Thx Gawain! Did he even laminate that wing? I am leaning more towards the Glad. I won't be building that light. Big bats and FPV gear, probably going the Mobius route for recorded video, the GP are just too big, like flying with the barn door open up front.
His build is lightness taken to extreme. It doesn't look like it's laminated. Mine's about 2kg which I think is pretty typical for an FPV/LRS build and two 4000mah Lipos. I'll fly it with GoPro or Mobius, depending... I add a little weight to the front with the Mobius to keep the CG in the same place. I'm really happy with this wing. It's big, but that also means nice stable footage which is what I was after. Already thinking about building another!
My Deep Reaper/Gladiator has 2x4000mah batteries, APM etc (no GoPro) and flies for about 45 minutes. It is a big wing but very forgiving and easy to launch. Most of the other wings out there may be more efficient and fly faster but the CTH wings are high lift and very easy to launch. A different approach to most but one that I much prefer.
Last edited by Siv; 23rd February 2015 at 12:38 PM.
Wow, 4x4000!? Curious how you have them arranged for CG as I see this as one of my biggest challenges -to allow some flexibility in battery flight options- and still maintain proper CG.
Sorry - a typo! I have corrected my post. It is 2x4000 - 4x4000 would be awesome! Actually I did have 3x4000mah in my Z2 but that didn't last long!Originally Posted by PenetraLeTenebre
To get proper CG, I deviate from Lee's building instructions. I build the plane without cutting the battery bays until the plane is finished. I cut the battery bays last after balancing the plane with the batteries taped to the top. Then I get a perfectly balanced plane without needing to add lead.
Last edited by Siv; 23rd February 2015 at 12:44 PM.
I did the same. Balances perfectly with 2x4400 3S.
It makes a great gov plane. Very stable, yet agile enough to have fun near the ground or tee tops.
The NTM Prop Drive 35-36 1800kv in my Gladiator XL died yesterday. (video below) It quit while I was flying at about 1/2 throttle. Fortunately I was flying close and was able to glide it in safely. The motor was too hot to touch, and the 100 amp ESC was hot, but not dangerously so. The bearing feels quite stiff now.
I've ordered a Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 1400kv as a replacement. Some questions...
Can I fix it? Is it worth fixing? How will the SK3 work as a replacement, and are there better choices? I often fly a couple of miles out with this plane so reliability is important.
The NTM 35-36 1800 is way more powerful. 875w vs 590w on 4s. Even if the numbers aren't exact there's still a huge gap.
True. Unfortunately the NTM was out of stock at both US HobbyKing warehouses. I can launch with the NTM at a little over 1/2 throttle, so I'm hoping it'll still be adequate and give me longer flight times in the trade off.
What other motors make a good match for the Gladiator XL? Or, more to the point... Motors (Sunnysky?) that have similar power to the NTM 1800kv but hopefully better reliability... I've looked around a bit and there don't seem to be a lot of motors with similar specs.
Last edited by GawainReif; 13th April 2015 at 08:25 PM.
Go for a cobra. It`s double the price, but with better cooling and significantly better efficiency which translates to longer flight times, but also less heat to evacuate.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote