 Product Video
Product Review:
Reactor Bipe 3D
Perspective By:
Brett "Heydick" Bayless
Manufacturer Contact:
Manufacturer Website:
www.greatplanes.com
FlyingGiants Ratings:
| Packaging: |  | | Kit Quality: | | | Ease of Build: |  | | Huckability: | | | Overall: | | |
A few weeks ago I was surfing the web and I came across Great Planes' Reactor Bipe. The photos immediately caught my attention. First off let me tell you, I love biplanes and this one is a stunner. I don't know what it is about bipes that get me going, but any plane with two wings, be it scale, aerobatic, pattern, or a one off, really does it for me. The Reactor Bipe sent my cool'o'meter off the scale with it's long sleek fuselage and stunning covering scheme. The specs looked really good also; 34-38 ozs; 600 sq. in. wing area with a 8-9 oz/ft wing loading, hmmmmm….can you say floater! A 43" fuselage length also told me that this little bipe should track like an arrow and a 35" wingspan should give it a pretty stunning roll rate, especially with the size of the ailerons. The good people at Hobbico must have known about my love for Bipes because a week after seeing the Reactor Bipe on their website, I got one in the mail ;) Not only did Hobbico send me the Reactor, they also included all the fixins' that I would need to get her airborne for this review. Thanks Hobbico. |
    The Reactor Bipe came double boxed and after opening it up I saw all the plane pieces bagged and taped and no damage was visible. After inspecting all the pieces and setting them out, it really hit me how beautiful the covering was. The Reactor is covered in genuine Monokote not "Chinakote", so matching a color, if need be, will be as easy as a trip to the LHB. I could tell that a lot of thought went into this bipe by the designers and after thumbing though the excellent instruction manual I could see that they thought about the Average Joe Modeler and ease of build. The canopy is tinted and pre cut and the wheel pants, landing gear, and cowling are made of fiberglass and painted to match the beautiful blue metallic Monokote on the plane. One very cool feature that is incorporated into the cowling is that it uses magnets to hold it in place onto the fuselage. That's right, no centering, drilling, and screwing the cowl here, it just snaps into place with the power of the magnets! The hardware package looked complete and even included a tree of servo arms, I wondered why they did that and I would find out later. There also was a few sheets of lite ply that had what looked like parts lazer cut into them. After looking through the manual to see what they were for I found that one of them was a CG balancing stand and the other two sheets were wing alignment jigs. Cool. Also included in the package that Hobbico sent me was a RimFire brushless outrunner and an Electrifly 35 amp ESC. Although I've never owned a RimFire motor, many of my friends have them and swear by them saying they're the best bang for the buck motors out there. Included also was four Futaba S3154 micro digital servos. I'd never used these little servos before and was pretty amazed after looking at the specs on the box. At a hair over 7 grams (.27ozs) and dimensions smaller than the popular Hitec park flyer servos; HS55's, these little powerhouses pack a speed rating of .10sec @4.8V, .09sec @ 6V and there torque rating is 20.8oz-in @ 4.8V and 23.5oz-in @6V! Now throw in the fact that they're digital and you have one dynamite little servo.
Wingspan: 35" Wing Area: 600" Wing Loading: 8.2-9.1 oz/ft Length: 43" Radio Required: 4-5 Channels w/ 4 micro servos Motor Required: RimFire 35-36-1200 Outrunner Brushless Motor Speed Controller: Electrifly Silver Series 35 amp Prop: 10-7 E to 11-7E APC Battery: 11.1V (3s) 1200- 2200 mAh lipo
As I got everything out and ready to build, I noticed that the instruction manual looked to have a lot of pages in it so I expected a build that would take some time. Wrong! Everything is so well laid out in the manual and there are so many photos to help you, that before I knew it, I was ready to install the electronics. I'm not going to do a step by step build here because there are no surprises if you follow the instruction manual, though there is something that needs to be mentioned here. This is a plane that was designed by Great Planes to utilize all brands of equipment. Included in the kit are servo arms that fit most popular servos in this size range including JR, Hitec, and Airtronics. The servo arms are made to except the clevis' that come with the hardware and if using a different servo, some mods will have to be made. The motor box is pre drilled with blind nuts installed for the Rimfire X motor mount. The first thing I normally do on any ARF I build is to heat a wire with a torch and cut out the covering over the servo bays, air exits and stab hole. Next was gluing in the aileron link horns on all four ailerons and then hinging the ailerons on to the wings. I then installed the wing servos and made up the aileron pushrods using the supplied pre cut carbon rods and the adjustable clevis'. I also installed the aileron control horns using 5 min epoxy.     