Flash EPP foam control line ARF

[Brent Williams]

Saw this EPP foam control line ARF is about be up on the market.  Looks like fun!

https://twistedhobbys.com/th-39-epp-flash-cl-control-line/

[Steve Berry]

Now that looks promising! Should be great for getting beginners into our hobby, although I'm thinking for the price, it should perhaps come with everything needed, excepting perhaps the battery.

Steve

edit: After checking it out a bit more, and adding everything needed to put it together and fly, the total price is about $302, +shipping, which is actually quite reasonable once I thought about it.

[Dennis Adamisin]

Looks quite viable.  probably could be flown indoors too.  I see a one-design event in our future!

[Steve Berry]

Looks quite viable.  probably could be flown indoors too.  I see a one-design event in our future!

I was thinking the same thing....then started thinking how can this thing be hot-rodded with a little more power & flight time. Is it possible to cut out extra weight, shave off a few ounces, and extract every ounce of performance from it? I can definitely see this as a one-design event.

Steve

[realSteveSmith]

This airplane was a topic of discussion during the Stunthanger 'hangout/afterparty' last week.  Now that the airplane has been out for a bit, and there have been some videos and reviews posted, I thought it might be worth revisiting. 

The fact of the matter is that the power system that has been spec'd by RC Factory/Twisted Hobbies seems a bit down on power and flight duration.  I don't think that the RC folks who designed this really had the full pattern in mind when they picked the motor/prop and especially the battery.

Denny Adamisin and Mike Londke put their heads together to pick a power combo more likely to propel the model through a full pattern.  Mike ordered an air frame and at some point (I'm guessing in the near future) he's going to build/fly one of these.  This time, the airplane WILL have enough power, I'm told.  I'm excited to see how this turns out.

[Steve Berry]

No kidding. It could be just the ticket for a lazy day of flying with not a lot of time or money invested. Just a fun fly plane that can happen to turn in a decent pattern.

Steve

[Motorman]

Now when some kid asks "where can I buy one of those" I'll have an answer for him.

[mike londke]

Saw this EPP foam control line ARF is about be up on the market.  Looks like fun!

https://twistedhobbys.com/th-39-epp-flash-cl-control-line/

After talking to Dennis and Steve in the after party Friday night, I ordered one. It will be here today. A friend has one and it seems to be slightly underpowered so Dennis is sending what we think will be a better set up for it. I'll get it together and do some flights after King Orange this weekend. Stand by...

[Walter Hicks]

I saw this plane fly in person today. Very Impressive. The person was trying C/L again after a long time of flying RC and is very happy with this set up.

He said with everything battery etc it cost him about $300. I think this is a very good one to get new people into CL as it flies slowly and very

stunt able.

[Doug Moon]

I think this would be really cool

[Dennis Toth]

Who needs no stinking airfoil, Ha!

Any idea what the total weight, wing area and line length they are using?

Best,   DennisT

[dave siegler]

you know you can build one from scratch for very little money

we do this all the time, we have less than $10 in the airframe and less than $50 in the electronics.
Use a cheap RC transmitter for the throttle/timer. 

and if the wing is wrong, just get another sheet of foam board and cut it out. 

The flat wing is OK if you do not fly very fast.   

[Dennis Toth]

Flat wingers actually fly reasonably well if the wing is built strong. In the UK and OZ they built flat wingers and there were a few that were quite competitive. Simple, quick build and easy to finish with film. Also easy to do in electric.

Best,   DennisT

[realSteveSmith]

you know you can build one from scratch for very little money

we do this all the time, we have less than $10 in the airframe and less than $50 in the electronics.
Use a cheap RC transmitter for the throttle/timer. 

and if the wing is wrong, just get another sheet of foam board and cut it out. 

The flat wing is OK if you do not fly very fast.

Do you have any pics/video of these models?  Do they fly the full pattern?

[Colin McRae]

Do you have any pics/video of these models?  Do they fly the full pattern?

There is a video higher up in this post.

[realSteveSmith]

There is a video higher up in this post.

I wasn't looking for pics/videos of the flash....I was asking if Dave Siegler had pics/videos of the models he said he was building.

[Paul Taylor]

I think Chris Sterner and Dave designed and build these for KidVenture at EAA Oshkosh.

I have seen pictures and video of it flying. It can even hover a little. Chris flew one indoors as some event.

[Harleyman]

Here is a link:


This is my Hellcat design, initially inspired by Igor Burger's GeeBee foamy.  It's on revision three with increased wing area and tweaked nose and tail moments.  Built with only 2 sheets of Dollar Store foam board.  The handle is made from an inexpensive Flysky RC car remote for the trigger throttle.  It has a $16.50 drone motor, a 12amp ESC and has plenty of power with a little 850mah 3s battery.
It's crazy cheap and a real hoot to fly.  Capable of the entire pattern.  You can do overheads so slow, it feels un-natural.  Makes you feel like you should run backwards, but there's no need.

