New FMS/Eflite Su-30 coming soon

[xviper]

Why are you looking at 80s? This is a twin 70. The newest Pro EDF from FMS in 70mm is this one:
http://www.fmsmodel.com/fms-70mm-pla...v1900-motor-6s

You're right. Got planes mixed up. Duuhhhhhh! Had A-10 on the brain.

[JamesonC]

I put one of these into my Avanti S and L-39. Static thrust - 3300g. It made those planes really zing along.

https://www.rc-castle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=8416&search=FMSDF0092100

The new one is supposed to produce 3500g thrust. I think 7000g thrust for this plane would be a real eye opener.

http://www.fmsmodel.com/fms-80mm-ducted-fan-12-blade-with-3280-kv2100-motor-pro-v2

I can't find specs on the 1900kv one.

Why are you looking at 80s? This is a twin 70. The newest Pro EDF from FMS in 70mm is this one:

http://www.fmsmodel.com/fms-70mm-platinum-series-12-blades-edf-with-3060-kv1900-motor-6s

[xviper]

Disregard. Wrong plane.

I put one of these into my Avanti S and L-39. Static thrust - 3300g. It made those planes really zing along.
https://www.rc-castle.com/index.php?...h=FMSDF0092100

The new one is supposed to produce 3500g thrust. I think 7000g thrust for this plane would be a real eye opener.
http://www.fmsmodel.com/fms-80mm-duc...0-motor-pro-v2

I can't find specs on the 1900kv one.

[gooniac33]

Are we talking T-33 motors??

There are a couple motors out there that I am contemplating trying. But the FMS plane comes with the new 1900kv platinum set up... that is the one I will be getting...

[e4dragongunner]

Are we talking T-33 motors??

[gooniac33]

Sounds like a plan. I'll maiden this thing first and then contact you. I did not know there are better motors coming...will they be an easy upgrade?

Very easy upgrade... I will be doing a video on the install when I get mine.

[JLambCWU]

More pics...

[JLambCWU]

Just pictures tonight, but some awesome formation with Jeremy. Braving the cold flying with Tom Mansell Jeremy Solt Shawn Sagen and others.
We were so busy flying that nobody took video. Gorgeous Utah night to tear it up with great friends.

A very impressive model from Eflite. Over 65 flights on mine now, wide flight envelope. Very impressed with this offering.

[Hugh Wiedman]

OK, mystery solved, for me at least, as to whether this jet takes off on grass. I got one last day of flying for the year yesterday and one of our young pilot members brought out his new SU-30 (along with 4 other huge turbine jets-man this kid doesn't know how lucky he is to have a father with unlimited funds). Well, wouldn't you know, it took off in less than 200 feet just like it was on concrete with no flaps. He even left on the front nose wheel pants and no problem (a HH flight demo guy I met told me to try it without the pants, but wasn't sure it would take off without flaps on grass). The bird flew great and looks outstanding (except the nose needs to actually be painted instead of raw foam). I was hoping it wouldn't work on grass so I wouldn't "just have to have one", but damn, it's now back on my radar for 2020 and seriously threatening my bank account!

[PaulZ]

Does anyone have a pic of where they set elevators in regard to fuse? They say use mark on fuse but I don’t have a mark only the plastic vertical stabilizer mount.

Mine are set right on the line that marks the interface of the plastic piece and the foam. The manual says to position the elevator 2mm below that line - it was too much up trim for my model.

[Rcfiddy1]

Does anyone have a pic of where they set elevators in regard to fuse? They say use mark on fuse but I don’t have a mark only the plastic vertical stabilizer mount.

[e4dragongunner]

Agreed!! Paint the white foam WHITE!!!

[PaulZ]

So I maiden-ed the Sukhoi today - the most uneventful maiden I had in the last couple years! I had everything setup stock and it needed zero trim and flew perfectly. Some observations:

- This is a heavy bird and flies on 6s similar to the Freewing Yak-130 on 8s.
- Roll rate is too low for me stock and I will be increasing travel in the AR636 to at least 120%
- E-Flite should have used larger servos on the elevators. I noticed they are not strong enough for pulling out of high-speed dives and it takes time for the plane to pull out.
- For CG my HRB 6s 5000 mAh 50C pack was all the way forward as far as it would go. This put the CG at 130mm which is roughly half way in the range of 115 - 150mm that the manual specifies.
- Biggest gripe - why did E-Flite opt to not paint the white nose and leave it "foam". It looks awful on this scale airplane.

Overall this is a great bird to fly scale, behaves like the real SU-30's I have seen videos of. This is a great product!

[PaulZ]

The mark on the fuselage should be split by the top edge of the top of the elevator/horizontal stabilizer.

Can you send a picture please...