On to gluing the wings. The wings on the Reactor are not removable, they're glued on. I first test fit the lower wings on the ply/carbon wing joiners and after satisfied, I glued them up using 30 min epoxy and used masking tape to hold each wing tightly against the fuse while drying. The upper wing center cabane strut is an airfoiled hollow plastic piece that joins the upper wing to the fuselage and is held there with a carbon rod and glue. The interplane struts are then glued on to the lower wing. Now it was time to glue the top wing to the struts. After test fitting the top wing I pulled it of and applied 30 min epoxy into a hole in the top wing (where the carbon rod from the center cabane strut goes) and also to the tabs on top of each interplane struts. Then it was just a matter of fitting the top wing on and sliding the wing alignment jig over each wingtip and letting the whole thing dry. Those wing alignment jigs are a really great idea and make setting the wings and aileron pushrods a piece of cake, kudos to Great Planes for including these. Now it was time for the empennage. This was pretty much a standard affair and goes together like most small ARF's. I dry fitted the stab and measured for equal distance and squareness to the wings.     I then checked the elevator assembly on a flat surface with the elevator joiner wire installed to make sure that both halves of the elevator were flat. Now that everything checked out I inserted the joiner wire into the stab slot, and then inserted the stab into the slot. I checked the stab for squareness again using a tape measure and ruler and I sighted down the back of the fuselage to make sure the stab was lined up evenly with the bottom wing. Satisfied, I hit the stab with thin CA and then again with medium CA. I then slid the supplied CA hinges into the stab and slid the elevator halves onto the wire joiner and into the hinges. After checking for travel I hit the elevator halves with thin CA. The vertical fin was then glued in and the tail skid was also glued on. As I just said, it's a tail skid not a tail wheel. The skid is a covered piece of lite ply that has a small steel washer sandwiched between the ply and sticking up about half way. I know some of you guys don't like tail skids and would prefer a tail wheel but that's never really bothered me. I can see how that washer would make a racket on an asphalt runway but I generally fly off of dirt so I didn't see this as a problem. The rudder was then hinged and CA'ed and the control horns were glued into place. The wheel assembly is pretty cool with trick little wheel axles and wheel pants made with a depression in them where the gear leg slips in preventing the wheel pant from rotating. The gear legs are one piece fiberglass and bolt on to the bottom of the fuse. The electronics installation is typical and there were no surprises with the exception of getting the ESC to the recommended position, well at least to where it's located in the instruction manual photos. The elevator and rudder servos require two 12" extensions but none were required for the wing servos. The last thing to do was put the cowling on and attatch the canopy. As I said earlier, the cowl is attached with magnets that are embedded into the cowl ring and into the fuse on the opposing side. The cowl just snaps into place, no muss no fuss, it's just a simple as that. The canopy can be attached a couple different ways; gluing; screwing; or taping, I glued mine on. With everything in place and a battery installed, I quickly assembled the supplied CG balance
   
I was pretty excited to get the Reactor Bipe into the air and see what she'd do. I put the battery in, checked that the control surfaces were moving in the right direction and throttled up. The Reactor was airborn in about 20 feet and the power of the RimFire pulled her straight up! After leveling off I needed one or two clicks of roll trim but I also discovered I was quite tail heavy so I decided to bring her in and move the battery forward. Another thing that stood out was how fast this plane was. I mean at half throttle the Reactor was really zipping along. As I was bringing the little bipe in I thought what the heck, since I'm already tail heavy let's see how it hovers. Let me tell you right here and now, "I suck at hovering!" It's just something I've never really practiced doing but being tail heavy as I was I thought I could cheat a little. I brought the Reactor in on a harrier and popped the nose up and there it sat, whooohooo! The plane torqued a few times and I decided to bring her in. I moved the battery all the way up to the front firewall and took off again, much better. Because I only have one battery that will fly this plane, I wanted to try as many maneuvers as I could but first off I needed to do some preliminary trimming. CG check: Low rates, 45* upline and roll to inverted hands off. The Reactor continued on that line until I leveled off, still a touch tail heavy for my taste but I could live with that. Differential check: power off, pulled to downline and slapped the aileron stick over full. The rolls were perfectly axial. OK, let's check the KE coupling. I rolled to knife edge and applied top rudder and noticed quite a bit of pitch and roll coupling, more pitch than roll. I attributed this to an aft CG and the fact that it's a biplane, which seem to exhibit this tendency more than monoplanes. I brought the Reactor back in and switched on some mixes on my transmitter and took off again. Fortunately I know my transmitter well enough to mix on the fly so after a minute or so I had the coupling mixed out and she was tracking straight in KE. Now, switching to low rates I proceeded to go through some precision type maneuvers: 4 and 8 point rolls; ratchet rolls; point rolls and snaps on uplines and downlines and snaps on the level. I was really impressed with the ease that the Reactor performed these maneuvers and how well this little bipe tracked even in a 10mph wind. I then brought the plane into the wind for a landing and she settled into a nice slow steady decent and touched down in front of me with about a 5ft. rollout. I then checked the temps of the battery, motor and ESC, battery 110*F motor 125*F. Time to charge my battery and fly something else while I waited for the battery. Awesome is the only word to describe the performance.         