New FMS/Eflite Su-30 coming soon

[radfordc]

Perhaps wind direction and velocity had an influence on this spin behavior...

It was a nearly calm day...wind 0-2 mph. Using full up elevator and full rudder during a normal stall, the plane won't enter a spin, nor can I get it to snap roll. I was just surprised to see it do an actual spin, even if it was just one turn and then recovered by itself.

[Gvasiloff]

Anyone know the size diameter of the main landing gear retract pins? Not the rotation pins, but the actual shaft that goes into the retract mechanism. I'm trying to upgrade the retracts on my Freewing F-14 and move to the all metal 25-46 e-flite 90 degree retracts since they are a drop-in fit. The only problem is the freewing F-14 gear use a 5.1mm shaft and the e-flite retracts are a 4mm. I know I could drill it out, but I don't want to risk messing up $150 retracts. I'd rather use the Su-30 main struts too if they are long enough.

[jasmith41]

Anyone know the size diameter of the main landing gear retract pins? Not the rotation pins, but the actual shaft that goes into the retract mechanism. I'm trying to upgrade the retracts on my Freewing F-14 and move to the all metal 25-46 e-flite 90 degree retracts since they are a drop-in fit. The only problem is the freewing F-14 gear use a 5.1mm shaft and the e-flite retracts are a 4mm. I know I could drill it out, but I don't want to risk messing up $150 retracts. I'd rather use the Su-30 main struts too if they are long enough.

the eflite a10 64mm has a 4.5mm pin, i'm pretty sure because i've had to fab new temps while they were out of stock on the replacements. now i have lots of them...

[Cchrissyv1]

Hello all!

Getting ready for the flying season and one of my planes I plan on doing a maiden is the SU-30. I have been watching a few of the more popular YouTube pilots fly this plane to get a feel for how they land this one. It almost looks and sounds like they come in pretty slow with no power...how has everyone's experience been with landing this plane? I figured with how big it is you need to land with some power.

[nuts-n-volts]

You don't ever want to totally come off power. And that goes for pretty much every jet. It's your typical nose high approach with flaps down and at least 1/4 to 1/3 power if not more. It will always vary a bit depending on your set-up, the plane's attitude, and weather/field conditions. If you have the speed brake out you'll need even more power as it is effective. Use your throttle to control altitude once you are on the final descent with your attitude locked in.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hello all!

Getting ready for the flying season and one of my planes I plan on doing a maiden is the SU-30. I have been watching a few of the more popular YouTube pilots fly this plane to get a feel for how they land this one. It almost looks and sounds like they come in pretty slow with no power...how has everyone's experience been with landing this plane? I figured with how big it is you need to land with some power.

Agree with nuts-n-volts . Couple of thoughts, for what it may/may not be worth. Assume you have everything stock. The E-Flight fans result in a very underpowered bird, therefore it helps to program in flaperons, however the stock 6 channel RX will not let you do that unless you disconnect the speed brake. I installed the 8 channel AS3X RX and upgraded the fans to FMS and it flies great now. If you fly off grass, flaperons really help so you'll have to make that choice. I also changed the nose wheel from 1 7/8 to a ProLite 2 1/4, giving it better role on grass and a higher AOA.

Additionally, you'll want to balance it at the aft end of the recommended CG, if I remember that's 150mm. I had to add almost 3 ounces to the tail, but using an SMC 6200. This helps take off and landing, not to mention that it flies better there. It's a bit sluggush so you also may want to use book high rates, and even more on ailerons. Tailerons is also a great idea.

Since the stock is underpowered and this is a heavy bird for 1 battery, it's a power hog so with a 6000 mah, be careful not to go much over 3 minutes on the maiden, try landing at 2:30 so you have enough juice for a go around. Mine didn't have the flight pack voltage cable, but yours may. If not, definitely hook it up and set alarms at or above 21.7 volts (higher at first till you're comfortable landing this bird).

On landing, as stated, keep on the throttle, it will not glide well with throttle chopped and will drop like a rock, especially with the speed brake (but looks cool). I come in, with the speed brake, at about 42 % throttle with a slight nose up attitude, then drop to 25 % when a foot off the deck, get the nose up a little more causing it to slow further, let it sink more at 18% throttle and actually increase throttle seconds before the mains touch, then cut throttle. A three pointer isn't bad, but if that nose wheel touches first at speed, it will bounce and the result won't be pretty. One of the many reasons you don't want to balance it nose heavy.

One last thought, even though the RX comes preinstalled, absolutely range check it first and after the maiden, check for the number of frame losses and holds. Frame losses of 120 or less in 3 minutes with no holds is good. I battled with mine at first getting some 300-400 frame losses and an occasional hold (oh crap), till I changed RX'S to the new 8 channel (mine came with AR636, yours hopefully has the AR637T), added a satellite remote to the nose and added additional RF chokes. Stock antennas are surrounded by a lot of interference.

