ParkZone enters the fray! SE5a

[wattman]

No mention of a crash , so it must be another good flying SE5a .
I sure would have wanted a SE5a to fly in the great war instead of a Sopwith Camel if I had been there and could .

[grahamw]

Had a poor landing on my 3rd flight - pilot error. I'm not happy with the handling yet, so far I'm using 30% rudder with the ailerons and I may need to increase the aileron differential as the thing goes nose up when I turn. To be honest it is difficilt to fly, so a work in progress really. Also it's only 31" wingspan and 43 oz weight, so a higher wing loading. Perhaps I needn't have gone for an OS 1200kV motor with a 60A ESC and 3000mAh battery!
May end up buying the PZ SE5a one day!

[mclarkson]

I was really, really surprised to find a PZ SE5a under my Christmas tree today. I'm not even sure how she'd know I liked or wanted this plane. (I have around 30 planes and, to her, they're all pretty much interchangeable, be they scratch-built flying wings or RTF jets.)

Anyways ... I'm pretty excited. I though I'd come by this thread and look for tips or warnings. (eg The printed CG is wrong, APC 9x6 is a better prop, etc. etc.)

1800mAh is the dead zone in my battery collection. Gonna have to move it up to 2200.

[grahamw]

That sounds great mc. I would have thought the extra 30g or so would make no difference really.
After mixed results with my SE5A I am in the process of making it all a lot lighter. The PZ SE5A has a much better wing area and adding a little bit of weight shouldn't affect the stall speed. Happy landings!

[guapoman2000]

Originally Posted by mclarkson

I was really, really surprised to find a PZ SE5a under my Christmas tree today. I'm not even sure how she'd know I liked or wanted this plane. (I have around 30 planes and, to her, they're all pretty much interchangeable, be they scratch-built flying wings or RTF jets.)

Anyways ... I'm pretty excited. I though I'd come by this thread and look for tips or warnings. (eg The printed CG is wrong, APC 9x6 is a better prop, etc. etc.)

1800mAh is the dead zone in my battery collection. Gonna have to move it up to 2200.

Congrats! It is the best SCALE looking S.E.5a that I have ever seen and Park Zone really did a HOME RUN on this model. It flys just as good as it looks!

Video showing Formation flying from last year (2011)!

Park Zone SE5a formation Flying at its Best 09-25-2011.wmv

[mclarkson]

Woohoo!!!

YouTube Video

[mclarkson]

YouTube Video

Haven't crashed it yet!

[wattman]

Thanks for sharing your videos with us Mark , I always enjoy videos of my favorite plane , and it is a great flying plane .

[mclarkson]

I really want to get some onboard footage but haven't come up with a removable camera mount that won't mess up my pretty paint...

[mclarkson]

Sorry, paint; I had to do it.

YouTube Video

[mclarkson]

I also flew it with a Zippy 2200mAh 3S. It was just barely possible to get the battery in there and the plane was definitely nose heavy.

[wattman]

Nice onboard video , and you mentioning the battery , made me think isn't it great that Parkzone made these two WWI biplanes that do not need lead weight added in the nose Neither the SE5a or the Albatros Dva
We so often see reviews of biplanes that tell of how much lead is needed in the nose for correct CofG balance .

Keep them coming Mark

[mclarkson]

Today was pretty nice (for Kansas (for January)) and I took the S.E.5a out to a nearby schoolyard/park for a flight. The surface is none too smooth and it caught on something when I touched down, but no harm done.

You can see that I've started to do some weathering on the model - grime around the panel lines, soot at the exhaust exits, etc.

YouTube Video

[wattman]

Split screen , now thats different , I enjoyed the views

[mclarkson]

Thanks. The top half of each frame is full of wing anyways, so I figgered ... why not?