Hobbico’s NexSTAR MINI 2.4 GHz EP

Hobbico’s

NexSTAR MINI 2.4 GHz EP

Electric Powered Park Pilot Trainer

By: Eric Henderson

The Hobbico NexSTAR Mini EP is presented as an electric powered (EP), Ready-to-Fly (RTF) Park Flyer basic trainer airplane. The RTF version is a complete package that includes a 4-channel, 2.4 GHz transmitter with batteries, a brushless motor, electronic speed controller (ESC) and has the receiver and all of the servos pre-installed.

The NexSTAR Mini EP is the smaller brother of the larger, very successful NexSTAR EP electric-powered trainer and the cousin to its glow-engine powered NexSTAR Select trainer.

All three airplanes feature training aids, which include SpinControl® leading edge (leading edge droop section), airfoil extensions, and fixed SpeedBrakes® (airbrakes) that act as training flaps. They also all use the Hobbico-patented PivotFlex® wing mounting system which helps reduce damage in hard landings. The PivotFlex Wing Mounting System fastens with one nylon bolt and employs a rubber retainer and pivoting channel. A severe, unplanned airplane/ground interface will cause the wing to separate from the fuselage and reduce the damage from the meeting with terra firma.

The NexSTAR EP Mini meets all the aircraft requirements of the Academy of Model Aeronautics’ (AMA) Park Pilot Program. The aircraft weighs less than 2 pounds (the Program’s upper weight limit) and has a level top speed under 60 mph (the Program’s upper speed limit). For complete Park Pilot aircraft details, follow this link.

The AMA Park Pilot Program offers non-AMA members the opportunity to become AMA members at a much reduced cost. Park Pilot membership includes a great magazine “Park Pilot”, $500,000 personal liability insurance, $2.5 million liability insurance for the flying field owner (see insurance details) and membership in the world’s largest sport aviation association – the AMA. For complete information and details about Park Pilot membership, just click here.

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The completed NexSTAR Mini EP shows the leading edge droops that prevent stalling of the airplane when you fly too slowly. The airbrakes are designed to allow the pilot to use the power of the brushless electric motor without going too fast. Both devices are basically held on with adhesive tape and can be removed as your flying skills and your confidence improve.

BOX CONTENTS

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The NexSTAR Mini EP comes in a carry box with a clear picture and content specifications. The parts were very well packaged and showed no signs of shipping damage. The box and molded foam protector can be reused for storage and transportation.

The box shows the NexSTAR Mini EP on a picnic table. To do this review, the assembly was performed on a picnic table at the local flying field. The radio is a Tactic 2.4 GHz spread spectrum radio that will not interfere with any other model radio. This is great for the pilot because there is no longer any worry about radio interference at a local club or in a park area.

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The picture on the box shows all of the goodies that include the brushless electric motor, the electronic speed controller (ESC) with built-in battery eliminator circuit (BEC) to power the receiver and servos. Also shown are the SuperTigre brushless electric motor (BL) and the SuperTigre three-cell Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) battery.

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The NexSTAR Mini EP box contents are all that you need to get a remote controlled airplane into the air. The description uses the words RTF (ready to fly). Except for tightening a few bolts, sliding the wing halves together and installing the landing gear, this aircraft is truly ready to go. This small amount of work allows the airplane to be packaged in a reasonably sized box.

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The fuselage comes with the motor and the nose gear leg already fitted. The stabilizer has the elevator and control horn already attached. The fin also comes with the rudder and control horn attached.

 

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The wings are hollow and are of balsa wood and plywood construction. There are two servos already fitted and connected to the aileron control horns.

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The wing comes in two halves that are joined with a carbon-fiber tube and two screws through the center piece. One retaining screw had already been fitted to one wing panel in photo 12.

ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT

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There is a very small collection of hardware that comes with the NexSTAR Mini EP and that is all that is needed: A molded main undercarriage with the wheels already fitted, a carbon spar tube/rod for the wing, screws for wing retention, a white spinner, and a propeller.

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The Tactic radio system is pretty basic as is usually true for smaller RTF airplanes. The four channel transmitter has no dual rates. The trims are of the ratchet type. The transmitter does have reversing switches for all channels which could come in handy should the radio system be moved to a different aircraft later in the pilot’s career.

There are three lights that tell you the condition of your transmitter battery. If the green one goes out, stop flying or do not fly, and change the batteries. Of course, the transmitter uses the newest frequency range, 2.4 GHz. For more information about this revolution in RC systems, read the various Sport Aviator 2.4 GHz articles in the Flight-Tech Section.

