RAK402
Key Veteran
Location: Alhambra, CA
My Posts This: Topic Forum | I have now flown the VNR3D about 14 times, today in slight wind.
It is far more responsive than the Blade CP-not even a close comparison. It is very, very, very quick on the cyclic and the collective and you have to be "on it" in the hover, at least until you get used to it.
Tail rotor response is very good. Venom appears to be using some revo mixing with the tail rotor because it does not swing like the tail on the Blade CP or the Honeybee CP2 with power setting changes. The tail holds very well.
The VNR3D bears no resemblance to the Blade CP or the Honeybee CP2 in terms of design, other than the fact that all three use ECCPM and a tail motor. It has Bell/Hiller mixing stock (unlike the Blade). Head and general layout design is very similar, but not identical, to the Hornet X3D. The tail boom is aluminum tubing, instead of carbon fibre. The landing gear struts are a molded assembly instead of carbon fiber rods plugged into sockets. The lower portion of the fram is aluminum.
There is not tendency for the nose to pitch up in forward flight like the Honeybee CP2. It is neutrally stable in forward flight (goes where you point it, stays in the attitude you left it in) and is quite fast.
Blade chord is much narrower on the VNR3D and head speed is much higher. I have been running the 3-Cell, 1000 mah batteries that I usually run in the Honey and the Blade. I did fly the stock Nimh pack several times and, although I did not try it, I am quite certain that it could have been rolled with that battery.
I have not attempted any aerobatics yet. The Honeybee CP2 could roll about three times in the same airspace that it took the Blade CP to roll once. Based on cyclic response in forward flight, I suspect that the VNR3D will roll still faster, but cannot back this up at the moment.
At the moment, I am flying with the gyro turned all the way down.
I have had to add two quarters to the extreme front of the inside of the canopy for nose weight and did unwrap the antenna from around the landing gear struts and ran it from a hole in the canopy through a plastic tube and back to the vertical fin.
Light wind does not seem to bother it much, but I did notice that I was holding some forward stick to keep it parked. There was enough travel in the trim lever to correct it. A little trim goes a long way on this helicopter.
I have been adjusting the Collective with the two knobs on the top of the transmitter. Although this is a different system than I am used to, it does seem to work well so far. It is also nice that it has the abilty for adjustment from the transmitter as opposed to twisting ball-links. |
