New FMS/Eflite Su-30 coming soon

[Hugh Wiedman]

Bit of a shame horizon tend to cheap out on this stuff at their price point e.g. the new 90mm viper is using the older FMS 36mm inrunner when they have a 40mm inrunner in the portfolio that carries a 20USD premium.

That's quite an ingenious thrust meter!
Regarding HH, that's one of the things that really p...es me off about them. From the beginning, they could have installed a decent set of fans in the SU-30 instead of their "hamster wheel" fans, but to save a few bucks on a $550 EDF they install fans that are barely acceptable, while FMS takes the same airframe and puts "proper" fans in and sells it elsewhere! The HH test flyers obviously could see these fans were at their limit, but they hype it up and let the consumers work out the problems. I have to at least give credit to MRC/FW/FL for upgrading virtually all of their EDF's with more powerful inrunners over the last year or so as their EDF technology advanced instead of leaving them as is or discontinuing them. They also offer those in ARF's that allow the customer to power their aircraft any way they want. I'm not happy about having to personally upgrade 6 of the FW 90mm's I have with the 12 blade inrunner, but I bought them when the outrunners were about the only option, and at least today they come with the 9 blade inrunner standard.

Remember when Alpha asked us about Inrunners vs Outrunners and was it worth it for us to pay a bit more? He asked, we answered, he listened, he did it! With the price of virtually everything spiraling out of control, I think many of us would still grudgingly pay a few bucks more to get it right then labor with a fairly expensive 'toy" that just doesn't make it! And the EDF was available from one of their partners. I'll bet you that HH will discontinue the SU-30 long before they bother to upgrade the fans and admit their error, another hugely annoying practice of theirs!

[xviper]

they hype it up and let the consumers work out the problems

I'll bet you that HH will discontinue the SU-30 long before they bother to upgrade the fans and admit their error, another hugely annoying practice of theirs!

Indeed they do. HH knows exactly how to hype things up to sell product. A perfect example was their latest DRACO release. They, and with the abundant help from all the so called "reviewers" who got free planes, excitement was at a fever pitch as soon as the pre-order date came. It didn't hurt any either that HH and those "reviewers" have a huge following of groupies and fanbois (on that other forum - if they say swamp water tastes good, they'll buy another jug of it). They weren't really reviewers but rather "pitch men" for the product. Any who gave "not so excited" commentary or pointed out deficiencies will likely not see another free plane again. I was one of MANY who fell for it. Bought one and found out for myself that, yes indeed, it was all HYPE and the proof was NOT in the pudding. It's taken a while, but I've learned to look past the hype and buy based on whether or not I really want the plane, knowing that there will some deficiencies and limitations that I'll have to correct.

It would be shear folly to take that bet as history has already shown that's exactly what HH does.

I still like my SU-30 and with the upgrade fans, perhaps I'll like it even more - perhaps enough to not sell it anytime soon. But would I have purchased it knowing what I know now about the plane? Probably not.

[radfordc]

Xviper, with the FMS fans and dual batteries the SU 30 is now my favorite jet!

[Hugh Wiedman]

I still like my SU-30 and with the upgrade fans, perhaps I'll like it even more - perhaps enough to not sell it anytime soon. But would I have purchased it knowing what I know now about the plane? Probably not.

Same here, I suspect you will really enjoy it with the new fans, as I did. It was on the verge of getting mothballed or sold (after trying everything else I could think of except the fan upgrade) and like radfordc, it's moved up to the regular rotation, and that's even without the dual batteries which no doubt would have pushed it up to the top!

[xviper]

Xviper, with the FMS fans and dual batteries the SU 30 is now my favorite jet!

Nice to know. I plan to fly mine with a 6000. I'd like to keep the airbrake, so I won't make room for another battery.

[radfordc]

With a 6000 pack I assume the only difference will be shorter flight times and a more forward CG.

[xviper]

I’ve been flying it on 5000s, so on 6000 and the new fans, I may see very little difference in times. I’m hoping to find out tomorrow if the winds don’t get too wild.

[xviper]

Just came back from flying my SU-30 with the upgraded fans. There is a noticeable bump in grunt and using a 6000mah battery, flight times are about the same as before with a 5000mah, so I guess the new fans are a bit more of a power sucker. I like the plane with the new stuff on it and it's worth keeping now.

[radfordc]

My comment about difference in flight times was your 6000 vs my 8000 packs. I have my timer set for 4:30 for normal flights (fast with big vertical climbs). I can get over 6:00 if I just cruise around at half power.

What did you get with the 6000?

[xviper]

My comment about difference in flight times was your 6000 vs my 8000 packs. I have my timer set for 4:30 for normal flights (fast with big vertical climbs). I can get over 6:00 if I just cruise around at half power.

What did you get with the 6000?

I got 4 min. with moderate throttle. Came down with 25% left. I will eventually get some high C batteries. HRB and SMC both make 100+C batteries now. A bit expensive, but a lot of my planes can use them.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I got 4 min. with moderate throttle. Came down with 25% left. I will eventually get some high C batteries. HRB and SMC both make 100+C batteries now. A bit expensive, but a lot of my planes can use them.

