Ripmax Phase 5e

[Frank Skilbeck]

Just seen the advert for the Ripmax Chris Foss Phase 5e, my old Phase 6 was a favourite sloper.

Hope this can be built as a pure sloper, can't seen the point of putting a motor on a slope soarer myself.

[Andy Blackburn]

Had the same thought myself - it looks quite nice.

A.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Frank Skilbeck]

Posted by Steve J on 09/05/2019 17:36:54:

Posted by Frank Skilbeck on 09/05/2019 16:34:34:

Hope this can be built as a pure sloper

The destructions are on Ripmax's website. It's designed as a motor glider. You would have to make your own nose to convert it to a pure sloper.

Steve

Shame, it would make a good slope model.

[Andy Blackburn]

I've just had a look at the instructions; it looks as though it should be possible to make a new nose from balsa & ply that replaces the cowl and spinner, and is attached using new M3 bolt holes through the existing firewall, with hex-head M3 bolts screwed in from the inside of the fuselage using a ball-hex driver. Subject to seeing the kit and finding some film of the right colour, I think I might have just talked myself into that, actually...

Edited By Andy Blackburn on 09/05/2019 21:15:30

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Andy Blackburn]

I've got one, but when presented with a nice new shiny thing...

[conrad taggart]

Anybody got one of these yet? Would be interested in their general impression of it and what equipment they went with - servos, motor, batteries, etc.

Thanks

Taggarc

 

Edited By conrad taggart on 30/08/2019 19:03:03

[Geoff S]

A club mate has one and he was flying it last week. It flew really well and seemed to be fully aerobatic. However, Jim is an excellent pilot (and builder), so just about anything looks good when he's flying or has built it I thought it looked very nice but I've no idea what equipment he has in it, though he won't have fitted anything cheap.

I was impressed with build quality of my new Wo44 Mk 2 I fitted out as an electric model on 4S last December (ish). So if the Phase 5e is from the same manufacturer you shouldn't have any problems.

Geoff

[conrad taggart]

Will probably get one of these, like you Geoff, I was impressed with wot4 mk2 and I expect this to be no different. Also watched  a YouTube video of the Phase 5 which was fairly impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnH0PQno7Po

Conrad

Edited By conrad taggart on 02/09/2019 19:12:57

Edited By conrad taggart on 02/09/2019 19:13:32

[Peter G Simpson]

I've never owned an ARTF before, but given the 'reported' quality of the Ripmax Wot 4 pro and my proximity to lots of handy slopes, I could hardly not put one together..... and I have to say I'm very impressed.

The only issue that I came across was that the flap servos fit in opposite directions to each other, so without any clever servo reversing programming, and with both servos on a Y lead, the flaps move in opposite direction to each other. But having said that it only took a small amount of surgery to put it right.

The maiden was in a 12-15 knot wind, and she flew really well, I only turned on the motor once to see how it worked it was by no means necessary. The build quality and component choice are very good and the film covering and finish is better than I could do at home!

It took me two weeks of assembly work and it went together pretty much as the instructions. The hardware is pretty good quality, though I swapped out the clevises for ball joints though that probably wasn't really necessary.

Motor package is as recommended by George at 4-max https://www.4-max.co.uk/aircraft-Ripmax-Phase5-A-CF011.html

PO-3547-800 4-max Motor
PP-TESC45AU 45A ESC
PP-FSPIN38-50 & 13x8 Folding Prop
PPL-40C3S-2200 3S, 40C, 2200mAh LiPo

The motor pulls the glider up vertically.

Servos are as recommended by Steve Webb Models.

4 x Savox SH-0263MG in the wings & 2 x Hitec D85MG for the tail.

 

Edited By Peter G Simpson on 02/09/2019 19:46:36

[Peter G Simpson]

I've had a few more weeks of flying the Ripmax Phase 5e now and can give a little more insight.

The Phase 5 does fly really well. It floats really well and aerobats beautifully and I am by no means the most experienced slope soarer pilot. I couldn't spot any nasty vices. On the slope I have never needed to use the motor. I have also flown it from a flat field and it is really fun motor-on too.

So on to a couple of observations. The nose is very weak. On a slope soarer this is a very vulnerable area. The original Phase 5 uses laminations of 3/16" balsa to produce a sturdy nose. The Ripmax Phase 5 uses a fairy weak construction of 1/8" soft balsa and 2.5mm lite ply. I had one average lumpy landing and ripped out the firewall. I repaired it easily and as there is plenty of room in the nose I added an extra layer of 1/8" balsa sheeting, epoxy and glass inside the nose. The firewall has stayed in ever since.

The cowling is a very thin piece of ABS that shattered on the very first landing. It is not really fit for purporse. after it split I taped up the cracks from the inside with selotape and stuck it back on it is now flexible and survives the landings well.

The Phase 5e is supplied with metal wing bolts. This is a really bad idea as landings on the back of the slope can be rough. On the above mentioned average lumpy landing the wings jarred and pulled out the wing-bolt mounting plate. Also the twin wing dowels snapped. There wasn't much glue holding in the wing-bolt plate, so I glued it back with aliphatic resin and replaced the metal M4 wing bolts with nylon ones. I have also reinforced the wing bolt holes with Aluminium tube to ensure that the bolts break rather than the fuselage.

