Some time ago, i bought a small EDF 'Jet' and never got around to flying it.. In the end I figured that I may as well just try it and see what happened and arranged a lunchtime outing with my team at work.
I tried to launch it, but every time I got near take off speed, the landing gear would shudder and it would just bounce left/right.. After 3 attempts the landing gear failed and I should have packed it up and come back another day.
But I didn't want to disappoint, so I wondered if it could be hand-launched.. I removed the wheels.. Throttled it up.. And got my colleague to chuck it.. Which he did.. Nose into the ground.. The nose cone snapped off and I stripped the servos (As it landed on its belly and didn't have any gear to protect it)... I repaired it, but eventually sold it on and never saw it fly.
But I still can't get the idea out of my head to get a jet, or some kind of wing.. I don't want to convert this one to FPV.. I just want to fly it...
Problem is, I am only an intermediate flyer, a little to cautious and paranoid.. So I need something easyish to fly.. Ideally I would it to fly slowly when I need it too.. But fast when I want it too.
Does such a beast exist?
My currently fleet of planes are:
ST Blaze
Parkzone Radian (3 Channel) With Optoional FPV backpack.
Max Thrust Riot (With FPV)
All of which I can fly no trouble. Is there something out there which fits my requirements and my skill?
If not.. The other thing I have been thinking about is a small 'parkflyer'.. Something really small.. And cheap.. Just something I can fly at will without taking all my kit to the field to do so.
Any thoughts/recommendations gratefully appreciated.
Jon
Hiya,
The normal funjet matches what you said. With a 4s setup its very light, lands very slowly but is still okay for 90-100mph (its really small so it looks faster than that)
Funjets and similar things have a 'nack' to getting them going. too little throttle and they dont fly. too much throttle and they torque roll and then its easy to panic and fly it in to the ground inverted. You could use a bungee though
The Parkzone habu may be easier again, because it has fixed landing gear so you get more time to takeoff on your own without the panic of a hand launch and they have a more jet like look to them.
Martyn
Try a sky fun. Cheap as chips, but not the strongest foam in the world. Keep it light they fly great!
Quote from: Brucey on August 24, 2015, 06:13:52 AM
Try a sky fun. Cheap as chips, but not the strongest foam in the world. Keep it light they fly great!
This. Hand launching is easy too.
Cheers all.. I always discounted the a Funjet it needed the "power kit" which trebled the price...
But looking at the Sky Fun, I have just realised that all I need is a Motor and ESC and thats it... And I can do that cheap if I want to go down the 'import' route.
Typically, what size motors would a relative novice want to put on one? And what ESC would match that?
Not sure, I've only built a stupid 6s one. HK sell one with a motor and esc included, could try that.
For steady away, none ballistic but good flight times its hard to beat a NTM 2200kv (http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=29440) motor with a 40 amp ESC (http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__31668__TURNIGY_Plush_40amp_Speed_Controller_UK_Warehouse_.html?strSearch=turnigy%20plush%200) and a 6x4E prop (http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__41516__TGS_Sport_6x4E_Precision_propeller_UK_Warehouse_.html?strSearch=6x4) on the Skyfun.
These are really great, easy to fly quick if you want but will hover in a 15 mph wind, ROG no problem on a 42 2200 cheap as chips lipo
http://www.stevewebb.co.uk/index.php?pid=WMGE034PSET&area=Aircraft (http://www.stevewebb.co.uk/index.php?pid=WMGE034PSET&area=Aircraft)
I have a good used one you can have for £30
What about the HK Skipper ?
Takes off from water-grass-sand-ice-mud-tarmac-you name it!
Will fly slow and reasonably fast too , especially on 4s.
You'll love it and may even fpv it too :)
Quote from: drambuidhe on August 26, 2015, 01:33:21 PM
What about the HK Skipper ?
Takes off from water-grass-sand-ice-mud-tarmac-you name it!
Will fly slow and reasonably fast too , especially on 4s.
You'll love it and may even fpv it too :)
MMmmmmm... I like that.. I like it a lot.. Thats just perfect.. I like all my "toys" to be different and have different applications.. This is certainly different and would give me a jet/delta wing that I want.. With the other benefits too.
That said, the idea of mixing electronics and water? It didn't look particularly water tight in the video.. But its cheap as chips, so hardly worth worrying about.
Almost certainly going to get one of those.. I was planning on buying the Sky Fun, but i think this is worth the extra few quid.
Cheers for that
If you've got freshwater to fly from it's not too bad, just make sure you dry it out if it gets wet. Salt water can kill stuff in very short order, though.
Quote from: Loopdreams on August 27, 2015, 10:39:29 AM
If you've got freshwater to fly from it's not too bad, just make sure you dry it out if it gets wet. Salt water can kill stuff in very short order, though.
Indeed. This is one of the reasons why I have never seen the interest in RC Boats.. I have tried EVERYTHING else, RC, but not boats.. It just looks like an accident waiting to happen.
For the "Skipper" water isn't my primary interest.. Its just a nice to have.. So its not a big deal as I will probably never get it wet, let alone near water.
If you are wanting something that is just loads of fun, cheap and tough as old boots and not primarily for FPV then I can recommend a Flyingwings Raven. One of my friends and I recently got a couple and we've barely flown anything else for a while, they just fly so well even in a gusty breeze. Recently we've taken to pylon racing them through a pair of rugby posts and despite numerous collisions with each other and the posts themselves they have never needed anything more than a bit of tape to get them back in the air. Even got some LEDs on there for night flying:
http://www.flyingwings.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=61_63 (http://www.flyingwings.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=61_63)
So much fun.
One question about these kind of "pushers".. How do you not break the prop on landing? Obviously you go to zero throttle so the prop isnt turning, but if it stops vertically and digs in, surely this would stop the prop.
Is there some kind of mechanism which causes the prop to go horizontal at rest?
Jon
When it hits the ground the prop will just tend to turn one way or the other. I suppose you could get unlucky but I never have.
You will break props occasionally if you hit a stone, and props do get chewed up eventually and need replacing.
So just carry a spare with you at all times. But it's not like it happens all the time. Most the time you just get grass stains on the prop :)
Quote from: dogzilla on August 27, 2015, 05:17:34 PM
You will break props occasionally if you hit a stone, and props do get chewed up eventually and need replacing.
So just carry a spare with you at all times. But it's not like it happens all the time. Most the time you just get grass stains on the prop :)
I was all set to buy the Sky Fun.. As I liked the idea of a wing with Elevons... But now I have been shown the Skipper, I can't make my mind up.
Can't think thinking that the Skipper looks a bit more fragile in the event of a crash.. But love the idea of its "All Terrain" design... They are hardly expensive, so I would get both, but I don't have the space to store them, so its one or the other....
Be under no illusions the Skyfuns is made of strong stuff :)
Put another way. Look at skyfun foam and it breaks....
Now if they made that same plane in elapor type foam it would be a winner... They did it with the smaller version.
Quote from: Shikra on September 01, 2015, 04:04:47 PM
Put another way. Look at skyfun foam and it breaks....
Now if they made that same plane in elapor type foam it would be a winner... They did it with the smaller version.
I have decided on the Skipper, as it just opens a lot of opportunities.. And I have no choice now as the SkyFun is out of stock.
But in the last week, the Skipper has increased in price by almost £10 (up to £79 now), and I don't like paying full price for anything.
I hope the price comes donw again, as I also need to order some Batteries and a Naze for my ongoing Quad build...
So will have to see what happens over the next day days.
Jon