Helicopters are still fairly new to me.  I used to be one of those guys that tended to bad-mouth the complexity, bench time and heartache that I had always associated with ‘fling wings’, and I swore I’d never get into that aspect of the hobby.

The mCX was my ‘gateway drug’ into helicopters.  That plucky little thing is one of the few RC experiences you can still enjoy with success, even after having a few beers.  I loved that thing, and flew it every day for a long time.

I bought an mSR a few months later, and immediately had buyer’s remorse.  The mSR was way too ‘fast and agile’ for my skills at the time, and it sat idle for a while.  I finally started using Realflight that year, and started flying some helis in the sim.

This simulator time, plus some real stick time on a friend’s TT ‘Innovator’ set the hook further regarding helis.  I purchased a nice E-flite Blade 400 3D pnp a few months later, and I’ve put about 20 hours on that bird since I purchased it.  Nearly all of my time with the B400 was spent in hover practice, generally with the tail boom pointed firmly towards me. 

I got to the point that I could routinely fly the B400, no crashing or drama, but I was not having much fun, anymore.  Hovering is an intensive mental exercise, but it only goes so far.  I realized that I wanted to ‘fly a helicopter’ around without having to worry about every little thing.

I rediscovered the mSR, and started getting my money’s worth out of it.   I had just started doing some nose-in exercises with it, when the 120 showed up at my LHS.

Dennis allowed me to fly one of the first 120′s that showed up in his shop.  It felt like a much larger helicopter, and I was immediately impressed by how nicely it flew, brushed motors and all.  I just recently gave away an original CP, and I know how bad some inexpensive electric helis can be.

Dennis says that combining a collective pitch main rotor and a fixed pitch tail rotor is not usually a good combination, no matter how you slice it.  However, a fixed/fixed pitch config seems to work out well, as evidenced by the fine handling of the mSR and the 120.  Note that the $200 SR (which looks like a larger version of the mSR) is set up with a collective pitch main rotor and a fixed pitch tail.  The SR is reputed to fly just about as well (or as poorly) as the original CP, albeit with a brushless motor, and of course it depends heavily on who you are talking to.

The best thing about the 120 is its crash resistance.  If you get out of the left stick before a serious crash (or even if you don’t), you can just bounce off an obstacle, and start flying again without even having to re-arm the gyro.  The carbon fiber main shaft means that it never bends, unless you really over-do it in which case it breaks, and you replace it for a few bucks.  The 120 is also amazingly wind-resistant for its size.  Replacement parts are dirt cheap and rarely required.

Brilliant engineering.  Other high points are the 6:30 flight time you get from a pack, and the sub $12 cost of a spare flight battery.  Lots of packs means lots of flying, and lots of practice, which is what the 120 is all about, right?

Since I started writing this article, I’ve started doing some 3D stuff in the simulator and also in real life with my Blade 400.  I would never have had the courage to try some of this or really get into flying heli’s if I had not had a willing, cheap, damage resistant little craft like the 120 around.

In short,  I think the 120SR is a great way for an intermediate pilot transition from indoor coax heli’s to more advanced models without spending a lot of money doing so.

I really appreciate good value in hobby products, and my “grin per dollar” value has stayed very high with the 120.  I feel good recommending it to anybody.

I’m going to keep practicing until I can fly ‘nose in’ _consistently_ without losing the plot at inconvienient times.  This may take a few months!

- Eli

Over the last year, I’ve been looking at a lot of 3D/Sport ships in the 45-55″ range.    The PA Extra MX really attracted me at first, I loved the idea that I could just use commodity 3s 2200 batteries and enjoy high-dollar 6S performance.  For 3 minutes... 

I also looked at the 50″ Matt Chapman Eagle 580.  That’s one nice looking airplane, and the reviews were glowing.  I flew it on the sim for a few weeks, started looking at powerplant options, and that’s when my past experience with the whole Electrifly reality kicked in.  I remembered the specialized motor mounts and weird proprietary stuff associated with my last Electrifly ARF, and decided to wait a while until somebody had documented a good motor conversion. 

I wasn’t looking that hard, or thinking about this very much at all when I wandered over to my LHS one afternoon for some fasteners.  Lo and behold, one the shelf was the brand new E-Flite Extra I had heard about from SEFF press.  Great looking kit, perfect wingspan, and I started to notice things: Fully built up airfoil on the horizontal stab and rudder.   No externally visible cowl screws.  Cockpit latch.  High quality wheel pants included.  Decent hardware, from the factory, including a nice looking pull/pull setup!  