[JLambCWU]

Could someone please upload a close-up of where the elevator leading edges should be vs the fuselage? I just set mine up per the manual and the elevators end up at too much of an angle in my opnion (up elevator) for level flight. Thanks!

The mark on the fuselage should be split by the top edge of the top of the elevator/horizontal stabilizer.

[PaulZ]

Could someone please upload a close-up of where the elevator leading edges should be vs the fuselage? I just set mine up per the manual and the elevators end up at too much of an angle in my opnion (up elevator) for level flight. Thanks!

[JLambCWU]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Full Demo of the beautifully rendered SU-30 from EFlite.

This is the full shakedown. Fast, Low, then back to High Alpha and slow. Inverted and maximum rate rolls. Touch and go, to slow-mo. This is the full flight envelope for this jet.

Slowest flight is achieved with the lightest pack possible, and all flights are flown with the packs full aft in the battery bay. High Alpha flight was 4 min of flying on high C rating 4000mah pack.

Takeoff and speed demos flown with the 70C 5500 mah Roaring Top batteries. These yield over 4 minutes of flight time on balanced flying.

This is the BNF jet and is NOT for beginners. With previous EDF experience though, this jet is LOCKED IN on the AS3X factory setup. She is a heavy bird and must be flown respecting that. Even then, it has surprisingly good vertical on a quality pack, and will slow down and hang in the High Alpha with full throws on the controls and precise control.

Huge thanks to camera girl for filming in the freezing cold!

https://youtu.be/894vzKqj2d0

[T-CAT]

Thanks Evan, I agree. The Su-30 performs well and respectably, but it isn't a stunner by any means. In this case, as much as I enjoy the air brake, I could easily do without it if there was a center hatch section that would have been dedicated to battery placement close to the CG, and allowed for 8S power on the twin 70mm EDF's, and to get rid of that additional 1/4 pound ballast in the rear radome. The nose section could be kept purely for electronics placement.

[Evan D]

Great post T. I think that EFlite and FreeWing are learning from each other but still have a way to go. Two big things that irked me about all the Horizon planes have been their marketing and spare parts pricing. They did much better in both regards for the SU. I am a big fan of the color scheme too, similarly I love the RW&B L-39 scheme.

I really think that FW messed up not having lights on the F-22. And while I realize many don't like TVs I think they should have been on it. The only thing I think that hurts the SU is the battery bay placement and size. I also think that this should have a high power setup. Not sure what but either 8S 70mm's or something. But again the battery compartment is a issue.

[T-CAT]

I really do enjoy the fact that Horizon steered toward making this Su-30 with some scale features. Although going too scale with a model can have some downsides, with weight being an obvious one, how much scale detail is the question. For me, they chose just enough to satisfy the scale needs. I like that the main gear have doors and conceal the main wheels completely, the air brake looks good, the wheel sizes aren't overly large, the struts are nice, and it has a lighting package installed.

Because they are similar in non-sale price in PNP form (not speaking of performance here), this E-Flite Su-30 6S twin 70mm compared to the Freewing F-22 6S 90mm, has some notable features I wish the F-22 had. The F-22 is an amazing aircraft and is popular for many reasons, so this isn't to speak negatively of it, only to point out some features I prefer to see on jets of that kind/size/price (and since it's supposed to be a very sleek and stealth aircraft). For me, the F-22 has far more positives than negatives. However, I'd take some weight penalty to add additional features, and increase in cost for that matter. I'm aware many choices are made to lower costs, provide design simplicity, and increase versatility (such as grass ops, etc.), but every now and then too little features can be as much of a downside as too many features, for me of course.

The F-22 90mm has a nose gear door and nose gear position too far forward compared to the full sized aircraft, too long, and the aircraft sits too high off the ground. Changing the nose wheel to a smaller diameter helps improve the look (I realize they used a larger nose wheel to help with grass operation), but that doesn't change the forward gear and door position, or the length of the gear doors. The F-22 didn't come with NAV lights or strobes, which I found odd at that price point (we of course can install that ourselves, but that's not the point), and instead it came with the same massive nose wheel light offered on many other Freewing jets. Lastly, the main wheels are easily visible and not concealed by doors in flight, which was/is a bummer. The top-side leading edge of the intakes aren't plastic capped like the rest of the intake, and chips and flakes way too easily considering how thin it is. I really like the way the F-22 looks in the air once the gear is retracted, but dislike it when it's on the ground or in landing configuration. Now, the Su-30 looks rather nice regardless of in the air or on the ground, and to me, that's mostly because of the features I described above. The paint scheme is still not my favorite, at all actually, but that's okay. The aircraft looks so good that is makes me want to purchase one even with the current paint scheme . The price for what features it has is rather fair in my opinion.