Skylark F3A Updates and Leopard Motor Upgrade - Might Pull *a little* Harder Now

UPDATE: The Leopard Brushless motor is installed. Plane has been re-balanced and it is ready to take to the skies. I'm REALLY Looking forward to flying it with the upgraded power system. Keep an eye on the channel for the next Skylark flight video.
The Leopard brushless motor arrived for the Skylark S. So I took out the stock motor and put both of them on The Judge. Still need to fly it of course, but that Leopard will wake this little plane up I think.

[@MrZeek101]

As Always the Judge rules great review and demo my Friend for those of you that havent checked out the Judge videos I strongly recommend you do ell worth the watch great job John Take Care

[@RCVideoReviews]

Thank you Robert. Appreciate the support. And yes, I am thrilled with that test stand. There is tremendous value in the relative comparisons it provides. I know it is not lab equipment level accurate. The relative data (prop to prop and motor to motor) is very useful. I also think it provides an accurate visual indicator to the changes in power production with variation in pitch/diameter/volts/kv etc... For people who are new to tinkering with motors this visual demonstration has to be very useful as well. Anyway, thanks again for your comment. I appreciate your engagement as always.

[@alanreid250]

Hi posted this in another video of yours but meant this one...what size esc for this motor set up...thanks

[@RCVideoReviews]

I have a 40a in there.

[@thomasallan8113]

Bought the Leopard motor you suggested. Bought a 4mm collet fitting from altitude hobbies. I cannot seem to tighten the collet fitting enough to get it to stay on the shaft. What am I doing wrong? I also bought 4 90gm Freewing digital and metal gear servos. I left off the wheel pants and after putting in a 3S 2200 mAh's as far forward as possible. The CG came out at ~ 85 mm.

[@alanreid250]

Need another good motor option as the only ones i can source are from china....am in the uk...any recommendations...thanks....by the way had the kit for 3 years now but there wasn't good builds on yt until you came along

[@philippeneuhaus5694]

The 9 - 6 prop is also too mutch for the leopard 2835 6t? Just buy the motor right know and the man in the shop give me an 9-6 prop. I will fly the motor also in the skylark s whit an 3s Lipo 2200mah and a 40 a Bec. Schod i look for a 9-3.9 prop?

[@RCVideoReviews]

The setup in this video works great.

[@castlive7716]

Have you had a chance to fly it with the new motor?

[@RCVideoReviews]

I have and I have raw footage ready to make into a video. Just took it yesterday. Flies great with the leopard.

[@castlive7716]

@@RCVideoReviews Thanks, looking forward to it!

[@RCVideoReviews]

@@castlive7716 Just posted: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5THmKOdr8Z4bLc

[@richardoneill1965]

Brilliant info didn't fully understand how prop size affected the motor.thanks you are my go to guru now👍🛩️😁

[@RCVideoReviews]

You should watch the playlist called "The Judge" kzbin.info/aero/PLy3TC1ILJYTh1rZflftDgSZNbgEUo_1Wb Lots of good information in those videos about prop tuning.

[@thomasallan8113]

I used the Leopard motor u recommended. It was a pain installing but I eventually got it. Had to sand down the cowl a little as the back of the prop was hitting the cowl. The original collet prop adaptor that did not work was from Hobby King. The one from Altitude hobbies did work. I took off the pants. Maiden flight was today. The Leopard motor provides more than enough power. I used an 1800 mAh 3S battery installed as far forward as possible. Plane was twitchy thou not scarily so. I had it on low rates and expo. Think it was a little tail heavy. It was a little breezy today so even with stabilization, the wind pushed it around. I also needed some rudder trim. Stalled fine. Got it down ok. Went back home and adjusted the clevises, put in a 2200 mAh battery and larger tires. Still, the CG seems a little too far back. May have to add some nose weight after my next flight.