[dave siegler]

Do you have any pics/video of these models?  Do they fly the full pattern?

this on is quite good

[realSteveSmith]

...This is my Hellcat design, initially inspired by Igor Burger's GeeBee foamy.  It's on revision three with increased wing area and tweaked nose and tail moments.  Built with only 2 sheets of Dollar Store foam board.  The handle is made from an inexpensive Flysky RC car remote for the trigger throttle.  It has a $16.50 drone motor, a 12amp ESC and has plenty of power with a little 850mah 3s battery.
It's crazy cheap and a real hoot to fly.  Capable of the entire pattern.  You can do overheads so slow, it feels un-natural.  Makes you feel like you should run backwards, but there's no need...

...this one is quite good...

Chris/Dave

These airplanes look like awesome fun....especially in an indoor setting.  I've seen videos of Igor flying his GeeBee, and now after seeing your videos, I very much wish there was a local indoor spot for Winter time fun.  I've had a chance to do some indoor RC flying in the past and it was always a blast...I imagine indoor stunt would be good fun too. 

That being said, I think this Flash model might be a bit of a different animal.  First, it's made of EPP which is a bit more bounce-a-ble than the depron or dollar tree foam board that works so well for super-light, indoor models like yours and Igor's.  Also, I think that Mike Londke and Denny Adamisin are tying to come up with a power package that would let this model fly on some longer lines in an outdoor setting...perhaps even in a bit of wind. 

Have either of you guys tried flying your foamie stunters outside?

[dave siegler]

Chris/Dave

These airplanes look like awesome fun....especially in an indoor setting.  I've seen videos of Igor flying his GeeBee, and now after seeing your videos, I very much wish there was a local indoor spot for Winter time fun.  I've had a chance to do some indoor RC flying in the past and it was always a blast...I imagine indoor stunt would be good fun too. 

That being said, I think this Flash model might be a bit of a different animal.  First, it's made of EPP which is a bit more bounce-a-ble than the depron or dollar tree foam board that works so well for super-light, indoor models like yours and Igor's.  Also, I think that Mike Londke and Denny Adamisin are tying to come up with a power package that would let this model fly on some longer lines in an outdoor setting...perhaps even in a bit of wind. 

Have either of you guys tried flying your foamie stunters outside?

Outside.  is fine, don't build for ultimate lightens, use a little faster motor.  and its fine

[fcontrol]

Hi there,

I'm new to control line and picked up one of these Flash kits which I have built with a 1400kv motor and a 9x6 sf prop to pair with. I did not get much time in the air with it on the maiden weekend with the motor failing about a minute into the maiden.

What I did notice was that the inboard wing was twisting in flight and washing out causing it to roll into the circle some, at least that's what I believe is the cause for it.

I was wondering if anyone else has had the same results? I built the plane according to the manual except for the use of foamtac as my adhesive instead of CA.

If it helps at all the winds were about 10 mph this past week and my CG was balanced a touch nose heavy for the maiden,

Any advise and inputs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Fred

[realSteveSmith]

Hi there,

I'm new to control line and picked up one of these Flash kits which I have built with a 1400kv motor and a 9x6 sf prop to pair with. I did not get much time in the air with it on the maiden weekend with the motor failing about a minute into the maiden.

What I did notice was that the inboard wing was twisting in flight and washing out causing it to roll into the circle some, at least that's what I believe is the cause for it.

I was wondering if anyone else has had the same results? I built the plane according to the manual except for the use of foamtac as my adhesive instead of CA.

If it helps at all the winds were about 10 mph this past week and my CG was balanced a touch nose heavy for the maiden,

Any advise and inputs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Fred

Hi Fred,

I don't think there's been much attention given to this airplane by the 'serious' stunt community.  I do know of one airplane that's been built by an expert level flyer but he's yet to maiden it.  I've been waiting on this project to get some good feedback on how the model really flies.

I do have quite a bit of experience with these EPP models for RC aerobatics.  Like you, I prefer Beacon Foam-Tac on EPP instead of CA glue.  Typically the RC versions fly somewhat slowly and wing twist has never been a problem that I faced.  That being said, if I wanted to add some torsional rigidity, I would use some 1" wide strapping tape applied to the wing panels in a 'X' pattern.  I.E.  from the root LE to the tip TE, and vice versa.  I would do this on both sides of each wing panel. 

I've seen some videos and discussions from people who have flown the model (RC Groups, FB, etc).  Other than the stock power system being a bit under-powered, I don't recall any other complaints (wing twist, etc).

Not sure if any of this helps...let us know how things go as you work with this model.

-rSS

[Paul Taylor]

I saw this when first posted. My guess is you would want to fly it in a gym or on a dead calm day. Less than 5mph wind. 10mph is windy and not ideal for beginners.

If you want to fly CL I would suggest a ARF like the Brodak Super Clown. That is about the only ARF available.
If your serious about flying better planes you will eventually
Have to build them out of balsa.

My suggestion to anyone wanting to learn is build three TEOSAWKI’s, try and find someone to fly with. Then fly, crash, pickup plane #2, fly, crash, pickup plane #3. Repair and repeat.

As Joe Gilbert said one time “Stunt is hard!”
Don’t be a quitter- and have fun.