The Electrafun XP

*** Hi there - since I wrote this I have changed my mind about a few of the things I wrote in this post, and have also put together some photos etc to help those getting an Electrafun XP ready for its first flight. Feel free to read what I originally wrote of course, but also take a look at:


http://www.ozrcflying.com/2007/01/electrafun-review.html


Begin original post:

A friend has asked for details about my plane, the Electrafun XP. Rather than answer him directly I though I would put the lot up here for any other interested parties.

The Electrafun XP is a Ready To Fly (RTF), electric powered, three channel aircraft designed as a trainer plane which I think (you know - with all my experience in these matters) is suitable for beginners, particularly if they combine it with simulator time. However, with respect to my notes on this plane and my opinion of it, do consider, it is the only one I own at the moment.

What it costs and what you get

My plane cost around $150 from Super Toyworld in Fyshwick ACT. I've seen the plane advertised on the web down to around $130, but would suggest if you buy over the web you make sure you are buying from a true RC Hobby shop, and that they are in the same city as you, and reasonably close to you.

The Electrafun comes with everything in the box:

1. The fuselage (already assembled, all radio gear installed etc).
2. Two wings (a spare one for when you bust the first).
3. Two sets of tail planes (elevator and rudders) - once again the spares are for accidents.
4. A fast charger.
5. Two battery packs.
6. Undercarriage (essentially useless - don't use)
7. 4 channel radio controller.
8. All the radio gear in the plane - three sets of servos etc - but don't worry you don't need to know anything about them.
9. Manual and a somewhat amusing DVD on how to fly the plane.

The four channel radio set is one of the big bonuses of the kit. That's because the radio set can graduate with you when you are finished with the Electrafun. As it was put to me, the electronics and electricals in an RC plane, represents the majority of its cost. The radio controller, servos, receiver, engine, batteries etc are the greater portion of the $150 odd you pay for the plane. One advantage of the Electrafun over other beginner planes is 1. It really does fly, and 2. You can take your RC gear out of it to an advanced trainer when you are finished with it. This means you next plane will probably only cost $70-80 when you are ready to retire the Electrafun.

Where to get it

I know people hate paying more for stuff than they have to, but seriously, for a difference of $20-30 consider going to a real hobby shop, for a few reasons:

1. The kit quality on the Electrafun can be a bit random. I guess most are fine, but I had problems with a faulty charger, and the tail plane assembly not sitting parallel to the wings. With the help of Super Toyworld both these matters were addressed to my satisfaction (replacement in the case of the charger, being sold a cheap fuselage in the case of the other because I had broken the carbon fibre rod to the tail plane when trying to "correct" it).
2. The bits of advice they give you will be very valuable. I've put some of their advice in this post for example. I wouldn't know it so early in my flying unless they told it to me.
3. Buying from a nearbyish store will give you ready access to spares. This is one of the Electrafun's strong points. New wings, and new tail assemblies are readily available and reasonably priced ($12 and $6 I was told).
4. The hobby shop will be keen to see you in the hobby. They will keep you away from airplanes that aren't appropriate (they should anyway) connect you with others that are doing the same thing. Super Toyworld even run a clinic for first time flyers every week (I haven't been yet, but will try and get there some time).


Putting it together

Once you take the plane out of the box, watch the DVD and read the instructions it will then take you about 15 minutes to put the plane together for the first time. The wing attaches to the fuselage with rubber bands. The tail assembling simply screws into the carbon fibre tail rod. Just connect the push rods before you screw the tail assembly in place and you are done.

Yes, it is that straightforward.

By the way, consider going for the middle position on the control arms. The Electrafun has three positions you can put the push rods into making it sluggish, medium or responsive to controls. The sluggish position is so sluggish I think you will be frustrated by how unresponsive the plane is - this is particularly so if you have some simulator time.

If your model does not trim correctly (you can't get the control surfaces to a neutral position even using the trim tabs on your radio set) then consider just using some pliers to increase the angle of the bends in the control arm - this should move the control surface a little more in the direction you need.

Flying it

The Electrafun XP is a three channel plane. You get control of rudder, elevator and throttle. The controls are placed on the controller in accordance with the normal RC layout.

Left stick:
Up-Down: Elevator
Left-Right: Airlerons (not present on this plane).

Right stick:
Up-Down: Throttle
Left-Right: Rudder.

