow brakes and are getting good flight reports.

 

Blade - come on lads!  Maybe if it was really cheap second hand and there was no one around to see you fly it............ I suppose the only way would be up from there.........

 

 

 

 

[Tim Mackey]

Interesting and amusing ( well I laughed ) ramblings on this type of conversation from our Mr Ellison in the current mag

[Tom Satinet]

I haven't read it, but he is right about the odd thing from time to time!

Edited By Tom Satinet on 20/01/2010 22:46:23

[Tom Satinet]

He'll probably be on in a bit going on about Lunas and those sparrow farts that seem to be a bit of a problem up in the north west. 

[Slopetrashuk]

I'm lurking...........

[Slopetrashuk]

But - While I'm here I would say that I don't think the Vector is a good first mouldie. It's performance is not so good in many conditions due to it's symetrical wing section and it is proving to need it's ballast more than most.

 

Mine however, being the original prototype with a bagged wing is somewhat heavier and is proving just fine......

 

Heck, I'd listen to Tom....He's bound to be right once in a while!

 

 

Blade?

Edited By Slopetrashuk on 21/01/2010 00:33:51

[Tom Foreman]

Thanks for the advice, I guess the Phoon is looking good, have a review I downloaded from slope racer to look at at lunch.

 

Sounds like the Vector is a lot like the WazEco, pretty hard to fly good, so I'll practice more on the WazEco first, still havn't nailed my landings yet and its kind of fragile, ripped the rudder post out last Sunday .

 

Guess the Predator will wait until next year once I've cut my teeth racing the M60 sometime this year (if I get around to it )

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

Edited By Tom Foreman on 21/01/2010 10:22:05

[Ultymate]

Tom are you landing your WazEco fast, assuming it's pretty much the same as the Wasabi if you droop the ailerons it will slow right don for landings

[Tom Foreman]

Yeah too fast, cartwheeled it in, the flaperons were dropped 8 deg to slow it down, but it kept on coming in too fast, too much dam lift and I was forcing it in using the elevator.

 

I have different settings with flaperons, on the throttle stick, fully forward no camber, middle 5 deg camber, back 8 deg camber. I also have airbrake on a switch for 20 deg camber, and elevator compensation but havn't had much luck as it usually dissappears skyward when you hit this switch although at the moment I'm running too much compensation as it keeps moving forward, guess I'll have to fine tune the settings.

 

What are you running?

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Ultymate]

I have the Flaperons set to operate on the throttle stick with full down at low throttle. I usually vary them on the way in but I do have to put in loads of down elevator to compensate for the resulting lift. It is possible to end up with the model drifting backwards away from me on finals.It's never tip stalled on me but aileron control does get a little mushy.

[Tom Foreman]

Hi Ulytymate, I've had it tip stall on me and crash once, but sometimes it will just wobble in. Will try running full flaperons on the throttle for 20 deg, maybe thats the secret

 

As I don't have the fully moulded version, just moulded fuse with wooden, wings, stab and rudder I wonder if I've shaped the wing tips wrong and induced tip stall. It is noticably difficult to loop as it will roll out of the loop if you yank the elevator too hard or don't keep the speed up. Does yours have any bad tendancies?

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

[Ultymate]

I've found no bad tendencies at all Tom although I do still admit finding the landing a challenge being a recent convert from power flying

Edited By Ultymate on 21/01/2010 13:20:27

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by Tom Foreman on 21/01/2010 13:07:30:

Hi Ulytymate, I've had it tip stall on me and crash once, but sometimes it will just wobble in. Will try running full flaperons on the throttle for 20 deg, maybe thats the secret

 

As I don't have the fully moulded version, just moulded fuse with wooden, wings, stab and rudder I wonder if I've shaped the wing tips wrong and induced tip stall. It is noticably difficult to loop as it will roll out of the loop if you yank the elevator too hard or don't keep the speed up. Does yours have any bad tendancies?

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

 

Could that possibly be a slight nose-heaviness? I have had a couple of new models lately, where the recommended COG was too far forward for my liking, and apart from a strong tendancy to dive when inverted - even with loads of forward elevator - they also tended to flop and roll over at the top of a moderately tight loop.

Sorry, drifting into trimming now rather than model choice!

[Ultymate]

I must admit I quite fancy a Typhoon myself it's just the thought of going out and buying all the airborne gear as well as the airframe that's holding me back

[Tom Foreman]

Yeah I know what you mean, £90 would buy you 6 MG85's but not sure if they will fit in the wing.

 

Hi Tim will check the CoG again and try moving it backwards, but to be honest it flys with near neutral trim on the all moving stab and it fly's inverted hands off (as long as you remember to neutralise the flaperons )

 

Cheers

 

Tom

 

PS - gonna save for a Phoon, although my modelling budget has been severly dented as I've recently bought a car after doing without for 10 years and I'm getting married in 3 months time ! Oh well its only money!

 

PPS - I now have a Zaggi on the work bench, didn't take long to break my New Year resolution to cut down on new models At least it was cheap!

[Peewhit]

Tom, buy the Phoon before you get married, because you won't be able to afford it afterwards

 

The wing servos do need to be thin - you can get away with 10mm depth for the flaps if you mount them far enough forward. The servo mounts are designed for 125's or 5125's.

 

The ailerons need even thinner - possibly 9.5mm but 9mm is better.

 

I went for Hyperion in the wings and Savox for the fus. £125 all up from robotbirds.

The Hyperion are superb and even Mr E recommends them in the mag.

 

If you are contemplating £90 for 6 MG95's then perhaps stretch the budget that little bit  for something decent which you know will fit.

[Tom Satinet]

Alright,  I think that Mr Sloperace is or will try and persaude rcrcm to make more sensible servo covers. one of the few bad features of the typhoon are the servo covers, which have a huge dome for a massive servo horn.  but as typhoon owners know you need to use the inner hole of the servo arm to not get too much throw. 

 

However, the covers aren't bumped at all for the actual servo so you need to fit a very thin servo. I think the idea is to get a bumped servo with a more sensible mound for the servo arm but a bump so you can fit a more sensible range of servos in.  E.g the savox sh-0257, which would be ideal. 

[Tom Foreman]

So £400ish for a Phoon and servos, better stop spending money on essentials and save it for the little luxuries in life

 

Tom

[Isoaritfirst]

Vectors great fun and a real pussycat to land as it has crow braking.

But Andy is right - its not really a first or only mouldie, it's designed for aerobatics, so it will loose out in the thermalling stakes.

 

Typhoon is aerobatic enough for most folk, only really losing out to the Vector in inverted performance and will fly happily in the weakest to the strongest of lift.

 

Savox servos http://www.rcmarket.org/savox-sh-0257-mg-pr-40701.htmlfor the fuz and Hyperion http://www.hyperion-world.com/products/product/HP-DS095-FMD for the wings,

It will cost you a bit more - but the model is worth it.

 

Just stay at home one night instead of taking the wife out -- should just about cover it.

 

Dont worry about getting big flap movements - you will only rate them down once you fly it.

 

[Tom Foreman]

Well Mike you would know if you are the same Mike who has posted some great videos on Vimeo

 

Thanks for the advice, should have the cash ready in a couple of months time, spent the model budget on rings and a suit last weekend, ouch! Oh well  its only money

 

Tom

[Isoaritfirst]

Yes, and thanks for that Tom.

I have both a Typhoon and a Vector along with many other models for comparison - There are quite a few pics of my build on the other threads.

Typhoon is tricky if you want to get a decent size receiver in. Unless you have a strong reason for going with a 5 cell battery pack - I would suggest that you don't,  In my experience they bring more problems than benefits.