The new Eflite 1.5m Beech 18

[Elbee]

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".

XV, acknowledged and agreed with respect to size. Frankly, that is the only reason I have not pressed the "Buy Now" button, though I will consider it still. Wind is an issue here in 'yellow brick road' country and I cannot choose my flying days very often, so bigger is definitely better for me. It is a beautiful looking airframe. Best, Steve

[xviper]

I must admit that I'm really liking the idea of this plane on floats but it would take some humongoloid floats to make it look right and work. However, it would make transport much more difficult for me. I'll see my buddy's tomorrow. Take my 1700 Twin King for comparison.

[tab28682]

Your CAP version is going to look great!

[Gilatrout]

Has anyone else thought of setting up a mini billboard to fly their beech through, or is it just me?

[Evan D]

Careful... Get it on video if you try it.

[xviper]

Has anyone else thought of setting up a mini billboard to fly their beech through, or is it just me?

Not till now. What a neat idea.

[xviper]

Here's a comparison of my King Twin and my buddy's Beech D18. Being in the background, the King look smaller but in reality, it's bigger than the Beech.

[Evan D]

Interesting. If I didn't know better and someone said which is EFlite and which is Hobby King I'd be backwards... What are your flying impressions? Knowing how much some company likes to stress easy flying based on their included AS3X/ SAFE receiver how do you think it would fly without a gyro'ed receiver?

[tab28682]

Interesting. If I didn't know better and someone said which is EFlite and which is Hobby King I'd be backwards... What are your flying impressions? Knowing how much some company likes to stress easy flying based on their included AS3X/ SAFE receiver how do you think it would fly without a gyro'ed receiver?

My feeling is that it will fly great without the AS3X. Mine flies great with SAFE turned off. HH mentioned that the model handles better at takeoff and landing with the diff thrust/rudder mix built in. They do not reduce the throttle rudder mix at higher RPMs like I do with my twin seaplanes. The rudder is a little sensitive at speed.

However, you could certainly do the diff thrust with TX mixing and two ESCs.

[tab28682]

Here's a comparison of my King Twin and my buddy's Beech D18. Being in the background, the King look smaller but in reality, it's bigger than the Beech.

As I surmised, they appear fairly close in size, even allowing for the King Twin being set back a bit. They have a similar presence.

Nice Beech historical shot, there. The old and the newer.

[tab28682]

Has anyone else thought of setting up a mini billboard to fly their beech through, or is it just me?

Oh, yes I have.....:)

Sign made up of hot wire sliced 2mm eps foam, airbrushed. Light weight frangible frame in case your aim is less than perfect. Make the sign larger than scale, about 3 to 3.5 m wide.

Attempt on a very calm day, after the newness is well worn off your Twin Beech....:)

[xviper]

Interesting. If I didn't know better and someone said which is EFlite and which is Hobby King I'd be backwards... What are your flying impressions? Knowing how much some company likes to stress easy flying based on their included AS3X/ SAFE receiver how do you think it would fly without a gyro'ed receiver?

I can't say about the Beech. It got real windy this morning and the Beech owner didn't want to risk it. I did fly my King in that wind and it has no gyro. It got tossed around by the wind but not as bad as some of my other planes. On the most part, I don't think the King needs a gyro.
My friend will mostly likely fly his Beech on SAFE for some time. He doesn't trust his skill level enough to go non-SAFE just yet. He doesn't even retract landing gear on his plane because he worries that he might lose control when hunting for the gear switch. I know he can do it. He just doesn't think he can.
I prefer the looks of the modern plane as opposed to the "oldness" of the vintage plane. Nevertheless, the Beech looks more refined and better built just from the surface looks. My King already has nose retract problems in that it gets stuck in the UP position, even when newish. I had to do a mains only landing this morning and was fortunate not to break any props. I think HobbyKing cheaped out on the retracts and the soft metal they used on the struts. I've never had any issues with any of the retracts on my Eflite planes (yet) but more time will tell.
I went to the hobby shop to buy the Beech after leaving the field but the manager who can give deals was on coffee break, so I didn't want to wait and left without a plane. I don't think there will be any shortage of these things, unlike how the shop wants you to believe the "last one" they have will sell quickly. When my friend bought his last Monday, supposedly it was the only one they had. Right after he left with his Beech, they threw another one back up on the shelf. The sales guy said the one on the shelf was it. I asked them to be honest and tell me how many they had. He really wouldn't say but only that there were more in the back.

