The new Eflite 1.5m Beech 18

[tab28682]

A little surprised that no one here has mentioned the new Eflite Beech 18. Quite a bit of chat and excitement about it over at the "other place".

https://www.horizonhobby.com/product...EFL106250.html

It was announced in late Aug/early Sept and arrived around Oct 1. I had to have one of these. Hats off to Eflite for doing this " off the beaten path" model.

Eflite did a super job on modeling this iconic aircraft at a nice 1.5m size. It has a very attractive silver and red color scheme. Will not be hard to do a repaint into other civilian and warbird schemes if you are so inclined.

Mine was perfect out of the box, except for a little tiny bit of black leaking past the painted side window and de-icing boots in a few places. . Can be put right in a matter of moments with some silver touch up paint and a tiny brush.

Lots of nice detail touches. All servo connections made automatically when you assemble the aircraft. Nice robust connections. When you bolt the wing the wing center section to the fuselage, the rudder and elevator servo connections are engaged. RX and the dual Avian Smart ESC (two ESC boards in one package) are mounted to the wing center section.The outer wing panels have a nice snap together arrangement and the aileron servo and light connections are automatic. An AR 631 RX with optional Safe and AS3X plus telemetry is pre-installed on the BnF version.

The tail assembly arrives with the vertical tails already attached to the horizontal tail, which is nice. Assembly of the aircraft involves 6 screws and no glue.

One minor misstep by Eflite is that the pilot figure is too small. Looks like a 9 year old is the pilot in command.

One interesting feature is that the aircraft is pre-programmed with a little bit of differential thrust mixed to the rudder input. Helps make ground handing on takeoff and landing effortless.

The aircraft requires a 4s 3200 to 4000 mah lipo. A 4S 5000 (which I used) also works if shifted aft a bit. Lots of power on 4s. Some folks are using 3s which is plenty for scale like flying.

I ordered one from my LHS when it was announced and it arrived Oct 4 in perfect shape. Was tied up this week and also ran our jet fly in on Sat, so it sat for a few days. Finally had a chance to assemble it after lunch today (Sunday) and took it to the field for the maiden flight.

Cannot say enough good things about how it flies. One of the most relaxed and enjoyable maiden flights, ever. Shot 6 touch and go landings plus a full stop at various flap settings.

I did roll and loop it, even though those are not normal for Twin Beech (Hey, they rolled it in "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World" and Matt Younkin rolls and loops his 18). I love the way it cruises around at half throttle.

Its a keeper.

[tab28682]

[tab28682]

Hmmm. Having some odd editing issues on my post. Apologies.

if you cannot see the url on my first post, here is the HH link for the model.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/product...EFL106250.html

Pic above was after the maiden flight today.

[xviper]

One of my LHS got 2 on Friday. I’ll go take a look at it next week and see how I feel about it. I never ordered one as I did with my other Eflite planes (Draco, F-16, 90mm Viper and yet to come, F-14). I have the HobbyKing King Twin, which I consider a modern rendition of this Beech. Still not sure about the Beech.

[davegee]

I ordered one recently and got it in the mail last week. Pretty easy to put together, and I was familiar with the plug-in wing sections like my P-51D that I really enjoy flying. I agree with tab28682's comments above regarding the pilot being too small. I will probably try to find a couple larger, more scale sized pilots to glue in there in place of "junior" who is in the seat now. No big deal, though.

If the weather is good for a maiden, I'll try flying it this week. Was pretty simple to assemble and set the radios, hopefully I got it all correct.

For now, I like that it is a plane that is "off the beaten path" of current offerings out there today. I still hope for some other big warbirds like a B-29, or something like that someday, but this is a nice diversion from what I normally fly.

cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

tab28682 xviper davegee She's a looker for certain. I suggested this aircraft several times in the "What's Next Alpha?" thread.

Happy to see someone has finally manufactured one. I thought it would be a great candidate as an 1600mm or larger series of 'historic' twin-engine airframes, though it looks slick in the pictures. Anticipating everyone's flight reviews. Best, LB

[xviper]

I thought it would be a great candidate as an 1600mm or larger series of 'historic' twin-engine airframes, though it looks slick in the pictures. Anticipating everyone's flight reviews. Best, LB

Interesting that you mentioned this. Had it been between 1700mm to 1800mm, I would have ordered one for sure. The King Twin is 1700mm. I may end up with it anyway but being smaller than the King, I have to give it more thought. The reverse thrust for a plane like this is gimmicky and the differential thrust is a nice touch and does a small degree of uniqueness and "value".