I had been a little bit disappionted with some of the details in previous E-Flite kits, and the Extra looked like it had raised the mark.  The hook was set. 

Over the next 48 hours, I realized that I had a brand new Power 32 in stock, a Turnigy Plush 60, an AR6200 and even a CC/BEC sitting new in inventory.  This made the purchase even more attractive, $199 for the ARF less my LHS club discount, 4 servos, and I was off to the races. 

A few days later, I purchased the ARF and 4 HS-225MG servos.  E-Flite says you can get by on MN48′s, but the Hitec servos are a good deal, and JR does not have an analog Hi-Torque servo anywhere close to the price range.  It was perfect, a low cash outlay for a lot of airplane, even more so for me due to the fact that I had so many useful parts already stashed. 

When I started the build, the quality of the kit blew my mind.  E-Flite has always made nice ARF’s, but this was a step above.  Right off the bat, I decided to slow down and have some fun with the linkage.  E-Flite was already using nice aluminum control horns, and I decided to eliminate as much nylon as I could from some of those linkages.  

Enter Central Hobbies, and the Dubro catalog.  Central Hobbies does some wonderful pushrod hardware, designed for much larger aircraft.  I used the small stuff in their line, some 2-56 titanium ends and the recommended CF rod.  You cut the CF to size, and JB weld or epoxy the ends in.  A steel clevis is used on one end, and a 2-56 Dubro ball link at the servo end. The finished product is a threadable, adjustable link that is extremely light, strong, and attractive to look at. 

The rudder linkage was a joy.  I like pull-pull setups, and the only modification I made was to use metal clevis parts instead of the supplied nylon ones.  I used the same Dubro threaded clevis and std 2-56 pushrod on the ailerons, it’s a short rod and plenty strong that way. 

Mounting the motor was straightforward, and I loved the adjustable motor mount.  No matter what motor you want to put on your Extra, you can probably bolt it right up without worries.
I was using the Power 32, but I had another little problem.  The recommended 2.25″ E-Flite aluminum spinner was on pan-Galactic backorder at the time, with a long lead time.  I happened to have a nice ‘Ultimate’ spinner in the right size, but it didn’t have enough plunge to engage the motor shaft.  I used some nuts that were a little over 1/4″ tall to space out the motor, and all was well. 

Ultimate Spinner on Extra 32e

When it came time to set up the electronics, I decided to use a tried and true Turnigy Plush 60, powered by a Rhino 3700 4S battery.  I also incorporated a Castle CC/BEC to power the electronics, because I wanted to drive the servos at 6 volts.  I used a Spektrum AR6200 RX, and also incorporated the SPM1600 capacitor.  I probably don’t have any real reason for using these, especially with a quality seperate BEC installed, but I used it anyway.

I closed up the canopy on my trimmed down Hangar 9 pilot that night, after a getting a preliminary idea on CG, and radio setup.  As I mounted the balanced 13×6.5 APC prop, I could not wait for morning to arrive.  It came up to 4.1lbs all up.

The maiden flight was splendidly uneventful.  The ground handling is great, and the big power 32 rolled it into the air with authority at 50% throttle with minimal rudder correction.  I had to give it one click of up trim, and that was that.  I flew it around for a few minutes (half of the expected 7+ minutes) and brought it in for a nice slow powered approach.  I find nice three point landings particularly easy and rewarding with this airplane.

In subsequent flights, I moved the CG a little further back from the recommended for better hovering, swapped out the prop for a PA Vox 14×7 (sounds and flies great!), and tuned the throws to my personal liking. 

I really like this airplane.  I’ve been taking it out every time I go flying, and I have fun flying it slow, fast, and some 3D within the limits of my skill and bravery.  I think it’s one of the best behaved model airplanes I’ve ever flown, and I’d highly recommend it to anybody looking for an economical, versatile sport ship. 

Full build gallery here.

- 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

Image from Horizon Hobby

I bought the micro 4-site as soon as my LHS could get one in stock.  We were locked in the middle of a long rainy period with no end in sight, and I was really looking forward to something I could use in the conference room at the office.

The model comes with the handy reusable carrying case (box), 2 of the high cap batteries, and one of the 4-port Celectra micro chargers.  These chargers are very nice, and a boon if you have lots of micros.  That said, I got one with my MsR, and I wish I had been given the option to buy the 4-site for $130, less the charger. 