[xviper]

I watched my friend fly his D18 this morning. It's a beautiful flying model. Take off was very controlled and the flight was superb. Seemed to have lots of power. He tried a stall in SAFE and the thing did nothing dramatic, just sank, perfectly straight and level. His landing was very slow, no flaps and bounced gently a few times. Hard to say if it was the plane or the pilot - was no big deal anyway. Diff thrust worked like a charm for ground handling.

[davegee]

I watched my friend fly his D18 this morning. It's a beautiful flying model. Take off was very controlled and the flight was superb. Seemed to have lots of power. He tried a stall in SAFE and the thing did nothing dramatic, just sank, perfectly straight and level. His landing was very slow, no flaps and bounced gently a few times. Hard to say if it was the plane or the pilot - was no big deal anyway. Diff thrust worked like a charm for ground handling.

I concur with a lot of what your friend found with flying his D18 model. I got several flights on mine today, after the maiden and couple of flights the other day. This time, I got to test stall characteristics, (a real non-event, just mushes down after a gentle nose dip when it stalls) and flying in general was very straight forward and fairly easy.

I found on landings, I use a technique similar to what I do with my warbirds like the E Flite 1.5m P-51D, the Flightline Corsair, and the FMS 1.5m P-47D razorback, basically flying in with some power with full flaps (per book values) and land on the mains in a two-point, tail low, similar to what the real ones use for landing technique. It lands very well that way, with little or no bounce.

Directional control on takeoffs and landings is pretty good, although I did notice that with a right crosswind on landing rollout near the end it did do a sudden right turn towards the crosswind. I might start trying to add some more rudder which also brings in the differential power on the upwind side to try to get it to stay straight, but I haven't progressed that far, yet.

Great airplane, just a joy to fly in a realistic manner. My Admiral 4S 3000 mAh battery might be a little underpowered at this field altitude ( 5,000' MSL) but that is fine, it flies just like the real one would in normal flying.

This one is a keeper!

Cheers

davegee

[Gilatrout]

Repaint is progressing very nicely. Finished the tail last night.

[davegee]

Repaint is progressing very nicely. Finished the tail last night.

Looks great! How did you get around the stock decals that are already on the plane? Sand them off, spray primer/paint over them??

Thanks,

davegee

[Gilatrout]

Looks great! How did you get around the stock decals that are already on the plane? Sand them off, spray primer/paint over them??

Thanks,

davegee

I carefully peel them off, trying to prevent as much extra paint from peeling. Then I seal the bare foam to try and restore the patina with Vallejo surface primer.

When dry, sand, trying to feather edges of paint as much as possible. Then usually polyurethane brushed on with a foam bush to level it up to the original paint level. This usually takes several coats with sanding in between. Then when can't feel it, shoot a hit of primer which usually tells me I need to do more layers of poly and sanding until the primer doesn't show the damage.

It sounds like a lot more work than it is.

If the markings are waterslide, usually it doesn't need anything more than a light sanding and paint directly

[Elbee]

GT, great technique and tip, Sir. Best, LB

[davegee]

I carefully peel them off, trying to prevent as much extra paint from peeling. Then I seal the bare foam to try and restore the patina with Vallejo surface primer.

When dry, sand, trying to feather edges of paint as much as possible. Then usually polyurethane brushed on with a foam bush to level it up to the original paint level. This usually takes several coats with sanding in between. Then when can't feel it, shoot a hit of primer which usually tells me I need to do more layers of poly and sanding until the primer doesn't show the damage.

It sounds like a lot more work than it is.

If the markings are waterslide, usually it doesn't need anything more than a light sanding and paint directly

I agree with LB, that sounds like a good technique. The waterslide decals are easier to wet sand off, and then primer and resand to get rid of any evidence of the originals. The "sticker" type decals I have found to be much tougher to fix after carefully pulling them free from the model. There can be some real damage to the underlying foam that they came from I've been able to use a very good automobile bondo type material, but it takes a lot of sanding and re-priming to get the area smooth enough where there is no evidence of the previous decals.

Whatever technique that is used that works, is all good! Very nice work on the Civil Air Patrol repaint that you are doing. Keep up the great work!

Dave

[xviper]

Drove straight to another hobbyshop this morning and have it in the car now. I'm so weak.

[Twowingtj]

Since the Flightline Mossie hasn't come out yet, I too headed to the LHS and picked up one of these classic twin birds.