Prometheus Bipe!

[2FewDaysAtFlyingField]

Received my Pre-Ordered E-Flite Skip Stewart Prometheus Biplane from MotionRC via UPS today. Nice little pre-weekend surprise! Looks to be about a 45 minute build. Now if only the rain would go away here in St. Louis....

[Alpha]

I'm really looking forward to your thread. As a huge fan of the FMS Pitts, the Prometheus is on my list. I'm very interested to see your thoughts on how the two aircraft compare.

[rc-eflyer]

Welcome to the forums and I know what you mean about the rain as I too live in St. Louis. I'm in north county but usually fly my bigger stuff down at Buder Park. Where do you fly, if you don't mind me asking?

Steve

[2FewDaysAtFlyingField]

Alpha,

Snow on the first day of spring! After opening the box today, the first impressions of the Prometheus are very positive. I purchased the PNP version since I'm a Futaba guy. I'll probably drop an Eagle Tree Guardian in it with a Futaba 7003 receiver to make it AS3X like and get voltage back while I ring it out. I love the FMS biplane and have dozens of flights on it. When it discontinued the first time I bought a spare that is sitting in a box in my basement.

Prometheus vs. the FMS (Non-Flying):

1. Obviously the graphics of skips plane are awesome! Time will tell if the Black foam alligators like crazy this summer. I'll need to keep her in the shade as much as possible. My buddies at the field affectionately call my FMS the "Beer Cooler" because of its Ginormous white foam surfaces. The grey cockpit in the FMS is gatored like crazy from the sun.

2. Servos (Spektrum Metal Fullsize) are hands down nicer than the FMS and the mounting is more solid. Although I have yet to have a failure on the FMS, everytime I open her up to drop a battery in, those little servos mounted in plastic in a big ol' bipe make me nervous. Servo hardware is (Dubro Heavy Duty Like) on Prometheus, kinda cheapo on the FMS but no failures so far.

3. Tailwheel on the FMS is a better design / more solid. The Prometheus tailwheel inserts into the rudder which is held on by two CA'd hinges. Doesn't seem very strong. I three point land my FMS all the time but with Prometheus I think I'll be putting her on the mains and settling the tail for this reason.

4. Landing Gear on the FMS is hinged and springy / very solid but heavy and the wheelpants are kinda cheesy. Prometheus has more typical landing gear and is much lighter with sexier wheel pants (if wheelpants are your thing).

5. My FMS is a handful on the ground during takeoff. I often end up coming off the runway going a little left. Prometheus appears to have a larger Rudder guestimated at 24sq. in. at 48" wingspan and the FMS has 20sq.in. with a 55" wingspan.

6. My FMS was uber tail heavy with a Admiral 4500 shoved all the way forward WITH foam hacked out of the nose. Had to add almost 5 oz's of lead to her nose to get it to balance perfectly. Prometheus is perfect with nothing changed. The battery compartment seemed kinda small at first but allows you to get that weight forward which is the key to its design. The battery in the FMS is basically at the CG and doesn't impact changing the balance point at all, hence the lead.

7. Prometheus can be disassembled if you want (2 screws for top wing and 4 screws for bottom) and probably more parts replacement friendly in a crash. The FMS is pretty much glued up with a 55" wingspan. You crash her and your doing some serious glue-up repair work. The one piece FMS is not a problem for SUV's and the crew cab in my 2015 F150 but it is pretty much eliminating Prius owners. :)

8. Prometheus outer wing cabanes are finicky and make me nervous. I have one that I have yet to get aligned so the pin can be inserted but should be possible at a time where I have more patience. Probably have to disassemble, put that one in first, put the others in. The intent behind the design is to be tool free with metal pins shaped like an allen wrench that push through brackets much like a hinge but I think some of the tried and true designs where a tenon fits in a slot like on the Great Planes Ultimate or Christian Eagle would be a better design. I'll probably be putting a spot of glue on mine to make sure they don't rotate out since I'm not concerned with take-down.

9. The spinner on Prometheus is uber cheapo so I ordered a 2-7/8" Tru-Turn aluminum ultimate spinner and a 6mm collet adapter for her and will run 15x6 APC props on it. The stock prop is a 15x5.5 and was woefully out of balance. I like that I can order standard stuff for Prometheus. The hex adapter on the FMS will get so tight in the propeller that you really have to manhandle it to remove the spinner/prop. I like the look of a three-bladed prop on the FMS but don't like all the work if you have to remove for maintenance / replacement etc.

10. FLYING WIRES! Real Bipes have flying wires! The FMS has flying wires, Prometheus doesn't. I'll be adding flying wires to mine!

11. I like the massive amount of space in both Promethius and the FMS bipe for radio gear etc. You could probably put a MR. RC sound in the Prometheus to add some sound fun but it would be impossible on the FMS bipe because of CG Balance issues.

Hope this helps someone decide. That's it for now.

[2FewDaysAtFlyingField]

Welcome to the forums and I know what you mean about the rain as I too live in St. Louis. I'm in north county but usually fly my bigger stuff down at Buder Park. Where do you fly, if you don't mind me asking?

Steve

Steve,

I'm a member of the Spirits of St. Louis over in St. Charles. We have a great field with a 600' runway and although we have 125 members, many are not very active so its not nearly as crowded as Buder or (Mid-Air Central) :) as I call it since I lost three planes there in the 90's! You should come out and fly sometime. We meet up by you at Bridgeton Trails Library on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:00 if you are interested. Next meeting is on April 11th.

[WintrSol]

Looking forward to seeing this fly at our field (also a Spirits member). I've been considering a bipe, and one that breaks down for transport is necessary for me.

[rc-eflyer]

Steve,

I'm a member of the Spirits of St. Louis over in St. Charles. We have a great field with a 600' runway and although we have 125 members, many are not very active so its not nearly as crowded as Buder or (Mid-Air Central) :) as I call it since I lost three planes there in the 90's! You should come out and fly sometime. We meet up by you at Bridgeton Trails Library on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:00 if you are interested. Next meeting is on April 11th.

Looks like a very nice field. I just retired from Boeing and belonged to the Phantom flyers. It used to be limited to employees and family but now it's open membership. It's a nice facility but maybe time for a change. Funny you should mention (Mid Air Central) cause I've seen and been involved in several there. Last one was last fall when my FW Iron Ass and an FMS Dallas Doll tried to occupy the same airspace. Unbelievably we both made it back down. My plane ended up with one of his blades sticking in the cowling!!!

Steve

[rc-eflyer]

Looking forward to seeing this fly at our field (also a Spirits member). I've been considering a bipe, and one that breaks down for transport is necessary for me.

Small world for sure, I live in Florissant also. Looking more like I need to look into joining the Spirits.

Steve

[WintrSol]

Small world for sure, I live in Florissant also. Looking more like I need to look into joining the Spirits.

Steve

We have a really nice facility for electrics - paved runway, and many tables with power outlets for charging electrics. Also, a portable toilet, for emergency landings. :D