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Pilot-RC  Laser 67"

Dated:  Dec-2020 to Jun-2021
Wingspan:   67" (1702mm)
Length:  1620mm
Wing Area:  58.5dm²
Weight:  3.61kg
Check here for more images.

Out of Box Comments

December 2020.....
Typical Pilot-RC thoroughness:
  -  Very strong boxing.
  -  All parts well protected.
  -  Covering on all components is very good (bar one tough problem - see later)
  -  I like the plastic equipment ribbon where each set of parts is in its own compartment on the ribbon.

New Features:
  -  Superb carbon veneering on many of the ply components in the fuselage. Some of the lower fuselage longerons are square carbon fibre rods and provide good strength for supporting the plane in the belly when loaded and ready to fly.
  -  Pop-on SFGs. The fastest attach and detach system I have seen.
  -  Wing retainer device that locks/unlocks the wing with just a turn and a half of the plastic thumb screw.  A sliding plate fits snuggly in behind the thumb screw to keep the wing on.  A very clever innovation.
  -  Diagonal bracing and aluminium angle mount plate for the undercarriage shows some innovative thinking going on at Pilot-RC!
  -  Torsion bar clipping retainers for the canopy are very nice. Can't lose it if it is bolted to the plane!
  -  The provided wing bag seemed a little small!?

Out of Box Video

Unboxing showing detailed part discovery and equipment selected for this electric setup....

Build Comments

- No spinner provided.
- The undercarriage structural support is the first I have seen in an ARF. Very well designed to resist the rigors of longitudinal loading caused by a rough runway. The main undercarriage fastening plate is supported between two formers which are then angle braced off to adjacent formers! All these members are veneered in carbon fibre - super strong.
- In general, the build went very well. Rudder nice and square to the wings. The rear stabiliser required no shimming to get it parallel with the wings. The stabiliser slides up a purpose designed receptor in the end of the fuselage - no doubt about alignment here.
- I employed a rear located servo for the rudder (with comensurate push-pull operation).  This adjustment requires the battery to be located well forward.
- Since our flying field is grass, small wheels and spats were not advisable. So, I installed 3" Dubro low bounce wheels on 8&4mm stub axles with no spats - see photos.

 - The video below provides good clarity for many of the details mentioned here.

Post-Build Review

Stills and video showing the plane as completed with many annotations for clarity.

Installed Equipment

Mobirise

Propeller

With motor Dualsky ECO4130-470, employed a 15x10 APC.
With motor NTM Propdrive 5060-380, employed a 18x12 APC.

Mobirise

Spinner

A  63mm Turbo Spinner provides plenty of cooling to the motor and other gear.

Mobirise

Dualsky ECO4130C-470

This motor was employed earlier in the piece together with a 15x10 APC prop.

Mobirise

NTM Propdrive 5060-380

This is the current motor and I am using an APC 18x12 prop.

Mobirise

YEP Controller (ESC)

This controller seems to have been directly responsible for the crash detailed below.
This was replaced with a Plush-32 150A (2-6S)  to avoid the temperature problems with the YEP.

Mobirise

Plush-32 150A

This ESC replaced the YEP in order to reduce temperature problems.
There is now a new problem where the power system goes "clunk" after a downline-to-power run. No amount of programming seems to fix this...

Mobirise

Servos

A modestly priced servo providing, primarily, strength/torque to suit a 20cc plane.

Mobirise

HRB 6S 5000mah 50C

I really like these high performance batteries.

Mobirise

Receiver

Spektrum AR7000 + satellite.
Nice, solid DSMX receiver.

Mobirise

Dualsky  FC151

This is currently the "go to" stabiliser. It is a very simple 3 axis stabiliser with face pots for adjusting gain and direction. The boot process for the FC151 can be flakey. Just make sure the control surfaces' trim and response is correct and stable whether the FC151 is on or off. 

Mobirise

Mobirise

Sample Flying

Here is a sample of the flying I am doing with this plane, well, all my planes really!

Miscellaneous Images

      First Image:    eCalc sheet showing how the selected equipment will perform.
      Second Image:    View inside the cockpit. The post-completion video covers these details well.
      Third Image:    Adding baffling to the motor/battery region to improve cooling..
      Fourth Image:    Delaminating carbon fibre undercarriage is ressurrected by bracing and flooding the delamination zone (the bend) with thin CA.