Ultrafly Tutor 32E

[Olie]

So I bought a new plane.

Its Ultrafly Tutor 32E "Trainer," Now I have put Trainer in italics because I have my doubts now that its together. But more on that later.

For starters here are some specs:

Wingspan: 1450mm (56.7")
Length: 1160mm (45.7")
Wing Area: 44g/dm2 (14.4 oz/sq ft)
All up weight 1470g (52oz)

Power System
Ultrafly F/18/10 1000kV 28A Brushless
Ultrafly Athena 28A ESC

Non Factory Items:
Spektrum AR7000 Reciever
Flightpower 1800maH 3S

So for starters It is fairly well presented when you remove the cover off the box. The striking yellow and black colour scheme certainly looks great. All parts were accounted for... except 2x motor mount supports. These were easily created by cutting some cubed balsa on a 45 degree angle.

Now I'll start here by quoting the instructions "Ready to fly in just 30mins."
Construction was, well difficult. It was well constructed, but there were a number of parts that just didnt fit correctly. For starters the landing wheels required an extra 0.5mm to be drilled out to fit on the supports. and the lock nuts (doughnut with a 3x3 grub screw) were filled with burrs which needed ceaning out before they would fit.

Mounting the motor was a nightmare, it was such a tight fit that lining it up with the provided holes proved to be quite a challenge of dexterity and patience.

The end result looks great, there is plenty of room inside for my radio gear, which is excellent due to the dual reciever setup of the AR7000. The battery compartment is huge, which would acomodate a massive LiPo, my 1800 only takes up about 50% of the space provided.

Now back to the "trainer" side of it.
This thing packs some serious power, I'm using the small "Slow flying" prop at the moment, but boy does this thing have some punch. I was having trouble holding it back at full throttle (refer to video) its now got a nice exponential curve to smooth out the power delivery.

All in all it took me about 2hrs 50mins to construct, and the glue is no where near dried yet.

I'll update this later with flying/decent pictures.

For now here is a test video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/XORfV5VcD1E
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited ]</span>

[stone]

!super
that was quick ! Dont be to worried about it haven big gobs of power,you'll most likley find that it will fly on about half throttel quit nice.Just remember the faster you fly it the faster your mistakes take effect.
;)

[SuperRoo]

WOW!!! That looks more like a sports trainer with that amount of grunt.

So theres enough room for a camera in there??? :)

[Olie]

Yeah, plenty, need a bigger LiPo though. 28A of draw is going to tkae its toll on a 1800mAh.

its too windy/over cast to take it out today for photos and some flying :(

[Olie]

Now for a few photos, I took them quickly while the sun sort of came out

Zippo fluid is there for size comparison.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/IMG_0934.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/IMG_0935.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/IMG_0936.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/IMG_0937.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/IMG_0938.jpg

and a quick video of me testing the landing gear.
http://www.youtube.com/v/x_JeGEOi9S4

<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Fri Aug 17 2007, 10:45AM ]</span>

[remotebandit]

Thats a beautifull plane olie , i soooo much love the built up wood planes way over the foamies .

I think this is the perfect introduction model for a beginner .

Im not interested in getting one but very curious on the kit price and whats included .

[Olie]

Its priced at $235.

This includes:
The plane
Brushless motor
matching esc
All servos pre-mounted.

it needs:
radio gear
LiPo
Glue (CA and 30min epoxy)

[remotebandit]

Includes servos ? and premounted ... wow . After looking at your video i thought they were actually some good quality servos as they were very quick and responsive .

Excellent price .

[Olie]

Yeah, got some serious torque behind them too!
No need for the monster Spektrum ones i have.

[stone]

Love the Super Decathalon colour sceem. Are you going to use ailerons strait up or leave that fon ron?

[Olie]

for the moment I'll go with out until I get a feel for it, then i'll activate them. They are on but reduced almost entirely.

[stone]

Cool,good luck with the Maiden flight.
Maidens are funny,your normally excited,anxious,and stressed all at the same time.
LoL,you'll be right mate.
If ya start to feel a bit intimadated by the size and power of it,do a bit of taxi'ing around and get yoused to the "feel" of it,then do some practice take off's,like line up on the runway into the wind,start increasing the throttel as she moves along till just be for you think its got sufficiant air speed,then cut the gas and taxi back.Do it a few times and youll find the nerves have subsided and it'll alow you to concentrate better on the job at hand.
I still get the nerves with each maiden and this help take the edge off it.

remember to check the CG befor you fly,do a range check with the arial down,make sure ALL control surfaces move in the corect direction,if you have any ailiron on at all, to turn right the right ailiron should go UP.

[SuperRoo]

Do a range check with the arial down

Funny you should mention the range check. The Spektrum DX6 & 7 both have a range check button on the back you push that reduces the power.


