luv2fly

Whats going on guys.
Last weekend I bought of of the new Typhoon 2 RTF's with the brushless motor and lipo.
I just thought I would put the word out about how awesome of a plane this is.
This is my third plane and first with ailerons. Although I have a LOT of sim time on RealFlight 3.5
Everything is packaged very well and goes together very easy. My 9 year old brother could put this together in 15 minutes.

On the first flight the it flew great and I made the first successful landing after 5 minutes. Shortly after I launched it again and either caught some interferance or it glitched and went down.

I took it to the LHS and we called Horizon and the said the would REPLACE IT FREE!!! I was elated! I was expecting to spend up to $100 to fix it. Instead I walked out of the shop with a brand new plane. Now thats customer service!

I have several flights out of the new plane without any problems.

This thing flies on a rail and is very responsive!
I've even flown it off of the street in my dads cramped subdivision.
I've had a couple of rough landings with it that would demolish alot of planes but it still looks brand new.


For a brushless motor and lipo with charger I think $229 is a great deal. Not to mention the Awesome customer service.
I think they also will have it in PNP.
There is a very limited number of them out right now.


I would highly recommend it as a first 3d.

Go get One!

MattUNI2001

Very awesome! Mine is in the mail with no updated ETA yet! It will be my second plane, with the hobbyzone super cub being my first. I have *cough* a thousand + *cough* (Yes, I know, sort of sad) sim hours ranging from Janes F-15 - all Microsoft simulators. I also have realflight and aerofly, which I can fly blindfolded.

I'm still hoping with all that "experience" that I will be able to fly the TY2 very well the first try (slow mode first) as the super cub was way too easy of a plane for me to start on. I'm assuming the TY2 will be quite different considering how touchy the controls will probably be compared to what I'm used to. Sims only teach you so much. I'll be sure to keep everybody updated on all the crashes that I'm sure to have!

-Matt

luv2fly

I think if you are doing decent at all on sims that you will have no problem flying this.
It is my first 4 channel.
I would go ahead and fly it in high rate. I think it is much easier.
The different thing is that unlike planes with overhead wings like the supercub it will keep on flying in any direction it is pointed instead leveling out on its own.

I would recommend the larger prop though. I've yet to put the 3d prop on and I think it flies awesome.
I think after a few more battery cycles I'm going to throw on the 3d prop.

This plane has officially made me addicted. But of course my wife said i was addicted along time ago after sim flying four hours straight every night.
Good luck with your maiden! You'll like it!

MattUNI2001

Awesome - thanks for making me even more anxious....

Also, thanks for the heads up on it not leveling out as I was unaware of that. I also think I read somewhere that it is harder landing a 3D plane such as the typhoon because it doesn't glide in for the landing like a super cub would. Is that true? If so, that'll be the first new challenge!!

luv2fly

yeah it requires a little throttle to land. Thats why i've had a few rough landings b/c thats a little hard for me to get ued to. But I think this plane is very strong. I drug the wing pretty hard on concrete during one landing and I thought it was going to be all eaten up but i couldn't see anything. I also took it right down on one wing and the nose at the same time and it tumble about three times and went away unscathed.
Its a tough little plane.
But keep that throttle up a little bit when landing.

Good luck.

luv2fly

if you have a computer radio i think you can program flapperons because it has seperate wing servos.
I have a JR Sport computer radio that I'm thinking of setting up that way so i'll let you know how it works out if I do it.

Flyingace451

I work at my LHS and we have about 10 of them in so far. I don't know of anyone buying them as of yet, but I've definately had my eye on one. I just hope that they addressed the weak servo issues found in the original Typhoon...If they haven't I'll just stick to my ARFs with decent servos.

GFBurke

I was googl'n for an answer to the servos making a high pitch scream when plugged in.. might just be my RD6000 super TX settings...

Anyways.. here is a pic of the v1 and v2 tail comparisons.



Plugged up everything. Brand new CSRC lipo 3s 1650. (used before in my KingII)

Deaned proper lipo and deaned proper ESC from the PNP. Plugged it in servos worked, but no prop movement. Then smoke and smell. ESC burned up right there within 5min.

Yeah, just got back with a new one. I told them I don't want to take this bloody thing all apart, and build a whole new one again.. stayed up till 2am last night.
So, they where nice enough to remove an ESC from a new one and swap me out. Even removed my deans and traded me.. pretty good.

That was HobbyTown.

Not sure if I trust this Eflite ESC now...