After the battery charged I threw it in and took off. OK, lets see what high rates are like. I was cruising straight and level about ¾ throttle and slapped the aileron stick over. Wow! This little baby rolls! Note to self: reduce aileron throws on high rates! Time for a blender. I pointed the nose down from about 400ft. and rolled down to about a 100ft and threw the sticks into a very violent blender. After leveling off the wings the Reactor spun beautifully flat until I rolled out into a rolling harrier. I gotta say that the Reactor is a really easy plane to harrier roll. It holds its angle of attack and is very easy to steer around where you want to go. Maybe it's the long tail moment, I don't know, but I do know it's one of the best harrier rolling small planes I've ever flown. After harrier rolling around for a while I pulled to vertical, climbed to about two hundred feet and did a stall turn that pivoted right on the wingtip. I wanted to see how the Reactor would parachute and at the same time check the lateral balance. I let the plane dive to about one hundred feet and pulled full up stick. Very very nice! The Reactor flared instantly into a parachute and didn't drop a wingtip. As I increased the power the nose came up and the plane settled into a solid harrier with absolutely no wing rock. I guided the Reactor around in a big oval about 8ft. up and then rolled to an inverted harrier. The inverted harrier was the same as the upright; no wingrock, absolutely rock solid and very sweet indeed. I'd set my timer to 6 minutes to play it safe and the bugger was beeping at me, so it was time to bring her in and charge up for another flight. Only having one battery is torture. Just when I start getting in the groove my timer goes off telling me the party's over and it's time to land…..stupid timer….I have since, ordered another 4 batteries so I can get multiple flights on the Reactor Bipe, that way I can keep my mojo working and keep the smile on my face a bit longer.
As far as the building of the Reactor Bipe goes, if you follow the instructions you'll have a successful build. The instruction manual is very well written and there's no guess work. It is in fact one of the best instruction manual's I've come across. One thing to remember is: When gluing the little carbon pin that sits in front of the bigger carbon rod that runs through the center cabane strut, use only a drop of CA on it. If you saturate the wood surrounding it, you will inadvertently also glue the bigger carbon rod in place. You don't want to do that because after setting the top wing on you must push the rod up from inside the fuselage into a hole in the bottom of the top wing that you've applied epoxy into. If that doesn't make sense now, it will once you build this plane. If you are starting from scratch and are not going to use existing gear, I would stick with the recommended power set up and servos. I don't think you need the Futaba S3154 micro digitals on the ailerons. If you want to save some dough the Futaba S3114 servos are the exact same dimensions with the same speed and torque ratings but at about half the price. I do however recommend the S3154's on the rudder and elevator because of the digital servos precise centering and ability to deliver its rated torque throughout the servo's travel. I'm very impressed with the RimFire motor, it's quite powerful and smooth running. I did no mods to the Reactor Bipe other than getting out my Dremel and opening up a hole below the prop shaft hole. I did this to get better airflow over the battery and ESC. It's probably not necessary and was just a personal preference. I also would recommend a computer radio with at least dual rates and expo. This little Bipe has huge control surfaces on it and can be pretty wild with a lot of throw on high rates. On low rates she's docile as can be and very forgiving. If you like doing point rolls and/or a lot of knife edge flying, then a radio with mixing capabilities will be a big plus.    
What can I say? I love this plane!! I have about a dozen flights on the Reactor Bipe now and I'm really starting to get a feel for its capabilities. The advertising on the box says that the Reactor Bipe "Blurs the Line Between 3D and Precision Aerobatics" and Great Planes is not too far off the mark with that statement. The Reactor Bipe does track and snap exceptionally well, even in a fairly stiff wind, and is super stable in harriers and harrier rolls. Oh yeah, it's a hovering machine, if you're into that kind of thing ;) With its absolutely stunning looks, easy build, and great flying characteristics, Great Planes hit one out of the park with the Reactor Bipe. Do yourself a favor and check it out at www.greatplanes.com | | www.greatplanes.com | |
04-17-2008, 06:12 AM
Re: Great Planes Electrifly Reactor Bipe 
