SPORT FLYING THE 3D HOBBY SHOP EXTRA 300 SHP

Airframe: 3D Hobby Shop 47" Extra SHP

Wingspan: 47.25 inches

Length: 44 inches

Wing Area: 464 square inches

Weight: 37-41 ounces

Motor: Torque 2818-900 Kv Brushless Outrunner Motor

Weight: 104g

max sustained current: 35 amps

Batteries:

Thunder Power 3s 2200-3300 Extreme Series V2

Available from: http://3daero.com/ and other fine 3D Hobby Shop dealers

WHY THE EXTRA SHP FOR SPORT FLYING?

The 3D Hobby Shop Extra SHP is a 3D icon. Many guys, including myself, got started in 3D with this plane, and it's become the go-to 3D plane of the industry in a very short time. The SHP is extremely agile yet forgiving. It's very easy to put together and it's easy to work on. It's solid and reliable, and it's a tough little bird on top of it. These are all essential qualities for sport flying, so it only seems natural to set one up that way and see what it's got.

Some of you may not be familiar with 3D Hobby Shop, but you will be. The airplanes are too good not to make their way into the sport market, but so far 3D Hobby Shop has only pursued the 3D market, and has catered exclusively to it's rabid following of 3DHS junkies.

Like all of 3D Hobby Shop's planes, the Extra SHP is built and finished extremely well. The construction is light where strength isn't needed, and robust where it is. 3D Hobby Shop has also recently upgraded it's hardware package and all of it is absolute top shelf stuff (though the old hardware was still really good too).  The fit and finish of all the parts is excellent, if not an industry standard.

Also worthy of note is that 3D Hobby Shop's technical support and customer service departments are absolutely second to none in the industry. This is not just my experience. Read any of the 3D Hobby Shop threads on this or any other forum, and they are chocked full of a legion of faithful customers who will fly nothing else. Of course, as with any mass produced item, 3D Hobby Shop very occasionally gets one with a minor problem or shipping damage, but 3D Hobby Shop is painfully keen to make these right as soon as possible....like maybe yesterday. Technical support often goes way past above and beyond, and if you have a set up issue or even a question about flying technique, the best and most friendly help in the industry is a phone call, email, or forum private message away.

Other manufacturers please take note.

New Review Formatting

This report will be formatted a little differently from our previous projects. This time, because the flying is so important, we will get to that first. After that we can delve into the specifics of setup and equipment.

FLYING

The first Extra SHP that we set up for sport use belongs to long time friend, flying buddy and Mystery Aviation Development Team pilot Don Wilson. The day before the following video I flew a 5 minute test hop, and Don finished the day out with it. I took it home, made a few changes (mostly tidying up the wiring and checking everything), and the next day we made this video.

Subsequently we set an SHP Sport up for my friend and Mystery Aviation Development pilot, Doctor Who. Here's the video of his first flight with his new SHP Sport:

We knew the Extra SHP would respond well to a setup more suitable for sport flying, but were surprised at just how beautifully the plane performed in it's new role. In one way it was a completely different airplane, but in another, the SHP kept all of her good qualities, and became even more smooth and docile to fly.

Even with a milder sport set up the Extra will still loop, roll, spin, knife edge, and perform any other conventional aerobatic maneuver. She will even do a loose blender, which sort of surprised me. She won't 3D like this, but that's not what we are after here.

What we are going after here is a plane that you can take out on Sunday and just fly it. We wanted the Extra Sport to be tame enough that inexperienced pilots could confidently learn aerobatics on her, but at the same time we wanted the Extra Sport to be capable of wild enough aerobatics to keep the experienced pilots entertained. That's a pretty huge window for a plane to fill up, but the Extra does it better than any plane I've ever seen. On top of that, a setup change is all that's required to turn the Extra into a 3D trainer, and then a wilder setup turns the Extra into a 3D monster. Smaller steps in setup will give you everything in between, and the plane responds beautifully to this.

This is an extremely diverse and adaptable airframe. It is capable of world class 3D performance, but tuned down a novice can use it to hone his aerobatic skills and learn new maneuvers. I am almost convinced that with a little further detuning the Extra SHP would be a suitable basic trainer, and it has actually been done.

With a 3 cell setup on the Torque 2818, takeoff roll at half throttle was about 20 feet. If you punch it the thing jumps right up in about five feet. Like most taildraggers, the Extra will require a little right rudder to keep her tracking straight down the runway, but if you just hammer it the plane takes off in such a short space that it doesn't really matter. You can do a nice, long, smooth takeoff if that's what you like, and the Extra is really good at it. I'm just too impatient for that and want to get in the air.

In the air the Extra Sport is very precise. It goes where you point it, stays where you point it, and doesn't do anything you don't tell it to do. It is very much like a good pattern ship in this respect. It is very solid and reassuring to fly because you are flying the plane instead of it flying you. The Extra tracks so well that it is easy to fly. You aren't fighting it the whole time to make it go where you want it to go. You simply point it where you want it to go and it goes there until you tell it to do something else.

This means you can just relax between maneuvers instead of constantly working and wearing yourself out. Even in 3D trim the Extra is so solid and tracks so well that the flights seem entirely too short. With some other planes, I am slap worn out after a hard flight. With the Extra, it's not unusual for me to fly four intense flights in a row, right on the deck, pausing only long enough to change out the battery, then burn all my packs up and be wishing I had more. And, that's in 3D trim. In sport trim it's even easier to fly.

Below is the first flight of my own Extra Sport and the Torque 2818 motor. I went right into my routine and so comfortable so instantly that I forgot to even trim the plane. She was handling so beautifully that I just flew her. Halfway through I remembered to trim her, but she didn't take any. This has happened exactly twice in 35 years of R/C modeling. the other time was my first Extra SHP!

