T E A M
Hot on the heels of my Kyosho Spitfire, I decided to continue the momentum and build another plane. It's a 'feel like building' mood thing for me, so might as well really do it.
I came back recently from my Japan holiday which I managed to visit two hobby shops in Tokyo Akihabara area. I was specifically looking for powered gliders. I think this period of time, SG will be pretty hot and the wind ain't right yet for pure slope, so I could still glide abit with this. Both stock a pretty number of roach (wood) glider kits, but of course the price is
, more so for scalies. In the end, budget and all, I ended up getting the Urban.
The Urban is a basic RES (Rudder Elevator Spoiler) electric glider of 2.1m. There was the bigger brother there the Urban XC, but not knowing what I am in for, I didn't take the chance. Either way its a decision made also based on the powerplant requirement. It needs only a small sized 3S lipo setup to go up, and really no frills, that was budget enough for me.
Specs for the glider is here.http://www.thermal-kobo.jp/item/inde...=grp01&level=3
Building it was not difficult, the quality of Thermal Studio is outstanding. The laser cut parts are truly perfectly cut, each piece comes off easily and stays in one piece (some brand kits have parts so badly cut, it takes a full penknife effort to remove it).
Power setup is copied wholesale from Joe Yap's Topmodel Bliss. Joe's setup was incidentally the correct fit for me, and therefore decided not to stress over this. Thanks Joe!
And thanks to ChiaDennis too, he helped me buy the items on a tagalong purchase at the LHSs.
GS 28-34-10 (880kV) brushless motor
Aeronaut 11 x 7 folding prop with Aeronaut 40mm spinner
CC 35A ESC set to maximum efficiency mode, lowest spool up
1900mAh PQ 3S1P Lipo (soon to be 1800mAh Dualsky 3S1p Lipo)
Airtronics/Sanwa RDS8000 FHSS 8ch, throttle set on switch
Esky 8g servos
My static amp draw at full throttle is 11A, I am happily surprised but will continue to monitor.
The overall build took me 2 weeks, and finally yesterday afternoon it was the time to know the truth - will it fly or not? This is my first full wood kit build since 1992(CG Tiger 2) and so my rusty building skills is put to the test. I had particular difficulties aligning the opening angles of the spoilers, but I decide to make the best effort and live with it.
Weather condition wise, it was turbulent winds and at the corner of my eye, the sky is dark and already about to pour. Refusing to give up, I powered up up to full, okie the nose is still with the fuse, a gentle toss and up she goes.
And a few down clicks later, she is floating in the air!
Relief.
No thermals found, some control corrections required back on the ground, but handling was nothing to complain about.
In summary it feels really good to be able to bring a pile of balsa, to become a plane and a spectacle in the sky. Hopefully more people will try kit building in this ARF time and age.
I came back recently from my Japan holiday which I managed to visit two hobby shops in Tokyo Akihabara area. I was specifically looking for powered gliders. I think this period of time, SG will be pretty hot and the wind ain't right yet for pure slope, so I could still glide abit with this. Both stock a pretty number of roach (wood) glider kits, but of course the price is
, more so for scalies. In the end, budget and all, I ended up getting the Urban.The Urban is a basic RES (Rudder Elevator Spoiler) electric glider of 2.1m. There was the bigger brother there the Urban XC, but not knowing what I am in for, I didn't take the chance. Either way its a decision made also based on the powerplant requirement. It needs only a small sized 3S lipo setup to go up, and really no frills, that was budget enough for me.
Specs for the glider is here.http://www.thermal-kobo.jp/item/inde...=grp01&level=3
Building it was not difficult, the quality of Thermal Studio is outstanding. The laser cut parts are truly perfectly cut, each piece comes off easily and stays in one piece (some brand kits have parts so badly cut, it takes a full penknife effort to remove it).
Power setup is copied wholesale from Joe Yap's Topmodel Bliss. Joe's setup was incidentally the correct fit for me, and therefore decided not to stress over this. Thanks Joe!
And thanks to ChiaDennis too, he helped me buy the items on a tagalong purchase at the LHSs.GS 28-34-10 (880kV) brushless motor
Aeronaut 11 x 7 folding prop with Aeronaut 40mm spinner
CC 35A ESC set to maximum efficiency mode, lowest spool up
1900mAh PQ 3S1P Lipo (soon to be 1800mAh Dualsky 3S1p Lipo)
Airtronics/Sanwa RDS8000 FHSS 8ch, throttle set on switch
Esky 8g servos
My static amp draw at full throttle is 11A, I am happily surprised but will continue to monitor.
The overall build took me 2 weeks, and finally yesterday afternoon it was the time to know the truth - will it fly or not? This is my first full wood kit build since 1992(CG Tiger 2) and so my rusty building skills is put to the test. I had particular difficulties aligning the opening angles of the spoilers, but I decide to make the best effort and live with it.
Weather condition wise, it was turbulent winds and at the corner of my eye, the sky is dark and already about to pour. Refusing to give up, I powered up up to full, okie the nose is still with the fuse, a gentle toss and up she goes.
And a few down clicks later, she is floating in the air!
Relief.No thermals found, some control corrections required back on the ground, but handling was nothing to complain about.
In summary it feels really good to be able to bring a pile of balsa, to become a plane and a spectacle in the sky. Hopefully more people will try kit building in this ARF time and age.
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