Picking The Perfect Extreme Flight/3DHS 52" Plane

 I've been wanting to write this for quite awhile, but it has not been until recently we had enough entries in the class to publish something meaningful. With a new Edge and Velox joining the 3DXA wars this year, now we do. We now have the choice of four absolutely superb airframes, and more are surely coming.

52 has everything going for it because they will still fit into a new Nissan Altima assembled, and in other smaller cars (like my older, smaller 2000 Altima) with one wing removed. They are only slightly less convenient and practical than a 48" but that extra four inches of wing and 3 inches of additional propeller diameter pay dividends you have to experience to believe. The final piece of the pragmatism puzzle is the 52s use reasonably priced 4s 3300 batteries. You can shop around for yourself and make your own deal, but I'm flying ProModeler packs that retail out at $50.

The hidden beauty of the 52" is that, other than their incredible performance, you can equip them with the most premium equipment on the planet for very few dollars more. Super mega magic servos can be had for the only a little more, and sometimes the same price as the standard equipment, and a good electronic stability system (ESS) runs from a paltry $20 to $100 for the industry standard Aura (available from Extreme Flight). For roughly an extra $100, you can turn a perfectly nice 52" into a deadly serious proposition. With standard equipment the 52s are world class fliers, or you can spend a little more and have a bad ass 52" that can go toe to toe with even a similarly equipped 60" plane.

So, it's up to you how serious you want the plane to be. Personally, I think the premium equipment makes so much difference that I'm never going back. We can delve into the equipment issue a little later on, but for now let's look at the planes. Previously I have ranked planes on their ease of flight, and the Edge always won there. Now though it's little different because all the 52" are such advanced airframes, and stable that it's hard to separate them.

Click To Enlarge On All Pictures

Edge__Still The Easiest
Nothing has changed here in that the Edge is still clearly the best platform to learn 3D with and capable enough that even the most experienced pilots will enjoy it. With the straight leading edge (LE) of it's wing, the Edge remains the most stable of all in harrier with no wing rock, no matter how sloppy the pilot gets. This makes learning harrier much easier because the plane never fights you. Pull  nose up and steer it with the rudder, and she will never rock, drop a wing or veer off course. This is invaluable for the newer pilots.

The Edge also flies just a little lighter, so that will buy the new guys a little time when working on their post stall stuff. When you add in it's unrivalled alpha stability, there's a reason people have always said flying an Edge was like cheating. For the new guy, this is the unfair advantage.

For all of this, the Edge is shockingly good in slow and point rolls and other precision conventional aerobatics. It's not quite as graceful as the Extra and Slick, but it's so close that only experienced pilots will pick up on this.

When you get into more violent stuff, the Edge rotates hard on the pitch axis and the wings never deviate from where you put them. There is no wobbling, tip stall or any of that. If you have the wings level and yank the elevator, the plane will rotate hard and those wings will stall flat. This pays off big in walls and parachutes, and there's nothing that will drop into an elevator as smoothly and precisely as an Edge, and this one is no different.

3DHS 52 Edge 540__Deadly Serious from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Perhaps the most telling experience with this plane so far was the first day out when my friends cornered me and told me I was too confident and was going to wreck it! I simply fell into a groove with her instantly and was driving her around on the ragged edge. This is not the best way fly on the first day, but the plane was so good I couldn't help myself. I never fly this plane at less than 100%, simply because I can get away with it.

New guys, this is your best bet. Experienced pilot already know the Edge is the plane they can hang out there without worry. Pretty much nothing but win.

 

52" Slick EXP Vrs 52" Extra EXP
I grouped these two together because they are actually very similar. Mostly I fly them and enjoy them and don't really think about which one is better because I can't choose. They use the same wing and tail (except the rudder), and have roughly the same moment. The differences seem to be in the alignment of the stab and wing to the thrust line, but even that's not too different, and of course the styling.

In the air they are quite similar too, though each has it's own personality. The Extra, like always, is the most graceful plane in the sky and excels at precision maneuvers. This has always been the personality of this plane, though the 52 flies lighter than other Extras I have owned, and actually mimics the floaty-ness of the 60" EXP. Smooth, stable and precise define this plane's attitude, though the Slick surprisingly gives up very little here. The margin is razor thin.

