Electrolyte from Bret BeckerName: Electrolyte
Sold by: Hobbyking Manufacturer: Hobbyking / Bret Becker Category: Mini Jets Material: Fuselage composite, wings balsa Wingspan: 508mm Length: 533mm Weight: 395gr. Price: 90€ Link to the shop: Electrolyte Update 14.07.2015The Electrolyte hat only a very short lifespan. During the third launch my helper started him a little bit tilted and so the bungee put him merciless into the grass...
Pictures can be found under the "crash pictures" section. Somehow it looks like I can't pass those small jets, I sweared to myself that I will only buy bigger ones, but with this small one I became weak. I already own an AMX and a F-16 of that size, even also a much smaller F-86 but those have a common "problem": They are all made of foam. The Electrolyte is made of a composite fuselage and balsa wings and stabilizer. Also because of the small price of a little bit under 100€, the finger on the mouse was fast and the delivery happend three days after...
Shipping:In a really small box everything is stored fine and safe. The box is big enough that you won't have to be scared about any damages to the nose like on other models. Also a small bungee system is included to get him safe into the air. The manual is unfortunately missing, but there is a smal piece of papaer included which leads you to the store page where it is available.
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My Setup:
The EDF unit is already included, 40mm diameter, aluminium caseing and 8000kV engine seems to be fine, you only need three 5gr. servos, ESC, battery and reveicer. I decided for the following:
ESC: Hobbyking 30A ESC 3A UBEC
Servos: DS65HB
Battery: Zippy Compact 1000mAh 3S 35C
Receiver: OrangeRx R615
ESC: Hobbyking 30A ESC 3A UBEC
Servos: DS65HB
Battery: Zippy Compact 1000mAh 3S 35C
Receiver: OrangeRx R615
Build up:
First sight is surprising, the model is manufactured very good and also the ducts are looking good. I started with cutting the delivered plastic foil according to the manual to build the duct before and after the fan. The meassurements are ok and it fits quite good. I wasn't ok with the mounting of the aileron servos, because in so a small jet which is belly landed, I won't have the servos on the underside of the wing. So the elevator servo could stay on it's position and I mounted the left aileron servo directly in front of it, the one for the right aileron was mounted directly on the opposit site. The holes have been drilled before with the minidrill, also I made the opening for the elevator servo a little bit wider to have more way.
The ESC was going into the cockpit and is now laying on the ducts. Next was to fit the EDF with the foil ducts into the fuselage. That's maybe the most confusing and time consuming work on this plane. I needed at least 1 1/2 hour until it fitted as it should and also that the foil duct slipped over the composite ducts.
After that torture you can start with the assembling of the undersite of the fuselage. As you can see, the holes are already drilled in the fuselage and also covered with a small piece of wood. Thoses woodpieces should be reglued by you, otherwise they could fall of during the assembly. The drillings in the balsa pieces can also be found when using the elevator pushrod as a help. The manual says, that you should also glue the EDF with silicone to the fuselage before mounting the balsa underpiece. I haven't done that, because the balsa piece is already holding the EDF more then enough. When mounting the ing, don't forget that they have a deepening for the fuselage, also you must take care that the wing is fitted exactley because the ailerons are very tight to the fuselage. So if you don't assembly it exact, it would be possible that an aileron could block when trying to go up. Also there you can already glue in the the ailerons to the wing.
For the vertical fin there are two options, once a style that looks like the elevators and once a style that remembers me of a habu or F-5. I decided for the first one. The assembly can be a little bit tricky, because the black colored line is not straight and there is also no other help. Also don't forget to roughen the composite of the fuselage where you want to glue the fin.
When this is done, there is only the linkage anymore missing which should be done quite fast. There you should go for the maximum ratio, so to say the nearest hole at the servo and the farest hole at the horn. The servo way is still more then enough and the precision during flight says thank you. Only add the receiver and the battery in front of the fuselage and the CoG should be already around 57mm. This value is perfect for the first flight altough it is more on the safe side.
After around 8 hours of building time the small jet is finished and begs to be taken to the field.