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The NexSTAR Mini EP comes with its own Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) battery and charger. The charger uses a 12-Volt car socket or equivalent. (A lot of people use their portable roadside automobile “Jump Starter” units – just remember to charge the unit back up when you get home).

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The stock battery and charger connector are probably proprietary. I changed them to EC3 style connectors to allow the use of several of my personal spare battery packs.

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2.4GHz transmitters use less power than the earlier 72 MHz units. The TACTIC transmitter only uses four (4) AA dry cell type batteries. That is all it needs as the batteries do last for an extended period of time.

CONSTRUCTION TOOLS

The NexSTAR Mini EP requires only a small Phillips-head screwdriver. No glue is required whatsoever. When you open the box, the first thing you might want to do is charge the Li-Po battery. It will take longer to charge the battery than it will take to build the airplane.

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The first thing to do was fit the main wheels. The NexSTAR Mini EP comes with a molded main undercarriage that is held in place with two (2) screws. The main wheels were fitted first to allow the fuselage to stand up by itself.

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The horizontal stabilizer and the vertical fin interlock and then just slide into place in the slots provided in the rear of the fuselage.

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Photo 25 shows the stabilizer and fin screws in place prior to tightening; just snug them up and do not over-tighten. (If you are never going to remove the stab and fin you could wick in some thin CAA).

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The elevator and rudder pushrods are already installed and connected to the servos. The connector to the control horns is a unique device that uses one screw to tighten the clevis onto the pushrod. Once a lot of flying had been done, and the flight trims established, a drop of thin CA was added to ensure that the connectors did not or could not move on the pushrod.

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Care has to be taken when installing the propeller and spinner. The propeller must not touch the outer casing of the spinner cone. You need to spend a little time tightening the propeller in different positions before the spinner cone is screwed into place

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No, the propeller tips were not damaged in shipping. They both come like this to help improve efficiency and lower the noise levels. The tips proved to be very quiet at full throttle.

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The carbon fiber spar provides good strength in this wing with very little weight. A small screw keeps the wing together using the center plastic bracket/fairing. One 5-mm screw holds the wing in place for flying.

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There is a hatch under the fuselage for the Li-Po flight battery. The hatch is retained by a magnet. Some self-adhesive Velcro was added to the battery to stop its moving around in flight. There was already some Velcro installed in the battery box.

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For test purposes, the optional flaps were added. Just peel off the self-adhesive backing and place them under the wing. They proved fairly easy to remove at a later date.

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The anti-stall LE droop devices were already installed. The receiver was already installed and held in place with Velcro. All I had to do was plug in the aileron servo leads to the receiver’s extension Y-lead, screw in the wing bolt, and was almost ready to go.

One task, a very important one, still required was to line up all of the control surfaces and set/check them for neutral. You need to switch on the transmitter and plug in the Li-Po battery to the airplane. [BE SURE TO HAVE THE THROTTLE STICK IN THE LOW POSITION AND/OR THE PROPELLER REMOVED].

The NexSTAR Mini EP has a safety program built in to the ESC that requires you to apply full throttle and then low throttle to activate the motor, BUT, it is always a good idea to play it safe!]

Set all of the trim levers to their center position and then, using the screw in the pushrod connector, adjust each control surface to put the flight control at a neutral (or centered) position.

If the Li-Po battery is fully charged, you are now ready to fly.

As a frame of reference, the Li-Po battery took an hour to charge while the whole assembly process took only 21 minutes. This time included taking assembly photographs. That is amazingly quick by any standards.

TIME TO GO FLYING – AT THE FIELD

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The three views of the completed and really ready-to-fly NexSTAR Mini EP illustrate how attractive this airplane is. The airplane’s bright color scheme is easy to see in the air.

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This two inverted photo shows a good view of the airbrakes. Note the holes that allow air to pass through without causing any lifting action that could become a problem as the aircraft changes airspeeds.

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Here is a peek underneath at the control hook-up, the air vents that help cool the motor, the speed controller, and the battery.

TEST FLIGHTS

A plan was hatched on the way to the NJ Pine Barons R/C Club flying field as to how to review an airplane that arrives so ready to fly out of its shipping container. The plan was to perform the entire review at the flying field. This included taking the photographs, doing the assembly, flight testing, and flight videos all in less than an hour.

Therefore, three purpose-designed test flights were planned.

