The RC flying season is starting soon, and we'll be out at Bomber Field tomorrow to maiden the new A-1E Skyraider before its official release a little later this summer. Also will be shooting video for the Legend Hobby faceplant page and website, featuring the Skyraider, the 86 inch Cessna Caravan, and the big O-1 Bird Dog.
The prototype 120 inch B-17 is in final assembly now, hope to fly that one early next month. I'll post some pics later if anyone wants to see them.
Absolutely, yes!!
It was a bit of a wash today. Weather was beautiful except for the wind, which was 15-25mph across the runway from the south. The grandstands were causing all sorts of weird turbulence on the runway, so it would be dead calm one minute and gusting the next. We decided to keep the birds on the ground for now and try again later. Was not a good day to sort out maiden flights. But it was a great day to be with friends, and we had a good time regardless.
The new A1E Skyraider. 86 inch wingspan, EME 60 gasser with onboard start.
Previous pic is the 86 inch Cessna Caravan in custom FedEx markings. That one is electric, E-Flite Power 160. It will also accept a 20-35cc gasser.
Glad to see your hair got better!
So what batteries does the caravan take?
I ordered some new hair from Amazon, Stetto. It fits great, but the glue was a little messy... :disturbed:
Honcho, we're running two 5S 6000mah batteries with a 100 amp speed control and an 18x10 prop on the Caravan and it's more than enough. It's not all that heavy for its size. The plan is to replace the current two blade prop with a three blade sometime soon.
The skyraider looks great!
Those are some big ones, I don't mind electrics, but 4s is my limit, I would rather have a messy old gasser in that I think.
I have had not time for anything fun, either been messing with cows calving or on the tractor. I have to keep up appearances for the neighbors that I actually do emerge from the house now and then. I don't want them to start to think I am dead or we abandoned the place and have them come over to snitch my toys.
QuoteThose are some big ones
We could probably run 6S with no problems. The trouble with the gasser is that it looks awful on that airplane with the cylinder hanging out of the cowl. The full scale airplane is a turboprop.
Oh I get it why on a turboprop. Some of them are big enough, you can only see the hole on the bottom, but that one is pretty skinny.
The Caravan flies just fine on a gasser, it just doesn't sound right! :disturbed: If you might be thinking about getting one, let me know and I'll see if I can get you a discount. It's a good flying model and that not quite scale tall landing gear should get you past berms and hay feeders...
Another shot of the fat face Skyraider....
Yeah, that landing gear.....!
Heck, I have to crash some 1st to make some room. Not that its a problem crashing, just problem getting that far anymore.
You have an unfair crashing advantage with that hay feeder there........unless, of course, you cut it up for scrap when nobody was looking.....😂
It actually met its poetic fate with the cows, who it apparently crashed into. Unfortunately, they make more. :icon_smile:
QuoteYeah, that landing gear.....!
Not my favorite, for sure. The real thing sits pretty low to the ground. Wally and I were going to modify it to make it more scale, but since this was a prototype build, we had to do it out of the box. The main gear could have been cut down pretty easily, but it would have been a little work to modify the nose strut. The kit comes with 4 1/2 inch main wheels, we used 3 1/4 inch instead and it looks a little better. But that tall gear will keep you out of the cow patties!! :icon_mrgreen:
Going to try again tomorrow to fly the Skyraider.
Jaime, is this the same Skyraider? He mentioned there were 2 others in Texas....
https://youtu.be/_-n-r9lI5NY
I never realized they made a side by side version of the Skyraider.
But man 12 cell, 7k mah batteries works out to what, about 12 bucks a minute of flight time. Ouch. Sure makes an expensive gas engine look appealing even with gas at 4 bucks.
I saw one once....somewhere in Washington. The thing is huge! It had a door on the side and could carry something like 12 people inside the fuselage!
Yeah Lectrics start getting expensive when you get over 6 cells....
If you want a little history on the Skyraider, and a ride-along, check out this pirep from Budd Davisson:
http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepAD-5.2.html
QuoteJaime, is this the same Skyraider? He mentioned there were 2 others in Texas...
Nony, it is indeed. That's Chris, the RC Geek, out in Kalifornia. He's one of our team members, and that airplane is in one of several schemes offered on the model. The others are the Navy gray, USAF camo and a bare ready to cover version. I'm trying to talk the boss into adding a white and red training scheme. The two others he mentions are the gray one that Wally and I have, and a camo bird that one of the other team members, Larry H., is finishing in a South Vietnamese camo scheme. The gray one is ready to go, but weather has not been cooperating with us for first flights, been really windy out here.
The first prototype single seat Skyraider that Wally and I did was electric, but didn't last long. On a flight at Bomber, the motor overheated due to too much prop pitch, which fried the speed controller, and it crashed. We have an electric expert now, he's in Florida.
This Skyraider is better done as a gasser. Those big batteries ain't cheap, and neither are the speed controllers.
Thanks for the info!!
I saw a pair of 2 seaters (?) at a warbird show in Williams AZ 20 some years ago in CG colors and was told were trainers. All I remember was how loud those puppies were.