Hobbyking Artic Cat.

[Skyboom]

Going to add lots of polycyclic to this seaplane. It's all foam board and cookie cut.

[xviper]

I don’t understand what “polycyclic” is as it pertains to this model. Please explain.

[BluesDragon]

I'm pretty sure he meant "polycrylic" there... at least I think so.

[xviper]

That makes more sense. I looked up "polycyclic" and I couldn't see how it relates to a model plane.

[Skyboom]

Sorry for typo. It's for water proofing the joints. But what a struggle getting things lined up and glued together. Try again another day. The B24 bomber came in the mail today. Should keep me busy for awhile.

[xviper]

7 of us had this plane at our old field. We never flew them off water. Those of us who built it according to the instructions, used a single servo for the ailerons and the hole in the fuse where the wire came out will be difficult to seal thoroughly. Aside from that, the exposed servos will have to be sprayed with that waterproofing product. As for the rest of the plane, it's an odd kind of "foamboard", which doesn't really have a paper backing that peels. We flew ours in winter and sometimes, the plane came back very wet from all the slush it skidded through. The foam didn't suffer in any way.

[Skyboom]

Thankyou for the tips xviper. I did primarily buy this foam board kit for the snow. Was thinking of 3d printing some snow skis for some of my other planes. My brother lives in St. Albert AB. He said Calgary was expected to get snow this week. Summers just don't seem long enough anymore.

[xviper]

Thankyou for the tips xviper. I did primarily buy this foam board kit for the snow. Was thinking of 3d printing some snow skis for some of my other planes. My brother lives in St. Albert AB. He said Calgary was expected to get snow this week. Summers just don't seem long enough anymore.

Weather guy says we will likely get snow Thursday or Friday or both but it's supposed to melt soon after it lands. The older I get, the shorter the summers get and the longer the winters gets. Wife loves winter. She's one of those nut cases who loves being outdoors in winter. I would rather be a snowbird but just as well, this hobby takes up most of my money so can't afford it to go south for months.
Very soon, my "skidders" come out and I fly whenever it's not too cold or windy through the winter.

[Skyboom]

Switching the motor out to an inrunner. Eflight 3500. Should have lots of power.

[xviper]

Switching the motor out to an inrunner. Eflight 3500. Should have lots of power.

Are you going to run it on 4s? I don’t understand the Eflite designation. Does 3500 refer to “KV”? Of all the Cats at our old field, mine was the only one running on 4S. All the others were running on 3s with the HobbyKing 2200kv motor (we called it the “copper top” motor because it looked a bit like the battery). My 4s was quite a bit faster but we all had fun in the “group flies”.
One thing most of us noticed when flying these things in winter. On the first flight of the day, the plane was out of trim from the last time we flew it. By the time we had the last flight of the day, we had to trim it back. I think the cold causes the foamboard to change shape a bit and hence, needed trimming and re-trimming.

[Skyboom]

Yes running Turniigy 4s 3200 pack. I smoked a 2700 KV motor out twice with a 2200 pack on a 30 amp esc. . The 2200 pack is my favourite batttery And it still works lol. Wondering why it's smoking? I Just keep it around. I have to upgrade the esc next. The 30 amp won't cut this motor. Wish I had some 60 ,70 amp esc around.Something with a battery elimination circuit.

[Skyboom]

Yes running Turniigy 4s 3200 pack. I smoked a 2700 KV motor out twice with a 2200 pack on a 30 amp esc. . The 2200 pack is my favourite batttery. And it still works lol. Wondering why it's smoking? I Just keep it around. I have to upgrade the esc next. The 30 amp won't cut this motor. Wish I had some 60 ,70 amp esc around.Something with a battery elimination circuit.

[Skyboom]

I ordered the Hobbywing Skywalker 2 4s 50amp ubec. brushless esc .2 of them . From banggood. Expidited delivery $44,55 for 2. $3.81 for shipping. I have plans for the other esc. I hope it doesn't smoke this one. Waiting for a foam board kit from Hobbyking. The Hobbyking Prime jet. The fpv is ready waiting for Ferndale Washington. Thiese planes will be on standby and getting fixed. I'll have the Strix Recruit , Durafly Vampire, HSD Viper and Carbon Cub ready for Ferndale this weekend. I just bought a hat cam.

