XR-61: Completed and Maiden Flight

I did the maiden flight yesterday. The plane flies beautifully, but I had some radio issues so I had to cut the flying session short.

 

Precision Aerobatics XR-61 - Unboxing and Build Pictures

I have a new plane that I've been working on finishing up for flight. It's called the XR-61 from Precision Aerobatics, who is known for building extremely lightweight airframes which excel at 3D maneuvers.

I have two of their other planes, the Electric Shock, and the Katana MD, both of which got a ton of use and fly very well. The XR-61 is a bit bigger than either of those, with a 61" wingspan. It's supposed to be a fantastic plane to be able to mix 3D and precision/pattern type flying. I'm really looking forward to it, as it's been a few years since I've done any real aerobatics. I'm going to try using low rates and possible mid rates with this plane to more properly fly different types of aerobatics. In the past, I only ever used high rates, and I have a feeling that my precision flying suffered some from that.

I bought the ARF with the iPAs power package, which includes the servos, motor, ESC, and prop. I also bought the "bling package" which includes a carbon fiber spinner, carbon fiber wheel pants, carbon fiber vortex generator kit, carbon fiber servo arm extensions, and wing bags. I also added a prop protection sleeve because the Vox prop is wood and is prone to damage.

Here are some pictures from the build process:

Wing Bags

Unboxing

Carbon Fiber Spinner

All the Goodies!

Control Horn Work

Carbon Fiber Wheel Pants

Fiberglassing the Motor Mount

Motor Box Installed with ESC and Motor

Tape holding the Horizontal Stabilizer Parallel with the
Wing Tube while the Epoxy Sets

Finished Landing Gear and Landing Gear Cuffs