[@thomasallan8113]

The Leopard Motor provides plenty of power. I left off the pants and the weight W/battery came in at 2#. I have a few flights on it now and am really happy. At 1st it was twitchy but after moving the battery a little more forward and adding more expo, the twitchiness was gone. This can be a daily flyer. I would like to get the Extreme Flight Vanquish but it has been out of stock for a long time.

[@thomasallan8113]

I used an APC 9x6 prop and measured the amps and watt output with a 3S battery at 12.55V. Got 475 Watt output @ 40 Amp. For a 2lb plane, this is overkill and way too much for the 30 amp ESC I have in there. Of course I do not run full throttle much,. I plan to get a 9x4.5 and in the meantime, will set max throttle to 85%. It still flies pretty fast for me. Once I got the CG and the expo ok I really like the plane.

[@RCVideoReviews]

12.55 * 40a = 502 watts. 475w / 12.55v = 37a. ESCs can easily handle +20% peak amperage for 30s, so a 30a ESC can handle 36a for 30s. Bench testing yields static amperage values. Dynamic loads I've measured are at least 10% lower. So 37a bench = 33.3a in flight. The 12.55v peak will only last for about 30s. Afterwards, the voltage will drop as will peak current. This means you're putting ~33.3a through an ESC that can support 36a for 30s and after an initial FULL POWER run for 30s, you'll not see 33.3a again until you put in a fresh battery. I personally don't feel 237w/lb is too high for a pattern plane, but hey, do what makes you feel happy and safe.

[@thomasallan8113]

@@RCVideoReviews Thanks for the technical information that I have not seen before. I was wondering why the ESC did not feel hot or even warm after I ran the motor up. Still, I will go to the 9x4.5 slow fly prop just to slow the plane down. Again, Many thanks. I feel your site is the most informative of any I have seen.

[@RCVideoReviews]

Appreciate that. I make a serious effort to provide technical information the best I can.

[@philippeneuhaus5694]

Thanks a lot for this video, you help me a lot! Im just looking for a motor for the skylink s. The plain needs to fly hover, because it's an 3D plain, or not?

[@RCVideoReviews]

It will hover with the motor upgrade in this video. That motor pulls very hard.

[@davidknutz3314]

Very helpful since I’ll be putting my Skylark together this weekend. The Leopard motor is such a good looking motor.

[@RCVideoReviews]

They do look nice and they sound very good too. I kept getting the feeling the rough sound from the generic motor was making a mechanical contribution to the heat I felt on the motor.

[@RCVideoReviews]

What motor are you using on your Skylark?

[@davidknutz3314]

RC Video Reviews I bought the PNP version so I’ll use that motor first. But I have a Prop Drive 2836 1200KV waiting for it if needed.

[@RCVideoReviews]

Gotch'ya. I bet that 1200kv would be very good in this plane too. Use 95mm for cg and make sure it's dead flat parallel to the ground when you balance it. I'm pretty mental about that kind of thing so I don't know why I had to slide my batteries so far forward on my last fly day with this plane. I'm befuddled. Give yourself some expo. Be ready for that longitudinal roll rate. It's shocking to the senses at first--but hysterically fun. Have you flown a pattern plane before? It's a different experience. Looking forward to your flight report.

[@davidknutz3314]

RC Video Reviews no I haven’t flown a pattern plane before, but I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up on the CG. I’ll pay attention to that. I also normally put in about 40% of expo on my planes to start. Just to keep my shaking thumbs out of the equation on a maiden. Haha.

[@christopherbell1768]

I was expecting a bit more power when I flew it with stock motor . I was hoping for a bit more punch. It wasn’t terrible. You could still have a fun time flying it.

[@RCVideoReviews]

Did you get a chance to fly it with the Leopard motor Chris?

[@airhammer6203]

I'm learning more, this helps. Good stuff. One of these days I might have to make a "stand" like that. AirHammer out!!

[@RCVideoReviews]

Do you have a wattmeter?

