Announced for some time "refreshed" version of well known Multiplex model finally became available in Poland and since I like my Mk.I very much and my brother made me choose my Christmas gift so Easy Star Mk.II will be successor to my worn out "Izzi".
According to info provided by producer main improvements over earlier version are:
-ailerons
-motor mount for brushless setup plus folding prop
-removable horizontal stabilizer
Only those? Let's see what's in the box:
At first glance the box is almost identical with Mk.I one. Inside (KIT version) we find fuselage, wings, horizontal stab and all necessary small parts packed in plastic bags plus set of decals. All ELAPOR parts are protected by bubble foil .
As usual Multiplex vacuum cast ELAPOR parts are top quality and fit each other perfectly.
Fuselage - here can be found much more improvements than "official" ones. Cylindrical, flimsy piece of foam that served as motor mount in Mk.I was replaced by large socket for plastic pod-like motor housing.
Tail part was redesigned to accommodate horizontal stabilizer locking mechanism.
Unfortunately Multiplex engineers didn't think this through too well. First - to insert stab one must pull bottom part of the fuselage. After several repetitions of install/remove procedure bottom part might become loose creating necessity to add some modifications. Second - Mpx provided only barrel like push-rod connectors which require proper setting of elevator position each time stabilizer is installed. If only they got some snap like connectors...
Internal fuselage space was enlarged up to motor mount.
Other innovations include grooves inside fuselage bottom forming channel for aerial of 35MHz systems (instead of usual slits on the edges of fuselage halves) and similar grooves in nose part of fuse for some reinforcing rods.
Tail section of the fuse has noticeably more foam comparing to Mk.I version.
Elevator and rudder servos are mounted deeper inside hull and are covered by special foam parts which improve model's aerodynamics. Some plastic frames for servo mounting are also provided.
Accessories include special holders for servo extension leads or Y-cable to make aileron servo connecting a little bit easier.
Vertical stabilizer and rudder are noticeably larger than in earlier version.
Whole fuselage is longer.
Canopy and cargo space opening are longer but internal fuse dimension is slightly reduced.
Horizontal stabilizer is almost unchanged except central section which was redesigned for locking mechanism.
Motor tower - Mpx finally stopped making user to stitch ESC deep inside plane's hull and provided spacious motor mount with removable lid which allow easy access to drive components.
Foldable prop is a very nice addition to whole setup.
Wings profile remain almost unchanged. Only exception is servo hole and aileron.
Also wing joining was changed a bit and reinforcing tube bottom cover has different shape. Reinforcing tube is the same as in Mk.I so I'm going to replace it with longer carbon tube I was using in my old EZ.
As you can see Mk.II has many changes. Whether they are real improvements or not - remains to be seen.
Build log will follow as soon as I got some free time....
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Originally Posted by arch001
