ERATIX from E-Flite

[retiredVTT]

A few years back I had considerable fun with a plane known as the E3D.
The history of the E3D is that it was designed by Gary Wright of Melbourne, Florida and kits were available around the year 2001.

So many kits were sold and so many flyers were liking this model with it's massively thick wing and relatively light weight that Gary decided to remortage the house, and go to china and have an ARF produced. He actually had around 1000 arf's produced..!

The ARF's sold well initially and then sales tapered off, but now, several years later, it appears that E3D kits and arf's are not to be had.

I got looking for another E3D a few months ago after flying one on the RealFlight simulator. Much to my surprise, while roaming some old threads on RCGroups, I heard from Gary Wright himself, who suggested to me that I check out the Eflite ERATIX.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing....the Eratix is a 96% copy of Gary's E3D...! Nothing is sacred in this hobby I guess!

So I ordered up the Eratix and three months later I'm finally putting it together. So far I'm pleased with the contents of the big box as the quality of the product appears very good.

Here are two pictures that show the resemblence between the E3D and the newer ERATIX.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

So here are a few pics as the pieces come together.

I'm a fan of the decent fiberglas cowl...small, stylish, strong, and relatively inexpensive if I do bust it..!

Pants went on very well, I kept them 1/4" higher than normal, hopefully they will work on our grass field.

I gotta find a source for "standoffs" ...this was the best I could find at Home Depot, in order to get the motor 3/4" off the firewall.
Take a close look at the 2nd picture. The motor mount (firewall) consists of two ply pieces and they sandwiched blind nuts in betwwen the pieces so that they slide up and down to allow you to use various size motors. Quite ingenious..!

This is a fairly small Cobra 2826-12 motor with a 760Kv. It's supposed to give 660 watts from 4S packs with a 12/8 or 13/6 prop.
Have not got that far yet.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

The problem with l-o-n-g planes is getting them stored to prevent "hangar rash".

Due to a deep rudder this one required 16 inches of clearance between ceiling and the metal hanger.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Ready to go, with AUW of 4 lbs, just as advertised.
13x6 prop on 4S draws only 39 amps for a bit over 500 watts, but the thrust feels big..a bit scary on the bench..!
Instruction booklet warns.."do not run at full speed, due to control surface flutter..!"

Bill

[AndrewS]

So this weekend's weather is your fault Bill...a plane ready to maiden lol
Andrew

[retiredVTT]

Yeah...I'm wondering if there will be a little "window"....maybe Saturday morning between 8:22 and 9:01 AM in which to slip in the maiden..so to speak..!

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Well, I missed the "window of opportunity" last weekend as I arrived late and brought the rain with me...so the maiden will go this weekend if I can just make it to the field around 8:15am in time to watch the pending fog clear out.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

Ok, the maiden went well....she's a keeper..!

If your into 3D, you catch yourself with a silly grin on your face.

With that fat ole symmetrical wing, it's a joy to land and practically stops forward motion in a light breeze.

I think I'm making the transition from speed to thrust....I'm not 100% there, but closing in on 85%.

Bill

[retiredVTT]

A few weeks back, I dumbthumbed my Eratix into terra-firma on my first flight of the day and only salvaged the wing panels. And when I did a search I found the model had been discontinued a year ago.

I put a request for either parts or a complete new kit onto RC Groups, and after a few days had a reply from a Trent Jarvis that he had a new kit for sale. As we negotiated I found out he was from Tennesssee. After seeing pictures of the kit, I sent him payment via Paypal...then I received a receipt from Paypal that payment had been made to him but this receipt was written in another language. When I contacted him about that, he replied, "do not be alarmed, I am in Germany, as a member of the US armed forces." Anyway he double boxed the kit and had it shipped Priority that night which as he explained should put it into JFK airport the next day. He then spent more time tracking it than I did....and got frustrated with it sitting in Canada Customs for six days..!

Anyway, today...(sixteen days later) it has arrived and appears in great shape, as he did a excellent job of wrapping it securely.

I should open it right away....but since it's a birthday present, I'll wait until later in October, so there will still be some drama to look forward to..!

..here are a couple of pics, I'll have to come up with a big "2" to put on the wing after the word Eratix..!

Bill

[retiredVTT]

The big reveal....yes, it survived the customary postal attack, and arrived ok from Germany...!

The sender had retaped all the contents to prevent "a" from breaking "b"..!

Bill