Whether
you like EPP models or not, they have done a lot for slope soaring.
EPP models have made it easier to learn to fly, there is not as much
repairing and they have opened up sites that you just would not have dreamed of
flying at before. I have three EPP
flying wings that are great fun to fly, but I wanted something that looked like
an aeroplane and could offer some kind of crash resistance.
At the Weston Park International Model Air Show I had a look at Phoenix
Model Products (Stan Yeo). After a
lot of “soul searching” and trying to justify buying another model, with
some encouragement from Stan. I
purchased the Ban-She, as well as two HiTec HS81mg servos and a length of 3mm
carbon fibre rod. One of the points
that attracted me to the Ban-She was that you could use standard size radio
control equipment in the fuselage. I
already had the rest of the equipment at home to complete the project.
The
Model
The
Ban-She is a 62in EPP Crash Resistant Sports Aerobatic Slope Soarer. Stan
described the Ban-She as a stylish high performance 62in (1600mm) span crash
resistant aerobatic EPP slope soarer. It
is designed for the modeller wanting to combine EPP durability with rigid
structure performance. It is
intended that the Ban-She should be built with wing mounted aileron servos, the
ailerons being used as flapperons and with elevator flap coupling.
In this mode the Ban-She can perform most aerobatic manoeuvres, including
outside loops, horizontal eights and sustained inverted flight etc,.
If using a non-computerised transmitter the model becomes a conventional
3 channel aerobatic sloper, with the ailerons operated via Y lead.
That is the way Stan descried the Ban-She.
Who am I to disagree? As for
the designer he may be a bit bias! What
do you get for your money? The box
has a nice colour print of the finished model on it.
Inside the box you will find all you would expect, as well as a full size plan, assembly instructions, EPP wings, Correx tail and fin,
cross weave tape, die-cut plywood panels, decal sheet, small parts and control
linkage hardware.
Building
Construction
consists of a ply box fuselage that is covered in EPP and cross weave tape.
The wing follows the standard PMP practice of using hardwood spars and
balsa ailerons.
The
instructions start with the fuselage that takes the form of a standard plywood
construction, with balsa distance pieces. Once
you have the fuselage built and the control rods installed, the corners are
reinforced with cross weave tape. The
fuselage is then sprayed with adhesive along with the EPP sides. The EPP sides
are then fitted and trimmed. Before
fitting the top, the Correx tailplane and the fin have to be assembled and
fitted. You basically clad the
plywood fuselage with EPP. I made
some modifications, where I used wing bolt instead of rubber bands.
This reduces the bounce ability, but will improve the performance (see
attached picture).
I
also used 3mm carbon fibre rod in the fin and tailplane to stiffen the correx.
You can replace the correx with 4.5mm balsa sheet, but I thought this
would reduce the bounce ability too much. Once
you have completed covering the fuselage with EPP, all that is left to do is to
make a hatch, shape (round the corners of the fuselage) and cover with cross
weave tape.
The
wing halves come with spar slots already cut in them. Unfortunately, the only problem is that when cutting tapered
wings with spar slots this results in a tapered spar slot.
So these have to be opened out to accommodate the mainspars.
I replaced the top and bottom spars with a substantial full depth main
spar. This makes the wing stronger and stiffer.
The plywood wing brace was exchanged for a 6mm steel piano wire. When the wing panel was joined I used carbon fibre tows top
and bottom of the spar joint. Two
plywood squares were added to the wing top where the wing bolts go through to
spread the load of the wing bolt (see attached picture).
Once
the main spar(s) are fitted, there
is a 3mm bass trailing edge to fit and suitable holes made for the wing servos.
I used HiTec HS81mg servos, which Stan recommends.
The wings have to be sanded and the tips shaped.
I added a small piece of EPP to the wing tips and reduced the size of the
ailerons, just to protect the balsa ailerons.
The wing is then covered in cross weave tape and you have to manufacture
a wing fairing from the scrap wing sleeving, which is fixed in the appropriate
position with double sided tape. I
used coloured tape to decorate the wing, as this also protects the cross weave
tape from the ultra-violet light that degrades the tape.
The ailerons were covered with iron on film and hinged using Diamond
Sellotape.