1. With the model resting on the ground,
stand 30 paces (approx. 90 feet) away
from the model.
2. Face the model with the transmitter
in your normal flying position and
depress and hold the bind button
on the back of the transmitter. This
causes reduced power output from the
transmitter.
3. You should have total control of the
model with the button depressed at 30
paces (90 feet).
4. If control issues exist, call the
Spektrum Service Center at
1-877-504-0233 for further assistance.

With a EP Plane you should probably check this with the motor disconnected too :O
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Sat Aug 18 2007, 03:58PM ]</span>

[Olie]

Well all i can say is that i'm gutted.

Took her out this afternoon, got her in the air. had a few steering issues, and way too much elevator.

So i brought her down a bit roughly and it survived the E-landing fairly well.

now the mr expert who was there pointed out tht there was way too much elevator and helped me re-attach the engine mount that had come loose.

anyway he kept saying "less elevator" until i was down to about 30%

took off, just got her into the air, pulled back to get a bit more height and it sort of started to raise, but it was moving foward a hell of a lot faster than it was going up. It was at this point i reached for what I thought was the dual rate switch for the elevator. Was rudder I found out later.
with the trees comming in close and fast, I dropped the throttle to bring her down. this lack of power and the lack of elevator made for a bad combo. because It had gathered so much straight line speed and it wasnt heigh enough to wash any off...
well the plane is totaled. completely totalled.
the motor is about 4" further back than it should be. wings are f*cked, my lipo is messed up. the radio gear survived.

Now "mr expert" then decided it was time to hammer me about insurance and joining a club etc.

Well I had a good go at him for screwing with my settings, It was flying fairly well before he adjusted it.

totally 100% gutted.

pictures later . CBF pulling it out of my car.

[stone]

Oh what a barstard,Ive been there before.Except Ive got short fuse and the expert soon gets told to **** off.Probly some old prick thats never flowen rc befor,thrying to set you up for free flight by the sounds of it.

[SuperRoo]

I dont no what to say. Thats really f&*!ed up.

As Stoney said these people seem to come from no where and their always professionals and no more than you. I think the worst thing you can ever do is listen to them as that always takes you out of your comfort zone. If it ever happens again just pack up and go home.

I'm glad your radio survived and I hope you can salvage more off it.

[Olie]

He was a member of a club. So I know which one NOT to go to.

I'm going to head down and see if they have a "spares" model that I can grab a few parts off of.
motor and prop adaptor are all ok.

[stone]

Hey I dont know how buggered it is but balsa and ply planes can be fixed quite easly,even if the whole fuse is rooted it doesn't take much to build a new one,just add most of the parts.Like servo blocks,push rods,formers,tail surfaces. and a snaped wing can be even easyer,as long as it only a rib or three plus the spars n stringers.Chuck a pic up bro,with it all spread out.

[Olie]

Update:

well I finally decided to sort through the wreckage and see what is salvagable.

motor:
dead. grinds, screeches and makes all kinds of other horrid noises, also has masses of friction.
fuse:
possibly salvagable. made a few joins and started to re-build the front end. Once it has set I'll look into how/if i can get a motor onto it.
wings:
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/DSC00271.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/DSC00270.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o235/Olie1584/DSC00269.jpg

Lipo:
IT SURVIVED!

bit of heat shrink over the damaged cable and its fine, my super dooper ballencer/monitor reports equal charge/health over all cells.


<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Wed Aug 22 2007, 08:07PM ]</span>

[stone]

Mate just bin the motor,but keep the speedy.
Brushless motor/speedy's are pretty cheep these days,lighter,smaller,more powerfull,more eficiant,and have heaps less electrical "noise" that can cause glitching servos and loss of range.

The wings I recon need the leading edge skin removed a rib and a half away from the damage,(the thin 1.5 mm balsa that goes from the spare on the top of the wing over the LE and back to the bottom spar)then glue the ribs back together,and the spars if they not to bad but if they gone cut them at an angle to "splice" the new bit on,same with the LE and TE if need be.then make a a slot behind the broken ply wing joiner and make sure it fits,then re-skin the leading edge,flush yor wing root ribs ang glue the halfs back to gether.

Good luck bro.

[Olie]

So a bit of an update.
been faily busy with work, but this is what I have done so far:

Rebuilt the internal structure with ply.
Constructed, reconstructed and then reconstructed again the motor mount/front of the plane.
repaired landing gear
replaced a stripped servo
bought one of these Here
Started the re-working of the wings.

Now through out all of this my little cub which was destroyed has come back to life and now sports:

One of these: Frio 10
A new motor mount to bring the CG waaaaay foward due to the light weight brushless.
A second set of wings almost sporting Airlons, just needs some finishing touches.

Should have the cub in the air in about 15mins from now.

<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Mon Sep 03 2007, 01:16PM ]</span>

[stone]

Hang on man woo up,a lighter motor will make the CG further back maken it twitchy at best,if to far back it could be unflyable.