The big surprise is the Slick can match the Extra in big sky precision. She will point and slow roll with equal ease, as she will also stall turn and do crisp Cuban 8s, and other conventional aerobatics. The only difference here is that the Extra is just a little more graceful, and even at that, this is a subjective observation.

Extra EXP__Awesome Servo Testing III from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Extreme Flight Slick 580__Release The Kracken from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

In harrier the Slick has the advantage with next to zero wing rock, though the Extra will very gently rock rhythmically, almost like a deliberate little dance. You have to get sloppy for this to happen, but it's better than other planes that freak out and go off course or fight the pilot. Any rocking you can get out of an Extra looks more like you meant to do it and I don't even notice it when I am flying. I only see it when I am reviewing video, and it actually looks kinda sexy.

 If you can't have both, the way to separate these two is the Extra stands alone for being graceful, and while nearly as good here, the Slick excels in snapping, tumbling and pop tops. It's a very close call between the two and it's taken two years for me to figure out which plane I like on any given day. They are so similar I fly them alike with the exception that the Extra likes to slide when you rotate it hard or  snap it around in an alpha turn, parachute or wall, where as the Slick will pop and stop. That may be only meaningful way to pick one over the other because they are both so utterly superb.

There is one area where no plane can touch the Slick, and that's cool factor. In this size and these color schemes, nothing is as cool as a Slick EXP, and that's probably enough for a lot of people. The Extra is long, sleek and sexy, which is also pretty cool in it's own way. The Slick, though, wins when it comes to wow factor. So again, almost impossible to choose.

I wish there was more to say that sets these two apart, but they are both so close to perfect that they were bound to be more like fraternal twins than identical ones. Each is still different, but I can't really choose one over the other, even in the flying. It's going to be up to you, but rest assured either one is going to fit your need perfectly. Think of it as falling in love with the beautiful brunette girl next door, or running off to get married to her redheaded fraternal twin. No way to lose!

You're going to have to choose between these two for yourself, but if you want smoothness and precision, one or both of these are for you.

Velox Revolution__Much More Than You Were Expecting
Of course we all remember the original hair-on-fire Velox. That was such a ground breaking plane it revolutionized the entire 48" market and had such a high level of performance we never expected to see that it changed the way we fly. The plane was such a high level of agility that we all still think of that plane with a bit of awe.

The new Velox is absolutely it's own dog. While the original and the new are still Velox, they are not the same plane, much like a 58 Corvette is the same as a 2020 Corvette. They are both Corvettes, but they are sure not the same car. The new plane is so refined we are in a different world.

I made the mistake of expecting the new Velox Revolution to be a lot like the old one. In some ways it is, like it's superb and unrivalled snapping, spinning and tumbling ability. What caught me totally by surprise was, unlike the original, the new Velox is very surprisingly stable and easy to fly, and it's clearly not the same plane. Much of the original Velox' character is still there, though this plane is so refined that comparing it to the old one is useless.

The big surprise is the new Velox is an absolute harrier monster that rivals the Edge. Not even a hint of rocking or instability of any kind. At first I thought something had to be wrong because it's not supposed to be that good, though there's no doubt it is. It's almost a little eerie to be flying a plane that is so agile, and then drop it into the smoothest elevator maneuvers and harrier flight you've ever seen. Stability and agility generally work against each other, but on this plane that simply disappears.
 I am flying it a lot like I would fly an Extra SHP (which was the plane I used to learn 3D), and in a lot of ways those two share a lot of the same DNA anyway.

So, I really enjoy flying the Velox in an easy relaxed manner, taking advantage of this new found stability, and found that even with less control surface throw the plane will still shamelessly wad itself up when you snap or tumble it. This is that old  Velox character that I was talking about. It can be as wild a you want it to be and all you have to do is bend the sticks harder and she will respond.