As
I mentioned earlier, you could use standard size radio control equipment in the
fuselage and an AA size square receiver battery with a standard size four/six
channel receiver. With the servos in place, I set the controls to give me
the suggested surfaces movement.
Stan’s recommended balance point is 75mm +/- 5mm from the leading edge. After adding half of the local church roof, I settled on a balance point of 82mm from the leading edge, but even this was changed after the first couple of flights. I checked the lateral balance and, to my surprise, this was fine.
The
test flight took place at Haven Holidays, Devon Cliffs, Devon, on the Model
Aviators Association’s holiday. On
the day of the test flight the wind was on the cliffs at the park.
The model was assembled and, after some photographs had been taken, a
range check was completed. I
checked all the controls again and, with the help of the CFI, the model was
launched off the cliff into the wind. Fortunately,
there were no nasty surprises, and a couple of clicks of up trim were added for
straight and level flight. I flew
The Ban – SHE up and down the slope for a time just to get used to it. I had started to relax with the model and so it was now time
to see how it would react to a still. The
model was slowed up until it was still. No
surprises here, as it just dropped its nose.
I provoked the wing to drop a wing tip in the stall, with a little bit of
aileron being applied at the stall. No problems here, as the model had no
tendency to continue to spin. Next
it was put into a slight dive and, with the elevator released to neutral, it
pulled out straight away. I prefer
my model to stay in the dive a little longer. I thought that I would move the
centre of gravity back a little at a time until I was happy with it.
I tried the Flaps, but I had mixed too much down elevator in and its nose
went down too much. I decided to
land and take out a little bit of nose weight and do some re-programming.
I was happy with the landing, as the flaps work very well and made the
landing quite accurate. With a small piece of lead removed from the nose, a touch of
down elevator removed with full flap applied, I was ready for another flight.
I was pleased with the results of the adjustments, but I did feel that I
could remove just a little more lead from the nose.
Rain stopped play, so I had to wait for another day to see the result of
the reduction of nose weight. With
other pieces of lead removed, the elevator is trimmed now more or less in the
neutral position. From a dive, it
does not pull out as quick. As it
turned out, I was flying at one of Stan Yeo local sites when he turned up. The
designer has now flown my Ban-She.
During
and since the holiday I have flown the model in various wind conditions and I do
feel that the model would benefit from some appropriate ballast when the wind
conditions permit. I have had to
replace a servo arm, push rod and snaplink from the result of a midair. Now I am
going to fit aileron push rod shrouds. Please
do bear in mind that if you are going to deviate from the design, it is at your
own risk! Stan pointed out to me
(after he smashed my wing off in a midair crash) “that this would not have
happen if I had used rubber wing bands and not bolts”.
Eventually, Stan did find my fuselage and it was more or less at the
bottom of the slope after it went like a missile, having been launched from the
wing! I would say that the Ban-She
came off better than Stan’s Summer Breeze.
You could see the indentation of the full depth main spar of my Ban-She
in the nose of the Summer Breeze. After
replacing the two wing bolts, the Ban-She was back in the air.
As for the Summer Breeze, a little bit more work was going to be required
to get it back in the air again!
The
Phoenix Model Products Ban-She is not as easy to build as a flying wing, but you
only have to look at the finished model to see why.
I feel that the Ban-She is not as crash proof as a flying wing.
It looks like an aeroplane and anything with “sticky up/out bits” is
not going to be as crash proof.
Specifications
Information
Name: Ban - SHE
Manufacturer:
Phoenix Model Products
Tel/Fax:
+44 (0) 1626 332287
Price:
£57.95
Model
Information
Model Type: 62in EPP Crash Resistant Sports Aerobatic Slope Soarer
Construction: EPP fuselage Balsa/ply
R/C
Function
Ailerons/ spoilers (Two servos)
Elevator
Rudder
Specification
Wingspan approx. 1570mm
Wing section Eppler 374.
All-up weight min. approx. 1050gms
Dislikes
Lack of a main wing spar.
Build
time.
Likes
Attractive appearance.
Crash resistance.
Standard size radio control equipment in the fuselage.
Phoenix Model Products Ban -
SHE Review by Michael
Terry