Ok, I guess it's my turn to put in my .02
As some might have noted from pic's in the main forum, I got my T-Rex in the air at Phil Coopy's Fly-In for it's maiden flights.
Disclaimer: I paid full price for my ARF, purchased directly from Brodak.
I wanted an honest, "average user" assessment, so didn't do anything "trick" to my T-Rex, just built it pretty much out of the box. I was in the middle of a huge kitchen remodel and didn't have shop access, so I set up a temporary build area in my 3rd bedroom and assembled the T-Rex in 1 week of some spare evenings. Final Assembly, such as fuel proofing, plumbing the clunk tank, installing vents in the fuselage, some fillets to keep the fuel out, etc happened the late into Friday night and to 2AM Sat actually, before the first flights on Saturday at Coopy's.
About the build: Simple, straight forward. Read the booklet a few times before you start. Use common sense, and standard "ARF" smarts. I did put a loooong tube on my CYA bottle and reached in as far as I could and hit some wood joints in the wing and fuselage that I thought might need a little help "just in case". And I did glass the wing center section with the tape provided. I don't think it's fiberglass, maybe nylon? I dunno, but I actually liked it because the edges didn't frey and unravel like glass does and stayed where I put it with epoxy.
Controls - I had to chuck up the threaded ends in my drill press and turn down the serrated ends just a hair to fit the carbon tubes nicely. JBWelded them in, and they work fine.
Assembly - Went well, some fiddling with the wing saddle was needed, like every ARF I have built, to get the wing to sit right, but nothing out of the ordinary. I prefer having to do this and remove some material, and have a wood to wood glue joint, so no complaints. Alignment was very good from the factory, and the stab didn't require any shimming once I got the wing settled in correctly.
Tank - Sullivan hard round 6 ounce clunk. Hard plumbed uniflow and Dubro Sintered bronze clunk pickup. First time I've tried these pickups, and it shuts off scary good! I also have the tank canted with the back end out, so this of course helps also. The T-Rex is so wide you can angle it outboard as much as you like.
Motor - I installed an old used motor I had lying around that I bought used years ago and never had a chance to try. A DoubleStar .61 Rear Exhaust Lite. It fits the T-Rex architecture like a glove. I'm still working on getting a run style out of it that I like better, but it runs fine as is and makes plenty of power. I did substitute a lighter Dave Brown 50-60 mount, only because I didn't have faith in myself to install the 2 piece mount that came with the kit correctly. That, and the Dave Brown 1 piece mount is a little lighter.
Trim - First flights were outboard wing up and down inverted. I didn't have a heat gun with me (dummy!) so I taped half of a broken old wood prop on the underside of the inboard wing trailing edge. It was still a little up, but it let me fly a full pattern on it's second flight at the fly in. That night, I heated the wing at home and made a few other trim changes:
1) moved the elevator slider up 1/16th of an inch. These are coming out so light (mine came out at 58.7 ounces on my digi scale) that I had to dial out some flap to unload the handle and stop it from pivoting at the nose. Don't add tail weight until you have tried this first!
2) widened handle spacing - Had at a relatively small 3.5" setting to start, and have moved to 4".
3) removed 1/4 ounce of the original recommended 1.5 ounces of tip weight. Pretty close now...
4) moved the rear leadout slider forward to within 3/4" of the front leadout. From the factory, these were like 1.5" apart, and to tell the truth, I hadn't moved them till now, as they were "in the noise" for where I measured the C/G and I wanted to see how it went that way on the first flight.
Over All Impressions - I like it! This is a great flying plane! It flies very much like my favorite old classic ship, a Warburton Tony. The slightly forward C/G and light weight make for a corner that is near impossible to over-rotate, yet appears sharp and flat. Excellent presentation of corners, and great symmetry from insides to outsides in the rounds. It fits my flying style very well, doesn't hunt and goes where you point it.
This should be a boon to up and comers who have never flown a full boogie stunt ship before. At it's light weight, it may even be an experience that some experts that tend to build heavy will have never experienced and enjoy very much. It's got me re-thinking a few things about weight, that's for sure!
I will include a shot of the underside, so you can see how the DS60 exhaust exit worked out, etc. and a pic or two of the front end and rear from Coopy's. The DS60 exhaust is short enough to contain the exit hole in the cowl area, which I think is a plus. (Don't panic, that's not bare wood, there's clear epoxy on those cut-out edges. I need to go back and make them pretty, but they are sealed.)
I know this isn't much of a technical review, and I apologize for it's lack of detail and build pictures, (see Steve Fittons thread for that,
heh, heh) but it's all I had time for, what with building it so quick, and not having a bunch of time to write. So, take it for what it's worth, just another me-too, that likes this bird.
Hope this helped someone,
EricV
Topic: Yet another T-Rex thread (Read 2298 times)