eHawk 1500 by Thunder Tiger

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
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I've written a little on this plane in other threads, but really it deserves its own. It barely got a look-in over winter, but with some great late spring weather it was recalled to duty.

For those not familiar, the eHawk 1500 by Thunder Tiger is a pod and boom V-tail glider. The pod is fibreglass, the boom is carbon fibre and the wings and tail feathers are balsa. The kit includes a very efficient brushless motor that rapidly takes the plane skyward with the included 10x6 folding prop.

I have the... er... magenta coloured one. It attracts a lot of attention from bystanders on the ground and even more in the air if they can find it. Here's a pic courtesy of glydr:
View attachment 3538

Unlike many have done, I've left the ailerons on one servo - a popular mod is the double servo to help land the thing with either flapperons or spoilerons. Landing can be a little tricky, as it'll glide over a whole oval if you bring it in too fast, and there's a strong tip-stall tendency if you slow it down too much. But never fear. Once you've got a feel for this thing, there's little opportunity to change the battery.

In terms of flight characteristics, it's definitely a warmliner under power. The ailerons on stock travel roll it at about the same speed as a Bixler, however it rolls quite quickly initially and only starts to slow down as the wings start to get perpendicular to the ground. The V-tail gives very little rudder response, and is perhaps a little pitchy on the elevator. Inverted is good with little back pressure needed and it makes a hollow sound as the air rushes through the tail assembly.

As mentioned above, there's a reasonably violent tip-stall if you slow it down too much, HOWEVER it will happily be all but stationary when into a light breeze or in a patch of lift (thermal of slope generated). Initially I had it a little nose heavy, and it pitched down heavily when you cut the power. Moving the battery (I'm using a 1300 3s, slightly more than the 1100 recommended) back another 2cm fixed this to a large extent and has improved the glide even further.

When I first got this plane, it took a bit of practice to find and stay on thermals. Now I'm doing it with ease and keeping it up a long time even in no lift conditions.

A few product listings I've seen rate this as an intermediate to advanced glider, which with the altitude killing tip stall it seems about right. It'll reward you for good flying and punish you for mistakes. Although this was my first balsa glider, I wouldn't recommend it to others as a transition from a nice, stable foamy floater. But if you're looking for a challenging little glider with strong thermal performance, this is the one for you!
 

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pgerts

Old age member
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It is an old one but the last i read was that you can get it as a kit today (not arf) - build yourself!
My hawk is the yellow one and I agree totally - it is probably not a second plane after a bixler type.
I was most surprised to find it in one piece after getting out on the slope in 20 m/s winds!
Racing with about 20 degrees down angle along the ridge ;-)
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
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It's an oldie but a goodie! Your definition of a kit must be different to mine. To me a kit requires glueing bits of wood together and ironing on a covering film! The build is pretty involved on this one, but it is glueing in servo trays and wing anchor points and aileron hinges etc. Thankfully I had glydr to help me out on what he'd call on 'old skool ARF'.
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
The E-hawk 1500 can now be found as a laser cut kit. I think i found it in the december issue of FMT but i´m not sure.
And yes - you have to glue the wing pieces together and cover it yourself.
 

IamNabil

Senior Member
It's a beautiful bird. I got my magenta for 75, and cannot wait to build it. I am a bit concerned that you say it is an intermediate/advanced plane. How intermediate is it?
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
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Umm... Have you flown anything that tip-stalls? If you can fly a warbird you should be able to fly it OK. The difference is that you deliberately fly the eHawk to the point of stall, which it doesn't if you're in lift or into the breeze. When it tip-stalls, you lose altitude fast though, and it can happen when you're enjoying a thermal and hit the edge of it. If you're ready for it and can adjust, you'll be OK. Thankfully I don't think these are prone to spins - it's not happened with mine, even now with the cg a little further back.
 

IamNabil

Senior Member
Hmmm. To be fair, both of my daily driver planes are polyhedral, so no real tip stalling going on there. Maybe I will buy something else to be my intro to non-bent wing planes. Hobbyking to the rescue! Maybe the dynamic s?
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
Hmmm. To be fair, both of my daily driver planes are polyhedral, so no real tip stalling going on there. Maybe I will buy something else to be my intro to non-bent wing planes. Hobbyking to the rescue! Maybe the dynamic s?
Build and fly your E-hawk. It will take some bad landings without problems ( i know because i have let my friends fly it). Get the plane to stall on some height to se how it behaves. Remember to land it flying and not stalling it from one or 2 feet height.
 