The biggest part of the Velox is it's surprising stability, though a close second is how easily she will throw the tail over the nose or spin like a top in a blender. We kind of expected this, but what I did not see coming was just how little force or speed you have to use to accomplish this. From a dead stopped hover I can accelerate up into a pop top in less than 50 feet! This makes tumbling into less of a bend the sticks and pray kind of maneuver and more into tossing the plane in with a bit of finesse and having it come out exactly where you want it to. This part is key because you fly into it with complete control and fly out the same way, which looks a lot better than hammering the maneuver and waiting to see where it stops. This transforms snapping and tumbling into precision maneuvers!

3DHS Velox__Doc Austin's Day Off from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Of course, it's still fun to build up a terminal velocity head of steam and beat the airplane senselessly to a tumble, but it's nice you can do nearly the same thing with a lot less effort.

In the end the Velox becomes the most versatile plane in the lineup. You can fly it easy, or you can hammer it mercilessly and it's happy either way. Is this a plane for beginners? No. It's probably still a little too agile to actually learn 3D with, but once you are comfortable with any of the others, that transition will be seamless and the extra agility will be an asset instead of making things more difficult.

Nail
In the end, you're going to have to choose or for yourself but I have tried to break things down and make that process easier. The Edge is the easiest for newer pilots while still remaining capable of wild 3D, and the plane that absolutely everyone one can love. The Slick and Extra have the most finely balanced performance between stability and agility, and the Velox remains a plane in it's own league that is versatile and adaptable to be almost everything you want it to be. Since I love them all, it's difficult to say any one is better than the others, but it's nice to have so many superb choices.

3DHS Velox__One Coin, Two Sides

Initial flights with the Velox were surprising only in that she is much more stable than I was expecting. Part of this was because the original Velox was so extremely agile, and part of it was because I was quite inexperienced at 3D. At time, the Velox was not the right plane for a new guy, but as I got more experience I grew to love the plane. It was just too responsive for an inexperienced pilot, much like a Corvette is not the car you want to learn to drive with.

I knew the new Velox would be better with 10 years more knowledge funneled into the design process, and this was extremely easy to see even on the first flight. I was so surprised by her pleasant nature I had to land and figure out what had just happened. I kept flying the plane and liked it so much I just left the set up alone. I was happy enough with it, but she was just a little bit much with all that throw. It's a Velox, so it's supposed to be wild, right?

Well, maybe not, unless you want to set it up that way.

My adventures with the Velox have recently taken a weird twist and now I am rethinking a lot of my set up patterns. I started off with too much throw in my blue Velox, and when I read about designer Ben Fisher reducing his throw I tried that and really liked it. Eventually I dialed my ailerons back too (I had way too much) and started to fly the plane a bit more gently and composed. With each adjustment the plane became more a more stable and easy to fly until I started to fly her differently. Because of it's short moment, the Velox doesn't need a lot of speed, momentum or force to get it to respond, so I could slow everything down and take more time to line things up, and get it right.

You might think reducing the throw would cripple the Velox' snapping and tumbling nature, and to a small extent it does temper it a bit. However, she is still the best of all the 52s in this respect so I really didn't give up anything and gained a plane I can fly on the edge with extreme confidence. Because I had so much control throw in her, I did not initially get a grasp on just how stable the plane is.

3DHS Velox__3DHS Velox__Doc Austin's Day Off 3 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

The most outstanding feature of the Velox' character is her crazy good harrier manners. I knew this the first time I dropped her into an elevator and rode it all the way into a landing. Of all the attributes inherent in a good 3D design, harrier is probably the most important, and the Velox even rivals the Edge for excelling in this area.

Essentially, because the plane is now so gentle and easy to handle, I am treating it a lot like it is an Extra SHP! Astute readers may recall my rabid enthusiasm for the SHP, and while I keep hoping we will get one in the 52" class, the new Velox has enough SHP DNA that it is hard to avoid comparisons. Both are super stable and easy to fly, though the new one is extremely agile without being overbearing.

 

 

While not biased toward precision and smoothness quite like the Extra, the Velox is still extremely precise, and now it's extremely docile, while maintaining most of it's agility. You are not going to challenge the Extra for what it does best, but the Velox gets so close that it's really playing to my style.

