Nf-ID: #R:linus.mitre.org:22303:trsvax:5000010:000:3771
Nf-From: trsvax.tandy.com!earl    Jul 21 11:26:00 1992



/* ---------- "Info on Goldberg Mirage 550... ?" ---------- */
Anyone out there flying a Goldberg Mirage 550?  This is an electric 
trainer/sport plane with an 05 electric motor.  I've been flying a 
Goldberg Electra electric sailplane, and I'm thinking about getting the 
Mirage as a next step in electrics.  How does it fly?  Are its 
characteristics all that different from the Electra?  At a glance, the 
Mirage seems very similar to the Electra, just with shorter wings.  Will 
it take off from a ground roll, or do you have to hand launch it?  Will it 
do any aerobatics?  How big a deal would it be to add ailerons?  Thanks 
for any info/experience/opinions...  Mike.
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     I've got one...

     It flies OK, no problems. But it is basically, a electric powered trainer
craft. It flies noce and slow for beginners. Aerobatics is mostly limited to
loops, and you have to dive a bit to gain enough oomph to get over the top.

     The original Goldberg 550 motor, didn't quite have enough power as my model
was barely powered enough to fly. I replaced it with the motor that came with my
Great Planes ElectroStreak (I put a Astro Cobalt 05 on it). This motor runs 
about 1,000 RPM faster than the Goldberg stock motor. The Mirage flies OK now.

      The Mirage and the Electra, pretty much fly about the same. Both use the
same motor, and batteries. Since the Mirage has a little less wing area, it
may be a bit more manueverable, but this would be debatable. The stock landing
gear on the Mirage is too flimsy for ROG's, you still have to hand launch it.

      The Psyco-Max with the new War Emergency Power Motor is the hot number to
get when you really want electric performance. This sucker flies great and acts
just like a fun fly plane with radical loops, rolls, flat spins, etc. Vertical
climb outs from hand launching is neat too. You just throw this sucker straight
up, it really impresses the gas engine crowd. If you run 8 nicad cells on this
one, you'll have to have a better speed control. Seven cells works quite well
though. The Futaba electric 4 chnl radio works well with up to 7 cells.

      Another plane that is fun is to take a Wild Thing 20, and build it up for
electrics. You don't have to do anything fancy as it works OK if you build it
for gas and convert it to electric afterwards. But you can save a bit of weight
if you thing electric during construction. The Graupner Speed 600 motor with
a 7-6 prop and 6 cells works real well. (Hobby Lobby sells the motor).

      The Wild thing is easier than the Psyco-Max to fly, but both are high
performace electrics. Both use ailerons and elevator (plus motor control). Since
these planse have no dihedral, they fly very neutral. If you move the CG back
to the edge of instability both these suckers become real beasties and really
do neat manuevers. The Pysco-Max with the gear reduced motor has the power
edge over the Wild thing. With high performance electrics, they tend to land
faster than regular planes due to the batteries. But otherwise they fly great.

      I have both of these two beasties up and running out here, I retired my
Mirage as it was too tame for me. I'll save it for training purposes. 


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<This information is provided by an individual and is not nor should be
 construed  as  being  provided  by  Radio  Shack or Tandy Corp.  Radio
 Shack/Tandy Corp has no obligation to support the information provided
 in  any way. > 
						
						Earl W. Bollinger
						@ <trsvax!earl>


"You were in the Clone Wars!", said Luke excitedly.
"Yes", replied Obi Wan, "I was a DOS programmer. But that was before the dark
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