So, you might think that the Extra's tracking and agility would be enough, but those aren't even her strongest points. What really sets the Extra apart is her incredibly sublime stability, especially at slow speeds. You can drag the Extra around at dog slow speeds, right on the very edge of falling out of the air, but it will never, ever snap out on you. As long as you keep it flying the Extra won't even go off track. In the video you will see that I fly the Extra around holding full up elevator, and she doesn't snap out, roll off or do anything vicious. If you do stall her, just add a little power or put the nose down a bit and she will start flying again right away.

Even in a hard turn at slow speed the Extra will resolutely refuse to surprise the pilot. Oh, sure, you can stall the plane like that, but it's not going to violently spin itself into the ground with no warning like some planes will do. It's not even going to spin and it certainly isn't going to snap out on you. It's just going to stall, and by the time you have soloed you'de better already know how to handle that anyway.

At the other end of the flight envelope the Extra goes fast very well. It's not flighty or darty and it holds it's heading so well I think we could pylon race the things against each other and it would be a hoot.

The Extra spins and snaps well, which is sort of surprising because inherent stability usually makes this impossible. In a snap you are putting the plane in an extremely unstable position, and stable planes just won't let you do that to them. The Extra, however, doesn't seem to mind, but as soon as you let off the sticks she goes right back to being an obedient, submissive puppy dog. When you snap or spin the Extra, just let go of the sticks when you're done and she will stop right now. This way you can exit these maneuvers exactly where you want to, then fly out and relax until you are ready for the next maneuver.

And that's the point when you are learning aerobatics. Put the plane where you want it to go. Anything else is just slop, like falling off a bicycle and then saying "I meant to do that." When you have a plane that goes exactly where you put it, that just makes learning to put it where you want it that much easier. The Extra's ability to do this makes it an incredible aerobatic trainer.

For the experienced sport pilot, the Extra's stability allows him to push it harder than ever before without the fear that the plane is going to bite him. It doesn't take very long at all to get a good feel for what the airplane is capable of, and that instills a lot of confidence. When you have that much confidence in a plane and are that comfortable flying it, you can pull off the most outrageous antics imaginable. This is the kind of plane that your skills grow with, even if you don't consciously practice and just fly instead.

For 3D? The Extra SHP was my 3D trainer. First I sport flew it with a mild 3D setup. As I learned more 3D maneuvers those crept into my sport routine. Eventually I needed a more wild setup to do the advanced maneuvers until eventually I had dialed in a full 3D setup and was flying 3D full time. Now I'm back to sport flying a second Extra, just for grins.

As you can see, the Extra SHP is a plane you can learn aerobatics with and progress right through to the most difficult 3D maneuvers. The Extra really can be almost anything you want it to be. All you have to do is tinker with the setup and get it the way you like it.

In summary, I could have just said that the Extra is so easy to fly that the average pilot will look like a hero in no time flat.

FINAL NAIL

There isn't much to be said about the Extra SHP's 3D abilities that hasn't been chronicled on over 500 pages of threads devoted to this plane on RC Groups and here on this blog. It is absolutely the 3D plane of choice for many, whether it be a 3D trainer, daily 3D beater, or all out 3D monster show off plane.

It does seem a little strange the plane's 3D abilities are so good that no one ever thought to try it as a sport plane and report on it as such. The Extra SHP is so good at what it does that no one thought to try something else with it, but the plane is an extremely capable sport flier. The plane can be used for everything from basic aerobatic training all the way through the most advanced 3D maneuvers, or it can be dialed back and flown around on Sundays just for fun.

There are a lot of good sport planes out there. I'de say in all my years of sport flying that the Extra SHP Sport is probably the best flying of all of them.
So, it seems the 3D Hobby Shop Extra SHP is probably the best kept secret in the sport flying industry. Once people read this report and see the videos, I'm thinking that might be over.

EXTRA SHP THE ARF

Like all our other 3DHS planes, the Extra SHP came triple boxed, on time, and with no damage. Also like with our other 3DHS planes, all the necessary hardware was included. Outside of the power and radio system, you won't spend a dime finishing this baby up. I really love the guys at my LHS, but it was nice for a change to open the box and finish the entire project without having to make a mad run down there for parts. You're always missing something...... a screw, a servo extension, Velcro, a wire tie or even a wheel collar, but not when you get the plane and power system combo with servos. Everything I need except for the transmitter and receiver comes in the brown truck.

For all our 3DHS projects, we now use all the hardware and follow the directions exactly to the letter with absolutely zero deviation. In the past I have been persnickety about things like control horns, push rod keepers, and such, but any time I have had the bright idea use something different than comes in the box, it has turned out to be a mistake. Eventually I realized the guys in Fredricksburg know exactly what they are doing, and we now use 3D Hobby Shop hardware exclusively, even when we test another brand of plane.

Of course, for the Extra SHP Sport project, while all the hardware, servo, and power system components will be the same as we use for 3D flying, we will be using a different control set up, but more on that later.

Like with all our 3DHS projects, the covering was well done.....exceptionally well done. My personal SHP is done up in the now classic yellow and black bumble bee scheme, and boy is it loud. I like this scheme because, first, I like yellow, and most importantly, it is very easy to see and keep orientation of. There is never any doubt which way this baby is headed. I hope 3DHS makes the yellow in 55" some day, because I want one. Of course, the blue and white scheme is nice too, but us old blind guys really need the yellow.

We have lost track of how many 3DHS projects we have put together and flown. This is complicated by the fact that we have recently set up a whole new batch of them for guys in my club who have discovered what a step up is to be flying these planes. Personally, I own, have owned, and fly so many 3DHS planes that I think  I'm qualified to say something about the level of quality in these kits. These are the finest mass produced items I have yet seen. They come beautifully turned out and we've never had a quality issue of any kind. We have never had to send anything back and we've never had to fix something that wasn't done right. All we do is assemble them by the book, and fly them really, really hard. They work just like they are supposed to.....if not better.