[@airhammer6203]

@@RCVideoReviews I was, am, just about to get one from MRC a long with odds n ends. If shipping holds up. So you have a Turnigy w.meter? I thought to myself, that's big to be a w.meter. The dial is so that you don't need a TX??

[@RCVideoReviews]

The Judge is a Turnigy test stand. It integrates a watt meter, thrust meter, and signal for the ESC to operate the throttle without a radio. I made that investment for two reasons: 1) I wanted to get thrust and RPM information which lets me evaluate more than just the watts input. It lets me evaluate power to weight, pitch speed, and efficiency. 2) The channel deserved more than a simple watt meter test. People were asking questions I couldn't answer with only a watt meter. For most people a standalone watt meter is sufficient to figure out what prop/battery combos work best for a given motor. Most folks have opinions about thrust so you can always fly the plane and say, "yup, that'll do" or "nope, that's too weak". When you have that opinion, it doesn't much matter what the meter says. You connect watt meters between the battery and ESC. The test stand uses what amounts to a servo tester to signal the test stand ESC throttle. A standalone watt meter requires the ESC to be connected to a radio and for the radio to signal ESC throttle. Hope that helps, J

[@airhammer6203]

@@RCVideoReviews I'll check that stand out at H.K.

[@RCVideoReviews]

@@airhammer6203 Like everything else, HK doesn't make it. They OEM it and stick their label on. This stand is sold by different retailers under different names. I paid about $50 or $60 for it during one of their sales.

[@superdon1chw]

I looked at the leopard 28356T and it look like it had shaft on both ends is that same motor ?

[@RCVideoReviews]

The shaft protrudes out one end and has a prop adapter you can bolt on the other. I don't believe it comes out of the box with the shaft extending out of both ends.

[@ShadowOppsRC]

Cool review.

[@RCVideoReviews]

Thank you.

[@christopherbell1768]

Unfortunately, I haven’t flown it with new motor yet.

[@RCVideoReviews]

We'll have to correct that.

[@m.s.aviation7065]

that paint job looks really crapy

[@RCVideoReviews]

It's a $50 plane being sold for $50. It's not a $200 plane discounted to $50. It's certainly not a perfect paint application, but it's not the worst I've ever seen either. Having owned and flown this plane for a while now, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy it again. It flies great.

[@skytalon74]

I still have to maiden my F3 that’s been built for a while. Do you still recommend CoG at 95mm?

[@RCVideoReviews]

Yes, 95mm.

[@skytalon74]

@@RCVideoReviews thanks

[@RCVideoReviews]

@@skytalon74 Sure thing.

[@zayyandzikraka3833]

@@RCVideoReviews sorry from a noob question.. how to measure the CG.. 95mm from what.. i just build skylark, want to build with the right CG just dont know how to measure the CG.. Thanks

[@RCVideoReviews]

@@zayyandzikraka3833 CG is almost always measured from the leading edge of the wing near the fuselage.

[@Blackfarmerunion]

I ran into the compression collet issue. Is there any way to mount without it? If not which one do you suggest? Thanks for your time!

[@RCVideoReviews]

What compression collet issue? The plane comes with an extended shaft/collet adapter. I'm not sure I understand your question.

[@Blackfarmerunion]

RC Video Reviews Sorry at 9:13 you mention you need your own compression collet with the leopard motor because it doesn’t come with one. I don’t have one so I was asking what you suggest.

[@RCVideoReviews]

@@Blackfarmerunion I used the bolt on prop adapter on my Saber and it fit perfectly.

[@alanreid250]

@@RCVideoReviews re "i used the bolt on prop adapter on my Saber" doesn't help anybody such as myself...if i was going to order one of the net what should i be ordering ....thanks

[@RCVideoReviews]

@@alanreid250 The plane comes with an extended compression adapter that can be used with any motor that has a 3mm shaft extending out the front. Look at the Value Hobby recommended E400. I don't understand the problem. The part you need is included with the plane. When I *switched the motor* to the Leopard, I used the bolt on prop adapter that came with the Leopard motor.