On this plane, which has a high dihedral wing (meaning the wings angle up from the horizontal, giving the model a self correcting nature) the rudder makes the plane bank. The elevator can be used to make the turn faster as well as maintaing altitude depending on the angle of bank.

If you bank the plane to far, it will go into what is called a stall turn - this is where a rudder plane is different to an airleron plane. The airleron plane will simply fly upside down (and rapidly plummet towards the ground because the lift is acting in the wrong direction). The rudder only plane will stall turn, and provided there is enough altitude, with a little up elevator, recover at the bottom of the dive.

As I mentioned in a previous post your first flight will be an exhilarating and probably frightening thing. Do yourself a favour and get FMS, and the vortex extreme model, a playstation style controller for you PC, and practice flying in the simulator. Otherwise your experience will be like mine, where I was closing the throttle when I wanted up elevator and uselessly pushing the airleron stick from side to side when I wanted to turn.

Prepping the Plane

There are a few things you can do to improve the survivability of your Electrafun. Firstly buy some packing tape - the clear stuff will leave your plane looking nicer at the end of it, but apart from aesthetics there is nothing wrong with the brown stuff either

Put a length of tape along the entire leading edge of the wing, folding it around the leading edge (so half the tape is above the leading edge, half below), and put the tape at double thickness from about the quarter mark and three quarter mark to the nearest wing tip. Try and make sure the tape is as smooth as possible against the wing, but it doesn't have to be perfect so don't stress. The purpose of this tape is to give the wing tips a little more stiffness, not much but just enough to hopefully prevent the wing tips folding in an extreme maneuver. This isn't so much a problem with a pristine wing, but one which has had a buster may have a fold in the foam of the wing, which may result in the wing not having enough stiffness in the air. The tape treatment will help.

On the trailing edge of the wing do the same thing, except also put a double layer of packing tape of length about 20cm centred at the middle of the trailing edge (as in near the propeller). The purpose of this tape is to stop the propeller cutting the wing in the event of a crash under power, and the wing dislodging and obstructing the propeller.

If you have birds of prey likely to harass your plane (magpies for example) I would suggest some additional treatments. Near the centre on the trailing edge (so once again near the prop) use some more tape on both top and bottom of the wing so that there tape covering the wing from the trailing edge, to about a third of the way toward the leading edge. This will probably only take a single length of packing tape for the top and one length for the bottom. This tape is designed to stop a bird of prey from gripping and tearing the wings. I'm guessing a wedge tailed eagle will still make short work of your plane, but for smaller birds such as magpies, this should be enough to stop them from tearing pieces off the wing.

Repairs

Simple - don't crash and you won't need to. Yeah right!

Take your role of packing tape, and get some foam safe super glue and araldite. Although I haven't experienced it with the Electrafun foam and I am told by others that normal super glue eats Electrafun foam - that isn't my experience, but you'd best use foam safe CA like this.

If you brake a tail (as I have, the same tail - twice) then provided it fits well enough together then glue it (with foam safe super glue), hold until it sets and then reinforce the joint with some packing tape. Obviously make sure you don't put the packing tape on the actual control surface (because your controls wont work, or wont work as well as they did).

Araldite, is very strong. In fact I have had the tail snap within 2 cms of a joint repaired with araldite, suggesting that araldite is stronger than the foam. However, araldite is heavy, a pain to use, and smelly. However, it can do a job super glue can't. If you need to fill space you can put a dob of araldite in there. After a pretty hard crash I had the holes in the elevator panel elongated, meaning that the elevator panel would necessarily sit in position. I used araldite to fill in parts of the elongated hole, so that the screw would only fit through were it was supposed to. By the way, don't bother with araldite with hole in the wing. Glue the foam together (if there is any left) and just use tape to give a smooth finish.

Foam safe super glue seems fine for most repairs in my opinion. Remember to back it up with tape over the same area (regardless of whether you use araldite or super glue).

Aerobatics

When you feel up to it, the Electrafun can:

- Stall turn.
- With a great deal of encouragement, and a full battery, can do loops.

That's about it.

Summary

This plane is cheap, its components are reasonably tough and forgiving, can usually be easily repaired, and can be replaced where necessary. It behaves predictably in the air (provided wind is light), and gives you radio and other gear that you can take to your next plane when you are ready to graduate. In fact, it is clear that this plane is designed to draw you into the hobby, rather than just get some bucks of you. My experiences have been good. Feel free to post if your differ.