Other manufacturers please take note.

 

THE SETUP

First, I suggest you fly the plane on our recommended low rates for a bit and get used to it. If that's not enough throw for you, flip to high rate. Our set up is simply a good place to start off at. If your personal tastes want more or less, by all means, tailor the set up to what you are comfortable with,

We didn't use a lot of calculus or black magic to hit the set up on this plane. We didn't do a lot of research either. It was mostly pure dumb luck to have hit it dead on to begin with, but I do have over 200 flights on my Extra SHP in 3D trim. Not knowing where to start I simply measured the low rates on my Extra SHP and used those as the high rates on the Extra Sport. Then I tamed the low rate down a bit, moved the battery forward a bit, and we had a sport plane!

Mechanically we used the double servo arm (with one arm cut off) that comes with the HS65 servo, We put the push rod in the second hole from the inside on the servo arm (third hole for the rudder), and on the new 3D hobby Shop phenolic control horns there is only one hole anyway, so it can't possibly get any simpler.

Ailerons
I set my sport planes up at full deflection to do three rolls in five seconds, and I also use this for low rates on my 3D planes. Three roll in five seconds is a very comfortable roll rate for cranking of consecutive rolls and keeping the plane level with little jabs of up and down. Much faster than that and most people have trouble keeping up with it.

Elevator
For elevator on a sport setup I usually keep adding more until I start to lose smoothness, and then I back it off a notch. Low rate is pretty docile, but on high she becomes fairly lively.

Rudder
For high rate rudder I go for all I can steal. For low rates, most experienced pilots prefer full rudder, but newer guys might find that too hard to deal with on take offs and such. At least for the first few flights, try the rudder on low rate, and if it isn't enough, crank it up.

On our Extra Sport, we run the end points at 100% (minus whatever you need to keep the rudder from hitting the elevator) and since the setup was so perfect we never changed them. If you need a little more or less, use the end point controls or rates to tailor it to your tastes.

Exponential
In 3D you run massive exponential, but for sport flying the plane is comparatively pretty tame. Until recently I didn't even use any at all. With a little experimenting I have found that 30% (negative if you are using Futaba) is just enough to knock the edge off the handling without numbing the plane down. For this project we used that on both high and low rates. It's not a lot of expo and all it really does is make the plane seem to fly a little smoother. Of course, this isn't chiseled into stone or anything. If you want more or less, knock yourself out and dial it in. Get the plane exactly where you want it. Our setup is just a good starting point, but it works so well for us that you probably won't change much.

If you want to be ultra precise with your setup, these are the measurements we came up with for control throw:

Extra 300 Sport Setup

Ailerons High: 1 3/4"

Ailerons Low: 1/2"

Elevator High: 1 3/8"

Elevator Low: 1"

Rudder High: All you can get

Rudder Low: 3"

Throws are for each direction. CG: 3" to 3.25" behind the leading edge of the wing, measured where the wing meets the fuselage

Personally, I like 30% exponential (negative for Futaba users) on all surfaces for both high and low rates.

Center Of Gravity
For setting the CG we wanted to go a little further forward than what the manual calls for when flying 3D. We ran 2200 3S packs, and we also ran a few 3300 3s packs. On the first flight I moved the battery as far forward as it would go while still being able to get the Velcro strap secured around the it and this seemed to be just fine. We also moved it all the way back against the wing tube and it didn't seem to make much difference, so I'm not really sure that it matters.

My students prefer to run it toward the front because it makes the plane more stable, and I like it toward the rear because the plane snaps and spins a little better when more tail heavy. Either way, the plane is very steady, smooth and forgiving. Anymore I just jam the battery in and don't really care where it lands as long as it's on the tray and I can strap it down. Since the 3300 pack is heavier, we like to push that one all the way back against the spar, and while this comes out the most nose heavy configuration we tried, the Extra was still delightful to fly and even more stable than the others.

In short, the Extra performs through such a wide rage of CGs that it's not going to be bad no matter where you put the battery as long as it's on the tray. You just have to dial it in yourself until you are happy with it.

EQUIPMENT

Motor

There are a lot of good electric systems available, but we have had the most outrageous success with the Extreme Flight Torque motors and Airboss Elite ESCs. It just so happens that the 2818-900 and Airboss Elite 45 is the recommended package for the Extra SHP. The firewall is already set up to accept this motor with the blind nuts pre-installed. All the hard stuff is already done. You simply bolt it on.

This motor is just the right amount of power for sport flying on 3s batteries and a 13/6.5 prop. That prop is geared more for 3D, because that's what we run, but it works very well in this application. If you want to experiment you can optimize prop choice, just make sure you check your amp draw and keep it below 45 amps.

Most important is to get a power system that runs cool and reliably. The Extreme Flight Torque Motors and Airboss Elite ESCs are recommended for the Extra SHP for precisely those reasons. I have never had a problem with with either of these units unless it was something stupid that I did myself.....like over propping and overheating the system. Check your amp draw, and keep it below 45.......and your Extreme Flight power system should give you outstanding performance and run forever.

ESC

One of the things I find most attractive about the Airboss Elite is that it can handle up to five cells without the need for a separate BEC and all the associated rat's nest of extra wiring. This keeps things extremely simple. Plug it in and it works. If you want to run three cells, four cells or even five cells, just drop them in and change your prop to keep the amp draw below 45, or less if you motor isn't rated that high.

We placed our Airboss 45 outside of the motor box. This keeps all the wires out of the battery compartment and makes changing the battery out much easier.