[Skyboom]

P.S. this is my favorite toss and boss aircraft. Wish Motion rc would come out with a foam board kit line like this. Maybe a series, something exciting. ARF..

[xviper]

Yes running Turniigy 4s 3200 pack. I smoked a 2700 KV motor out twice with a 2200 pack on a 30 amp esc. . The 2200 pack is my favourite batttery And it still works lol. Wondering why it's smoking? I Just keep it around. I have to upgrade the esc next. The 30 amp won't cut this motor. Wish I had some 60 ,70 amp esc around.Something with a battery elimination circuit.

After a "hard" fly, our 2200kv "coppertops" on 3s come down pretty hot, almost too hot to touch but they seem to just keep on going so long as you don't do consecutive flights with no down time. Also, being outside of the plane in the air stream, it can get a lot of heat removal while flying. I can see where a 2700kv could easily fry itself, especially if the prop is too much for the set up.

[xviper]

I ordered the Hobbywing Skywalker 2 4s 50amp ubec. brushless esc .2 of them . From banggood. Expidited delivery $44,55 for 2. $3.81 for shipping. I have plans for the other esc. I hope it doesn't smoke this one. Waiting for a foam board kit from Hobbyking. The Hobbyking Prime jet. The fpv is ready waiting for Ferndale Washington. Thiese planes will be on standby and getting fixed. I'll have the Strix Recruit , Durafly Vampire, HSD Viper and Carbon Cub ready for Ferndale this weekend. I just bought a hat cam.

Most of the guys on the 2200kv motor are running 40 - 50A ESCs with 3s. Interesting that you mentioned Strix. My Cat is on the Goblin powertrain. After I augered the Goblin, I yanked out the motor (2300kv), ESC (60A) and dropped it into the Cat, but with a 6x6 prop. It gets only warm.

[xviper]

P.S. this is my favorite toss and boss aircraft. Wish Motion rc would come out with a foam board kit line like this. Maybe a series, something exciting. ARF..

You throw the thing? We just drop them on the ground and let them skid (hence, "skidders").

[Skyboom]

Yes. Drop and full throttle. Usually it takes 20 feet and it's in the air. I have a 9 gram servo on each aileron. One on the elevator. I have it programmed in my Tx to %100 rates and no expo. I find I needed to add fiberglass tape and brushed on polycrylic to the ailerons. That prevents the foam board from flattening out on hard banking. Funny thing is it flys better without a nose cone on, Just a big blunt front end. lol. P.S. I saw the highway sign for Point Roberts on my back from the US. I believe it was the Piece Arch crossing. The boarder security officer seemed envy of me flying my planes their. They never gave me a hard time.

[xviper]

Yes. Drop and full throttle. Usually it takes 20 feet and it's in the air. I have a 9 gram servo on each aileron. One on the elevator. I have it programmed in my Tx to %100 rates and no expo. I find I needed to add fiberglass tape and brushed on polycrylic to the ailerons. That prevents the foam board from flattening out on hard banking. Funny thing is it flys better without a nose cone on, Just a big blunt front end. lol. P.S. I saw the highway sign for Point Roberts on my back from the US. I believe it was the Piece Arch crossing. The boarder security officer seemed envy of me flying my planes their. They never gave me a hard time.

Most of us have a nose cone made from layers of foamboard squares that we carve into a rounded nose. I doubt very much that a nose cone would make much difference in the way it cuts through the wind.
I've always imagined going across the border into the US and telling them that you're going to fly models might make them lift an eyebrow due to the rules they have there about flying UAVs and drones. I think their regs are even stiffer than ours, but nice to know they don't bother you much.

[Skyboom]

xviper, one quick question. If you can recall any of your flying mates adding a rudder to this air frame? And if so, how it performs?