If you eventually get the 6200 mah SMC's, make sure you get the True Spec Extreme Graphene V2 Flight 40C. If it doesn't say "Flight", he's marketing those to car guys and even though it may say 100-120C, they're more like 40C or less. Those marked "flight" are "true" C's as he told me aircraft guys know the difference, but car guys go for the over inflated numbers that everyone else uses. They weigh in at 614 gr and have tested for me better than anything I have tried, a real true C. Not sure about the HRB unless you are talking about the 6000 that says 50C with 100C burst. It tested well, but still just below the SMC's with a weight of 830 gr. I'm now using the SMC 5300 40C (also a true C) with a very lite weight of 684 gr in the SU-30 (in fact I have to move it forward in the tray to get the CG where I want it (although I put 2 ounces in the tail for other batteries) and next time out I'm going to try the SMC 6200, all the way back which still gives me a balance point of about 145 mm. I'm balancing the Mig as we speak, and with 2 SMC 5300's, (front and rear tray) looks like I'll need about 3 ounces in the nose with the battery pushed all the way forward. The 6200's, all the way back balance at about 155mm, but I do have the TV nozzles in and AB's. I'm now using the SMC 6200's in both F-18's, both F-4's and occasionally in the F-16 when I'm not using the SMC 8100's.

[Hugh Wiedman]

I just balanced the Mig at 155mm and found I can get there with the 6200's all the way back, and with the 5300's with the front battery moved 80mm forward, no weights required! Whoopi! I earlier did a test balance with all the electronics not fully installed (including the Castle 20 amp BEC) and thought I'd need to weight for the 5300's, but somehow it all came together.

[xviper]

Hugh Wiedman Thanks for the heads up on the “flight” SMCs. I didn’t know that. I can no longer purchase the 6000mah, 6s, 50C HRBs from Amazon (.ca or .com). It seems there is no longer any stock. Going to the HRB site directly, they now only offer the 6000’s in 100C and they are very expensive. I ended up buying a set of 4 HRB 6000mah, 3S, 60C, which I’ll series together. These, I can get via Amazon.ca, so in Can. $$, free shipping, no customs. Will see how they work. If they don’t work to my satisfaction, I’ll give in and see about those SMCs flight.

Oh, BTW, my MiG 29 also has the vector nozzles. I use a pair of Gens Ace 5000s in it.

[radfordc]

Another beautiful day to fly the Su-30!

https://youtu.be/5r0F7_5fBXA

[radfordc]

And...I am officially an idiot! When I installed the rear battery in my dual batt plane I decided that a friction fit would "probably" be fine as long as I didn't do negative G maneuvers. So I didn't install a velcro retaining strap. Today, I was doing four point rolls and the rear battery fell out! With only one fan operating there wasn't enough thrust to make a successful landing....turning downwind to base I got too slow and couldn't get the speed back up. Stall and spin into the ground. Damage was a crushed nose cone and broken fuselage nose (for the second time) and a lost battery. It's probably repairable, but I ordered a replacement fuselage instead. This time I will add the velcro strap!

[radfordc]

Got the new fuselage setup and still loving this plane. I had a notion to buy another FW Mig-29 but I just don't see the purpose. This plane looks so good and flys so good I can't see any reason to replace it.

[xviper]

Got the new fuselage setup and still loving this plane. I had a notion to buy another FW Mig-29 but I just don't see the purpose. This plane looks so good and flys so good I can't see any reason to replace it.

If you're flying twin batteries in your SU (and upgraded fans), I also don't see any reason to get another MiG-29. The MiG won't do anything that the SU can't do better.

[radfordc]

I had the opportunity to fly my "souped up" Su-30 against a Freewing 90mm 8s F-4 Phantom this morning. We took off together and flew in loose formation as best we could. I had my throttle at 50% and the F-4 was at 75% and I still had trouble going slow enough to stay together. On one pass we both went to full throttle together and I went by like he was standing still. When he had to land I still had 1:30 left on my timer. As Mel Brooks once said, "It's good to be the King!"

[radfordc]

I tried something new with the Su-30 today. I pulled up into a vertical line and cut the throttle and let the jet slow to a stop. I was trying to get it to tail slide and it worked. The plane stopped and fell tail down for a short distance before pitching nose down. As soon as the nose pitched down the jet did a quick one turn spin before recovering. This is the first time I've seen this plane spin. A normal spin entry doesn't do anything.

[Phantom]

I tried something new with the Su-30 today. I pulled up into a vertical line and cut the throttle and let the jet slow to a stop. I was trying to get it to tail slide and it worked. The plane stopped and fell tail down for a short distance before pitching nose down. As soon as the nose pitched down the jet did a quick one turn spin before recovering. This is the first time I've seen this plane spin. A normal spin entry doesn't do anything.

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