It is also worth noting that the Airboss Elite ESC just works. You don't have to program anything and once you get the deans plug soldered on there isn't much to do. Just plug it in. Also of great benefit here is that the Airboss will handle up to 5s operation. If you make the move to 4s, all you do is change the battery and prop, keep your amp draw around 40-32 amps, and everything in the power system will run smooth, cool and reliably, with plenty of gut wrenching torque.

On the newer Airboss Elite 45s, no reprogramming necessary because the ESC self-detects how many cells you are running and adjusts the low voltage cutoff (LVC) accordingly. The LVC is a power-down type of cutoff, meaning that when you run your lipos down to their minimum rated voltage, power will drop off enough for you to notice and land. You've still got enough time to set up a landing approach, and you've got enough power too. The thing isn't going to just shut down and wreck your plane, so this is a nice feature.

Another nice thing about this is you can't accidentally run your lipos down too low and burn them up. My experience is that running them too low is the best way to fry a lipo battery (other than overcharging it), and new Airboss won't let you do that.

Batteries

As with all of our projects, we are using Thunder Power lithium polymer packs. Personally, I started electric R/C using Thunder Power batteries and they have served me so well that I have never felt the need to try anything else. The few times I have had a minor technical problem, Thunder Power has taken really good care of me, and any time I need any advice (which is often), Thunder Power's technical department has always been happy to steer me the right way. Since I have been following their instructions, my batteries are running cooler, longer, and I don't have a single problem.

In the picture below is the Thunder Power Extreme Series V2 3S 2200 pack in the location we few it in Don Wilson's plane for the first video. Like this, the plane balances about 1/4" ahead of the wing tube, with is just about right for sport flying. We get about 6 minutes of hard 3D flying with this pack, and about 8 minutes of slightly less intense sport flying.

The Extra SHP was designed to house 3s 2100-2200 sized batteries, but since the the airplane is so light to begin with, we figured we could get away with something larger and trade a little weight off for some more run time. Below is the Extra SHP with the Thunder Power Extreme Series V2 3S 3300 pack in the most rearward position, against the wing tube. Since this battery is heavier than the smaller 2200 pack, we need to move it back to get the CG in the same place. This is conveniently where it goes. Just jam it all the way back.

With the pack 3300 we are getting a solid 10 minutes of really good power delivery. Once we flew it for 11 and came down with 10.5v in the pack, which is as low as you want to go on an 11.1v pack. I'de say most sport fliers won't lean on it as hard as I do, so 10 minutes would be a good time to shoot for.

The Thunder Power tech people tell me that LiPo's are best used within their voltage bandwidth, say 3.5 to 4.2 volts per cell. Once you establish roughly how long it takes to hit the low end of the bandwidth, it's a good idea to use a timer and cut your flights off at about that time, if not a littler sooner. Funny thing is, after you have done this a bit you seem to develop a timer in your head and you know when to land almost by instinct. However, I've spent a lot of time flying with a timer and checking my voltage after every flight, and since I've become religious about that I've got a good idea how to treat my batteries.

In all cases during the Extra Sport project, battery temperatures were only slightly above ambient, which was sort of surprising. Since we have been flying really, really hard 3D all summer I was used to seeing 120-130 degree temperatures when ambient was 90-95 degrees. During this year's early low 80s spring, the Extra Sport was coming back with the batteries at about 80-84 degrees. I was certainly not expecting the temperatures to drop so dramatically, but sport flying is so much less demanding on the power system than intense 3D that the V2 batteries are really happy loafing along at the 40-45 or so amps we are pulling. From a discharge rate standpoint, we are hardly taxing them at all.

Servos and Such

Again, going with the standard equipment, we choose the Hi Tech HS65 servos. Where we deviated from standard is that we went with the metal gears so they would hold up should we want to use them later in something like another Ballistic Vyper, or maybe even a ballistic Extra SR Sport. Also, this way all our servos are the same for all our 47" 3DHS planes. The HS65s drop right into, with no modification, the 47"  SHP, Extra SR, Vyper, Edge 540, Katana, Yak, Aspera, EBT trainer, and the upcoming Velox VR1.

Our deepest sympathies go to Dennis Smith who lost his beloved Extra SHP in the making of this project.

Shock And Awe

The shock began when I opened the box. The sheer size of the 65" Vyper was overwhelming. Digging through the kit revealed a higher level of craftsmanship on the airframe, and higher quality hardware than I had ever seen in any ARF.  I've never seen an airplane as nice as this.
The awe began as soon as the wheels broke ground.  So smooth, so solid, so reassuring...this is the plane I have always dreamed of owning, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, so let's back up a bit.

Love Won't Wait Forever
With my background in 0.60 nitro powered AMA pattern competition, a 60-65" is what I believe to be a "real airplane." Since returning to the sport four years ago, I have searched and searched for that perfect plane that will replicate the look, feel, sensation and utter awe of the big, graceful super sonic bomber-like planes I so loved in the past. There were many disappointments and absolute, utter failures.

I had hoped that electrics had become better than this. I was beginning to become discouraged, and maybe even ready to quit again, when I discovered the 46" 3DHS Aspera. Now we're talking about a serious airplane again.

Of course, one 3DHS airplane is merely a gateway to the next, and then the next after that, so I started flying a bit of 3D with the Extra SHP, Velox, et all.

When the 46" Vyper came out, that was the plane that would allow me to do precision aerobatics and 3D, all in the same flight. No set up changes, no moving the CG around....no nothing. Just go fly 3D, and throw in precision any time you feel like it.

Now, in the 46" Vyper,  it looked like I had the plane I had always dreamed of, only something was still missing. I wasn't sure what that was until the 65" Vyper arrived, I opened the box, and the sheer size  shocked me.