The Velox is still performance biased more toward agility, but now she has the stability to go toe to toe with the rest of the 52s. A lot of this is hard to describe, which is why we shoot so much video! As you can see, the Velox now pop tops, snaps and spins as well as it always has, but now is much more smooth, locked in, and easy to fly. This is an extremely pilot friendly plane, and as the video suggests, it's not that far away from being a nice 3D trainer, provided you dial the elevator back to 45 degrees.

3DHS Velox__3DHS Velox__Doc Austin's Day Off 4 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

At this point, comparisons to the original and VR1 Velox are useless, because this one is so refined that it's not even the same plane. That, or maybe it is the same plane, like a 1958 Corvette is like a 2020 Corvette. They are both Corvettes but they sure are not the same car.

I'm looking to make a radio move and get something with triple rates. This way I can use a precision low rate, my current high rate as a medium, and then a super stupid insane rate. I can have my precision plane, my 3D trainer type, and my batsnot crazy tumbling monster. I think with a little more tuning my Velox is going to be the plane that does everything.

I'm going to throw out some brutal honesty here.......... the original Velox was so wild that I did not expect to like the new one nearly as much as I do. Part of this is because after 10 years I am hopefully flying better, but I think it is more like this is so much better of a plane. I liked it right away, but set up work has shown me a side of the plane I never expected, but am absolutely enjoying.


In the end, you can crank up the throw and have a wild extreme aerobatic plane, or you can dial it back and have a solid stable and gentle all around performer that doesn't give up anything in the way of snaps, spins and tumbles. I think the way I am set up now, the Velox would make a great 3D trainer too. I certainly got a lot more than I was expecting out of this plane, and I think everyone else will be too.

NAIL

In the end I can only imagine the design brief for the Velox included the word "more" over and over. More speed, more agility, more stability, more ease of flight, more fun.. The big surprise isn't how much the Velox matched those expectations. It's how much it exceeded them.


3DHS Velox__3DHS Velox__Doc Austin's Day Off 2 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Velox On Fire__ Flight Analysis And Video Showcase

Like most people I was really torn on which color Velox to build. I went with the blue simply because it's so pretty, and it's turned out to be an outstanding airplane. Still, the yellow is so outrageous, so on fire, that I had to build one of those too.

As you can see, the yellow/red color combination really jumps out at you. In the air there is simply no mistaking which way it's heading or which side you are looking at. I would almost go so far as to say disorientation would be next to impossible with this plane! The yellow/red on top is so different from the white/black on bottom it almost looks like two different planes. If you need a highly visible plane, this is it.

Click To Enlarge On All Pictures 

 

So far I have not applied any decals, and I may not. I really like t this way, though admittedly the picture on the box looks really good too. Right now I am just enjoying it's looks and letting the covering settle a little. With the weather set to cool off soon, I expect to get a few wrinkles, and it's always easier to iron those out when there are no decals to worry about.

 

 

 

FLYING

This plane is another illustration of just how good today's airframes have gotten. I set the plane up exactly like the manual calls for, and after a click of trim I flew the plane all day without making a single change. All my 52"s flew perfect right out of the box.

Laser cutting and jig building gives us such precisely true airframes that you can hardly go wrong. Add to that the self aligning stabilizer virtually assures a straight build, and we are truly in a golden age of model aviation. I honestly don't know how things can get any better. While the airframes are the tip of the spear, we are also benefitting from super powerful motors and batteries, fabulous electronic stability systems that make the planes fly more securely than ever, and the new breed of super mega magic servos that feature dead perfect ultra precise centering. If there is an improvement that can make the planes assemble or fly better, I don't know what it could possibly be.


You can read more about the Velox' flying characteristics in 3D HobbyShop 52" Velox Flight Test, so I will just touch lightly on what I feel are the most important attributes and what sets the Velox apart from other planes.

3DS Velox__FIRE! from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Having owned and loved both the original Velox Revolution and Velox VR1, the biggest surprise was how stable and friendly this new Velox really is. Of course, I knew this from experience with my blue, when I dropped her into a harrier and found she gives even the much loved 3DHS Edge a solid run. This was very surprising, and for me, has almost come to define the plane. The Velox simply loves to be yanked into a stall, and she will settle right in with the nose way up high. It's easy to drive her up and down the runway low and slow, spin her around on the rudder and do it all again. It does exactly what you are expecting because it also does exactly what you tell it to do. In short, her harrier manners are remarkable.

