After reading the latest edition of RC Microflight, I ran off to Wal-Mart to look for a new Estes product which appeared in one of the magazine's columns. Estes now sells a small, 14" span, single channel electric airplane, vaguely resembling a Monocoupe (for those of you familiar with that aircraft). I plunked down my $20, got some C cells and a 9 vt battery and went back home to see what awaited.
The RC system is one that's a throwback, but making a resurgence in small RC plane communities. The system is 27 Mhz single channel; I didn't experience any interference with the system. The plane is set up such that if you do nothing, it pulls a constant left turn. The transmitter consists of a handheld unit, slighly smaller than a TV remote, with one button on it. You push the button to drive the rudder full right, and by pulsing it, adjust the rate of turn. Range reported in RC Microflight was 100' on the ground, which means more in the air.
A charging unit takes 6 C cells (which tells me you could substitute a
7.2V RC car or plane pack if you soldered in the supplied keyed charging jack). You make sure the sliding switch on the plane is set to off, plug the charging unit into the plane, then hold down a pushbutton for 45 sec. Unplug, flip the switch on, and launch. The motor had a surprisingly decent amount of thrust produced by a supplied 3" prop of unknown pitch.The plane itself is foam, decorated with stickers, and all tail surfaces pre-installed. The wing is a one piece, undercambered, rather thin foam design, eliplictal planiform. To "build" the plane, you attach the wing with rubber bands. There's also a display only landing gear, and a replacement prop.
The instructions were vintage Estes rocketry, clear directions, step by step with profuse illustrations. There's a preflight checklist, a bit of problem debugging hints and an 800 number to call during Mountain timezone business hours for problems and replacement parts.
There's a decent set of trim instructions, the most innovative of which tells you how hard to throw the plane. Estes recommends practicing with an empty soda can, until your tossing motion lands the can 5-7 feet from you. Clever.
My first two flights were cut short however by busted props. My plane didn't exhibit an agressive climb. The trim adjustments recommended in the instructions said to bend the stab to increase the climb rate, and I didn't get that right before I busted both props. I"ll try the 800 number tomorrow and see how the replacement process works.
Also of note, even though the plane seemed to land pretty hard (well, hard enough to bust props anyway), the model itself was undamaged. I was a bit surprised by that, particularly given the thinness of the wing. The slide switch is installed such that momentum moved it to the off position both times, preventing damange to the motor. Replacing the prop was simple; pop the old one off, push the new one one.
Overall, this thing looks like:
(a) a pretty well designed piece of work for $20,
(b) to be a whale of fun once I get the trim sorted out and
(c) it's dying for someone to open it up and convert the control portion of the beast to a very low investment A BG RC system. If somebody doesn't show up at a launch in the next 6 months doing that, I guess I"ll give it a go myself.
Anybody else try this little cutie yet?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Mark B. Bundick mbundick - at - earthlink - dot - net NAR President www - dot - nar - dot - org
"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest - by the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic . . . We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - JFK