One look at the big Vyper, though, and I knew that love won't wait forever.

The B52

There's a lot to be awed by too.  My first reaction was I couldn't believe how utterly immense this plane is. I've had 65" planes before, in the old AMA pattern days, but I sure don't remember them taking up this much space. Certainly the fuselage is much taller, but I think it's longer too. The wing chord is definitely much wider, and because electrics use such large diameter props, it sits much higher off the deck than an old style AMA pattern ship. It might be the same wingspan, but it is much bigger all the way around.

Those of you who have seen my reports are probably familiar with the kitchen bar glamor shot I take of most of my planes. I'll assemble a plane and leave it there for a day or so, out in the open where I can admire it. Only problem is that the B52 Vyper is so huge it shuts down the whole kitchen. I can hardly get into the fridge.

VYPER OVERVIEW

I have always wanted to build a big pattern plane like this in electric, but battery and power system prices made this an expensive pipe dream. Lately things have changed a lot with lipo prices tumbling and modern mass production making an ARF this size much more affordable. It looks like we aren't that far away from this size plane becoming the standard again.

The Vyper was designed to fly both precision pattern and high energy 3D. That's two different ends of the spectrum. It's not reasonable to expect a plane to be capable of two such different disciplines, but Scott Stoops hit the design nearly perfect. For precision the Vyper is silky smooth and solid, and tracks like it is tied to giant rails in the sky. For 3D it will drop into an alpha on command quite easily, harrier well and hover as nicely as anything I have flown. While it probably wasn't part of what Stoops was shooting for, set up milder the Vyper also makes a superb sport plane and aerobatic trainer.

The Vyper is an extremely versatile aircraft. You can overpower it and it's a high velocity bullet that is exceptionally solid at very high speed, or you can shoot for a more reasonable 180 watts per pound (WPP) and gets a very floaty, docile and easy to fly plane that still has enough power to punch out of a hover.

I was fortunate enough to get one of the very first 46" Vypers off the boat. I fell in love with this plane instantly, but was tragically stupid enough to destroy it before I had truly learned it's potential. A second 46" Vyper, with a little wiser approach, worked out much better. Dropping from 4s power to 3s and a bigger propeller, the new Vyper became such a sweet and easy flying plane. This is part of what led us to use our existing 55" Extra SHP equipment in the big Vyper...because it would be a perfect 180WPP.

You can read more about our latest little Vyper here:

The Vyper Strikes, Part 1:

The Vyper Strikes, Part 2:

FLYING

The Grand Entrance.
You probably know how it is at clubs when someone brings out something new. If it is a plane people see all the time, you'll get a few well wishes, and maybe a question or two. Show up with something as off the scale awesome as the big Vyper, though, and it is hardly out of the car before the shock wave makes it's way up and down the pits, and people start flooding in from both directions.

There were lots of ooohs and awes, followed by gasping the moment the Vyper lifted off.

Shock and awe indeed.

In The Air
This is a bit of an odd deja vu for me because we just finished the 46" Vyper report and I find myself thinking many of the same things about the large one. I could copy and paste the flying text from that article and it would apply perfectly to the big Vyper. That is not being just lazy. That's being accurate. You can find the link to the flight report earlier on this page. If you read that, you'll have a good idea what to expect when you fly the big Vyper, only it's lots, lots better.

The most notable difference is how much smoother and more solid the big Vyper is. Obviously a lot of this is going to come simply from it being a larger aircraft, because everything else being equal, bigger flies better. Everything is  is smoother,  everything is  easier,  and everything just looks better.

At high speed the little Vyper is very solid, but is almost alarming how the Vyper holds onto it's groove with an iron fist. When you point the Vyper, it locks in and won't move until you tell it to. I can't overstate how much easier this makes the plane to fly. The plane never fights you by wandering off from where you want it to go, which makes things a lot easier and less stressful for the pilot.

If you add to that how much confidence a rock solid plane like this gives you, you can pretty easily see what a satisfying plane the Vyper is to fly.

NAIL

First, just so there is no misunderstanding, I need to be absolutely clear about one thing: This is absolutely the finest plane I have ever owned.

As I said earlier, I've been looking for that perfect plane that would replace the nitro monsters I grew up flying, only powered by clean, quiet electricity. Just when I thought I had found that in the Aspera, I discovered 3D, and wanted something that would do that too. There is also something really special about a larger plane, and the big Vyper certainly has that going for it. These are the things that cinched the deal for me on this plane.

 It's not only the plane's beauty and size that sets it apart from everything else at the field. It's also the Vyper's smooth, graceful, commanding presence in the air that makes her so special. That, and who doesn't like to have the baddest plane at the field?

Looks, size and performance, and a lot of something extra that I can't quite define.

Or maybe it's just shock and awe.

The 65" Vyper ARF

The kit itself is something else. While we are used to high quality in elite arfs, the Vyper is on a completely new level from anything I have seen. Quite simply, quality and craftsmanship is off the scale. 3DHS really upped their already considerable game for this one. The fit and finish of the cowling, canopy and such is micrometer perfect and the covering work is flawless. Again, this isn't something new for 3DHS planes, but you have to see how nice this ARF is to understand what I mean.

I appreciate this maybe more than most people who started with quality arfs and perhaps take this level of craftsmanship for granted. We used to build our own pattern planes, and while it was the flying that was supposed to count at contests, if you had a ratty looking plane your scores would suffer. As a result, we went to absurd levels making the most beautiful things we could. Disgustingly nice planes, but it was a hell of a lot of work.  After years of knocking my head against the wall sanding, painting and polishing, something as perfect out of the box as this big Vyper just floored me.

