This afternoon my electric Strega arc had its first trim flights. Temps were about 50 degrees, winds 12 to 15mph with gusts to about 18. Flew on 66 ft lines. Power system is dualsky XM4260CA5 680 KV, phoenix 45, turnigy lightmax 5S 3000 mah, Will Hubin 6a timer running in governor mode with fine rpm adjust through a remote pot on the outboard side of the fuse, APC 13X6.5E Pusher prop. Did two trim flights to check battery draw and lap times. 8000 rpm yielded 5.88 sec laps, but adequate line tension for round maneuvers. 8600 rpm yielded 5.01 sec laps with good line tension. 5.0 laps is where I fly my piped PA.51 Strega arf on the same lines. At Dennis Adamisin's recommendation I trimmed the flaps down from full span to 6 inches less than full span on each side. Its like I got power steering. I now have much more ability to adjust flight path in maneuvers and much less effort to do so. But it was very very noticable. Additionally the corner is dramatically better than with the full span flaps. The short flapped plane has a pronounced corner. The full flapped plane gives me the feeling of flying tighter radius loops that kind present like a corner if you know its supposed to be there. The corner of this plane is very abrupt with no wing wobble or stall. Unlike my other Stregas there is no Rabe rudder on this one.
The result of all Brad's efforts on weight on the T-Rex are really illustrated in Stregas. Their weights are all over the place. Dennis' electric is I think 78 or 79 ounces on 6 cells. My glo arf is 79 ounces without fuel. My electric arc is 84 ounces. I'm only carrying about one ounce more motor than Dennis and the cover jobs are about equal weight. So I think 8400 rpm will put me where I want lap time wise. I would have put in another flight or two but the wind was getting quite gusty and I really wasn't going to be able to assess much more accurately.
This is the 4th Strega I have owned. 2 arfs, two arc's. It is the heaviest by 3 ounces. And it flies by far the lightest of all of them. Go figure. I think its the flaps. Anyway, its certainly going to be a fliable model when its trimmed. I will be very suprised if I elect to compete with it vs the T-Rex with its weight. But its a very credible model.
The model is finished in ultracote black and the fuselage white is ultracote. Both applied with heat methods. The white on the wings is monocote applied with the Windex method. The stripes are 3M auto pinstriping tape in bright orange and bright yellow. The name is monocote bright yellow applied with the Windex method. I'll post current draw numbers once I get them worked out for the correct rpm next weekend.
bob branch
Harsens Island, Michigan
pic by Frank Carlisle
Topic: 2nd electric strega takes flight (Read 764 times)
