Tony
Staff member
Hey everyone. I finally took some time to put the V3.1 in the air. And I'm impressed.
Let me start off and let you know about the issues with "MY" plane. When I say my plane, I mean, the plane that I was flying, not the plans lmao.
When we moved, this plane was put into a box. The wing was put into a corner. Yes, I had the fuse and wing built. During that time, the garage that it was in got well over 100ºF and the tail feathers and the wing both were warped. I figured, lets just fly it and see what it does.
I started with installing ailerons and flaps into the wing. Yes, I added flaps. The ailerons and the flaps are both 10.5" in length and 1.5" wide along the chord. I'm using pretty slow servos on the flaps, but I have also slowed them down to 3 seconds in the DX8. Cool.
I did have to face the flap servos, which are on a Y, in the same direction to make them work correctly. But, they were working.
One of the changes in the V3 design is the internal servo tray for the tail feathers. I have two servos installed there, and yes, I ran control wires through there, out the fuse and to the tail feathers. Worked like a charm with very little binding with the bending of the wires.
Once that was done, I worked on bolting the wing on. Lets face it, having to put all of those rubber bands on is a pain. Couple pieces of wood, and the wing is bolted on. After checking all fo the controls, I grabbed the plane and headed outside.
I must tell you, just what I have above took 3 hours. Way longer than I thought it would take lol.
So I open the door to the office and look outside, the sun had already sat and it was pretty dark. But, there was still a little light and this plane is completely white. Lets try it .
First toss in the air, the thing noses up, I mean STRAIGHT UP! lmao. Yeah, when I checked the CoG, it was VERY nose heavy. But it's nosing up with a level elevator. Ah well, trim down, ALL THE WAY. It's flying level. Now, it's hitting right aileron HARD. Fine, I added all the trim I could, but still couldn't get it to fly straight.
Remember, everything was warped. So I just flew it. And this thing was flying. Best of all, it was flying at 1/4 or less throttle!!! Yeah, no more issues with being tail heavy! So, lets add some flaps. I have a 3 position switch, so I deploy position 1 which is 50%. Even with the 3 second travel time, it flared up. So, I decided to bring it down and try the elevator the other way.
I turned the flaps off and put it straight nose in to me and brought it in. This thing just floated in and landed right at my feet. Fantastic!
I reversed the elevator, and tossed it back up in the air. Again, slow flying below 1/4 throttle. Deploy flaps, and it noses straight up. Turn the flaps off and land it again. And again, perfect landing.
this time, I reversed the elevator again in the flaps menu and added +25% to it. Yes, it's extreme, but remember, I have NO light out there lmao. I toss it back up and deploy flaps once again. I still had to use the elevator stick to level it out, but it's flying, and flying slower than it was. Sweet, deploy 100% flaps, or position 2. She almost stops in the air!
I fly around with full flaps for a bit and I'm just impressed at how this thing is handling. I'm still having to use the sticks to keep it level, but that's not a big deal on something that is this far out of shape with bent wings.
So, with full flaps, I decided to hit full throttle. I had not hit over half the whole time I had been flying. This thing just TOOK OFF
Full throttle on this plane is very impressive. I'm running the 2215-1300 motor with a 10x5 APC prop. Man, this thing is perfect to just toss out there from what I'm feeling.
I'm going to try to straighten out the control surfaces and see if it gets better. I didn't have a chance to check the ESC temp, but 1/4 throttle all the time, I'm sure it was cold as ice. The tail controls were perfect.
To wrap this up, everything that was done to the V3 has helped a LOT in curing the tail heavy issue that has plagued this plane since day 1. Now, this is a plane that just goes into the air and floats around. If you put flaps on it, WOW does this thing slow down for some very gentle flights.
If you have not done so yet, click on the Store tab above and scroll down and download the V3 version of this plane. If you are looking for a Great trainer, or just something to warm up with before putting your expensive planes in the air, the RCH Trainer V3.1 is the one to go with!!!
I think I will soon be getting rid of version 1. and 2. Yes, this V3.1 is that good IMO.