The Vyper makes liberal use of carbon fiber throughout it's construction. In the front, carbon tubes brace the landing gear block, and I doubt you could pull that out without completely destroying the plane and whatever it hit. There is also a lot of carbon bracing along the fuselage sides all the way to the tail, as well as numerous carbon braces throughout the battery and receiver area. The wing spar locating tube on most planes is Fiberglas, but on this plane it is thick carbon tubing to add a lot of extra strength in a critical, high stress area. This is all in addition to 3DHS' usual carbon wing tube and landing gear.

The hardware package, as is usual for a 3DHS plane, absolutely top drawer. Included are nice, beefy ball links for connecting the pushrodes, as well as threaded pull cable connectors. Also included are 2mm lock nuts for the bolts that hold the ball links on. The bolts are a little long, so I used the lock nuts, and then double nutted a regular 2mm nut on top of that. No way that's ever coming apart.

EQUIPMENT

I was really lucky that a lot of things came together for me to get a big Vyper. Once I switched my 55" fleet over to 4s, I had a new Torque 4016 motor, Airboss 80ESC and four Thunder Power 5s 3850 Extreme V2 batteries just sitting there doing nothing. You 55" SHP pilots who are flying 5s can get into this plane a lot more painlessly than you think by re-using that gear.

By extremely good fortune, this makes the perfect lightweight, moderate power set up for the big Vyper. I have been going this way anyway on all my planes and this would have been my #1 pick for a power system. It was just a massive bonus that I already had the stuff, and not having to buy this gear made the whole project very affordable.

By using this lightweight set up, we saved considerable weight on the motor, and  batteries, all while not giving up anything noticable on power. Our Vyper came out at 6lbs, 15.5 ounces, and might be the lightest one built so far.

Unfortunately the 5s 3850 mah batteries will only give you about 4-5 minutes of run time. This was enough, however, to convince me to make the investment in four new Thunder Power 5s 5000 Pro Power 45C packs. This pushes the weight of the plane up another 5 ounces, but we are already extremely light.

All the video in this report was shot using the 5s 3850 packs. When we get our 5s 5000 packs, we'll shoot some more and report back on how the Vyper responds to those packs.

Torque 4016 Motor
My affection for Torque motors is well documented, and it is no different with the 4016. This is essentially the same Torque 4014 that has worked so well in our 55" planes, but with a different winding to produce more power on 5s operation. On my 55" Extra SHP and 4s batteries, the 4016 was good, but where it comes to life is with 5 cell batteries.

At first I was skeptical that a motor this small and light would haul such a big airplane as the 65" Vyper and it's additional 2lbs or so extra weight. My friend Matt (Byhisgrace) did the math and figured the 4016 on 5s in a 7lb, 6 ounce Vyper would produce a nearly perfect 176 watts per pound (WPP). I have recently found that 180WPP is exactly what I like on my 42" Slick and all my 55" planes. It's enough power to punch out and not struggle when you want some altitude, but it is not so much that it overwhelms the airframe or makes it difficult to fly. Actually, it's just right.

The 4016 is a lower 500 KV, and thus it has it's own, unique sound, something not all that unusual for any Torque motor. The 4016 sounds sweet , but it is surprisingly quiet, especially considering it is such a large motor turning such a huge propeller. Mostly, it sounds unbelievably smooth, which isn't surprising considering that's exactly how it runs. More than my other Torque motors, the 4016 does less whirring more whooshing. Sort of keeps with the super sonic bomber theme, doesn't it?

Airboss 80 ESC
This is another piece that has served me so well. While the Airboss will handle up to 6 cell operation, such a large plane running such large servos is going to over tax the onboard BEC. While I hated to disconnect something I trust so much, both Ben of 3DHS and Chris of Extreme Flight insited it was necessary to run a seperate BEC instead of the Airboss' onboard unit. This was a simple matter of sliding the red wire out of the plug that goes into the receiver and shrink wrapping it out of the way.

Something we learned on the little Vyper was how convenient it is to mount the ESC on the bottom of the motorbox instead of the side. I had to add about 4 inches onto the wire that goes from the ESC to the battery (which you don't have to do unless you have absolutely no other choice), but like this  it keeps all the wires routed outside of the battery box.  This makes changing out the battery much easier than if you were snagging it on a bunch of loose wires.

This also puts the ESC right behind the Vyper's giant cooling hole in the cowling. The ESC gets absolutely blasted with cooling air in this location. As hard as I fly the Vyper, this is a good thing.

To replace the onboard unit we went with a Castle Creations 10 amp BEC. This unit is sufficient and works well, though we're planning to replace this with a 20 amp unit as soon as we can get one, just for the added safety margin. One nice thing about the Castle is that you can use their Castle Link cord to program the BEC on your computer. We set the the BEC to run the servos on 6 volts, and like this they really scream.They are actually a bit frightening sounding, and speed is about doubled.

As you can see. the BEC is mounted out of the way with velcro, but still in the cooling airflow

Fortunately everything else about the airboss remains the same, from it's smooth, linear throttle response to it's legendary reliability. Airboss ESCs are one thing I have always had absolute, unshakable confidence in. We would not have done this project if we couldn't use an Airboss.

Batteries
The biggest bit of luck we had in this project was how perfect my Thunder Power 5s 3850 20C Extreme V2 packs are for this plane. These packs had seen a lot of duty in my 55" planes, but they have been sitting idle since I converted that fleet to 4s operation. While they won't give us the same kind of grunt that Thunder Power's newer 30C Pro Power packs will, but there is still plenty there.  We wanted 180WPP, and these packs put us squarely there.

These packs are about two years old and have been thoroughly thrashed. I think any other brand would have crapped out long ago, but I had enough confidence in these to build a $1000 airplane around them. I got my money out of them a long time ago, and there is more to come. Some people have a bit of trouble justifying spending the extra to buy the best, but once you are dropping this kind of jack, you simply cannot afford to cut the corner and settle for anything less.

