Carbon Traveler Convertible TM
4 channel profile CF & ripstop portable Ultra-Light 3D/sport bipe.
Ace Sim RC proudly presents the Carbon Traveler Convertible.
This one plane just may
be the most versatile, durable, and transportable RC plane anywhere.
It was designed to offer the maximum crash resistance without the expense of flex in flight to learn advanced maneuvers.
Built entirely from nearly 50 feet of carbon rod and covered with 1/2 oz coated poly ripstop this fully 3D capable biplane weights right at 3 oz empty of any gear and can be flown in the smallest of yards (see videos below) with inexpensive off-the-shelf CDRom brushless gear.
(fluoresent yellow wings and fluoresent orange fuse)
SPECS:
Span 26 inch, Length 28 inches, 2.6 sq ft area, AUW (min tested) = 7.25 oz, W/L
2.8 oz/sq ft
Motors currently tested:
Westport 20 turn CD-ROM w/APC 8x3.8 - ET 2S 700 LiPo - GOOD
LensRC 22.7 25T w /8x4 DD - ET 3S 700 LiPo - GOOD
LensRC 22.7mm 20T w/ 8x4 - ET 3S 700 LiPo - BETTER
LensRC GBX single 20turn - slightly heavier - BETTER
CustomCDR "cool" wind single "Billet Bullet" - BEST
Komodo 2204-15 turn - recommended or equivalent brushless
2) GWS Picos, BMS-306bb, WD-60s or HS-55s for R/E
1) GWS Naro HP,
BMS-371 or equal for dual WINGERON control
(all flying control surfaces and wings offer max control at slowest speeds)
Everything just plugs together for ease of adjustments and flat disassembly for transport.
Even the servos just rubber band onto the frame!
Disassembles flat for transport in about 2 minutes without tools!
(Yellow wings with orange
fuse)
(Silver
wings with slate blue fuse)
(Red wings with silver
fuse) (Yellow
wings with slate blue fuse)
This plane was designed for learning 3D without spending all your time repairing or rebuilding and to be able to fly on a whim in a small yard with lots of obstacles. The low wing loading keeps it slow enough to figure out what it's doing and keeping it lightreduces the potential for impact damage.
Using a biplane layout not only reduces the span for a given wing area but achieves great rigidity from the box strut structure.
This is a true case for "form follows function".
07/06 - I've learned more from this plane in the year now I've been flying it than in the previous couple years with other planes.
Let's face it. We practice, we make mistakes, and we inevitability screw-up.
"I crash therefore I learn"
One customer states; "The few flights I had can attest to the absolute bullet-proof design.
This is definitely the plane I wanted ..... the durability is unbelievable."
Here's an independent review on a pre-production ARF:
Be sure to also see his flight pics link at the bottom of the page.
MSgtrob on RCgroups has this to say: Thanks
again for an AWESOME set of plans. I've built quite a few other designs in my
quest for a plane that can survive long enough to teach me to fly--your CTC has
FAR exceeded any reasonable expectation.
It's my number one plane and still amazes anyone that sees it. Wow, months of
flying and this bird just keeps taking it!
Ran through a dozen batteries today--one line drive into the neighbors garage
door and one screaming nose dive from about 50 feet straight into the concrete!
Pieces of plane everywhere--new prop and two minutes snapping it back together
and she was good to go! Much to the crowds disbelief.
Hardlock--the CTC is the undisputed champion of this neighborhood-(confirmed by
all the children and parents drawn to the "free" airshow.)
Jlundberg on RCgroups writes: This CTC is
FANTASTIC!! We had some great weather Monday and was able to do a lot of
flying. Man, talk about tight loops and rolls. WOW
It was funny on my second flight. I was going vertical after a takeoff and a
band broke on my prop, all I could do is shut it down. With just a bit of
elevator it did an "elevator" to the grass. It was soooo slow I could
have caught it if I would have ran to it.
This is a blast. I love doing prop hanging etc.
Thanks Ken for such a fun plane. Keep up the great work. I would recommend this
to anyone!
John
P.S You can quote me if you like... I'm one satisfied Customer!!!!
All fittings in this plane will just pop back together even from the worst impacts.
The plane as been crash tested so hard into hard-pack earth and indoor floors I just knew something must be broken.
In the hundreds of hours and probably as many "mishaps" I've yet to break anything except props and one LG strut from a concrete wall that got in the way!
Here's some videos to give you the idea of its durability:
3/06 - Watch the back of the hall when the clip starts.
I fly out of frame to the left but you can hear that I crash HARD!:
indoor1-fix.mp4 about 8mb
Except for a broken prop, she was almost fixed by the time I got back to the flightline.
