3D HobbyShop 52" Velox Flight Test

It was a sad deal when the original Velox Revolution and Velox VR1 dropped out of the 3DHS lineup. The Velox redefined performance with it's full airfoiled empennage. We had never seen that before in something as small as a 47" plane and the performance caught us completely by surprise. It also redefined the direction of the four foot 3DXA plane. Now I can't name a 4" plane that doesn't have airfoiled tail sections. The Velox was such a step forward that the whole industry had to follow suit.

The VR1 was a more refined version that was not quite so wild, but a lot easier to fly and was still as capable as anything we had seen to that point. Now with the return of the Velox revolution, we were all curious where the balance between performance and ease of flying would fall. Airframe design has come so far in the last few years that we knew it would be good, but again the Velox surprises us with performance, only this time it's more precise, more capable, more stable and easier to fly. It's a pretty big improvement all the way around and slots into the 3DHS lineup quite comfortably alongside the Edge, and also alongside it's Extreme Flight 52" sisters.

Initially I was a little intimidated by this plane because, again, the original Velox' performance was legendary, and sadly I am now 10 years older! This ended up being no issue as you can see in the "Systems Check" video. I checked the trim and did a few tumbles up high, then threw it into an elevator and started hucking on the deck like I had forgotten this was a brand new plane I was unfamiliar with! The new plane paranoia disappeared within the first 30 seconds. I came to terms with the plane very, very quickly, and that's one of the signs of a well engineered plane.

3DHS 52 Velox Revolution__Return Of The Wild Child from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Another sure sign you have a good plane on your hands is that the Velox responds to set up changes with dead sure predictability. I know I have said that before with other Extreme Flight planes, but then again, those are also extremely well engineered planes! For me, it is easier to start off nose heavy and adjust backwards instead of the other way around. Sometimes a tail heavy plane can lead you the wrong way with adjustments because it never does the same thing twice, but a nose heavy plane always flies nose heavy. So, I started off with the CG on the leading edge of the wing tube and started moving it back. I could tell the difference every time, and every time it did exactly what I was expecting. After one adjustment I guessed at the battery placement and hit it dead on, simply because the plane told me what it wanted by the way it was flying. The whole trimming process was simply a matter of moving the battery around.

For the third flight I had the CG on the rear of the wing tube and she was almost completely dead neutral. I may still monkey around with it a little, but right now it's so close and I am having so much fun with the plane that I don't want to change anything.

From flying the old Velox most people would probably expect the plane's snapping and tumbling ability to be the most outstanding feature, but what caught me out is just how good the harrier performance of this plane is. You can see that even on the systems check video I am carrying the nose around extremely high and the plane just grooves along. The harrier manner of this plane are simply outstanding. Very solid.

With the Velox' powerful rudder and the ability to hold the nose so high, you can spin the thing around in a harrier turn in almost it's own wingspan. Eight now I am very close to just having it pivot around the inside wing tip, but this is still a new plane and our pilot needs to work on it!

While the superb harrier manners are what caught my attention, the tumbling abilities are pretty insane too. I was probably not surprised because I was expecting Velox-like performance here and was certainly not disappointed. The Velox is easy to tumble with good precision, meaning you can control where it comes out and what direction it is pointed in. With a lot of planes you throw it in, let it thrash around until it runs out of steam and then deal with whatever you get as far as where the plane is pointed. Not so with the Velox. You snap it and when you tell it to stop, it stops, and you can point it wherever you want it with full authority. All the Extreme Flight/3DHS planes are excellent with this, but the Velox just does it a little better.

Generally the Velox has so much post stall control that you need to be careful not to get overconfident. Already I am flying this plane more often on the deck than any of my other planes, simply because that's what it likes. You fly each plane to it's strength, and the Velox strength is it likes to be flown hard, and even better, with less margin. If you want to show off, this is the plane.

So, already, considering what a wild reputation the old Velox has, I wasn't expecting to talk so much about the plane being so precise and so easy to place where you want it. We were told this was going to be the most refined Velox ever, and it didn't take long to see how true that is.

The Velox' does pop tops with absolute blind impunity. As long as you hit it reasonably close, she will spin around like a drill bit. As you can imagine, this alters the timing a bit but I got on top of it pretty quickly. Occasionally I will get another unexpected half a turn out of it, but then I just hammer the power and fly away. I just need a little more flying to get the timing right and maybe I can find that second half of that half turn. Either way, the Velox is simply spectacular here.

As far as spinning, you can drop the Velox into a rudder/elevator spin and it's quite nice. However, if you add power and a little opposite aileron she will flatten right out and the descent will slow dramatically. If you want to get really crazy you can work up to full throttle and then she simply whips around. Pretty entertaining, but you will have to work on getting the opposite aileron just right. It's not hard. You just have to fly more!

You can see in the videos that the precision tracking is really, really good. It's not quite up there with the Extra, but it's not far off either.  Point and slow rolls are outstanding with negligible coupling. The plane just tracks like a missile. Other big sky stuff is easy because the plane stays on course with next to no correction.

Overall, it would be hard to be more delighted with a new plane. The build was effortless and the trimming process was next to nonexistent. Basically you just pick it up and fly it at a higher level than you do with most of your planes.

Is the Velox for beginners? Well, probably not. I'de say you probably need a good 3D plane or two under your belt because this is by far the most agile 4-5" plane we have ever seen. It's not twitchy or unstable, but everything happens so fast and so assuredly. You probably need to be an intermediate 3D pilot to really enjoy the Velox' capabilitiues.

3DHS 52 Velox Revolution__Return Of The Wild Child 2 from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

 

Generally maiden flights are kind of boring because you are trimming and maybe landing to move the battery, or just generally being careful because it's a brand new plane. This time, however, we knew we had something special on out hands and didn't want to miss anything. As it turns out, the plane didn't need any trim and the CG was so close that it felt wonderful right out of the blocks. The main point to notice here is just how fast I had complete confidence in the plane.

3DHS 52 Velox Revolution__Systems Check from Doc Austin on Vimeo.