You can get some wing rock if the pilot is extremely sloppy, but for the most part she is so stable that all post stall maneuvering seems, well.......... natural.

You can hold the nose way up, and with a sharp blast of throttle and rudder, spin her right around, almost on her own wing tip. Harrier turns are just that easy. You can either enter elevator maneuvers from snaps, spins, parachutes or anything else you can dream up, including a simple smooth, controlled stall, and she drops right in so happily it's almost like that's what she wanted to do anyway. In an elevator the Velox will drop almost perfectly straight down with very little rudder correction. Part of this is just good engineering, but also that self aligned stabilizer makes for a straight flying plane.

So, with previous Velox' being noted for being so wild, you can imagine how surprised I was to find the new Velox to be so friendly and easy to fly. It's still an advanced airplane, but if you want to fly it gently she will respond quite willingly.

3DS Velox__FIRE! II from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

However, let's not forget the Velox is intended to be, and is certainly capable of being a very violent airplane. The best part of her snapping and rumbling ability is the control you have exiting the maneuver. Provided you don't absolutely dead stall the plane, she will stop where you tell her to stop and fly away with a little power. This makes snaps and tumbles look much better and more precise, rather than a big thrash that goes wherever it wants to go. The Velox looks and remains in control.

Now if you snap her really hard and milk every last bit of momentum you can get out of it, you may require a little opposite rudder and some power to stop her where you want, but for the most part the Velox will stop the instant you center the sticks. Occasionally I will get it all wrong and get another half turn than I was expecting, but that's the most rebellious thing I've seen the plane do.

No quite as surprising is that the Velox doesn't require a lot of speed of force to XA (extreme aerobatics) well. This comes in very handy when moving from one series of snaps to another because without the need to have terminal velocity, you can keep the plane in tighter and lower. I'm still playing with the timing, but I can almost hit a medium speed snap with nearly the violence I can get with big speed. In this respect, it is a lot like the 60" slick, which again is no surprise, especially considering her pedigree.

Generally this kind of snapping, tumbling capabilities work against precision flight and the Velox does give up a little here to the Extra and Slick 580. However, this is hardly worth considering because she excels in these other areas. Point and slow rolls, Cuban 8s and double immelmans are still razor sharp and precise, which gives the Velox a really nice overall balance.

SET UP

Slightly different from my blue Velox was the choice of servos. I had to save a few dollars on this project, so instead of ProModeler DS150 servos, I went with the less expensive DS100. I have DS100 in all my 52" planes except my blue Velox and red Extra and I've been exceptionally pleased with them.

I was out of Xessories servo arms and money, but I had ProModeler's very useful  PRS101 arms on hand and put them to good use. I especially like the hole at 7/8" from center for my aileron ball link. This is just the amount of throw I like for the roll rate I am most comfortable with.

For elevator I use the full 1" arm, which gives me 55 degrees of throw. This is a little more than designer Ben Fisher prefers, but we have different flying styles and I like a little more. The Velox offers a lot of flexibility here. I've tried 72 degrees and it was great, if a little hairy, and at 45 is was super sweet and gentle. At 55 it feels just about right to me.

Using the 7/8" hole for the rudder, I get a perfect 45 degrees both directions.

 I always put a lot of effort into getting the cleanest, most tidy radio installation I can manage. With all the extra spaghetti that comes with an ESS, it can be a real mess, but there is so much room in the compartment this was not a big job.

 

From the pylon racing days we learned how crucial a tight spinner gap is to finding speed. This is nowhere near as critical on a sport 3DXA  plane. It just looks cool. This did not take any more effort, just a little more time and patience. The kits are so well engineered that if you take your tome it's hard to get things wrong.

48" Extra EXP__Testing V-log

We are flying the Extra every day and logging more and more time on these ProModeler DS85 Prototype servos. This plane and it's equipment have been so utterly reliable I almost never work on it. I just fly it day after day with only an occasional check of the servo arm bolts to assure they stay tight....don't want any of those falling off.