Remainder of clip is me getting some much needed 3D practice. :)
3/06 - MUST SEE! I let "DJ", one of our local experienced 3D pilots, try the CTC. He wasn't content to just fly it around, but took it for a walk down the hall, up the stairs, walked the walls, fell off the wall, crashed down the stairs, all kinds of fun stuff!
BTW, This
is all one continuous flight (less crashes) and only edited for time:
indoor-DJ-stairs.mp4 about 6 mb
Again, NO damage to plane!
1/06 - Indoor dogfight
between #1,2, and 3 prototype CTCs. Ends with a cool midair!
3-CTC dogfight
10/05 - Am I 3D
yet? Staying in the box - relaxing mix of maneuvers in the
yard. The dance of the CTC!
Mostly high rates using 3S 700 w/ LensRC 22.7 20T and 8x4 HD prop:
MI3D2.mp4 20mb hi-res (download to run smoothly)
MI3D2-small.mp4 8mb low-res
When foam and CF collide. Foam loses! I was hovering at the time and didn't see him coming.
Scratch one foamie, mine came out uneffected except needing to flip the elevator back from overcentered on the linkage wires.
I was back
in the air in seconds. This is one tough bird!
8/05 - After much testing and changes from the original prototype, I hit the field for a maiden with the pre-production version.
3S 700 pack w/LensRC 25T on low rates:
7/06 - BTW, this same #2 prototype gets flown (and crashed...) almost daily and is still going strong after over a year of hard use!
What makes it a "convertible" you ask?
Well if you want to fly in some
wind, just unplug the lower wing in a couple moments and have a high-wing sport
model.
Or secure the wings from moving, add longer wing struts to get
some dihedral and you have a nice and slow R/E plane. With the travel set
low enough and the dihedral left in, it can be used as an aileron trainer as
well. A mid-mount single wing configuration for use as a higher
loaded 3D version has been developed by a builder on RCgroups and performance
reports are good (see pics on RCgroups thread at bottom of page starting at
post 535).
A built-up ripstop wing for it
also envisioned at some point. Makes for a great testing platform as well.
Here's a link to a setup video from when ARFs were available. If you are scratch-building, it will give you an idea of how it get's assembled once the parts are made. CTC ARF SETUP VIDEO
Note - it's a big file (15.3MB) so best to download it first.
(right click link, choose save-as file, etc.)
Note that we're not manufacturing kits for the time being but we are intending to provide complete plans for many of our models with complete sources for the materials. Many have asked why we stopped selling our kits and mainly it's due to the rising cost of materials and the fierce competition of cheap import foamies. If you've gone that road, you will find a some point that you are spending more time building than flying. Then do consider building with CF rod and fabric for a VERY long-lasting plane!
Here's what the kit we were selling looked like.
All the panels were completed
with all fittings and rods cut to length (all 50 ft of rod!).
Two colors of ripstop coated
poly material was supplied with all needed hardware.
Only the highest quality
materials was used in the kits. Note that other "similar" constructed
import models use inferior grade rods that have almost no carbon fibre in them.
We use only Avia Sport brand rods. Our fabric is 1/2 oz poly that is coated for
zero porosity instead of the typical 3/4 oz nylon usually seen on other models.
It costs us twice the price but every gram saved helps performance. Even though
we had to pay retail for it as it is only available from one source, we felt it
was worth it to offer the best quality product available.
This construction is considered intermediate due to the power gear and servo linkage installation. Except for covering the panels using contact cement, the remainder of the construction is just lashing fittings to the frame for plug-in assembly of all components and support rods.
Build time is estimated at about 3 hours a day for 4 or 5 evenings of relaxing work.
If you want to scratch build your own, here's the RCgroups
construction thread with build details:
RC groups thread
If you have Real Flight, here's a link to a CTC modeled for
it:
Real
Flight CTC model
and some discussion about setting it up here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=766533
E-mail kit testimony from one builder:
"Hi
Ken,
I want to tell you how impressed I am with the quality of your CarbonTraveler
Convertible kit. I was blown away with your attention to detail when you
manufactured this kit! The instruction manual was the most detailed that I have
ever seen and the language was precise yet understandable. The large color
photographs were greatly appreciated. Sorting all the fittings, bushings and
other parts out into separate bags and then clearly labeling the bags was also
very helpful.
My CTC assembled exactly as the instructions
called for ...Also, thanks for the rapid shipping.
Your material selection for the fittings and bushings was perfect. The
bushing material was straight and rigid without an excessive amount of wall
thickness, and the fittings are flexible yet very strong....
My CTC's maiden flight will probably occur this Saturday down in Hanger 1 in
Lakehurst, NJ (home of the Hindenburg) - I hope that my piloting skills will do
justice to the quality of the CTC kit. Thanks again for your obsessive
attention to detail.
Roger Williamson"
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