AJ Acuity 62"

Out-of-Box:

- Very sturdy packaging what with the wooden reinforcing of the box panels.

- All components nicely held and protected in place by bubble wrap, plastic bags and tape. 

- A major negative is the rudder post which is inclined to the left by 2 to 3 degrees!! 

- At odds with the manual provided, the wingspan is 60" (1524mm) and the length is 62" (1582mm). See page 1 of the manual.

Build:

- Continuing the rudder post issue:  When the wings and stabiliser are in place and nicely parallel, the rudder post is off to the left.

- The recommended 70mm spinner is just too large for the nose! I have ended up using a 63mm spinner. This also looks a bit strange but is a lot better than an oversize spinner.

- The undercarriage hold-down bolt layout is such that on landing on a rougher field, the rear, horizontal portion of the U/C legs get forced upward due to the backward loading on the U/C. The problem would be the U/C leg pushing on the fuselage side and crushing it. Flight trials have shown that this does not happen. So, at this stage this is not an issue.

- In general, the build went very well.

- I found that the rudder required a rear located mini servo + a 40g lead weight, near this servo, to balance up the 6S 5000mah batteries I am using. There would have been a lot more tail weight added if the Pull-Pull rudder operation had been selected.

- 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.

Power Considerations:

- Using the 6S 5000 40C battery, Dualsky ECO4130C-470 motor and 15x10 APC prop was supposed to yield about 1606watts at the ESC. This equates to a theoretical 546w/kg a long way past the 450w/kg considered a minimum requirement for a pattern plane. Certainly, the plane has plenty of get up and go!

- After a full 3:50 minute 15 component sequence, the plane lands with all cool components - nice.

Comments after about 10 flights:

- Even at high power the plane produces very low noise - pleasingly quiet in flight. I like calling it "quiet authority".

- The very soft, "low bounce" Dubro wheels are very quiet even on the rough grass strip! The grease and snug tight wheel collars (no play along the shaft) contribute to this quiet performance. Unfortunately the tail wheel is a little lose and rattley.

- The plane has a slight tendency to tip forward when taxiing. This is largely due to the undercarriage being well raked back, placing the wheels a bit too close to the COG. Additionally, the field has rather longish cut grass which has thickened up over the summer.

- Some teething problems with aileron servos that would not center causing an inability to maintain stable flight without rolling. Also, the servos buzzed loudly while failing to center. Turned out to be slightly long servo horn splined adapter that would bind onto the servo top casing when the retaining screw was tightened up!!

Overall Performance:

- Altogether a very nice performing plane. I am well pleased. The bent rudder post would be the only lasting negative.

- Super plane, top marks for Andrew Jesky.