One small negative here is that I'm only getting about four and a half minutes of run time. What we really needed for this plane is some Thunder Power 45C 5s 5000 Pro Power packs . That should bump us up to our customary 6 minute flights, and we'll certainly get more power.  As of this writing, those are on the way from our friends in Las Vegas, and we'll get some video as soon as those are here.

Servos

Here's another thing we often take for granted. Servos in the old days were twitchy and sometimes they could cause you a big problem when they failed. There are lots of brands, but Hi Tech has clearly emerged as the unchallenged leader. Hi Tech servos work flawlessly and last nearly forever, and again, anything less won't do. On top of that, Hi Tech service is legendary for going above and beyond, so it is no wonder lots of other brands gather dust sitting on the hobby shop shelves.

For the Vyper we chose the recommended HS985MGs. These ran about $250 for four of them, even including the Tower Super Saver discount, but remember how much money you are already spending, and buying the best servos simply safeguards your investment. I'm sure if you scratched around a bit you could find them for less.

SET UP

Ailerons
The push rod is threaded on both ends and the ball links merely thread on. Ball link is secured on both ends with a case hardened 2mm bolt and aircraft locking nut. Here we use the longest standard arm that comes with the servo.

Elevator
Simple is good when you are talking about important mechanisms. This is a very secure, low maintenance arrangement, which again is the best way to go when you are talking about something that can cause the airplane to crash if it fails. This is pretty much the same set up and hardware used on the ailerons.

Rudder
Using the lightweight power set up, we needed to get the weight out of the tail, and this meant using rudder pull/pull cables. I'm becoming much more comfortable using these. After doing a few and learning a trick or two, there is really nothing to it. Again, this is the standard Hi Tech arm that comes with the servo. The only downside to this arrangement is that you have to remove the ball link from the servo to adjust it, but then again, once that is done, forget about it and go fly. You get one of these systems set up you probably won't need to ever touch it again over the lifetime of the aircraft.

Receiver Installation
Using the lightweight set up, our battery goes right up against the firewall. This left an enormous amount of room to put the receiver almost anywhere we wanted. By placing the receiver on the battery tray, just in front of the wing tube,  the wiring and antenna stay clear of getting caught up in the rudder servo, plus it is as close to the CG as you can get it.  This was the best place to put it for a clean installation, so that's where it went.

CG
Right out of the manual, though that is just a smidge forward of neutral. I like them like this, but you don't know where absolute neutral is until you find it. We'll move the battery back to absolute neutral and then move it back forward just enough to get the plane to drop the nose a little when it's inverted. Right now I'de say if we aren't there it's really close.

BONUS

One would definately have to be a Vyper fan to have made it this far into the report, so as a little reward I'm posting all the raw artwork I have for this plane.

The Vyper Strikes, Part II

In the first installment of this report, we went over the equipment and set up of our new Vyper. We also explained why this plane will run 3s power instead of our customary 4s.

You can find that here:     The Vyper Strikes


This is my favorite kind of report because it's all about the flying. The new Vyper completely surprised me, because with a more moderate power system it is such an incredibly gentle and sweet flying plane. We had seen this before when we set up my friend Steve's 3s Vyper for sport, but I think I was expecting the plane to be harder to fly with a full 3D set up, and it really wasn't.

FLYING

Things that are all things to all people generally aren't. Of course, being a Scott Stoops' design, I knew the Vyper would be fabulous, but I was a bit skeptical that the plane would do everything well. Even the best designed airframes will sacrifice performance in one area to gain it in another. Nothing is perfect, but the Vyper certainly surprised me.

Most first day out with a brand new type of plane is spent tweeking mixes, adjusting CG and such...basic trimming stuff...but I just started having fun with the Vyper right away. I remembered the mixes from my first one and they worked perfectly on the new plane. With one notch of up trim she was trimmed. Later I moved the battery back and got the CG right where I wanted it, and had to take the trim back out. So this is basically a perfectly straight airframe. They all take a little something to get them right, but not this one.

At first it was hard to believe with the heavilly swept wing that a high pitch rotation wouldn't snap the plane, but I kept pushing harder and harder until there was no doubt the Vyper is very solid here. Generally pattern planes get all wobbly when you snatch the stick full back, so it was a little hard to believe you can do a beautiful point roll on one pass, and a vicious wall on the next, but with the Vyper you can.

Having flown dozens and dozens of pattern planes over the years I know they are superbly stable as long as you fly them the right way. It's when you get really careless and sloppy that you run into some of their quirks. Even the Aspera isn't perfect in this respect. Once I forgot what I was doing and tried a wall with my Aspera, and let's just say that it "surprised" me.

The Vyper has absolutely no bad habits. It does get a bit wobbly if you try an elevator on low rates. You simply don't have the control authority to pitch it past an unstable non-flying condition and into alpha. It's not uncontrollable or anything, but it does warn you that it doesn't like it. Simply flipping to high rates makes it all go completely away. On high rates the Vyper elevators almost about as well as the SHP. Maybe it will do it better as I learn more about what the plane likes, but for now it is still way more than good enough.

The Vyper's overwhelming strongest suit is it's knife edge (KE) ability. Right away I was doing slow rolls that stretched from one end of the field to the other, and it could have kept going too, except for our airspace limitations. Point rolls and KE circles were just as pretty, and easy too. Even with reduced 3s power, the Vyper does beautiful KE loops.

The Vyper has so much rudder authority you don't do much more that put a little pressure on it to hold the plane in a KE, and the first few slow rolls pitched up pretty hard because I wasn't used to this and over controlled it. Once I figured that out, slow and point rolls were as straight as if they were on a string.

