Bought a new plane

[kwong2001]

Well, I went to the hobby expo on friday and my dad bought me a Tensor 4D. Got the plane, Brushless motor, ESC, and 3 ball bearing servos for $200. My dad's putting it together, should take about two weeks. The plane is small. It's for flying in light wind (less than 5mph) or flying indoors such as a gymnasium.

I found out the plane is the biggest thing because George Hicks won the eTOC, an indoor electric competition. Check out the video of him in the finals with the plane. http://67.18.81.100/rcuvideos/magazine/reviews/325/ETOC-2004-George-Hicks-R3-high-in-sync.wmv

 

[HumboldtBlazer]

That thing looks sweet. I really need to try my hand at flying. I was always facinated with it. The brushless should make that thing cook. Thoughts on powering via Li-Poly? Lighter, faster, higher discharge rate. Just my thoughts. Let us know how it flys!

 

[kwong2001]

The battery we bought is a 3 cell lipoly. It's a 900ma made by Thunder Power.

If you ever wanna make a trip up to washington state, I can take you up on a trainer.

 

[kwong2001]

Here's what my dad's done so far.

 

[kwong2001]

 

[JESSE G]

Thats an intresting looking plane is it made of foam? I bet your getting excited for it to be done so you can test her out :jet:

 

[FastEddy]

Sweet looking kit.
The link above to the vid is no good.

 

[kwong2001]

Plane's made out of foam. But it's not the best stuff. My dad's broke the plane at least 3 times already, and it's not even finished. The material is very brittle.

It'll be done by tonight, and i'll be flying it tomorrow if there isn't too much wind. I don't think i'll get many flights with the plane before it's totalled. One bad landing and that's the end of the fun.

 

[jon2]

I get a "forbidden" message on that link

 

[kwong2001]

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=325

There's the link the videos for the contest. The airplane is the one George Hicks is flying. You may need to be an RCU member to download the vid.

 

[kwong2001]

She's all ready to fly. Our Hitec 555 receiver was bad and I had to drive to a hobby shop an hour from my house for a replacement. I'm gonna use our JR radio instead of the Futaba.

I'm charging the battery and i'll do the maden flight in a few minutes.

 

[kwong2001]

Just did the maiden flight. I need some serious time to get used to it.

My dad launched it at full power, and it immediately start oscillating. I was in a panic just to get it under control. My dad told me to power the throttle back, then it start to settle down a little. It was a bit breezy and the airplane was getting tossed around a bit.

I flew it in sorta an oval. It doesn't like to turn very well and you have to use a lot of rudder. I think twice i ended up busting into a hover about 8 feet off the ground. It hovers very nicely, but it's very hard to safely pull out of the hover because of it's handling characteristics.

Flight lasted for less than a minute. Thankfully nothing broke, so it will live to fly again. I'll go to the flying field, or a big park to fly it next time around. Flying on our golf cours (i live on one) is a bit too small for getting used to such a weird plane.

edit: there were a few times where I thought he plane was gonna be totalled.

 

[kwong2001]

Well, that's the end of the plane. I launched it at half throttle, wind picked it up a little bit. Airplane was heading towards some trees, banked the plane to clear the tree, should have killed the throttle. Ended up heading straight into the ground. Guess i'll start flying my helicopter until I can buy a new park flyer. Anyhoo, check the pictures below. They were taken minutes after the crash.

I'm a little sad since i really like the plane, but I knew it was inevitable.

 

[Candyman]

OH THE HUMANITY!!!!
Damn Kev, that's one hell of a lawn sale! Would it really cost that much for a new Tensor airframe? It always seemed that the Depron profiles were cheap aside from the electronics. I have seen the E-flite Ultimate for way less than $100 and that even comes with the brushed motor and gearbox. OH well. That was the thing I always liked about my Sky Scooter. You could just glue the EPP back together. Although it looks like a Frankenplane right now....

 

[kwong2001]

Well most foam park fliers are only like $50, which I think was how much the Tensor was. But the plane is a total loss, pretty much the only thing that would still be good is the carbon rods and the servo linkages, but those things are cheap anyways.

I'll probably get another park flier sometime after school ends, or maybe before. My dad's not gonna make me build it this time, so it might be awhile before I get it all together...I really suck at building.

Oh, and all the radio gear is fine...well, *should* be fine, they haven't been tested yet.

 

[Rolex]

Look on the bright side.....no broken shocks or bulkheads.
Before you build the next one, trace out all the foam parts. You can get the foam and build replacement parts.

 

[Candyman]

I guess the good news then is that you just need the airframe. That should be affordable enough. I would expect any respectable kit to come with linkages and stuff. Shouldn't be too tough. Just remember when building keep it all square!

 

[kwong2001]

Well, my dad's got some foam type building material to make our own planes, so i might end up going that route. Although the stuff he's got, which is called "blue cor" seems to be a bit thick so I dunno. We'll have to see.

 

[scottm]

Ouch! I know the feeling. Is the motor/sc OK? If so, check out www.insanefoamies.com for the planes I have been flying. That same crash probably would not have totaled it, plus they are easy to fly.

 

[Rolex]

Try an art supply store. They carry styro covered with paper on both sides. Extremely rigid and light. I believe it's called foam board. It comes in many thicknesses, and is paintable.