Need Airplane Recommendation

[mike.chuanshi]

All of you electric fixed-wing veterans out there - I am in need of your wisdom.
I'm looking for a plane that has the following characteristics:

• Very Durable
• Relatively Easy to Repair
• Very Stable
• Capable of Handling 15-20 mph Winds Very Well
• Capable of Carrying Battery/Batteries Weighing 500g
• Slow (as slow as possible in 15-20 mph winds)
• Easy to Handle (again, as easy as possible given the winds)

Your recommendations are very much appreciated.

 

[Box Car]

On Choice

All of you electric fixed-wing veterans out there - I am in need of your wisdom.
I'm looking for a plane that has the following characteristics:

• Very Durable
• Relatively Easy to Repair
• Very Stable
• Capable of Handling 15-20 mph Winds Very Well
• Capable of Carrying Battery/Batteries Weighing 500g
• Slow
• Easy to Handle

Your recommendations are very much appreciated.

I'm a newbie as well with little experience however, I've been looking at the Ares Gamma 370 Pro RFR. The writeups on it seem quite favorable and it will handle a 3S 1350 battery. The plane I ordered is a clone, it differs in only two aspects. The fuselage is an inch shorter and the ESC is a 20 A vice the 18 in the true Ares. There are several reports of the ESC being prone to failure in the Ares, so I'm hoping the Chinese knockoff with a 20A ESC escapes those problems. As everything else seems to be the same as the HobbyTown version, spares should be easy to locate. I don't know how it would do in those winds, but there are many reports of the Ares handling 15 MPH winds with little problem.

The stock props are very fragile and landing without having to replace a prop is considered a major achievement. Most recommendations are for an 8x6 slow flyer for trainer flights. The Ares is capable of some aerobatics as the 370 does have the power to do almost anything. Most of the mods seem to do with rearranging the landing gear either by reversing the battery box or strengthening the actual gear to cut down on the nose over tendencies of the plane. All-in-all, if you can believe the Internet reports is this is a great intermediate to advanced plane that is easy to repair and with inexpensive parts.

I just bought the DX6 with the AR610 included so I have my radio. Now all I need to do is get them programmed. Hopefully I'll find someone to buddybox with when I've got everything together.

 

[ZoomNBoom]

Your list is pretty tough. If you want it to handle 20mph winds, it really cant be very slow plane, since I assume you do want it to be able to go forward in those winds. Similar concern for "easy to handle"; you're gonna need a lot of control authority to handle such winds. So it should have a pretty wide flight envelope and I guess you will be looking at a fairly large plane, to ahm 'scale down the wind' so to speak.

IN general I think a large FPV platform would tick most boxes, even if you dont intend to do any FPV-ing. Something like this perhaps?
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__27132__Skywalker_X_8_FPV_UAV_Flying_Wing_2120mm_.html

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Hmm. A tiny trainer fill almost all of those criteria except the handling the 15-20 mph winds, and the batteries you wish to use. Are you dead set on these constraints?

 

[BridgeInspector]

I think the FT Guinea Pig fits your requirements perfectly. The FT Mini Guinea might do well also if using potent enough motors (like 2206-2150kv) and maybe a gyro to help with gusts.

 

[ZoomNBoom]

The Guinea Pig is probably a bit slow to handle such winds. You could use different motors and props to try and speed it up, but then its not gonna be very efficient. To penetrate winds, you really want something smooth and particularly a flying wing does really well in gusts (not much for the wind to grab hold on).

 

[RAM]

Radian or something like it, powered glider.

 

[TEAJR66]

If you already know how to fly, The FT Versa Wing fits the bill. Big batter carry capacity. Slows down nicely. Penetrates the wind easily. Very simple to build and repair. Very durable, specially in the pusher configuration.

If you anticipate that kind of wind frequently, I would suggest the NTM 2826 1100kv motor with an 8X6 prop. You can go 4S on that all day.

 

[mike.chuanshi]

If you want it to handle 20mph winds, it really cant be very slow plane, since I assume you do want it to be able to go forward in those winds. Similar concern for "easy to handle"; you're gonna need a lot of control authority to handle such winds.

Yes, this is very true.
I've clarified these criteria since the list obviously needs to be kept realistic.

 

[mike.chuanshi]

The Skywalker X-8 is on the list.

Sounds like the Guinea Pig is a toss-up.
It would be great if the GP could handle the challenge given that it's inexpensive and easy to acquire.

 

[mike.chuanshi]

Hmm. A tiny trainer fill almost all of those criteria except the handling the 15-20 mph winds, and the batteries you wish to use. Are you dead set on these constraints?

I could compromise on the batteries a little, but there isn't a whole lot that can be done about the wind.
I have a Tiny Trainer but haven't been able to truly fly the thing because the wind just makes it nose dive.
The first flight was about 4 seconds long, and the second flight was about 2 seconds.
Now I'm waiting on new props.
What's the maximum battery weight that the Tiny Trainer can handle?