1. The first flight test would be with all of the training devices attached.

2. The second with just the flaps removed.

3. The third with the leading-edge anti-stall strips also removed.

Two pilots were employed. One is an experienced aerobatic pilot (me), and the other is a relatively new, but experienced electric power pilot, Mike Law. The two pilots swapped camera and flying duties throughout the flying session.

A third club member, Vice-president Harry Minnier, helped with the communications between the pilot and the cameraman as well as coaching the newer pilot through some of the maneuvers. I was “on the camera” for the test flights and then “on the sticks” for a “wring-it out-flight”, after the training devices were all removed. The NexSTAR Mini EP gave us quite a surprise in the last flight test.

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Here are the airbrakes and the anti-stall droop sections after they were removed.  The flight reports have been arranged so that you can compare the performance of each configuration during take-off, general flight, and landing.

TAKE OFF:

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Here are a series of take-off snapshots showing the NexSTAR Mini EP handling grass that is deeper than the diameter of the wheels. The airplane was first given a taxi test to see if it tracked well and would, in fact, turn in both directions. The steering worked just fine even in the tall grass so the airplane was lined up facing into the wind.

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The grass was really too long for the little wheels. But full up elevator was applied until the airplane got rolling and then released prior to a normal take off. This trick only worked when pointing the airplane directly into the wind. The airplane initially needed some left aileron-trim, which was later reduced after a touch of rudder correction was added.

Trimming tip: Because this airplane will roll on rudder as well as on ailerons, you need to check which control needs to be trimmed to correct a rolling tendency. To see if it is aileron or rudder that is causing the drop, you need to fly the airplane away from yourself, directly into the wind. If the fuselage changes its heading into the wind as the aircraft begins to roll, the rudder is out of trim. You need to straighten the rudder and then re-trim the ailerons.

TAKE OFF 1 – using leading edge and flap attachments:

Acceleration was not that straight and slow, but as soon as the airplane was off the ground it flew like an arrow. Airspeed was steady, but not very fast. Climb out was straight, but the airplane bounced a bit and reacted to the wind. Remember that this airplane is a Park Pilot airplane that weighs only 27 oz.

TAKE OFF 2 – using leading edge attachments only:

Acceleration was straight and much quicker. It took less distance to leave the ground. Airspeed was faster and the aileron response improved.

TAKE OFF 3 – using no attachments:

Acceleration was much quicker and the take-off distance improved by a yard or so. Airspeed was clearly much quicker and the throttle was reduced to give a more relaxing flight. Climb out was more rapid as well. In the clean configuration, the NexSTAR Mini EP exhibited the longest flight times as you would expect since throttle levels could be lower for the same airspeed and the airplane was a bit lighter.

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Here are a couple of shots of the NexSTAR Mini EP flying against the clouds. It is very easy to see in all lighting conditions.

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Many low passes were made in the breezy conditions.

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There were no handling problems at all, even at the low altitude.

FLIGHT REPORT 1: Using leading edge and flap attachments.

The NexSTAR Mini EP flew very well using the training devices at around the three-quarters throttle position. When the controls were released, the airplane flew straight and level until corrected by the pilot. The airplane would slowly roll level after a wing was lowered and left there. Stalls were tried by pulling back on the power and feeding in up-elevator. The airplane just sank slowly.

The aileron control responses were OK, but not that fast. The airplane would perform the roll into a turn without pointing its nose up or down. This made it very nice to fly. A new pilot would have no difficulty learning mild turns and proper positioning with this aircraft (under the guidance of a proper instructor of course). Very little, if any, airspeed was gained when the nose was made to drop in the turn.

FLIGHT REPORT 2: Using leading edge attachments only.

The flight was crisper and quicker with the speed brakes removed. The throttle was reduced to about half for a steady trainer-type flight. Stalls were performed and were the same as above. The airplane did tend to pick up a modest amount of airspeed if the nose was dropped too far in the turn but not enough to cause a problem.

FLIGHT REPORT 3: Using no attachments.

The NexSTAR Mini EP comes to life when flown in a clean configuration. It still flew like a trainer at half throttle, but was much quicker in the aileron and elevator departments. Even though this is a basic trainer review, several aerobatic maneuvers were performed.  It is worth establishing the practical aerobatic limits because once a beginner can fly, most like to do a certain amount of aerobatics.