It does have a presence in the air and one day soon I'm eventually going to remove the speed brake and use it for a 2nd battery bay, as some have done. It seems that you just get up, make sure trims are good, do a few maneuvers and the low battery alarm is singing. 😤

Attached is an older video before I upgraded the fans and tried an HRB 6000 and a Hobbystar 8000. Climb was labored on the HRB and nonexistent on the Hobbystar. With the new FMS fans and a SMC 6200, it's now a blast to fly. All it needs now is more flight time. 🤣

[jasmith41]

Hello all!

Getting ready for the flying season and one of my planes I plan on doing a maiden is the SU-30. I have been watching a few of the more popular YouTube pilots fly this plane to get a feel for how they land this one. It almost looks and sounds like they come in pretty slow with no power...how has everyone's experience been with landing this plane? I figured with how big it is you need to land with some power.

she'll come down real fast with no power if you do that... Listen to Hugh and Nuts & Volts above and treat it as gospel. I've still yet to muster the beans to maiden mine up, but i have enough other bad experience to be able to confidently say that your definitely want to power these birds down, especially if your cg is the least bit off...

[jasmith41]

Hugh Wiedman where can i find that nose wheel replacement? and what is the shaft diameter i'm looking for... 3mm, 3.1mm...? MRC has a Yak 130 nose wheel that's 2.25", but they're out of stock... new motors should come tomorrow or monday for the SU. i'm going to do all these mods before i fly it - ordered the SMCs on your recommendation as well. After the Viper incident, i'm taking the gloves off...🤣 got another 637t and 4 remotes in the mail yesterday. i may switch the SU's out for an 8 channel as suggested for flaperon set-up... more on this later...

[nuts-n-volts]

Yeah, Hugh added valuable information there. Good write up H. I forgot to mention that I set my wing up as flaps only and did tailerons in the back. You could add flaperons for a little more roll authority, however, I find that it works fine with just the tailerons. CG way back. 6s6200 for better flight time. Another gent on here even added a second battery in the SB bay for better power/flight time. But then you have 2 batteries and all that extra weight. It's a choice, nonetheless. I find this a/c is great looking in the air and will perform mild aerobatics. Cool, scale TOs and landings, pretty stable, but not much more. I do still like it.

[xviper]

Regarding the power on landing approaches, being this is a fairly heavy plane, it carries a lot of inertia and if you are landing on a smooth runway that is relatively short, it almost always (for me anyways) runs off the end of the strip and over the big lip onto the grass. If the speed is too great, retracts can snap. I've been lucky so far in that the speeds have reduced enough that the run up onto the grass has been "mild" and on rare occasions, I've touched down close enough to the beginning of the runway that it will slow down enough to turn it before the end. In the early days of flying this plane, reverse thrust would have been so handy.
When I upgraded the EDFs, I should have also upgraded the ESCs to reversing ones. Today's AR637T can easily do thrust reverse. The higher channel "smart" RXs could do it AND stabilized flaperons at the same time.

[jasmith41]

nuts-n-volts

can you do tailerons with the stock 6 ch rx...? If so, what's the method / set-up...?

[xviper]

The "stock" RX is an AR636 and is probably locked. It is possible to unlock it by "updating" it via a cable and PC program. A friend just did it for me on an old 636. Although it is now unlocked and can be programmed like a new RX, it won't accept "forward programming" and must be done via a smart phone APP and bluetooth dongle. I believe you can achieve tailerons but not with flaperons at the same time as this would require more channels than it has. As Hugh said, the speed brake can't be used as that channel needs to be freed up.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh Wiedman where can i find that nose wheel replacement? and what is the shaft diameter i'm looking for... 3mm, 3.1mm...? MRC has a Yak 130 nose wheel that's 2.25", but they're out of stock... new motors should come tomorrow or monday for the SU. i'm going to do all these mods before i fly it - ordered the SMCs on your recommendation as well. After the Viper incident, i'm taking the gloves off...🤣 got another 637t and 4 remotes in the mail yesterday. i may switch the SU's out for an 8 channel as suggested for flaperon set-up... more on this later...

I would definitely switch out the RX (especially if yours came with the old AR636) to the AR8360T AS3X and absolutely connect the included flight pack battery voltage cable, IMO, a must have for this power hungry beast! Then you'll be able to set up flaperons or tailerons or whatever "blows your skirt up" while still using the air brake (unless you go to 2 batteries, which I'm thinking is the ultimate final solution). I would also invest in a satellite remote and stick it up in the very front of the nose. As I said before, I wasn't able to get a decent signal on the original AR636, or even the old 7 channel AS3X I went to until I finally upgraded to the new 8 channel with remote satellite. With the other 2 RX's, it was probably just a matter of time before it appeared on Smithsonian's channel for "Air Disasters".

Regarding the nose wheel, I'm not sure you really need to upgrade it unless you're flying off grass. I had a hell of a time getting it off grass with the original nose wheel, flaperons and the stock E-Flight fans, and in fact on a couple occasions with no head wind it never got off, even after 300 feet!. In fact a HH rep who was at one of our events when it first came out even told me that he would not recommend it for grass, but would this bone head listen to him, absolutely not, had to have one. Took a lot of messing with, but with the larger nose wheel, flaperons and especially the FMS fans, get's off very easily now.

