We have lift-off "Orville" takes wing 19th

[Ken Park]

:) Tickled Pink! "Orville" took to the sky yesterday at the ORCC field and flew great. I got in 2 flights Saturday and was extremely pleased with the way it fly's. The 25 FX has plenty of power and its a blast to fly. Tom Hastie and Dave Rees were there and caught her on video tape. No preasure eh! Maiden flights and your doing aerobatic's for the camera's.

Wingspan 50" shoulder wing semi symetrical airfoil
Engine FX .25
weight 2.5 to 3lbs
5 servo's all Hitec HS81's

PS: This model is blast and would be alot of fun as an electric as well.
Orville fits in my trunk in one piece and thats a good thing.
If enough people tell me they want one I'll go the next step in seeing
about the cost of making a lazor cut short kit. I'll gage some of that
response by the replies seen on Calmdays club meeting etc.

[Tom Hastie]

Orville sure looked good in the air Ken... I'm regrettin' now not taking you up in the offer to let me give 'er a try. Next time maybe???:D ;)

Bad news about the video... Trouble with my 80's era video camera.... 80% of the tape was wiped out as if the tracking was all buggered up. I tried playing the tape back on 2 VCRs, and the camera that was used... no dice. I also lost the video Dave took of my Edge, and the video I took of his Edge.

I'll bring the camera out next weekend (Sunday?) and we can try again.

Tom

[John Weekes]

Great job, Ken...the Orville looks great! ...You put together a fairly complicated scheme very quickly...I guess you were chompin' at the bit to see it in the air, eh? :D

I look forward to see it "in person" at the field...

John

[miketoner]

Ken was flying upside-down and everything on the maiden flight.

[Ken Park]

I posted a picture or 2 on RC-groups and ask " what would it take to convert this puppy to electric?"

This is the response: AXI 2814 or AXI 2820
MPjet 28/20-7 40amps lipo pack + ESC

Do you guys's agree?

PS: I just got a fancy pair of handmade spoked wheels. There so nice I'll keep them for displays only. Thanks Gerry Pronovost!

[John Weekes]

Looking out the office window today, I think you'll need skiis before you'll need the vintage wheels, Ken! :D

John

[Tom Hastie]

Saw the thread on RCGroups…

Those AXI’s sound reasonable. Looking at the plane on Sunday, it feels just a touch heavier and faster than the SA Edge I’m flying now which is ballistic on 330Watts. The recommendation of 40A battery/ESC will be roughly 400Watts (Assuming 3S lipos). For a 3lb aircraft anything between 300-400W will work fine. I’m not too familiar with the MPJet, but so long as it’s rated for 300-400W of power it’ll probably be fine.

I’d also suggest the Hacker A30 series. I wonder if the A30-16M (~330Watts) that I have in the Edge right now would work. Perhaps an A30-12M (375Watts) or an A30-12L (400Watts) depending on how power-happy you really are. Dave and I both have the –16M in our Edges and they’ve been working great. (Plus with the Hacker you get all the mounting hardware and prop adapters that cost extra with the AXI’s.)

For Batteries, if it were me, I’d either power it with a pair of ThunderPower 3S 2100 Pro-lites in parallel (for a total of 4200mAh) or a Kokam 3200mAh 3S 20C pack. Both options would be roughly the same price for a battery. I haven’t had my Thunderpower packs long enough to wear one out yet, but my Kokam has served me faithfully for over a year now. (Unlike my Apogees).

I’m a big Castle Creations Fan, so I’d use a Phoenix 45 ESC.

Wish I hadn’t gone though this exercise though … now I’m wondering when you’ll have your short kits ready.

Tom

[Ken Park]

After comming down from cloud-9 last weekends flight, this week has basically been spent getting the plans caught up to the many changes that I made during the build.

It may be mid week next before Iam ready enough to get in contact with Rob McKeller who said he would help me get parts measured out ready for the laser cut process. I'll keep everyone informed. I do hope to get out flying again soon to get a wack of hot action close up flying shots.

PS: This time of year its Ski's on - Ski's off as we are looking 11 degree's in a few days I heard.