Aura Rethink
I'm taking advantage of this program and it's extended flight time by tinkering with my Aura settings. Knowing noting about ESS units, it's not surprising I got some of my initial set up wrong. From the beginning I noticed the Aura was interfering with some of my tumbles, and it was taking all the steam out of pop tops. Initially I was still satisfied because I was still delighted with the plane overall, and if I had to sacrifice pop tops I could live with it. I tried to fly around it, but if you didn't hit the pop top perfectly the plane would just wallow out of it, almost like you were releasing the rudder. This gave me the clue I needed to look at my rudder settings.

I'm already running my gains at 10, which is pretty low. I didn't want to turn those back, so I had to look somewhere else. I figured out this had nothing to do with gains and more to do with running the high stick priority (SP) from the "Generic 3D" template found in the Aura config tool.

Those SP are 40ailerons/25elevator/100 rudder. At 100% the Aura was telling the rudder to correct the yaw, and essentially fight me. Now I needed to override the Aura by turning the rudder SP back. I guessed that 50% would be a good place to start and it was. One flight was enough to convince me that was the right move because as you can see in the videos, the plane pop tops like it used to without the Aura. So, I keep the benefit of the Aura, and now when I hammer the rudder it stay out of the way. Right now I am so pleased with the plane overall that I think this might be my final configuration.

Extra EXP__HS85 Durability Testing from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

My overriding observation of the whole package is that the Extra EXP was 10 years ahead of it's time, and with premium equipment we are finally unlocking it's potential. With premium servos and an Aura, this plane is better than ever, and nearly as good as a 60" plane. The added stability makes it fly like a bigger plane, and the laser like centering of the servos makes it track like a big plane. Essentially, you give up nothing to the larger plane, but keep the small plane agility advantage. Add to that you still use inexpensive batteries and it fits in the trunk assembled, this plane has everything going for it.

All of this is just in time for the upcoming 48" Extra V2, and you know we will be on top of that.

Extra EXP__HS85 Durability Testing 002 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Exrea EXP V1__More Testing from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Testing ProModeler DS85 Prototype Servos

Extreme Flight's 48" EXP series planes have set an untouchable standard for planes in the 4 foot class. The original Extra is now over a decade old, a long, long time for any 3DXA plane in today's ultra competitive market. The market changes every day, and planes come and go, but the one constant has the 48" EXPs dominance in this size class.

As the game changed and evolved, we were putting more and more stress on everything, especially the servos, to the point we were asking more from them than they were designed to give. Remember, the HS65MG was designed for planes like the original Extreme Flight 45" Extra on 3s batteries, but the planes have become so super high performance that we needed a little help with a faster, more powerful, and more modern servo. That's where the ProModeler DS85 is soon to come into play.

The Test Bed
Well, what else could it have been but the Extra EXP? These have been my primary plane for the last 10 years and the one I am most comfortable and confident flying. Extras are noted for how predictably they respond to set up and equipment changes, so any time I wanted to try or test anything, it has almost always been on the 48" Extra.

 

  

 

Having already experienced the difference the DS100 made in my 52s, I was really excited about making that kind of improvement on my beloved 48. I needed to replace a crashed one anyway, so this gave me a convenient excuse to build two new ones!

The reason I built two is because the middle of a testing program is a bad time to lose a plane. As you can see, we are well past the performance testing and now it's all about durability. You have to push the plane extremely hard, almost to the point of abuse, because if there's a weak point you have to weed it out now. Whatever you are testing can fail, but in this case it's much more likely I'll make a stupid mistake pushing too hard and bury the plane. Having a back up assures that even in the worst case I'm only a day away from being back in the air.

This was not going to be a time sensitive project, except, as we were gearing up the Extreme Flight Extra EXP V2 was announced. The hope is to have these ready and in production before that plane gets here. The V2 is going to be so nice (the perfection of the perfect plane) plane, and these servos are so superb that the two absolutely deserve each other.

