...fast and fun The little Fox is certainly no common-or-garden glider; it has real turn of speed, as well as looking beautifully elegant in the air with its slender wings and short fuselage. Once comfortable with the Fox's characteristics, which doesn't take long at all, I was able to having flying steep banks and low passes over the field at speed.
It's remarkable that this was possible on just its second flight; a testament to just how straight and true the Fox flies.
The only concern with the fox, as I believe, is a propensity to spin at low speed. As such, I think I'll be treating the Fox as something of a speed machine, flying it well up on power for the most part and coming straight in for landings...
...high quality with some missing promises The Raptor glider arrives double boxed and with all the components inside bubble wrapped and bagged and taped in place; in short no likelihood of anything getting scratched or damaged in transit. The fuselage is very impressive; nicely moulded with a smooth finish and a remarkably curvy shape. The wing mount also looks very secure, with the leading edges of the wings tucked into the fuselage and located with a small pin, and then screwed in place at the trailing edge.
The wings are also nicely covered, and apparently feature GRP reinforcement of the D-box leading edge. I say apparently as no GRP is visible at the wing root and it sounds like balsa when you tap on it, so I'll have to take their word for it. The wings are also supposed to include "smarty pull-wires" for installing the wing servo extension leads, however these wings seem to be without that handy feature, unfortunately. Also apparently also lacking are the promised Cunning Simple-Lock Cabin Cover, and the Finished Servo Horn Screw-hole, of which I can find no evidence in either the wings or the tailplanes. A pity, as these minor annoyances rather spoil the enjoyment of what is a very high quality and well presented ARF package...
...so you don't break your prop The 1.5m Fox from R2hobbies comes fitted with a 30A Flycolor ESC, the default setting of which is "unbraked". Unfortunately I only realised this as the Fox came in to land off a short approach, with the prop still busily whirring.
The Flycolor ESC is a Shen Zhen Electronics unit, with manual available here. As far as the setting the brake is concerned, it's the second noise-tone heard after you power-up the ESC, with transmitter throttle stick having been set to full "up" beforehand. Flipping the throttle from fully "up" to "down" at this second noise-tone should change the ESC setting from "unbraked" to "braked", what you need for a glider. Additional setting changes can be done as required, following the table on pages 5-6 of the manual...
...it flies beautifully This morning, after a rather frustrating finish to get the 1.5m Fox glider ready, principally messing around trying to install a canopy restraint, I finally had the Fox at the airfield ready to fly. I'd set the ailerons rates fairly low (65% travel with 40% expo), having read that the full aileron travel shouldn't be more than about 6mm, and also considering that the Fox has very long ailerons, so the turning response should be sharp. The morning was cool and calm with the sky mostly overcast with heavy clouds, perfect for trying the Fox out.
I threw the Fox up on about two-thirds throttle and it flew off pretty level although dipping a dip, needing a few inputs to the elevator while I set a few clicks of up-trim. And, with one click of aileron trim, the Fox was flying straight and true.
The one hiccup on the flight regarded the prop; while full-power in a dive it started buzzing noisily, possibly as a result of having to push the prop mount forward so the propellor blades can fold flat. Anyway, as a result of the ESC not coming with a default brake setting which it really should for a glider, I snapped one of the prop blades on landing. This decided me on getting a new spinner and some slightly smaller blades which will better suit the motor. With these, and up-spec batteries compared to the one I borrowed from the Floater Jet for the first flight, the I look forward to flying the Fox again..
...a nice quality kit The R2Hobbies 1.5m Thermal Fox Glider arrives double boxed, it's plain brown box wrapped with a dense foam shell. So, as might be expected, the contents were safe and intact on opening.
R2 take care that all parts are individually bubble-wrapped, and taped in place in the box, so there's no movement during shipping to avoid damage.
The kit is very good quality overall, with the wings looking very neat with a smooth white covering and, this being the PNP version, have servos, linkages and covers all pre-installed. As far as the covering goes, the only disappointment was the tail-plane, the underside of which was seriously wrinkled, although I think this may just need a hairdryer to iron things out. The fuselage looks of excellent quality, being lightweight and the fibreglass construction making it strong. The surface finish is very good as well. Cosmetically, the only gripe is that there is a thin unpainted stripe running down the fuselage where the halves join, the components obviously having been spray-painted before being fitted together. Inside the fuselage, the motor is installed with bullet plugs ready to connect to the 30A ESC, likewise is the elevator servo and linkage. A foam wheel is also pre-installed, although this is not shielded inside; I wonder what the risk is of water-splash inside the the fuselage?
The only thing that looks like it needs work is the canopy, which I'm not sure will fit just like that, being just a blow-moulded plastic shell. Options to keep it on, including wire or magnets, seem hard to configure when its that thin and flexible. The biggest issue, however, seems the incidence of the tailplane, which is apparently negative by 3mm and looking at it certainly confirms that. With this slot being machined out of the moulded tail, one wonders why R2 hasn't bothered to fix this well-known problem before...
