Monday, September 15, 2008

Nitroplanes Flymodel Cessna 401 Twin











Flymodel keeps growing and learning, it really shows in this plane. The quality and engineering is excellent. It goes together VERY fast, far and away the fastest twin to build I have ever done. Everything fits perfectly, and the level of prefabrication is very high. The instructions are English and decent, a step above what this factory has turned out before, about middle of the road as far as instructions go. It shows that they have been listening and trying very hard.
It comes with fixed gear, and it's set up for retracts, too. I am waiting on a set of Robart air retracts to complete my plane. Mechanical retracts could be done, with a little engineering on your part.
I am using two each of Exceed Monster Power 46 outrunners, Raiden 80A Escs, and Fusion Power 3200 5s lipos. The servos are all Towerpro SG5010 standards. I have used a bunch of them before with no issues, they are quite a bargain. Normally, on a plane this size, which will end up at least 10 pounds, I'd use something stronger on the elevators, but this plane is set up with two elevator servos, so standard servos are just fine. I will be using a seperate UBEC on one of the batteries to power the radio. Actually, maybe two of them.
On previous large twins like the B25, P82, and Mosquito, I have used 5000mah packs, but long flights of 10 minutes or so have left me landing with over half the battery still left, so this time, I went with 3200, should be plenty.
The nacelles are each one large fiberglass piece. This makes access to the interior very easy. If you wanted to, it would be easy enough to cut off the cowl portions to make them seperate. What engines will fit? It is set up for two 40s, I think four strokes should go in without any real problem, too. With my electrics, I made up my own plywood box motor mounts, but nice nylon mounts and good quality fuel tanks and tubing are all included in the kit, if you want to go glow.
Did I mention how nice the glasswork and paint are? Along with all the woodwork and covering? Nice quality, and LIGHT. Much lighter than anything by CMP, as much as I like CMP stuff.
Oh...and you can't tell from the pictures, but it includes split flaps, too.
I swapped out a few pieces of hardware along the way...what is included is good quality, but I don't like using EZ connectors on flight controls, so I soldered threaded couplers onto my elevator and rudder pushrods and added clevises instead. The rest of the hardware all got used.
There is a nice set of decals(stickers) included. Not sure what of them I will use, I want to make mine a little different from the box top.
Update...the plane flies BEAUTIFULLY, with no bad habits, and a VERY slow landing speed.
Fast, aerobatic, but easy to fly. The flaps work great.
Here is my setup:
2x Monster Power 46 outrunners
2x Raiden 80a ESCs
2x Fusion Power 3200mah 5s lipos
Towerpro 5010 standard servos
Tigertracts spring-down air retracts
Seperate BEC running off one of the lipo batteries...
12x6 props, 2" spinners

I love it. It looks great, and it flies great, and it gets a ton of attention at the field. Everybody who sees it is impressed, and nobody can beleive this model is only $200, it looks like a $700 model. And the electric systems I used to fit it out are dirt cheap, too. It's awesome.
Many pleasant surprises with this model, you get more than you pay for, for sure, it's not cheap Chinese junk, but a first class product from a company that is really going places.

3 comments:

nichtsdahier said...

Hello,
Whats the weight of your Cessna 421?

Unknown said...

What is the lipo battery voltage. You said you used 5 cells which is 18.5v, but the link takes you to a 6 cell lipo at 22.5. Which one did you use?
Tim King
tking101@comcast.net

Unknown said...

What lipo battery pack did you use on the Cessna 421, you said a 5 cell pack (18.5V), but the link takes you to a 6 cell pack 22.5V. Which one is correct?
Tim King
tking101@comcast.net