Dynam Skybus


c47 sml.jpg


Bought from Nitroplanes.com($130)

Specifications:
Wingspan:1470mm(57.8in)
Fuselage length:980mm(38.5in)
Wing Area:24.6dm2
Wing loading:48.8g/dm2
Flying weight:1200g(42oz)
Servo:9g*4
ESC:30A*2
Brushless Outrunner Motor:KV:1100

Unboxing

All the parts of this plane were nicely packed and wrapped in bubble wrap. There were no shipping damages when i recieved it! When you open up the box, you will find the following:

2 wing halves
Fuselage
Horizontal stabilizer
Vertical stabilizer
Hardware(EZ Adjusters, control horns, glue, etc)
Landing gear
Decals
Propellers(8x6x3)

Assembly

All the servos and the motors are preinstalled for you. The first step to assembly is glueing the 2 wing halves together. Dont use the recomended glue, because it isnt strong enough, and they dont provide enough of it. For the wing, i used Gorilla Glue Epoxy. Anyway, when you have smeared glue all around the wing half, stick them together and make sure they are lined up right. To keep them in line, use the little black peice of plastic that is used to screw in the wing. 2011-09-04_17.19.04.jpg A little bit off low tack tape wouldnt hurt either. While the epoxy is drying, i decided to put the elevator on. Before you put it on, you have the choise to make the tail wheel stearable. I was going to do it, but the tail wheel's plastic is incredible strongand i couldnt drill through it. Alls you have to do to assemble the elevator is drop it into the slotted place and glue it. I used hot glue bacause it dries quickly. After that, you need to glue in the vertical stab. All you do is slip it into a 'lil slot. Be sure to put the rudder pushrod guide into a precut slot. 2011-09-04_17.30.53.jpg Next you have to go in your bag 'o' asseceries and dig out 2 ez adjusters, and 1 control horn. Just simply glue the control hor to the rudder and install the ez adjuster. The elevator horn is installed. All you have to do is install the EZ adjuster. 2011-09-04_18.45.30.jpg BTW, make sure you use threadlockr on all the screws.
By this time, the wing epoxy will be dried and you can start working on the wing. At the bottom of the wing, there will be an area where the carbon fibre tube is glues in. Go ahead and glue that in. Now you can go ahead and glue in the landing gears. I reacomend using epoxy because the entire weight of the plane depends on the landig gears strength. DO NOT GLUE IN THE LANDING GEAR SUPPORTS!!! oLY GLUE IN THE ACTUAL GEAR! If you dont do that, you'll have a hard time putting the wing cover on.

Now on to installing the ESC's. Nitroplanes claims that it comes with 2 40A ESC's , but mine came with 2 30A. All yu have to is plug in the wires, and stuff the ESC into the ESC compartment. Also, you want to thread the esc wires and aileron servo wires through the provided hole. Once, all that is complete, glue on the Wing cover that hides the wires. 2011-09-04_18.56.18.jpg I recomend taping it on incase you want to access it again. NOW, you can glue the landing gear supports on.:) Now just install the 3 blade props.

In this kit, you have to provide a reciever. I personally useda AR6210 DSMX Spektrum Reciever. Here is the best, and most convienent way to mount the rx: 2011-09-04_19.09.03.jpg Plug the ailerons and throttle into your receiver. Make sure to slide the ESC battery wires into the nose of the plane. Then just screw on the wing with the nylon bolt.

THe second last thing you need to do before you fly is stick on the decals. They are pretty self explanitory. Just look at teh box if you need help. (I recomend you dont install the Dynam decal because it ruins the scale look.lol)

So open up the canopy hatch and put in the battery. Dynam recomends a 2200mah 3s 15c. I used a SkyLipo 3s 2650mah 30c pack. 2011-09-04_19.19.33.jpg If you use the bigger one, put it 1/2 inch from the front off the battery compartment. 2011-09-04_19.20.17.jpg A 2200 will go all the way in the front.

Bind the plane and your ready to maiden it!

Flying

When i plugged in that battery for the maiden flight, i basically crapped my pants because this was my biggest plane ever. 58 inches!! I set the plane in the middle of the runway(it has no stearable wheel) and walked back to the flight station. I gave it full elevator so it didnt nose over on takeoff. I gave it around half throttle. She took about 20ft to take off! The sound of this plane was amazing with the twin 400 size motors!! I was doing scale flying and all, the plane was fast and powerful if you needed it and had a low stall speed. The C47's stall is basiclly a short nose dive. After flying for 5minutes, I take it around for a landing. You MUST land with 1/4 throttle!! The plane just doesnt glide enough for a gliding landing. Te plane hada beautiful landing!

Heres a summary of how it flies:
1. It will do all the fancy-schancy tricks but it looks weird witha WWII transport.
2. It is responsive and basically flies on rails.
3. It will not gllide for you!
4. 3 point landings are super easy with 1/4 throttle. the plastic landing gear struts are really, really strongfor hard landings.
5. It'll handle the G's you give it
6. Gets around a 12minute flight time.

So after celebrating my successful maiden, it went to take flight number 2. I took off and it was great. I was doing more scale flying. All of a sudden, the plane starts a slight dive and turns. I struggle with it for a little bit. I come for a landing and some dude says "On the field!" So i was forced to land on the far end on the field. I walked over thinking there was nothing seroius going on. All of a sudden, i see a slight bit off smoke comeing out!!!! I ran to it, and unplugged the battery. I noticed that the ESC was buring up!!! I ripped it out, and threw it away from me. I burnt my hand though:( It wasnt on fire long enough to melt to much foam though. I thought that the 30A burned because they recomended a 40A. It turns out that the 30A got dew on it when it was taking off. Heres a vid of the whole thing:
I also had a situaltion where 1 of the motor's bearings jammed while flying. The motor wouldnt move at all.
But overall, THe plane can fly and land with 1 engine out.

Conclusion

This is what my final thought on the plane are:

Good:
1. THe build is simple, and parts are relitively cheap
2. THe scale landing gear is strong:)
3. It flies on rails and lands with a fun challenge.
4. It is a cool decaration if you dont want to fly it!

Bad:
1. Be prepared to replace a could thing. Like the motors.(Bad bearings)
2. Doesnt glide
3. My elevator was slightly warped.


Overall, i would recomend it to a friend. It is awesome seeing this flying through the air, escorted by a fighter at the field!
c47 small.jpgdc small.jpg