In addition to the servos making the plane fly massively better, this program has given me a most excellent reason for hammering the crap out of the plane and simply enjoying the ride. I've always loved flying this plane and now it's better than ever.

The DS85 Servo
First a big thanks to John Beech of ProModeler for the opportunity to be part of this program. With lots of communication going back and forth, I've already learned more about servos in the last year than the last 40. As a big proponent of the 48" class, I'm delighted to be part of moving things forward, that is, so far forward that there's just never any going back.

The DS85 is going to have everything pilots are looking for in this size. First, the torque is a whopping 85 inches, or roughly enough to sink the Bismark, Turpitz and Yamato all at once! This plays out nicely at speed and in full deflection maneuvers........ no stalling, no blowback, no nothing except the servo doing what you ask it to. This gives you a better feel and a better connection" to the Plane. That and this much torque means the servo is under stressed, and that will show up big in boosting reliability and durability.

One really nice aspect of all of this is that the DS85 fits the servo opening cut in all the 48s, down the point the servo screw holes are the same pattern. I previously has HS5070 in this plane, and the DS85s dropped in bolted right down. Easy, especially if you are retrofitting an existing plane.

When flying this plane with HS70 servos I had to space the rudder servo out about 2/16" because it was bottoming out against the other side of the fuselage. The DS85 is shorter enough that it just goes right in without any spacers. It's always nicer when things fit perfectly.

One difference on my particular plane is that it was already set up for the large HS5087 on the elevator. I had cut the servo opening for the larger servo, but fortunately the ProModeler DS100 fits here too, so that's what I am running for now.

Above are a few detail shots of the components. You can see how beautifully the case is machined. Next to that is the case top which features brass insets where the gear pins locate. Brass wears a lot better than the plastic most case tops feature, but brass mounts keep the mesh perfect. The pins also mount into brass bushing on the bottom, so this is as solid and durable as it can get.

Flying
Testing new equipment can be a little unnerving because you don't for sure know what's going to happen (which is why it's called "testing") to your expensive plane. Buoyed by previous experience with ProModeler servos I more excited about the potential new performance than I was worried something bad would happen.

Testing ProModeler DS85 Prototype Servos 003 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Just like happened in my first ProModeler DS100 tests, the plane trimmed out in one pass. I was used to this from flying ProModeler for about a year now, but it's telling this seems to be a trait of all the ProModeler servos I've owned. On a lot of servos the trim shifts from one end of the field to the other and it's really nice to be done with that. Now you trim it and forget it, and then fly the plane forever and never think about it again. I still have not touched the trims on my original DS100 equipped 52" Extra in over 100 flights.

Torque is much more than adequate because I had full control at all speeds, including terminal velocity in snaps, blenders and full throttle tumbles. We were using about 50 before and that was plenty,but having 85 ounces certainly isn't going to hurt anything. We do not have a speed specification yet for this servo, but it seems like it's roughly the same as the HS5070MH, which is a quick little servo.

Testing ProModeler DS85 Prototype Servos 002 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Where a quick servo comes in handy for people running stability systems (which I am) is that the servo reacts to the gyro faster and stabilizes the plane quicker. In back to back test with the DS100 and DS150 servos, the faster servo just felt better and I felt more connected to the plane. It's much the same with these servos, and as well as I know this plane that connection really stands out.

The biggest pay off isn't really talked about that much, but it's always ProModeler's micrometer precise centering. A poor centering servo gives you a really, really poor flying plane because it simply won't trim out, and the trim changes from one maneuver to the next. You are essentially flying an out of trim plane, and we all know how much fun that is, right? You can't be precise or even smooth because the plane is always fighting you. It ruins the entire experience.

So far it's been nothing but my favorite plane flying better than ever. I'm flying the plane harder and enjoying it more, all good things. I don't know that I am necessarily flying it any better by I can tell you for a fact the plane is much better.

I'm not sure where exactly we are with regard to wrapping things up, but the precision and performance have already exceeded my expectations, and I was expecting a lot. We just need to breeze through the durability phase, but I am confident we will have zero issues. The servos have already been so good that I have supreme confidence in them.

Testing DS85 Prototype Servos__001 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.