Like all of the micros, setup was as easy as charging the battery, binding it to my DX6i,and going flying.  I approximated the factory settings at 30% expo and did not bother with low rates.

Charged up, and fired up, I hauled the airplane to the office, and hung signs on the doors of the conference room that said “Important Meeting!”

ROG proved to burn up too much of the available space in the conference room, but hand launch was fine.  With the battery set exactly in the middle of the Velcro strip, it wants to roll over and hover with no problems.  However, my fingers were rusty on the sticks and I could not get it to slow down enough.  I gave up before one of my wall impacts did damage.

That night, I glued the speed brakes on, and the next day I hung the signs in the conference room again.  This was much better.  You can hold the airplane just above a walking pace, and it’s very predictable.  I was amazed at how stable it was, no real wing tipping, and very smooth. 

At this point I was starting to hit my own limits as a 3D pilot, and after 2 packs and some minor damage to the nose I was ready to quit.

I’ve owned the model for a few weeks now, and I must say that I am a lot more at home in a low-wind outdoor situation than the office. I’m still not good enough to keep it in that tight, and being able to punch skyward is still an important strategy for me when I get in trouble. 

I have some buyer’s remorse.  At $169, this airplane is not cheap, and I am starting to think that the regular 4-site might have been a better choice for me.  If I had access to a gymnasium, I would probably feel different.

The solution to this?  E-Flite needs to release a version with no fancy charger and a $125-130 price point.  Also, I think that an airframe only (no electronics) version should be offered, so that one could swap the electronics from their old, battered plane to a spanky new airplane without spending the bux for the PNP version.

We beat the Winter blues with this thing, now we just need a better value in order to keep recommending it.

This is one of those iconic airplanes that everybody should have in their collection of Sport aircraft.  I bought mine from Porkeez here in Sonoma County, and instead of using all of the recommended Eflite parts I switched it up a bit. 

I used a Scorpion SII-3014, 1040kv motor instead of the recommended Power 10.  Scorpion motors have a very high quality look and feel to them, and they tend to be slightly higher performance, and less expensive than E-Flite motors in many cases.   In addition, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the NA distributor, Innov8tive Designs.  They publish a handy Motor comparison chart that makes it easy to match up their motor with another recommendation.  In addition, they publish extensive propeller data charts that are very helpful.

I coupled the Scorpion motor with a Castle Thunderbird 54, Hitec HS-65HB servos, and a JR R790 receiver.

The build was a very routine E-Flite ARF experience.  I give it high marks for fit and finish, and a few negative ones in that the hardware looks a little cheap.  Be very careful with the wing fillet.  It’s plastic that has been painted on the backside, and before the bottom wing is installed, it is prone to damage.

I used the E-flite recommended throws, which are about maximum on high rates and very close to that on low rates.  I found the thing a little twitchy on low rates with the recommended 25% expo, so I bumped the aileron travel down a few millimeters, and set the expo to 30%.  It feels better to me, set up that way.

The model rolls out fast and takes off immediately- This took me by surprise a bit on the first flight.  The light wing loading is immediately apparent, and you will see in the maiden video that I needed to use more right rudder on takeoff. 

Once up, it tracks clean and fast.  Turns look coordinated even when you do not use the rudder, and it rolls in and out of 3D with a grace that I have not experienced thus far.  Aileron rolls are fast, crisp, and clean.  The model flies as well inverted as it does right side up, almost hands off. 

Landing was pretty easy, as well.  It slows down nicely, and while it’s going to take a little practice to stop wagging the wings, it’s not a hard airplane to set down accurately. I used 1500mah out of a Turnigy 2200 in 5:30 of flight, mostly WOT. Peak draw was 46 amps on takeoff, and for most of the flight I was drawing 20-30A. The motor was cool to the touch after 5:30 of spirited flight.

In short, apply any superlative, positive term you can think of regarding the flight characteristics – I have yet to find something I don’t like about this airplane. 

BTW the snap roll feature is BRUTAL at 100% throws.  On my second flight, I hit the snap roll, and it dislodged Zeke’s Eagletree logger and smacked it against the leading edge so hard it bent the pins. (!)

Get yourself an Ultimate Biplane.  I don;t know if the E-flite/Scorpion/Hitec cocktail I brewed up is the best combination, but it sure seems to work well.