[tab28682]

Interesting that you mentioned this. Had it been between 1700mm to 1800mm, I would have ordered one for sure. The King Twin is 1700mm. I may end up with it anyway but being smaller than the King, I have to give it more thought. The reverse thrust for a plane like this is gimmicky and the differential thrust is a nice touch and does a small degree of uniqueness and "value".

Size is sort of relative and wingspan is not always the best measure. The Twin Beech has a nice presence and probably has about the same wing area as the King Air, but weighs about 700 grams less according to published stats. The span difference in the two models is just 7 inches.

An OV-10 is a good example of a model that is more massive than its wingspan might suggest and a B-24 is an example of a model less massive than its wingspan might suggest.

I am not going to bother to activate the reverse thrust (unless I get around to doing a conversion to put the Twin Beech on floats.)

I am not always an Eflite fanboy, but in the case of the Twin Beech, I think they knocked it out of the park.

[xviper]

Size is sort of relative and wingspan is not always the best measure. The Twin Beech has a nice presence and probably has about the same wing area as the King Air, but weighs about 700 grams less according to published stats. The span difference in the two models is just 7 inches.

An OV-10 is a good example of a model that is more massive than its wingspan might suggest and a B-24 is an example of a model less massive than its wingspan might suggest.

I am not going to bother to activate the reverse thrust (unless I get around to doing a conversion to put the Twin Beech on floats.)

I am not always an Eflite fanboy, but in the case of the Twin Beech, I think they knocked it out of the park.

I have the OV-10 and B-24 so I know what you mean. Nevertheless, wingspan is generally the first thing observers notice when a model plane does a fly by. I also have the FW F-14 and 80mm A-10. Whenever they see them in the air going by. Most people say how small the F-14 is and how huge the A-10 is. Yet, both weigh almost the same whopping 6kg.
Admittedly, the Beech's giant engine cowls is what most will gravitate to and that's what makes me think it's "huge". I have to see it in person to make a final judgement.
I'll leave the reverse activated as this is always a "crowd pleaser" to see it back up when doing a U-turn (not so impressive on grass, though). I've never been much of an Eflite fan myself, but this past year or so, has revised my thinking about it.

[davegee]

I ordered one recently and got it in the mail last week. Pretty easy to put together, and I was familiar with the plug-in wing sections like my P-51D that I really enjoy flying. I agree with tab28682's comments above regarding the pilot being too small. I will probably try to find a couple larger, more scale sized pilots to glue in there in place of "junior" who is in the seat now. No big deal, though.

If the weather is good for a maiden, I'll try flying it this week. Was pretty simple to assemble and set the radios, hopefully I got it all correct.

For now, I like that it is a plane that is "off the beaten path" of current offerings out there today. I still hope for some other big warbirds like a B-29, or something like that someday, but this is a nice diversion from what I normally fly.

cheers

davegee

I just got back from the field and my first impressions of flying this new airplane. As I mentioned before, I am delighted to see this new entry into the rc scale model world. I am very happy having bought one.

I set mine up totally in line with the book values and recommendations. I didn't make any modifications on it at all, so far, except for painting the ADF "football" antenna on the fuselage black, and repainting the two exhaust stacks to something more accurate looking. Have not added the reverse thrust mod, probably won't do that, for this airplane. As X Viper mentioned, if you had it on floats, that might be a nice addition to have. However, I do like the differential thrust which really helps out for ground ops. It probably works for crosswinds, too, although I haven't tried that yet as the winds were very light.

I got three flights on my plane this morning. I used a Admiral 4S 3000 mAh 35C battery that I had lying around, worked great. Keeping with my personal philosophy of flying scale airplanes, especially warbirds, in a scale manner and doing maneuvers that they were capable of, or actually did in practice, I did the same with the D18 this morning. It flies great in that regard. Battery level was about 25% after three flights and a lot of taxi and runup tests. That battery had more than enough power with lots in reserve, too. Typically flew it around the pattern with maybe half throttle with gear and flaps up at a scale speed.