So the wheels I used if you want to give it a go are the Hangar 9 2 1/4" Pro-Lite Wheels (HAN303). I use Pro-Lite's in a number of planes (Spitfire, all my Extreme Flight planes as well as a larger nose wheel for the 90mm F-16) where the Robarts are too wide. Of course, these have been discontinued for some time, but the last time I looked you can still find the 2 1/4" on Ebay. The width is about 17mm and the axel size is 1/8" (approximately 3.175mm). Fit was just right, gear goes in perfectly (no room to spare) and fits in the strut without any modifications. I seem to remember that the axel size was perfect, but may have slightly enlarged it to spin freely, which is no problem since it is plastic and easily enlarged. I also liked the slight increase in AOA with the larger wheel. On grass, the smaller wheel seemed to dig in like a tick and keep the nose glued to the deck with an actual nose down attitude (maybe just an illusion and wishful thinking).

1st photo is stock wheel next to Pro-Lite 2" (which I put on the F-16) and the 2.25" installed on the SU-30
Looking at the photo, I may have enlarged the axel hole, definitely did on the 2" for the F-16
2nd photo 2.25" installed (also used thin nylon bushing to keep it lined up)
3rd photo shows head on view
4th & 5th photo FMS Fans, drop in fit, and the newer RC Geek slimline AB which also reduced some of the thrust lost over the original

[kallend]

The "stock" RX is an AR636 and is probably locked. .

Somewhat surprising that this is still the listed Rx, given that they stopped making them some 2 years ago. The recent BNF offerings have come with AR630, 631 or 637TA,.

EDIT: oh, I see it's a discontinued airplane. That didn't last long.

[xviper]

Somewhat surprising that this is still the listed Rx, given that they stopped making them some 2 years ago. The recent BNF offerings have come with AR630, 631 or 637TA,.

This plane has been discontinued. I don't know when it was last sold but here is the last listing for the BNF ...................... "discontinued" and you can see the listed RX there:
https://www.horizonhobby.com/product.../EFL01050.html
I don't recall there was ever a "V2" of the SU30, where a RX change would have been done in the BNF. A 637T was an "upgrade" option at the time of discontinuation, most likely directed to buyers of PNP versions.

[kallend]

This plane has been discontinued. I don't know when it was last sold but here is the last listing for the BNF ...................... "discontinued" and you can see the listed RX there:
https://www.horizonhobby.com/product.../EFL01050.html
I don't recall there was ever a "V2" of the SU30, where a RX change would have been done in the BNF. A 637T was an "upgrade" option at the time of discontinuation, most likely directed to buyers of PNP versions.

Yes, EFlite planes don't have very long lives. My F-4 was out of production in under 2 years and spares are almost impossible to find.

In contrast, Motion/Freewing models don't get discontinued so quickly. The SU-35 has been around for some 10 years now.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I really hate that about HH, nothing stays for long with them. Seems they market/sell it HARD at first, then as sales taper off, let it die a quick agonizing death. I always have to think twice about getting one of their models as everything I have from them and Hangar 9 is dead and buried. Every single plane I have from MRC is still going strong, which means to me that parts are still available, and the way I fly, there's NEVER enough parts!

[jasmith41]

Anyone want to buy a brand new, never-flown SU-30...? 🤣
I bought it not quite a year ago, so that's why everything in it is obsolete...
PJ50 came today along with 2 new motors for the SU, but as cool as the plane it, it sounds like a total pig (the SU, that is). If i try to fly it without all of these mods, it sounds like it will be a pig totaled...
But seriously, I will sell it if anyone wants one...

Thanks Hugh and Viper for all of your input - i truly appreciate the wisdom and knowledge.

[Hugh Wiedman]

What a shame, several guys here have an SU-30 getting ready to maiden it (and those are just the few we know about) and HH has already said "The Hell with It and those who bought it" and discontinued it. Instead of upgrading it like MRC does with ALL their aircraft as new/improved components come available and continue to support it's many customers for years with parts, HH continues to dump the old original models on the market, with outdated receivers and crappy E-Flight motors that should have never been installed in the first place. The FMS version came from the start with decent motors that HH and E-Flight could have and should have installed from the beginning. Image the Draco and several others are next on the chopping block, so get your parts while you still can. I may never buy another aircraft from HH, although this is the first one I've bought in years anyway, after starting out as a loyal customer many years ago. And I'm tired of hearing from their several "paid reviewers" who rave about every new release as if it's the best invention since the wheel, knowing full well it's usually underpowered and just another "pretty face".

[jasmith41]

Brian Phillips, the rc saylors, rc reviewer, rc geek, etc.... must get the stuff for free for promoting the sh*t out of it...(?)
i almost ordered the MRC twin su... another glass of chardonnay and it would be on it's way... :)