You can do effective barrel rolls with rudder only. Hammer head type stall-turns can be done if you wait until the last moment to apply the rudder. Otherwise, the rudder did tend to cause the airplane to roll, at first. You can fly the airplane for a whole flight just using rudder and elevator for guidance if you feel like it.

Believe it or not, recognizable snap-rolls and spins could be done in this clean configuration with a lot of hard work and evil intent. Snap rolls were not accidental. (None were ever possible with any of the training devices in place.)

Usually, a tendency to spin and snap-roll is not wanted in a trainer-type airplane as new pilots tend to over-control a bit too much when near the ground. The NexSTAR Mini EP had to be seriously encouraged, maybe even threatened a little, before it would snap or spin. Speed/airbrakes and flaps stop these maneuvers happening no matter how hard the pilot works to initiate them.

Even with all of the training “devices” removed the airplane is still very stable, right down to very slow flying speeds. Additionally, if you are ready and want to do snaps and spins, you have most likely out-grown your trainer.

However, the NexSTAR Mini EP will do a lot of what you might want a sport airplane to do. It will fly inverted and you can get it to climb from that position. (Inverted flight usually needed a lot of power to be applied.)  

Rolling maneuvers were the big surprise. They could be done quickly or very slowly. The airplane stayed on its rolling axis all the way through the roll. The roll rate would speed up when corrective rudder was added as the aircraft exited the inverted section of the roll, but that is to be expected with a high-wing, basic trainer that has a lot of dihedral. The icing on the cake was the solid inverted fight and outside loops that this airplane could fly when clean. Both maneuvers tracked well and were very respectable in size.

LANDING

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Landings were very easy. Just line up on the center of the runway, pull back the power lever and fly the NexSTAR Mini EP down to a very slow landing.

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LANDING 1: Using leading edge and flap attachments.

Keep some power on to help you reach the runway. When touching down the airplane is moving so slowly that it is down to almost a full stop when it touches the ground.

LANDING 2: Using leading edge attachments only.

The leading edge anti-stall strips allow slow landings and are almost the same as with the airbrakes. They also help stabilize the airplane and reduce the new pilot’s wing-leveling work load.

LANDING 3: With no attachments.

These landings are a bit quicker, but the more effective elevator allows you to flare the approach and keep the airframe light on the wheels. Since the roll rate is quicker is this configuration, the pilot has to keep track more closely and control the ailerons with a more gentle “hand”.

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Here we have the happy test pilot, Mike Law, on the left and “coach” Harry Minnier on the right.

SUMMARY

The electric-powered NexSTAR Mini EP RTF is a bright and sharp looking trainer with a scale appearance that flies as good as it looks. The overall flying characteristics are really great. The small (1.5 in.) wheels made the airplane a bit hard to move in grass. The three different configurations gave very stable performance/flying properties in the wind. The control movements are factory set and should not be changed. This is a really pleasant plane to fly. It went together extremely quickly and most notably, without any modifications.  

For more information on this versatile trainer that grows with its pilot, go to: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXJS8&P=ML

Additional Aircraft Specifications Manufacturer: Hobbico                     Length:           36.5 in.                        Cost: $270.00                                     Wingspan:     44 in. Radio: Tactic TTX440; 2.4 GHz           Wing Area:     296 sq. in. Servos: 4 x Electrifly Nano                Wing Loading: 13.1 oz./sq. ft. Engine: SuperTigre 400 brushless    Weight:           27 oz. Airfoil: Flat Bottom modified               Battery: 3-cell, 1300 mAh 15C ESC: SuperTigre 20A                             Propeller:  9 x 6E Special Airframe Features: SpinControl Airfoil, Ready To Fly, Speed Brakes, Leading Edge Modifiers To Increase Lift.

Notable Positives Extremely fast, easy assembly Very good looks Light flying weight Good basic trainer performance 2.4 GHz safety & convenience Notable Negatives Charger a bit slow Wheels small for most grass fields.

 

Some Notes on the Videos

The videos were recorded with the help of New Jersey Pine Barons club member Mike Law. Mike did the test flights with the trainer devices fitted and the video work of the last “wring-it-out” flight.

Three purpose-designed test flights were planned.

Flight 1 Video

                   

The first flight test would be with all of the training devices attached. Pilot – Mike Law.

FLIGHT 2 Video

The second flight had the flaps removed, but the leading edge anti stall droops retained. Pilot – Mike Law.

FLIGHT 3 Video

The third flight was with the leading-edge anti-stall strips all removed. Pilot – Eric Henderson.

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