[Olie]

yeah was still too far back.

a bit more weight up front will help.

[Olie]

Today Marks a Huge Event.

The Tutor is Complete!

After a massive 2 weeks of on and off building she be flight worthy.
Everything is lined up, trimmed and working fine.
Performed some tests with the new motor/prop combo and recieved 1.5kg of thrust at full throttle. ESC and Lipo are holding it back a bit.

anyway here are some pics etc.


342_mvi_0944.mp4

[Olie]

as you can see the new motor sits further foward than the old one, so getting the cowl on was a !yikes



e107_files/public/342_img_0943.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 342_img_0943.jpg ]</span>

[Olie]

oh and that tape ISN'T structural, its to cover the balsa "potholes" where i glued under to give it a bit of added support. the bits on the leading edge are to make it bit smoother since my wood working skills arent the greatest.

e107_files/public/342_img_0942.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 342_img_0942.jpg ]</span>

[stone]

sweet as man,dont worry bout the motor hangin out the front,my PC-9 is the same coz I put a bigger motor in without moven the fire wall back,who cares,at least the motor shouldnt over heat.Myn does'nt.

[Olie]

ESC is the worry, its a bit lacking, only 28A where as the motor will draw 35A. So I slapped a small fan on it to keep her cool.

[stone]

dont let the magic blue smoke out of the speedy!! you'll never get it back in ! :D !whistle

[Olie]

Ok, I have learned of why my crash happened in the first place.
While attempting to fly today, another guy came out with one. He first asked "are you using the standard esc?" with which I repied "yes."
Apparently the standrs esc cant supply enough voltage to your reciever, so basically you lose reciever, you lose motor and it dropps from the sky.

So I ran down to model flight and they swapped my esc for a dualsky jobbie.

Anyway, the reason its not in the air is that while testing I throttled to about 15% to test prop direction, It was wrong so I throttled off, reached for the cowl slipped and lost my finger nail.

mmm soo much blood.

So now i'm inside resting my wound.

[stone]

LoL you poor bugger,it never tickles.And the worst part with electrics just one bump on the sticks can have a nasty unexpected suprise.

[Olie]

luckily it was spinning down from only 15% could have lost my finger if it was spinning down from 100%

[SuperRoo]

!picsorban LoL!!!

Thats gotta hurt

[Olie]

Yeah, it hurt, and its still hurting... lots
should have taken some pics just after it hapened, there was a good pool of blood where I got hit. theres also a nice pool of blood inside the plane where i was trying to disconnect the Lipo so i could go inside and treat it.

so pics:

here are 2 showing the cut and rather large crack through my nail.

e107_files/public/342_finger.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 342_finger.jpg ]</span>

[SuperRoo]

HAHAHA!!!

I wasnt serious and glad your ok :)

[Olie]

atleast I know that there is plenty of mechanical weight on that out runner. She could take a nice big prop no worries.

on a more serious note, would have hated to have seen it hit me with the 15% throttle. or worse 100%

[Coonak]

I accidentally lunged out and grabbed my AirfoilZ Yak after it tried to launch off the back off my ute full noise last boxing day.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/Mik_450/Z-Yak.jpg
It bit me pretty hard!
Hacker A20-20L Full noice with a nice new sharp APC 10x4.7 prop.
Took this pic after doctor cleaned it out, !ill
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/Mik_450/3_image002.jpg
About 4 days later,
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/Mik_450/4_image003.jpg
And it got my finger too!
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/Mik_450/5_image004.jpg
So umm........ yeah, be careful if you drop your controller face down and throttle goes to 100%. !whistle
Cheers
Mick

[stone]

Hahahahqa,hohohoh,Sorry guys it just brings back so many vivid memorys,I gotta say Ive never had a bad run in with electric like you guys,only with nitro motors.But far out thats changed my attitude towards electric and how they are just as,if not more dangerous than nitro.

[highflyer]

Olie, just wondering how that finger is healing? I am new to this forum, and as you wil inevitably find out I am new to this sport. I have purchased an ultrafly tutor, and crashed it on the first flight....although I don't think that I was experiencing anything more than my own inexperiance. I had it up then caught a good gust was blown at high speed into the neighboring sub-division (almost 1/2 a km from my intended flying field, and wrapped the right wing around a tv tower. ruining the esc and motor in the process. So I replaced the parts and am ready to go again, sort of. This time I am a little more cautious. I agree with you, I need a trainer for the trainer, so I put together a Cessna 182 from the same manufacturer. And I wait. November in Canada often is too windy to fly.Have you been able to get the tutor in the air? I have gone the distance and replaced the esc to a 35amp job, as well as purchased a 3300 3s 20c lipo. let me know how it goes, I am interested to find out if she really flies like a trainer.....Cheers