Also benefiting from this amazingly powerful rudder are stall turns. I like to keep just a little throttle on, and when you hit the rudder the Vyper does a 180 and heads straight back down nearly through the same air turbulence it created on the way up. The plane does stall turns as well as a dedicated pattern ship like the Aspera.

Flat spins with the Vyper as very smooth and controllable. When you let off the sticks she stops right where you tell her to. It's very easy to do a three (or more) turn spin and have it come out pointed in exactly the direction you want it to.

Outside snaps are very clean and controllable. Inside snaps are just as crisp on low rates, but on high there is so much throw that the contols act like parachutes, and most 3D planes will wobble though instead of snaping cleanly. You can put in the right amount of throw with your thumbs, or you can flip to low rate. I use low, but I need to learn how to snap the Vyper on high rates with finesse. The Vyper still does better inside snaps than the rest of my 3D planes.

Pitch authority is really good, but it won't rotate nearly as hard as a Velox or Edge. It's more like an SHP this way. It will rotate respectfully but not violently. Of course, the Vyper is a 3D precision hybrid, so that long tail movement it is going to make it give up some pitch authority in exchange for pitch stability and smoothness. We're doing to dial up the elevator throw to 55 degrees next time out and I am sure that will help.

It was definitely surprising to see how fast the tail blows over the nose in a KE spin. With it's pitch stability I was not expecting this, but the Vyper does a beautiful KE spin that goes round as fast something like a 57" Extra SC, which is pretty good.

So far I haven't put any differential in my ailerons because it doesn't seem to need any. Whatever type of roll, or sequence of rolls, I want to do, the Viper does them very axially.

The Vyper, did however, really surprise me in one respect. I generally don't use my low rates because my program moves from one maneuver to the next so quickly. I simply don't have the time to flip the switch because I am too busy setting up the next maneuver. This means if I want to crank off a slow or point rolls, or even fly around fast, I just have to live with the plane being jumpy from all that throw and fly around it. Either that or I do all my precision in a straight sequence, and then flip to high and fly 3D.

With the Vyper I leave it on high rates and move from precision to 3D and back, over and over in one smooth sequence. The plane is so smooth at high speeds and high rates that it really isn't much different from a dedicated pattern plane. In fact, I think I'm getting to where I can fly better pattern with the Vyper than even the Aspera.

The only time I used low rates was when I wanted to do three perfect consecutive rolls in five seconds, like we did in the old AMA style pattern. I've got my low rate set up to roll that speed with the stick laid over, and I use little jabs of up and down elevator to keep it level. That is the only time I use low rate at all.

The Vyper hovers very nicely because all that rudder authority means you don't move that stick very much. With the bigger 13/6.5 prop, torque is very nearly overcoming the ailerons, and I'll be more comfortable once I crank in a little more throw. I can get that quite easily by turning up the end points a little.

Harrier is the one place the Vyper won't quite keep up with a dedicated 3D machine like the Edge 540. The Vyper probably harriers as well as many dedicated 3D planes from other manufacturers, but Scott Stoops' pure 3D planes, like again, the Edge 540, are so effortless in this respect that it is almost like cheating. Perhaps the Edge just has me spoiled.

The Vyper still harriers reasonably enough, though, and I was comfortable doing it on the deck right away. It was just a little sloppy, but it's probably my bad technique. There is nothing wrong with the harriers in the videos of Ben, Scott and KM flying the Vyper. I'm going to work on harrier pretty hard with this plane. It is the only area where it's taking a little extra effort to master, but any challenge that addresses a weakness in your flying is a good one to take on.

Finally, I don't believe I have ever owned a plane that lands as beautifully as the Vyper, even in 3D trim, with rearward CG, and on high rates. You just simply fly it in like it is any other sport plane and she will almost set herself down. The first few times she will sail right by you because you just about have to stop her dead in her tracks for her to flair out. The Vyper lands at an extremely low speed, with full control until she rolls to a stop.  My landings are generally sloppy because after 6 minutes of intense 3D, I'm so wrung out that don't care, but with the Vyper all you have to do is pay attention and the landings are almost always picture perfect.

Overall, the first, and lasting impression I get from the Vyper is it's sublime smoothness and precision, with an easy, forgiving nature. I'de say it is even smoother to fly than the Aspera. I know that is pretty hard to believe, but check the videos.

Finally, lots of electrics don't do so well in the wind. Electrics, especially 3D types, are generaly lightweight, and unstable air can toss them around pretty badly. Of all the 47" class planes, I have owned, the Vyper is the best in the wind. The vyper is my favorite plane for windy days because it just cuts through it like it's not there. Obviously there will be times it is too much wind for the Vyper, but not often. In the last video below, we're flying in 15mph winds with gusts to 25mph. You can see the Vyper get knocked around in a hover, but the rest of the time you can see the conditions hardly affect it.

NAIL

Where to start, eh? It is not easy to sum it up in a few words when you are talking about a plane that will fly beautiful precision sequences, and then with the flip of a switch go right into wild 3D, but the Vyper does it, and extremely well too.

I don't need one plane to fly precision and another to fly 3D. I don't even need to use my rates. I just fly the Vyper and it excells at both, just by being what it is. Since the Vyper can be almost anything I want it to be, I am sure it will become my new go-to plane.

Being so different, it took a little time to discover what the Vyper likes, and how to get the most out of both it and myself, but now it is coming pretty quickly. I can see that whatever I want to do, the Vyper is extremely capable all the way around.

My thoughts on the Vyper have changed rapidly every time I have flown it. Initially I figured it wouldn't do precision as well as a dedicated precision plane like the Aspera, nor do 3D as well as the full blown 3D Edge 540. Things that are all things to all people generally aren't.

But that was before the Vyper.