Another modification is that instead of just replacing the wing dowels I have glued in a brass tube. Into the brass tube I have tacked slightly weaker dowels made from bamboo kebab skewers which are strong enough for flight, but snap easily as the weakest link in the event of a heavy landing. As they are tacked into brass tube they are easy to replace.

The final observation is the tailplane. The instructions seem to imply that you simply slide the tailplane halves onto their piano wire mounting and use the friction of the piano wire to prevent them from parting company from the fuselage. I wasn't happy with this so put a spot of glue on the wire joiner to hold the tailplane halves in place.

[bees]

I was allso interested in the Phase-e and it looks like it flys well after seeing a recent video but having seen your problems after a bumpy landing really puts me off. I would have thought from a renowned designer the front end would have been a bit stronger to accommodate the motor.

[Robert Welford]

Posted by Peter G Simpson on 09/09/2019 11:05:20:

The final observation is the tailplane. The instructions seem to imply that you simply slide the tailplane halves onto their piano wire mounting and use the friction of the piano wire to prevent them from parting company from the fuselage. I wasn't happy with this so put a spot of glue on the wire joiner to hold the tailplane halves in place.

The usual way of achieving this with an all moving tailplane is to put a slight bend in the end of the secondary tailplane joiner not the pivot wire.

[Peter G Simpson]

In my opinion.... It is a great flying model and well worth the relatively low price. I have been flying mine from the flat field and from the slope so the motor is a useful addition. On the slope I have not had to use the motor once because it floats around so well, so it is certainly viable to replace the motor with a balsa block nose and ballast.

There are a few things that Ripmax should have done better, but with any model the first few flights result in a few modifications, minor repairs and tweaks, so this is no different. I would recommend the model, but in the assembly stage to beef up the nose and there is plenty of room available inside to do that. In the end it is still much quicker and less expensive than building the kit from scratch.

[bees]

Thank you for your evaluation of the Phase-5. Might still be tempted knowing that you can beef up the front end during assembly. Please keep your comments coming.

[Mel Jones]

Peter, can I ask if you have used crow braking on your Phase 5e?, I am wondering how effective it is on this model, the manual suggests only small amounts of flap, in fact on my model I can only get 30mm of flap.

[Peter G Simpson]

Hi Mel - No I haven’t used crow brakes, but only because my TX can’t cope with the mixing. movement on the flaps is quite small, but they are incredibly powerful on their own. I use a little bit to increase lift on marginal days and with all 30mm she slows right down for landing. I am Sure that Crow braking would increase flexibility, but I have not found it limiting to just use flaps.

[Mel Jones]

Thanks Peter, I will continue putting mine together, and also look into beefing up the front end.

[bees]

Hi, After trying to make my mind up if to purchase the Phase 5-e my wife made it up for me and bought one for christmas. Looking forward to building and flying and have taken note regarding beefing up the nose area and trying to strengthen the cowling.

[Wilco Wingco]

A senior member of our club electrified his very old PHASE 6. flies a treat, everybody wanted a go.

Brilliant.

[Jeremy Scott-hake]

I got one of these from Wings and Wheels in the summer .

I have kitted it out with Axi 2826/10 hobbywing 40 amp speed control Hitec 85mg on the tail Savox servos in the wing .

I use 4s 4000 ma Optipower lipos also used in Wot4.

The flaps are very effective also crow brakes are even more effective! I have programmed the flaps to aeleron. On a switch the roll rate is phenomenal.

All movements set to recommened in manual.

One of my favourites at the moment. It rolls vertically at 3/4 throttle!

You will be very happy with it

[dave parnham]

I would be interested to know what servos you used please.....been searching servoshop this afternoon for alternatives to the rocking horse p**h Ripmax QZ101.

I don't actually have the Aircraft yet but have everything else ready to install.

cheers Dave

[bees]

Posted by Jeremy Scott-hake on 02/01/2020 19:21:04:

I got one of these from Wings and Wheels in the summer .

I have kitted it out with Axi 2826/10 hobbywing 40 amp speed control Hitec 85mg on the tail Savox servos in the wing .

I use 4s 4000 ma Optipower lipos also used in Wot4.

The flaps are very effective also crow brakes are even more effective! I have programmed the flaps to aeleron. On a switch the roll rate is phenomenal.

All movements set to recommened in manual.

One of my favourites at the moment. It rolls vertically at 3/4 throttle!

You will be very happy with it

Thats nice to know, Was a bit a concerned after reading earlier posts regarding the weakness at the front end.

[Trevor]

Yes, after a few heavy hints, I got one of these for Christmas too . The overall quality is very good but on my example the covering was badly wrinkled, especially on the ailerons and flaps.

I've used Corona servos: DS-939MG in the wings, DS-238MG in the fuselage. I bought them from RC Life. I’ve ordered a motor from HobbyKing but will wait and see whether it fits before recommending it. The Corona servos though are an excellent fit.

More later,

Trevor