My Squall, post 3 flights/1 minor incident

I have been thinking about one of these for a long time, and when Hobbypeople dropped the price a few bucks on the complete setup including vectored thrust, I jumped.

I built the kit using trusty old HXT-900 servos, and the build was mostly unremarkable.  The ARF and associated parts are all of good quality, and the manual is written in a way that I found easy to understand and use.  We used Rhino 2250 4S batteries, but you could probably use anything – the battery tray is wide, long, and accomodating.

Cutting out the decals is about as labor-intensive as building the kit, but there is good news – The provided decals look awesome, and provide needed orientation when in the air.

This is a very interesting airplane to fly.  If you just throw and go, that’s exactly what you get, and we clocked it at 82mph in straight and level flight.  It looks good, feels good, and slows down just fine for landing. 

If you decide to set your TX for high rates, and start slowing down and using them, you can do things like hover, flat spins, and all sorts of other stuff that I’m not really skilled enough to be doing at this stage of the game.  At one point, I got a little low after some of this, and had a low-speed impact with the field – this foam breaks cleanly and repairs cleanly.

As long as you keep it on low rates, this airplane is really quite easy to fly.  If you decide to start mucking around with low speed maneuvers using the vectored thrust, just remember to stay up at altitude and use power as your salvation if you get into trouble.  Flying an EDF like a 3D airplane is weird, and they do not recover from 3D space back to flying as gracefully as the prop jobs do. 

More news as my skills improve,

- Eli

This is my second E-Flite Sukhoi.  I built the first using the recommended E-flite Park 480, and I really enjoyed the kit.  It had great flight characteristics, looked great in the air and on the ground, and the thing rolls like a damned pin drill.

That said, it was a little underpowered.  The 480 got it moving OK, but it did not have the punch I was looking for, especially for some 3D maneuvers.  I ended up crashing the first model, practicing blenders way too close to the ground.  It was a bummer, but also a chance to rebuild.

I had an email conversation with Lucien over at Innov8tive Designs, and he recommended the same motor I ended up installing in my Ultimate Biplane, the SII-3014-1040kv.   With a 12x6E prop, it’s good for 70oz thrust, and about a 48mph pitch speed.

I had to modify the X mount provided with the Scorpion a little bit in order to fit the firewall – A drill press is very handly for modifying the holes.  While I was doing this work, I also brushed on some thinned epoxy to reinforce the motor mount. 

The assembly of the ARF is typical E-flite stuff, nothing noteworthy there.  I will say that the fit and finish were right on par, and the manual was well-written.  I added some fiberglass wheel pants left over from my PA Addiction, and DUB934 long 3D arms for the Hitec HS-65HB servos.

The kit gained a little bit of weight.  The Scorpion motor weighs in at 4.52oz vs. the 480 at 3.1oz.  Overall, the model weighs 30.1oz less battery, which makes for a 37-38oz AUW with Rhino and Turnigy 2200′s.  E-Flite quotes 30-32 AUW, and my old one weighed darned near 34 all up even with the 480, due to the fancy aluminum spinner I was using at the time.

I may end up adding another oz or so to the rear, depending on how the CG feels.  I added a few tenths of an ounce in bling this weekend, in the form of a character that a good friend’s daughter donated to the cause:

I’m really impressed with the way it flies, and I’m not noticing the extra weight as much as I thought I would.  I’ve flown it about 15 times since I started writing this, I never have bothered to add the addl. weight to the tail, and I love the way it flies.  It will do 3D quite easily, but it’s a lot more fun to fly it in a sport aerobatic pattern, fast.

With the additional power, and that huge rudder, it will knife edge at ridiculously low throttle settings.  With a Turnigy light electric prop, it spins up very fast, making it easy to flow between 3D and sport flying as you wish.

This model was a blast to fly with the recommended 480 motor, but with this upgrade you get so much more.  It’s a win-win!

- Eli