No picture updates as I hope to shoot a video update later today. Just not feeling up to it yesterday as I seem to be fighting some sort of cold.
The short of it is that she is ready to fly. The ailerons are installed and linked as well as shaped, covered, and installed the empennage pieces. I plugged in all the lights to the control unit per the instructions and put it on CH5. Assigned it to a switch and you just cycle through the different programmings until you get to the one you want listed in the instructions. VERY simple and works as advertised. I set the control throws and expo per the instructions. As this is more of a sport flyer, I did use the recommended 25% expo. I'm more of a 60% guy but that just helps me with finer movements to fly more scale. I hope to really be able to throw this one around.
The CG instructed is 90mm from the leading edge at the root and my 5000mAh 4S graphene pack gets me just forward of that at 80mm. A good place to start for a maiden.
I did a power-up with my watt meter in place and I'm pulling 750W at about 60A... right on the money where I need to be. The ESC is rated for 60A continuous and the motor is rated up to 820W continuous. I'm not going for speed but some good thrust to carry me through some heavy-handed maneuvers. I did not get her on the scale to get an AUW yet... seems I always forget to get that number for you guys and gals. Comparing to the weight of the Bugatti, she is very much less than 7 pounds so power to weight ratio is good. Once again, THe
SK3 series of motors and
YEP ESCs continue to impress me. Estimations on eCalc show a mixed flying time of around 20 minutes... I can handle that! Even on a 2200 4S mixed time is around 8 minutes. SO I have options here. The CG may be adequately moved back so I'll have a look at that.
I want to comment here on the
servos. I've been using Futaba full-sized servos for many years and the S3001 servos have been pulling their weight well. Shoot, even the S3010 I thought were fantastic on the Bugatti elevator and rudder controls. The centering on these servos is top-notch as well as extremely precise movements. The torque is even and shows absolutely not strain. Very very impressed with these servos. While I am aware that digital servos do draw a bit more current than the analog counterparts, the response time and accuracy are worth the little bit of extra power draw.
I got the pilot screwed in and the windshield on as well. She really is all set. Weather does not look promising for this coming weekend's fry and fly but it could change. We shall see.