General Which Is Better For 3d Flying?

[mudbogger]

Howdy y'all,

With the 2019 flying season coming up, I started to wonder recently what would be the best "Next Airplane" for my fleet? I've been flying 3D foamies for awhile now and really want to start looking into a bigger balsa airframe and gas engine setup. I have experience with both electric mid-wings and electric biplanes, but I don't know their flight characteristics when using a gas engine setup. So, with that said, what do y'all think? are there any major advantages or disadvantages between the two wing types? Also, what kind of flight time can a pilot get from a gas setup vs electric power nowadays?

The reason I'm asking is because when I say "bigger airplane", I'm looking at moving from a 44-45" wingspan electric/foamie to a 77-78" wingspan gas/balsa setup. The idea of going bigger yet is intriguing, but transportation space is limited for me. The two airplanes I've been researching are:
1) MAMBA 70CC (YELLOW) and
2) 78" Extra 300 Red/White/Black- GAS .

Thanks y'all for any information you can provide. I appreciate it! God Bless and Happy Flying.

 

[RandyDSok]

The flight characteristics between an electric, gas or nitro propulsion have few differences. The electric motors are more responsive ( quicker to spin up ). The down side is with the batteries, they won't last as long as a tank of gas/nitro.

Mid-wing vs a bipe... it's no accident that most of the more experienced pilots will fly a mid-wing. A clean roll on the longitudinal axis is easier with a mid-wing. The few 3D bipes I've seen are typically for the looks that a bipe brings with it.

I know that the Extreme Flight as well as the 3D Hobby Shop aircraft are very well built aircraft. I own 3 ( and had 2 others that are no longer flyable ) of the 3D Hobby Shop aircraft and love each of them. Before Extreme Flight and 3D Hobby Shop joined forces, they would often find themselves recommending the others aircraft when the situation indicated it... no doubt they've only gotten better since they started working together. I'm unfamiliar with the other brand aircraft ( the bipe ) so I can't say anything either way on that one.

 

[mudbogger]

rdsok - Thank you for your input. I know that 3D Hobby Shop and Extreme Flight are now a joined force, and I have yet to hear a bad review about their products. Some pilots might bring up a few wrinkles in their airplane’s covering, but a few minutes of ironing with a soft-cloth would fix that no problem.
As far as the gas setup goes, I’m glad to know that flight times would last longer than a electric battery, despite the bigger airframe.
To those who fly 3D, does anyone have experience with flex innovations’ airplanes? Or more specifically their mamba biplane? I’d just like to hear a owners’ perspective before I make a definite decision. Thanks again, and as always - God Bless Y’all!

 

[RandyDSok]

Some pilots might bring up a few wrinkles in their airplane’s covering,

That is an issue you'd see with any brand with any iron on covering... the changes in temps, humidity and wood itself make it unavoidable although better application methods can limit it, it can't stop it completely.

 

[Rick Stoll]

I own several 3d gas planes....I cant speak on the biplane....however I have some extreme flight planes and they fly very well....but they are electric
My gassers I get 12 mins of flight time on 1 and 20 mins on another
from what I seen I would go with the mid wing 78"....its just more suited for 3d

 

[mudbogger]

Rick Stoll - Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your input. As much as I liked the 78" Extra 300 though, I ran into one key-issue....Trans-portability space. The 78" fuselage won't fit in the bed of my truck even if I tried to fit it in there sideways . I currently have a Ford ranger with a 6 foot bed. I like my truck, but the inside dimensions are only ~68" from the front of the bed to the tailgate, and, theres only about 38-40" of clearance between my wheel-wells because my truck is a step-side.

Anyways, to get up to date, my local R/C club (Doylestown Barnstormers) had a meeting yesterday and I mentioned to a fellow member that I'd like to have a bigger balsa/carbon fiber airplane from Extreme-Flight. So I stopped by his house later that day, because he told me he had several for sale new in the box! He showed me a few airplanes, but the one that stuck out to me was a hangar 9 65.5" Extra 330sc 60E. So, I got it. Its just the ARF kit, but I'm looking forward to setting it up. Also for those in the area, the Toledo, OH Weak Signals Show is coming up soon too - April 5-7, 2019 if your interested. I hope to see some of y'all there. Thanks again for everyone's help. Happy Flying and God Bless Y'all!

 

[Rick Stoll]

nice...extreme flight planes are good fliers...I just sold 2 of them that where spot on... a 47" 300 shp….and a 48" edge 540...the shp flew better in my opinion...but both where stable....I fly mostly larger planes and 2 stroke gasser engines...only 1 nitro in my fleet which is an sbach 55"...and of course my nitro 600 t rex...almost ready to bite the bullet on a 700...but also looking for a 45' sailboat....so far the sailboat is winning the struggle but only because I have so many to choose from already in my garage....maybe I will own both of those in the near future....oh and I have a large ford 250 transit van so the back of it can hold up to a 10' fuselage

 

[Tony]

I absolutely love my Edge 540, but I also have an Extra 260 that I call "Ole Faithful" because no matter what, that plane can do it lol.