Please build this plane and let me know what you think about it!
Let me start off and let you know about the issues with "MY" plane. When I say my plane, I mean, the plane that I was flying, not the plans lmao.
When we moved, this plane was put into a box. The wing was put into a corner. Yes, I had the fuse and wing built. During that time, the garage that it was in got well over 100ºF and the tail feathers and the wing both were warped. I figured, lets just fly it and see what it does.
I started with installing ailerons and flaps into the wing. Yes, I added flaps. The ailerons and the flaps are both 10.5" in length and 1.5" wide along the chord. I'm using pretty slow servos on the flaps, but I have also slowed them down to 3 seconds in the DX8. Cool.
I did have to face the flap servos, which are on a Y, in the same direction to make them work correctly. But, they were working.
One of the changes in the V3 design is the internal servo tray for the tail feathers. I have two servos installed there, and yes, I ran control wires through there, out the fuse and to the tail feathers. Worked like a charm with very little binding with the bending of the wires.
Once that was done, I worked on bolting the wing on. Lets face it, having to put all of those rubber bands on is a pain. Couple pieces of wood, and the wing is bolted on. After checking all fo the controls, I grabbed the plane and headed outside.
I must tell you, just what I have above took 3 hours. Way longer than I thought it would take lol.
So I open the door to the office and look outside, the sun had already sat and it was pretty dark. But, there was still a little light and this plane is completely white. Lets try it .
First toss in the air, the thing noses up, I mean STRAIGHT UP! lmao. Yeah, when I checked the CoG, it was VERY nose heavy. But it's nosing up with a level elevator. Ah well, trim down, ALL THE WAY. It's flying level. Now, it's hitting right aileron HARD. Fine, I added all the trim I could, but still couldn't get it to fly straight.
Remember, everything was warped. So I just flew it. And this thing was flying. Best of all, it was flying at 1/4 or less throttle!!! Yeah, no more issues with being tail heavy! So, lets add some flaps. I have a 3 position switch, so I deploy position 1 which is 50%. Even with the 3 second travel time, it flared up. So, I decided to bring it down and try the elevator the other way.
I turned the flaps off and put it straight nose in to me and brought it in. This thing just floated in and landed right at my feet. Fantastic!
I reversed the elevator, and tossed it back up in the air. Again, slow flying below 1/4 throttle. Deploy flaps, and it noses straight up. Turn the flaps off and land it again. And again, perfect landing.
this time, I reversed the elevator again in the flaps menu and added +25% to it. Yes, it's extreme, but remember, I have NO light out there lmao. I toss it back up and deploy flaps once again. I still had to use the elevator stick to level it out, but it's flying, and flying slower than it was. Sweet, deploy 100% flaps, or position 2. She almost stops in the air!
I fly around with full flaps for a bit and I'm just impressed at how this thing is handling. I'm still having to use the sticks to keep it level, but that's not a big deal on something that is this far out of shape with bent wings.
So, with full flaps, I decided to hit full throttle. I had not hit over half the whole time I had been flying. This thing just TOOK OFF
Full throttle on this plane is very impressive. I'm running the 2215-1300 motor with a 10x5 APC prop. Man, this thing is perfect to just toss out there from what I'm feeling.
I'm going to try to straighten out the control surfaces and see if it gets better. I didn't have a chance to check the ESC temp, but 1/4 throttle all the time, I'm sure it was cold as ice. The tail controls were perfect.
To wrap this up, everything that was done to the V3 has helped a LOT in curing the tail heavy issue that has plagued this plane since day 1. Now, this is a plane that just goes into the air and floats around. If you put flaps on it, WOW does this thing slow down for some very gentle flights.
If you have not done so yet, click on the Store tab above and scroll down and download the V3 version of this plane. If you are looking for a Great trainer, or just something to warm up with before putting your expensive planes in the air, the RCH Trainer V3.1 is the one to go with!!!
I think I will soon be getting rid of version 1. and 2. Yes, this V3.1 is that good IMO.
Please build this plane and let me know what you think about it!
