Postby Dick Spreadbury » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:46 am
It's been a long time since the last posting and I've flown the Velox a fair bit more since then (notched its 50th flight last weekend...which ain't many of flights for lots of you, I know, but I don't get out to play too regularly these days!). Anyway, I think it's enough to come up with a good opinion on the general characteristics and value for money of the Velox kit, which is what I said I'd do a long time back.
The kit assembly, along with the good and the bad bits, were comprehensively covered at the start of this thread so the only thing I can really comment upon now is the general level of reliability and serviceability of the airframe and systems.
Not much to say, I'm afraid...apart from one of the aluminium wing securing tongues coming a bit loose (which didn't pose a flight safety hazard at all...if it'd come completely loose the friction of the wing joining tube and anti-roll pin would have kept the wing on!) and the steering tubes needing supporting (mentioned in an earlier post), it has been remarkably reliable.
Because I didn't have my Jetronics brake valve set well enough, I flat-spotted the tyres pretty well (the Fei-Bao brakes are superb in operation), but I got a pair of new tyres from Sandor at Digitech which cured that...nice to know you can get spares like that for a 'Chinese' ARTF from a local supplier. I also got a pair of new and heavier duty springs for the Jet 1-A legs from Sandor as I found the originals a bit soft...for my landings anyway!
So, all in all, no big problems with the airframe and systems and I'm well happy with that!
As regards transporting the model, this is so easy - the wings come off and you're left with the fuselage, booms and tailplane standing on the undercarriage which needs no cradle or anything...just wheel it into the back of the car and that's that. Assembly time is about 3-4 minutes if you take it easy!
Coming on to the flying bit; I've heard of several modellers who've damaged their Velox due to getting it into a deep stall either on take-off or landing (that wasn't neccessarily their explanation for it but I think that's probably what happened having experimented with mine).
As I've explained earlier, it is possible, like it is with some other models (and full-size aeroplanes), to get the Velox into a situation whereby the airflow separates from the fuselage and effectively blanks the tailplane...and hence, pitch control is lost. Mick Reeves' Javelins suffer from talplane blanking in certain situations, as did the early Skymaster Hawks...although the latter was caused by flap aerodynamics rather than fuselage separation. The trick to surviving this is simple - you have to find out where the boundaries are and do your best to stay inside them!
The Velox, when it stalls, pitches violently nose up (past the vertical) and then comes nose-down until it's flying again...so you can't stall it on when landing, for example, it has to be flown on. That doesn't mean to say it can't land slowly as it does - especially when there's a bit of headwind. You just have to be careful not to eek out the touchdown point on elevetor alone...or it'll bite you!
I have learned to use this weird stalling characteristic to provide amusement during flight...if you slow the model down (with a bit of height on!) and 'snatch' the elevator in, the Velox performs the best looking Cobra outside of Russia!
The remainder of the flight characteristics are pretty standard - it's fairly fast, aerobats well, looks the part and does what it says on the box really - it's a good sport model!
To value for money then. Well, given that the model came out of the box pretty well complete with not a great deal of work needed doing and a nice paint scheme on it to boot, plus the fact that it flies well and has remained reliable so far, I have to say I think it was money well spent.
I'd certainly recommend it as a cheap, reliable, functional and practical sport model.
Cheers,
Dick
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