But anyways, do your servos remain completely quite until moved?


burke
insideheli.com
insideplane.com

GFBurke

Here is my settings using a big boy TX and 4ch RX:

Typhoon , Hitec RX and Airtronics RD6000 setup:

Aileron - Y'ed together (homemade)- ch2 on RX
Rudder - ch4 on RX
horz fin - ch1 on RX
ESC - ch3 on RX

TX:
Areo
PPR
AL - reversed

Motor/ESC:
blu to grn
blk to yelw
red to red

stock servos
stock ESC
CSRC 3s 1650 10C Deaned

Not sure if I should use the knife edge wings yet.
Servos connected outer most holes (servos and connections)

GFBurke

The new V2 comes with digital/metal servos. I was concered about the sound they made.. so I posted some audio
http://www.ramsinks.com/heli/strangsound.mp3

But I'm being told that in digital servos, thats normal..


I'll still buy a few of these down the road I'm sure.
http://www.obrienhobbies.com/hihsmimegese.html

I think our guys are going to be talking about the typhoon and the new typhoon on the first episode.
http://insideplane.com

Flyingace451

Yeah in MG/Digital servos some chatter and noise is normal...it means they're working and ready to pull a tree out of the ground.

Gotta love HobbyTownUSA...of course I have to say that because I work there.

GFBurke

Yeah, nice peeps.
Although, not really "in the heli business". They don't know much about them and only carry a couple of Eflite expensive stuff. No Esky stuff. (corporate decisions I suppose).
I'm a heli guy really, but this is my first plane. I'm glade they carry the parkzone stuff, thats cool. The stuff is even the same price as on line, and by using the "card", you get like 5% off pretty much.. so thats nice.

Flyingace451

Yeah I kind of complain a bit on how much basic stuff WE DON'T HAVE in our store. Just the other day one of my co workers became EXTREMELY ticked because we didn't have any tire glue, air filter oil, or shock oil below 80 or 90 wt. So yeah, we don't carry some stuff. Heli wise we have e-flite, heli-max, and align trex sa stuff, but that's it. We don't use Hobby Lobby and they are one of the top dealers of Esky stuff in the US (their warehouse is only 2 hours away from me, too!).

Thank you for the compliments towards HobbyTown. It really makes us feel good, and yes, some employees know absolutely nothing. But most of us know most of it, if we don't know what you need then 2 heads are still better than one, right?

MattUNI2001

Well, I just got my new Typhoon 2! It took me about 30 minutes to build, but I am terrible at building things, so that isn't too bad. They definitely did forget to add the step about connecting the aileron servo rods (unless I missed it, but I couldn't find it anywhere), but even I could figure out what you were supposed to do there...
I recorded a short video to show what it looked like as well as to show all the control movements. It is interesting to hear the digital servo "whine" throughout the entire video as the whine never stops until you unplug the battery.

Typhoon 2

GFBurke

Cool man.
Ya once I got the mechanical trims out of the way and flew it once.. I think the servo wines are gone now..

I ordered a new Otter 25 ESC. Just in case this one burns out again. I just never had an issue with the Otter (telebee) ESC's.

man, this this is perfect for a n00b plane. Too hard to break and easy to fly.
My first flight last night was awesome. The only plane flying exper. I have is in RFG3. (they have the Typhoon model now for it).

I noticed that HobbyTown has the V1 RTF for $160. "clearance".

Flyingace451

Using my employee powers...I kind of took one out of the box at the store today to look it over. Seems very nice, fuse is stronger than I thought it would feel, too. I still don't like the whole hollow plastic covered wing but that is just me, and it flies so oh well I'll just have to get over it. I still want to actually buy one but I have so many planes on my "buy" list it's crazy. And the added lipo power should be great too, I wish our store got a demo plane lol

cjshaker

I purchased the last Typhoon2 that my local hobby shop had last week.
Found out that the left aileron servo was dead on arrival. No movement,
no noise. Hooked it to a servo tester, still no movement. No damage to
the servo wire, either.

Another question, is the motor/gearbox supposed to be 'jerky'? When
attempting to run the motor up slowly, the prop appeared to jerk, and
at one point, bounced backwards. Do your motors run smoothly at low
speed?

My local hobby shop is supposed to be getting me another one this
Thursday.

Chris Shaker

redgiki

The ParkZone Typhoon has a known problem with the stock ESC where the motor can stall at very slow speeds and refuse to spin up despite advancing the throttle. If allowed, it can -- and will -- fry your ESC. Flip the prop before starting the bird.

I burned out two stock ESCs this way. Switching brand of ESC to an E-Flite 20A fixed it.

r1derbike

I've got one of these coming from HobbyZone. I've had two other regular 'phoons, and yes, both would stall on throttle advance at times, from dead still.

