e-Flite BeechCraft Bonanza

[akwhirly]

Well, I started on this project last night. I got this kit last December and finally got around to ordering the rest of the parts to put it together. I'm building this kit with the optional V-tail. I decided to upgrade the motor to a 1250 kV eFlite Power 25. Went a Spectrum AR7000 receiver, Hitec servos with a metal-geared servo for the stearable nose wheel. Also went with the e-Flite electric retractable gear set so that should be fun to setup and play with!

Last night's activities included installing the ruddervator pushrods, servos for the V-tail and the V-tail itself. Here are a few pics.

[Phreak Out]

Awesome!

I really enjoy seeing something that's not so popular (like another Mustang or Corsair)

I've never flown a plane with retracts - that's really cool.

Enjoy and post a maiden flight video!

[akwhirly]

Thanks. I'm looking forward to getting her in the air. Although I've been flying planks for a while, this will be my first one with retracts and flaps as well!

[akwhirly]

A little more progress over the last few days. Got the nosewheel pushrod installed and both aileron servos installed in the wings. A little tip from e-Flite was to tie the servo extension plugs together with dental floss. They are strung all the way through the wings so you might not notice if they start to come loose after a few flights.

I also setup my DX7 radio programming for the V-tail mixing...looks pretty neat in action!

Next up is the servo install for the flaps.

[Slyster]

That's a great looking plane. Video the maiden!

[VKGT]

Awesome! I'd love to get one but I need to finish this giant scale 182 first

[Kington99]

Nice, my model flying buddy had a full size Bonanza V-tail until recently, a great plane to fly in and much faster than most of the stuff at the air field. Are you going to do a scale interior?

[akwhirly]

Well, as scale as e-Flite gets. I got the optional interior kit with seats and instruments for the dash to cover up all the servos and wiring. Also got a pilot to in there.

[akwhirly]

Finally got the other two servos installed for the flaps and all wired up. Man, it was a pain getting those wires threaded through the wings down to the wing root. See video below for my two position flaps in operation. Next up is the join the wing together and start on the landing gear.

[akwhirly]

Got quite a bit done on her today. Started out by gluing the wings together. I first had to fix the front mounting peg for the wings...must have been damaged in the box in shipping somehow. Anyway, the wings epoxied up nicely.

Next, was tackling the retractable nose gear install. Since retracts are optional on this plane, I had to fit a template to the bottom of the fuselage to cut a space for the wheel to go. Also had to cut a slot through the firewall for the axel to swing up. After all that, the gear assembly bolted right in with no problems.





Since that went so well, I moved on to the main gear and cut out the wheel wells for those. After digging around and finally finding my covering iron, I slit the covering and ironed the edges down so they don't flap around and come loose in the wind. After fishing two more wires through the wheel wells and up through the wing root, the main gear assemblies bolted in and they look pretty good all tucked up in there. While I had the iron hot, I took the time to smooth down quite a few bubbles in the covering that had popped up all over the wings, and aileron control surfaces. It was like this when I got the kit, but it was an easy fix and looks a lot better now.









Last install for today was the motor. With the mounting hardware that came with the motor, it all bolted in nicely and all machine screws were put in with thread locker. I also used thread lock on all the machine screws and set screws on the landing gear assemblies for good measure. I saw a YouTube vid of one of these Beechcraft where the wheel flew off as soon as he touched down....plane didn't suffer too much damage, but I don't want that happening on my maiden flight!






Since I don't have my ESC yet (on the way, as well as the batteries), I'll have to skip that step and move on to some other things. Also was reading today about the radio mixing that will be required since this kit combines V-tail mixing with a stearable nose wheel on the same left stick on the radio. Shouldn't be too hard though, just need to find the right menus in the DX7.

Here are a couple of vids of the gear.

Nose Gear in action:

Main gear in action:

[akwhirly]

Well, the ESC and my batteries finally arrived and after soldering some plugs, I got everything all hooked up. Did my CG balance and it came out perfect...didn't have to add any weight or shift the Lipo or anything.

I went with a Castle Creations ICE 75 ESC. After I got everything hooked up, I ran the motor a bit and then pulled the log data off the ESC and found the motor was drawing 62 amps at max throttle. Glad I upgraded the ESC after upgrading the motor since E-Flite recommends a 60 amp ESC for this motor. This setup gives roughly a 20% cushion for the power draw.

Even after adding the retractable gear, larger motor, larger ESC and higher capacity Lipo, the whole plane only came in 0.1 pounds over what the manual said it should weigh.

I got the nose wheel steering mixed in with my rudder channel and the V-tail and even got the nose wheel servo disabled when the gear is up.

Now, I just need to pick a day and take this thing for the maiden flight!

Rectractable Gear:

[Phreak Out]

Very impressive!

Someday I must have an airplane with retracts.

Great job!

[blackmagic08]

Very, very nice. I have always like the Eflite Bonanza, ever since I read the review in the magazine. I have never owned a conventional construction plane before, so I would be worried about fixing it but man that is a nice looking plane.

Good luck with the maiden, we all want to see the video.

[akwhirly]

Thanks everyone.

Well she flies! Lots of power and it slides nicely through the air with the gear up. Think I need to work on my landing approaches a bit. As you may see in one of the videos, I'm getting some yawing action as it's coming in for landing. Not sure if that's because I'm getting too slow with full flaps and gear down, or just gusts of wind, or just a different characteristic of the V-tail. I'll keep practicing with it.

After the maiden flight, I attached my little keychain spycam for a little aerial footage.

This was a fun build, but flying it is even better.

Maiden Flight:

SpyCam Flight 1:

SpyCam Flight 2:

[ElIntocable]

Congrats on the maiden! I would have to say that the wind has some effect with the landings. When the camera was on you, your shirt was really flapping! You could also hear it in the video. I bet in calmer conditions, your landings would have been a lot smoother. The spy cam vids show just how robust the gear are.

[Phreak Out]

Woo hoo!

[Elios000]

looks nice man good call getting the V-tail kit for it
few warnings it doesnt like crosswinds at all you can actuly see it wag like the full scale when your flying crosswind
crosswind take offs need lots of rudder set up your TX to give you max rudder with out to much nose wheel steering
DO NOT hog on the elevator when landing it will drop a wing on you with little warning
it pretty much will stall then drop a wing tip mine falls off to the left imo get up high and stall it and get used to how it feels right be for it drops a wing

if your TX supports it flap slowing looks great

heres some shots of mine i need to get the cockpit kit for it at some point

[akwhirly]

Yours looks great also! I've got about 30 flights on it so far and am learning to listen to what the plane is telling me. Thanks for the tips. I have really noticed the tail wag in the cross wind. I haven't tried the straight tail yet, but I'm betting it would hold a little better. One of the first things I did after the maiden flight was to take it up and, like you said, "Hog" the elevator to see how she stalls. Man, when it's done flyin', it's done flyin'! The wing drops fast and it rolls over on it's back. Good to know what it feels like though. I am so in love with these E-Flite retracts!

[Elios000]

tail wag is normal even the full scale does it lol the Vtail was known to make the back seat passengers air sick lol
meh the straight tail is boring i got mine for the V tail lol

as to the stall its the double tapered wing but on the up side when you get the gear and flaps up IT HAULS ASS for GA bird i put prop on with a bit more pitch so it really goes now

[akwhirly]

One of the guys had a radar gun out at the field last week and clocked my Beech doing 94 mph....multiple times on horizontal passes down the runway! I had no idea!