The ESC was going into the cockpit and is now laying on the ducts. Next was to fit the EDF with the foil ducts into the fuselage. That's maybe the most confusing and time consuming work on this plane. I needed at least 1 1/2 hour until it fitted as it should and also that the foil duct slipped over the composite ducts.
After that torture you can start with the assembling of the undersite of the fuselage. As you can see, the holes are already drilled in the fuselage and also covered with a small piece of wood. Thoses woodpieces should be reglued by you, otherwise they could fall of during the assembly. The drillings in the balsa pieces can also be found when using the elevator pushrod as a help. The manual says, that you should also glue the EDF with silicone to the fuselage before mounting the balsa underpiece. I haven't done that, because the balsa piece is already holding the EDF more then enough. When mounting the ing, don't forget that they have a deepening for the fuselage, also you must take care that the wing is fitted exactley because the ailerons are very tight to the fuselage. So if you don't assembly it exact, it would be possible that an aileron could block when trying to go up. Also there you can already glue in the the ailerons to the wing.
For the vertical fin there are two options, once a style that looks like the elevators and once a style that remembers me of a habu or F-5. I decided for the first one. The assembly can be a little bit tricky, because the black colored line is not straight and there is also no other help. Also don't forget to roughen the composite of the fuselage where you want to glue the fin.
When this is done, there is only the linkage anymore missing which should be done quite fast. There you should go for the maximum ratio, so to say the nearest hole at the servo and the farest hole at the horn. The servo way is still more then enough and the precision during flight says thank you. Only add the receiver and the battery in front of the fuselage and the CoG should be already around 57mm. This value is perfect for the first flight altough it is more on the safe side.
After around 8 hours of building time the small jet is finished and begs to be taken to the field.
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Flight characteristics:So the bungee is strained and because of the lack of experience with a bungee and such a small model, I can't hide to ungood feeling in the stomache. Lucky me there was a colleague on the field who hold the jet in a 60-75° angle like the manual is saying and also released him on the bungee. So I have the finger on the sticks right from beginning, and, this was also really necessary. Unfortunately I missed the neutral point of the elevator, so the jet was going down very quick after he accelerated a bit. I only needed to pull on the elevator and set the trim, but if I would have been alone, I'm not shure if I would have been that fast.
There is nothing negative to say about the flying characteristics, the jet is flying good and also don't have any bad tendencies. Only the speed in connection to the size is challenging and I quickly realize that my eyes aren't anymore the youngest ones. Oh, speed. 100mph is standing in big letters on the box and the wing, which would mean 160km/h. My meassurement showed me that this is not really the truth. Maybe when you're accelerating from the orbit. In normal flight you will reach about 120-130km/h. This should not mean that the jet is slow, on the contrary, it feels like 200km/h because of the size. The slow flying characteristics are because of the high weight of 395gr. not really the best. He is showing a stall early enough by wiggeling with the wings and is also not really critical to fly. Also landing is not really a problem, throttle to zero, sail in and pull on the elevator until he smoothly touches the ground, but he will be slowed down very brutal by the gras. Good two minutes lasts the fun, after 2:10 there are 10-20% capacity in the batteries left. Because of the lack of power you will fly this thing only full throttle. He is not really bad underpowered, but in rapid climbs he looses a lot of speed and also when you are flying the curves quite tight. A little bit more power would have not been a mistake, but I think for that size of plane equipped with an EDF we will need to wait a long time until that will happen... |
Conclusion:
Target group: Professionals
Finishing: Normal
Flight characteristics: Average
Price / performance ratio: Very good
The Elctrolyte is because of his small price a welcome change to the other fomaies of that size. I was not really impressed by him, but he is still a lot of fun. The manufacturing is done very well and according to the price unbeatable, also I liked the moulded ducts very much and also the closed EDF unit, that I haven't seen before in that size.
Finishing: Normal
Flight characteristics: Average
Price / performance ratio: Very good
The Elctrolyte is because of his small price a welcome change to the other fomaies of that size. I was not really impressed by him, but he is still a lot of fun. The manufacturing is done very well and according to the price unbeatable, also I liked the moulded ducts very much and also the closed EDF unit, that I haven't seen before in that size.