I'm hoping the new 25 amp e-flite ESC will help that. The servos are a much needed improvement.

Funny, I can't find a single reviewer who has the so-called SFGs mounted, and shows the flight performance in KE.

More trouble than it's worth?

My 'phoons have given more bang-for-the-buck than any other 3D plane I fly. I don't care if they pile-in. They are cheap, and beg to be flown on-the-deck.

Charles

tims880

One of my flying buddies got one last week. Second flight esc went up in smoke. I am sure hobbyzone will replace it, but still kinda a pain.
But over all its a nice plane.

cjshaker

My local hobby shop seems to have gotten a batch of bad Typhoon 2s.

My replacement airplane was being maidened by an experienced RC friend of mine, when it glitched out like mad. He walked towards the airplane, got it back under control and landed it. This was last Saturday. We thought it might have been interference at the field we were flying at, although my Futaba Super 9C had no problems talking to my GWS receiver, nor my Berg 4L. Different frequencies though, my Futaba was on 40, Typhoon was on 54.

The weird thing is that my buddy, Chris, and I did a range check on my Typhoon 2 before flying it. Seemed ok. Maybe the glitching only happens at high power? I recently put a torroid on the ESC RX connection wires, in case that helps.

Yesterday, I was into the hobby shop to pick up spare parts, and my hobby shop owner told me he wants my radios out of the Typhoon to send back in to be repaired.

He's had four or five Typhoon 2s from last week's shipment which have glitched out bad, on various frequencies. A couple of them ended up nose diving into the ground at full power.

Chris Shaker

cjshaker

We have around ten to fifteen people show up each Saturday evening to fly electrics at a local high school in Bend after the hobby shop closes.

One of my buddies from our hobby shop was watching as I plugged in the LiPo battery in my Typhoon2. Smoke started to roll out, and I unplugged the battery right away. The ESC smoked itself. The funny thing is that I test ran it at home, and the motor and ESC were working fine before I left the house.

Chris tried to pull the ESC out of the airplane for inspection, and one of the leads came off the ESC. I'll be digging the ESC out tonight, and replacing it with a Castle 36.

From the manual, it appears to be the same ESC that ships in my PNP Stryker, and I've had no problems with its ESC.

I'm starting to think this airplane is cursed:

o First Typhoon 2 had a bad aileron servo,
o On the second Typhoon 2, the radio glitched out badly while my buddy maidened it (it was doing uncommanded half rolls, and vertical excursions),
o Then, the ESC smokes itself while connecting the battery.

My hobby shop replaced the first Typhoon 2 with this unit, and now, they're sending in the radios and the ESC for replacement from the second unit. I'm not having much luck with the Typhoon 2.

The Typhoon 2 seems like a really neat airplane. One of these days, I'll actually get to fly it.

Chris Shaker

cjshaker

A Castle Phoenix 25 that I had already wired up for another project fits into the ESC tunnel on the Typhoon 2.

Hooked up an ammeter, and it appears that the motor only draws 12 or 13 amps with the 13.5 x 7 prop. So, the 25 Amp E-Flite ESC *ought* to be of proper capacity.

I'm wondering now if the radio glitches were from the ESC being on its way out? Maybe the BEC in the ESC was glitching the radio's power supply?

Chris Shaker

cjshaker

Flew my modified Typhoon 2 several times tonight out at the local grass strip. Flew it with the Futaba 6EX 2.4 Ghz FASST radio and Castle 25 ESC, since the radio and burned up ESC are at my LHS for replacement.

My buddy and I had three lipo chargers going to keep the airplane in the air. We each thrashed it through the sky several times, and it flew great.

Programmed the radio for flaperons, and the airplane leaped in the air in less than five feet with the flaps down, into the strong wind that we had. Made me laugh when I did it.

It's definitely the fastest rolling RC airplane I've flown so far, even on low rates.

I'm impressed with how rugged the airframe is, too. My final landing was a low speed, low power crash into the sage brush, and the airplane doesn't seem to have been damaged at all. Cleaned it up, and it still looks like new.

I'm pretty impressed with the design of this airplane. When they get their ESC problems ironed out, they'll have a winner on their hands.

Chris Shaker

kf6gub

I'm new to this thread. I've had the typhoon2 for short while. I provided my own transmitter and receiver. From the beginning the rudder servo was acting "rough". Horizon replaced it for me with a JR. They did not have duplicates. In the last couple of days I've lost both servos in the wings (ailerons). They just died. I put in some Hitec analogs (55's). Ultimately, I think there is still a problem with the servos in the typhoon2. Jim