Getting to Maiden it on Christmas Day with a good friend was just the icing on the cake.

Happy Holidays,

- Eli

http://www.e-fliterc.com

http://www.horizonhobby.com

-Zeke

As with all e-flite ARF’s all hardware is supplied. No modifications necessary, although I do recommend going over weak spots with either thin CA or epoxy as you see fit. Spots get missed in the factory.

The covering is nice, wrinkles always seem to be there though I can have Eli show me how to work them out. //*//UPDATE – wrinkles cleaned up quite well with a heatgun.

There is room to neatly route cables, always a plus. The battery compartment can accomadate nearly any 3s or 4s lipo.

Hinging is required for all control surfaces.

Basic shop tools used, nothing fancy.

For this build I will be using the following gear:

E-Flite power 32 motor, 770kv, on 4s lipo

Castle Phoenix 60 ESC + Castle BEC

4x JR Sport MN48 Servos

Spektrum AR7000 RX w/Flight Log

APC 12 x 8 & 13 x 6.5 e-props w/e-flite aluminum spinner

Dual ailerons configured in TX. It will be flown by a JR X9303 DSM2 radio.

OK some pics already, I was in a rush to build so started right into it.

RX installed

ESC & BEC

M0Tar

Getting there

Wow it's purple

And done! Fairly aggressive control surfaces

If I had not slacked towards the end of the project, it could have been completed in a few nights time, given a few hours each night.

The ailerons were a pain to hinge, then again I always dislike hinging. This involves patience and careful application of thin CA to the hinges. I ended up with minor mis-alignment on each aileron due to the pre-done hinge slots in the wing not aligned. //*//UPDATE//*// Eli has since used his heatgun to tune the ailerons, no more twists!

After hinging the horizontal & vertical stab, they both installed quickly and accurately after checking alignment. Thin CA was used to wick into the fuse after the covering was neatly cut.

Servos installed with no problems using the stock JR hardware included, + some 12″ extensions. I did use the special long servo arms from JR, and the stock e-flite pushrods, etc. Topped it off with Parsons retainer clips where the servo extensions join.

The hatch simply requires careful alignment and the use of canopy glue to apply the canopy. It should sit for a few hours at least before handling.

The power 32 motor bolts right up to the firewall using the included hardware – no spacers needed for the shorter motor (as opposed to the power 25).  There’s room to neatly mount the ESC / BEC and route all cables to the battery compartment / receiver area. I used some spiral wrap to keep things outta my way.

The one-piece wing is a snap to install – and bolted in via a single large nylon bolt.

Given careful alignment and markings for the pin drill, the cowl is a simple job. I’d drop some thin CA into the pilot holes you drill for the cowl screws to add some strength.

Overall, this was a fun project, and definately a quality ARF.

If you want to check out the manual, it is here

-Zeke

So, I called Dennis over @ Porkeez and had him put me down for one. I paid the MAP price of $169, then noticed it dropped to $139 a couple days ago. Oh well, I’d rather support the LHS anyway.

For this build, I will be using the following gear:

E-Flite Park 480 1020kv moter

Castle Creations Thunderbird 36 ESC and CC-BEC

Hitec HS-65MG’s for Elevator, Rudder, and Flaps

Hitec HS-5065MG’s for Ailerons

Spektrum AR6200 receiver

APC 12 x 6 prop (don’t try a 10 x 7, ask me how I know!)

When I took it home, I immediately checked contents. Yup, everything there, and in good condition. Like all these E-Flite ARF’s the covering needs to be cleaned up with a heatgun.

Everything here!

Plenty of room!

Time to install servos & radio gear! I mounted the AR6200 receiver with servo tape off to the side, for easier cable routing.  Placed the satellite receiver dead-center with the antennas oriented 90 degrees from the main receiver. Installed the 2x HS-65MG servos for the elevator and rudder. Also installed the supplied velcro battery straps. Quite straight-forward.

Radio & servo gear installed

Next was installation of the motor and ESC + BEC. The motor bolts right up to the motor mount with the included hardware. Easy. I soldered up the Thunderbird 36 and CC-BEC, then installed the ESC off to the side of the motor mount – for good airflow. I installed the CC-BEC on the firewall as it’s small.

Motor, ESC and BEC.

The CC-BEC is rated for 5A constant, and 10A burst. It’s small, light, switchmode, inexpensive, and a good idea for a 5 servo setup.

Extra Insurance!