IamNabil

Senior Member
When I fly, I use the full amount of enthusiasm and stupidity available. I am not a dangerous pilot, but I am also not a very subtle pilot. I was not kidding when I made that list in the AXN thread.

•Flown it in 25 mph winds
•Landed it, gently, at full throttle into corn stalks.
•Landed it in a tree at work. A branch went through the wing. Nothing an inch of tape couldn't fix.
•Bashed one with a PVC pipe to pull it out of a river. Two new servos were required.
•Dove one, directly into the ground, at full throttle, from 100 feet. Had to boil the foam a bit to get the nose the correct shape again.
•Landed it, many, many times, on a parking lot.
•Had the wind rip a wing out of the root while flying.
•Had an aileron linkage fall out mid-flight. I could only bank one direction. Perfect landing, mostly.
•Somersaulted. On the ground.
•Flown it in the rain.
•Run into a building.

From what I understand, the eHawk is a bit harder to repair or replace than the dynamic, although it is significantly better looking.
 

pgerts

Old age member
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..From what I understand, the eHawk is a bit harder to repair or replace than the dynamic, although it is significantly better looking.
There are raplacement parts available.
You probaly wont fly it if there are lots of trees ;-)
The plane is a lot more durable than you can imagine.
I was flying on a slope once. Only way to land it safely was to back it into a leaf tree. All other trees had thornes and there was to much lift to land it on a small lawn on the slope. I once lost radio when it was raining and the plane got into a spin down into a salad field - a lot of dirt but no real damages.
 

IamNabil

Senior Member
When I decide that I have had enough of my clients for a bit, I fly one of my less-cared about planes from the parking lot of my office. I found one of the ten trees lining the lot. In my defense, I also fly during storms with terrible wind gusts. Once you are used to not knowing exactly what your plane will do next, it makes it easier to learn how to recover from mistakes. Or so my theory goes.
Man... I wanna build my eHawk. I am going to go lay out the parts and look at it for a bit. :D
 

IamNabil

Senior Member
So, the box says that the plane breaks down to two wing halves, and that the tail is removable, but after reading the manual, it looks like once these parts are built, they sorta stay built. Am I misreading the manual, or is the box top wrong?
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
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The tail is removable. It's held on with screws. I glued my wings together for better durability. In theory I could unscrew them, but I had a tough time getting the screws lined up with the hole. I haven't been game enough to undo it, and it's small enough to fit in my car fully assembled.

Oh yeah, I've found mine to be durable too. We've got a flying site where there's really great thermals, but the grass is awfully long. The eHawk doesn't penetrate through it and I've somersaulted it a few times on landing. No damage. I do have a small crack in the fuselage from an alternate landing site, which didn't have much grass and has a few hidden rocks... I don't like that spot anymore.
 
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lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
Haha, no, I don't mean I crashed it. The spot we stand is near some shade for our gear. The alternate landing site is a short walk away in a spot where they actually mow occasionally and the grass (clumpy and dry native grass that is).
 

Joel

Junior Member
Need advice.

I just bought one of these discounted to $25. But I may have bit off more than I can chew. What do you recommend for the servos, etc? I have a extra DSM2 Eflite MLP4DSM Transmitter and Tactic TtX400 transmitter. Can either of these work.
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
I don't know anything about those radios, but you could happily fly this with ailerons and elevator - the V-tail rudder doesn't have much command. I used HXT900s in mine (or were they TG9es...). Anyhow, any 8-10g servo will do fine.

Wish I found them somewhere for $25... I'd buy 4!
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
.. I have a extra DSM2 Eflite MLP4DSM Transmitter and Tactic TtX400 transmitter. QUOTE]
It is not a big plane but i would suggest a "full range" receiver. You will soon get a far distance high up with a glider. The E-hawk does not take many seconds to get very high with motor or if you catch a thermal.
If you are slope flying then you might get away with a smaller receiver. I am using an AR6200 (with sat) in my E-Hawk.
I am using 4 HXT 900 servos.
 

Foam Addict

Squirrel member
Joel,
the TTx 400 and the ttx 604 both have delta and v-tail mixes.
They'll do just fine, just don't fly to far (2000').