Quiet & electric flight november 2015

R/C FLYING: WORLD’S No.1 FOR ELECTRIC AND GLIDING ENTHUSIASTS

Flight Quiet&Electric

November 2015

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International

PERPETUAL PULSE! E-FLITE’S UPGRADED SPORTSTER TESTED!

15 PAGES

OF REVIEWS

Tested by us so they work for you!

8 PAGES

Issue 165

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£4.25 • 11>

OF BMFA NATS REPORTS 1:4 scale SZD-22 Mucha kit build review

HOW TO… COVER AND FINISH DEPRON

Curtiss-Wright CW-24B feature plan

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Multiplex RR FunGlider assessed

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Flight INSIDE...

Quiet&Electric

International

November 2015 • Issue 165

COVER

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This month’s cover sees the upgraded Pulse 15e BNF aileron trainer and sportster reviewed from E-flite, now with GPS! Turn to page 14 for the full review (Tony King photo)

Cover Story

Feature

Plan

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48 4

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FEATURES How to… Cover Depron with Brown Paper Having described how to build with this modern lightweight flooring material Tony Bennett continues this month with his preferred method of covering for a perfect finish

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Curtiss-Wright CW-24B

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BMFA Nationals 2015

Rescaled to 1:6.8 scale by Laddie Mikulasko, this 71 inch span US Army ‘pusher’ canard is Feature constructed from all wood for 4-function R/C Plan uses an economical brushless outrunner and is a delight to fly

Individual reports from the Silent Flight competition, and a closer look at what makes a winner as we go inside with some technical electrical and mechanical updates from the Pylon racing and F3A Pattern Aerobatic flight lines

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REGULARS

6

Plug-In

10 20

Marketplace

30

Light Fantastic

36

Over There

64

Watts Under The Roof

68

Media Reviews

71 74

Diary Dates

30 64

REVIEWS

14

Pulse 15e BNF

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FunGlider RR

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SZD-22 ‘Mucha’

If you are looking for a sporty aileron trainer with stability then this 1400 mm span lowwinger with AS3X from E-flite will do nicely as Tony King found out!

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Editorial, plus news, views and comments The latest electric flight and gliding products

Scale Soaring Chris Williams is out and about again this month as he reports on the action from the Ghost Squadron’s Middle Wallop Aerotow meet, and then ventures off for some windless hilltop flying

Chris Golds begins this month with a tale of a ‘a big bang’ with a bird in a Venom, visits the Middle Wallop E-fly, and reveals more of your models

In his regular column from the US, this time Mike Lee passes on some useful tips for more accurate and confident flying and how to achieve a perfect landing every time, then takes a look at the new Sportsman S+ from Hobbyzone

Air shows always produce something new to see, and John Stennard has a favourite aircraft that he would like to see as a model; he also reports on an indoor show in Bristol and gives a Minion a new significance!

A selection of the latest recently published aviation books that will make a superb seasonal present, or to read in the comfort of your armchair

Where to go and what to see!

Down Under Our regular reporter Peter Pine reports from this year’s annual ‘mid-winter’ electric F5J comp held near Sydney, a Cularis tale, and the swing towards electric control-line aerobatics takes off!

Classified Adverts Our regular FREE ‘For Sale’ section

Web Directory Shop online for your modelling goodies

Shoppers Directory Where to find your modelling needs

Cover Story

We test this innovative 1300 mm span electric sports glider from Multiplex that packs a whole box of fun flying from a flat field or off the slope!

Aerotow enthusiast Mark Wilcockson wanted something different to build and fly, and this 1:4 scale, 3.75 m span vintage sailplane short-kit from ‘Old Gliders’ really took his fancy!

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Pulse 15e BNF If you are looking for a sporty aileron trainer then this 1400 mm span low-winger with AS3X from E-flite will do nicely as Tony King found out!

M

ike McConville designed the original Pulse™ model as a glow-powered sport aeroplane.

What emerged is a low-wing aircraft with the versatility to satisfy the person looking for an exceptional R/C flight experience. This winning formula launched a series of great flying, all-wood models that are still popular to this day.

Now we have the introduction of the E-flight ‘Pulse 15e’, which is entirely constructed of the highly durable Z-Foam

material, with the quality of the mouldings being first class as is the norm from E-flite.

The model comes with a choice of either tricycle or tail dragger undercarriage configuration and hardware for both are included. The nose wheel and main undercarriage come with pre-fitted wheels spats.

In addition to the supplied undercarriages a float set is available as an option and is sold separately, making this a very versatile aircraft.

Wing The two-piece parallel chord wing comes with pre fitted 17 g servos and is reinforced with carbon tubes set into the wing section to accommodate a substantial carbon rod. A small criticism here is that the aileron servo leads appear to be quite short where they exit the wing sections. These plug into a Y-lead, which is fed through a small slot in the wing then up into the fuselage. I found it was necessary to elongate the wing slot to accommodate the servo plugs without causing undue stress on the connection when the wing is secured into place on the fuselage.

Fuselage

The box says it all!

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The fuselage comes with most of the work done for you (even all the decals are attached); all servos are pre-fitted and connected to the control rods. All that is really required is to glue the hinges into the rudder and tail section using foam friendly cyano adhesive. The horizontal stabiliser

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Model Review

Included hardware

Inside we find all main components fully assembled

is secured into place using two screws inserted through the bottom of the fuselage.

On connecting the control rod to the elevator we found that the amount of unsupported control rod exiting the fuselage was quite excessive, causing quite a lot of free movement on the elevator, which would certainly result in some elevator flutter. It was decided to add a small foam block

to give some extra support and rigidity as illustrated in one of the nearby photos. The supplied 12" x 8" prop was checked for balance and found to be spot on and fitted along with the spinner. Finally, the foam cowl is held in place with magnets, as is the canopy.

The motor fitted is an E-flite B15 BL 880KV brushless outrunner and the supplied speed

Wing panels have aileron servos fitted and decals applied

GRP spar inserted for strength; note the short aileron servo lead

The long canopy hatch is held with a tongue and rear magnet

controller is an E-flite 40 Amp brushless.

After fitting a recommended 3-cell (11.1 V) 3200 mA 20C LiPo battery the following readings were obtained on a wattmeter: At full throttle current drawn was only 18 Amps at 210 Watts, which is well within the limits of the speed controller.

Depending on which undercarriage configuration you go for, the nose wheel is steerable via a control rod connection to the rudder servo; otherwise the tail wheel, when fitted, is also steerable via the rudder.

The model comes with a Spektrum AR636A 6-channel receiver fitted; this receiver uses AS3X technology, which is the latest in 3-axis stabiliser system.

You are advised to go to www.bindnfly.com to check transmitter compatibility.

Pre Flight Looking at the general lines of this aeroplane and the high aspect ratio, parallel

Aileron Y-lead attached to the short servo leads

Detailed illustrated instructions show the assembly clearly

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