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- From: earl@trsvax.tandy.com
- Date: 21 Jul 92 11:26 CDT
- Newsgroups: rec.models.rc
- Subject: Re: Info on Goldberg Mirage 550... ?
- Message-ID: <5000010@trsvax>
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!convex!seas.smu.edu!utacfd.uta.edu!trsvax!trsvax!earl
- Nf-ID: #R:linus.mitre.org:22303:trsvax:5000010:000:3771
- Nf-From: trsvax.tandy.com!earl Jul 21 11:26:00 1992
- References: <22303@linus.mitre.org>
- Lines: 73
-
-
-
- /* ---------- "Info on Goldberg Mirage 550... ?" ---------- */
- Anyone out there flying a Goldberg Mirage 550? This is an electric
- trainer/sport plane with an 05 electric motor. I've been flying a
- Goldberg Electra electric sailplane, and I'm thinking about getting the
- Mirage as a next step in electrics. How does it fly? Are its
- characteristics all that different from the Electra? At a glance, the
- Mirage seems very similar to the Electra, just with shorter wings. Will
- it take off from a ground roll, or do you have to hand launch it? Will it
- do any aerobatics? How big a deal would it be to add ailerons? Thanks
- for any info/experience/opinions... Mike.
- ************************************************************
-
- I've got one...
-
- It flies OK, no problems. But it is basically, a electric powered trainer
- craft. It flies noce and slow for beginners. Aerobatics is mostly limited to
- loops, and you have to dive a bit to gain enough oomph to get over the top.
-
- The original Goldberg 550 motor, didn't quite have enough power as my model
- was barely powered enough to fly. I replaced it with the motor that came with my
- Great Planes ElectroStreak (I put a Astro Cobalt 05 on it). This motor runs
- about 1,000 RPM faster than the Goldberg stock motor. The Mirage flies OK now.
-
- The Mirage and the Electra, pretty much fly about the same. Both use the
- same motor, and batteries. Since the Mirage has a little less wing area, it
- may be a bit more manueverable, but this would be debatable. The stock landing
- gear on the Mirage is too flimsy for ROG's, you still have to hand launch it.
-
- The Psyco-Max with the new War Emergency Power Motor is the hot number to
- get when you really want electric performance. This sucker flies great and acts
- just like a fun fly plane with radical loops, rolls, flat spins, etc. Vertical
- climb outs from hand launching is neat too. You just throw this sucker straight
- up, it really impresses the gas engine crowd. If you run 8 nicad cells on this
- one, you'll have to have a better speed control. Seven cells works quite well
- though. The Futaba electric 4 chnl radio works well with up to 7 cells.
-
- Another plane that is fun is to take a Wild Thing 20, and build it up for
- electrics. You don't have to do anything fancy as it works OK if you build it
- for gas and convert it to electric afterwards. But you can save a bit of weight
- if you thing electric during construction. The Graupner Speed 600 motor with
- a 7-6 prop and 6 cells works real well. (Hobby Lobby sells the motor).
-
- The Wild thing is easier than the Psyco-Max to fly, but both are high
- performace electrics. Both use ailerons and elevator (plus motor control). Since
- these planse have no dihedral, they fly very neutral. If you move the CG back
- to the edge of instability both these suckers become real beasties and really
- do neat manuevers. The Pysco-Max with the gear reduced motor has the power
- edge over the Wild thing. With high performance electrics, they tend to land
- faster than regular planes due to the batteries. But otherwise they fly great.
-
- I have both of these two beasties up and running out here, I retired my
- Mirage as it was too tame for me. I'll save it for training purposes.
-
-
- ***********************************************************************
-
-
- <This information is provided by an individual and is not nor should be
- construed as being provided by Radio Shack or Tandy Corp. Radio
- Shack/Tandy Corp has no obligation to support the information provided
- in any way. >
-
- Earl W. Bollinger
- @ <trsvax!earl>
-
-
- "You were in the Clone Wars!", said Luke excitedly.
- "Yes", replied Obi Wan, "I was a DOS programmer. But that was before the dark
- times, before OS2."
-
-
-