I started the first takeoff in SAFE mode, just to see how it handles. I think I much prefer flying it in the AS3X model entirely, as the restrictions to flight control movement really made it harder to fly. For instance, with a little crosswind aloft, the plane makes too shallow of a bank to stay in the immediate area of the runway. I quickly switched to the AS3X mode, and was happy with that for all flight and ground operations. However, I can see how SAFE mode probably is helpful to newer flyers.

I normally take off with no flaps, and land with full flaps. The plane seems to like wheel landings, versus three-point landings, and it made smooth takeoffs and landings in each case. There was never any tendency to dip a wing during takeoffs and landings. It was rock solid in the light winds I encountered today. Tracking was very good on takeoffs and landing roll outs.

In summary, for this first foray into flying a scale Beech D18 for me, it was quite enjoyable and I look forward to many more happy flights as I get to know it better and how to fly it well. I'll attach a couple post flight pics from this morning.

Cheers



davegee

[tab28682]

Forgot to mention I did not activate SAFE on my D18. Just not needed for me personally.

[Evan D]

Great report!

[xviper]

Have not added the reverse thrust mod, probably won't do that, for this airplane.

Is it not like the DRACO and 90mm Viper in that reverse is already programmed, but you just have to assign a switch? Not that it's all that difficult to do with forward programming anyway.

PS. My flying buddy bought one this morning. He just couldn't resist.

[davegee]

Is it not like the DRACO and 90mm Viper in that reverse is already programmed, but you just have to assign a switch? Not that it's all that difficult to do with forward programming anyway.

PS. My flying buddy bought one this morning. He just couldn't resist.

I think your flying buddy will enjoy this new airplane!

Regarding the reverse thrust instructions, I just took a picture of the setup for thrust reversing for the D18. I'll attach it below. I don't really have a need for it on this airplane. It's light and rollouts on landings aren't excessive. I could see reverse thrust capability on one of my jets that like to roll out a long way on landing.

Cheers

Davegee

[Gilatrout]

In in the middle of a repaint on mine. One word of caution, the original base silver coat seems very reactive and sensitive to other paints. I've had to prime everything and go with lots of thin coats to prevent gatoring.

[tab28682]

I think your flying buddy will enjoy this new airplane!

Regarding the reverse thrust instructions, I just took a picture of the setup for thrust reversing for the D18. I'll attach it below. I don't really have a need for it on this airplane. It's light and rollouts on landings aren't excessive. I could see reverse thrust capability on one of my jets that like to roll out a long way on landing.

Cheers

Davegee

Between not having the programmer and not feeling it needs reverse thrust as a land plane, I feel the same way about reverse thrust on this model.

[davegee]

Between not having the programmer and not feeling it needs reverse thrust as a land plane, I feel the same way about reverse thrust on this model.

When I read that you need to have a special programmer to help setup the reverse thrust, my eyes glazed over and I might have started drooling a bit. Like you, although cool for some flyers, for this particular airplane I don't think it's worth the time or trouble to do so. But I would be receptive if they come up with a cool EDF jet that really could use it to slow down to stay on the runway.

At our field, we have some nasty sagebrush and gopher holes that can really wreck your plane if it departs the runway even at moderate taxi speed. But I don't see that being a problem for this D18 airplane with most flyers.

davegee

[xviper]

I think your flying buddy will enjoy this new airplane!

Regarding the reverse thrust instructions, I just took a picture of the setup for thrust reversing for the D18. I'll attach it below. I don't really have a need for it on this airplane. It's light and rollouts on landings aren't excessive. I could see reverse thrust capability on one of my jets that like to roll out a long way on landing.

Cheers

Davegee

Thanks. I see that this is like the Eflite 80mm F-16. It has reverse but must be "activated". Doing it via forward programming is quick and easy. No cables or programmer required. Over 1/2 of my jets now have thrust reverse. The only prop plane that had it was my Draco, which really didn't need it either.

I just noticed that this plane comes with an AR636 RX. It may not be forward programmable. I'll check my buddy to see if he can access forward programming. If not, I won't bother with it.

[Twowingtj]

Got a chance to see one at our field a couple of days ago. Looks good up close and looked great in the air.

[Gilatrout]

Where I'm headed with mine. I'm almost done with the wing tips.