3DHS 42" Vyper Bype

[zmonster97]

Looking for a 3d biplane? Well, I think you found the one! This plane is awesome! I don't think there is a better small 3d biplane out there!

With everybody saying how biplanes are different and could bite you, they got me all worried. Don't worry! This plane doesn't have many bad tendencies, if any at all!

Unboxing

As usual with 3DHS, this plane is packaged great! It is doubled boxed and everything is taped down well. It arrived with everything secure and undamaged.



Setup

Motor: Motrolfly 3615-750kv w/ lightened x mount

ESC: ZTW B-series 65a

Servos: Hitec HS-5085mg's

Battery: Gens Ace 4s 2500mah 25c

Prop: Xoar 14x7

Rx: Spektrum AR600

IMO, this is the perfect setup for the vyper bype.

The Build

The build went very easy. Just follow the manual and it'll be an easy build.

The Motrolfly 3615 w/ the lightened x mount bolts right up to the pre-installed blind nuts in the firewall. NOTE: If you go with the Motrolfly 3615 you will need the lightened x mount for the holes to line up.

It was tough to find a spot for the esc in this plane. I normally put the esc on the side of the motor box but there is no room on this plane for that. So what I ended up doing was glueing the rx mounting plate to the inside of the lower portion of the motor box and mounting the esc to that. It seemed to fit perfectly there.

All of the servos went in without any troubles.

One hiccup (very minor) I had on this build was installing the wing struts (I think that's what they're called). They seem to only fit one way and I thought I got both of them on the right way, but apparently I got one of them wrong. I got both of the struts mounted to the wings and they seemed to be fine. Then I tried to put the wings on the plane. One set of wings went on fine. When I went to put on the other set, the bottom wing went on fine, but the top wing was at a weird angle. It didn't line up perfectly with the center cabane strut. So I took it off and put it on another way and the wings went on perfectly!

The rest of the build was fine.

My Thoughts on it's Flight Performance

Awesome!!! It is precise, yet can tumble when you need it to! I feel it does almost every maneuver just as good as a monoplane! But it has a cool bipeyness(word?) factor to it!

Here are my thoughts on each of the popular 3d maneuvers.

Harrier - Better than I expected. Very nice and stable if you are smooth on the sticks.

Hover - Awesome! Just as good as a monoplane.

Rolling Harrier - Very axial rolls. Just as good if not better than a monoplane. They can get quick at times so you have to keep up.

Knife Edge - Very nice once you get the coupling mixed out.

Tumbles - Doesn't rotate around too violently if you don't have the rudder throw high. I know they only recommend 25 degrees of rudder throw and I use that for everything except tumbles. For tumbles I bump the rudder throw up to around 40 degrees and they get more violent!

Pop Tops - Not very good. I can't seem to get it to rotate much at all at the top.

Knife Edge Spin - I haven't mastered this maneuver with this plane yet.

Blender - It does them very well. Pretty much just as good as a monoplane.

Flat Spin - Not as nice as a monoplane but still does them well.

Flight Video!

Watch in HD.

[video=youtube;sY0WWeGj_YU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY0WWeGj_YU[/video]

Conclusion

If you're looking for a 3d bipe, get this one! You won't regret it! It will be different than your other planes in your hangar, in a good way!

 

[Steve_B]

Nice review, thanks for taking the time to put it together. I was really looking closely at the bipe before release but to be 100% honest when the price was announced my interest cooled. So can you give me your thoughts on why I might want to go for the Vyper bipe rather than the other monoplanes in the same price bracket? For instance I could have a 51" Slick with lots of cash to spare, or the 57-59" Edge, Extra or Slick with some $ to spare, or for just a few bucks more the 65" Vyper. Not to mention the excellent 60" Extreme Flight EXP's which are all a fair bit cheaper. That's some pretty serious competition!

From the review there are a few things it doesn't do quite as well as the monoplanes, and a few that it does about the same but does the bipe do anything better than the monoplanes that it's up against price wise? Or is the main attraction simply the biplane novelty factor? (nothing wrong with that as a buying decision of course)

 

[gyro]

Obviously, this is not my review, but I'll offer my perspective: it blows a monoplane out of the water in KE flight. Takes almost no rudder at all, which allows for many new and cool maneuvers in KE flight that would make a monoplane snap out, and that is at least one area where this airplane truly shines.

 

[rcbirk21]

i think also you need to compare the cost of the plane RTF. the vyper bype is still going to be considerably cheaper than any 60" class plane. Brand new, hitec 5085mg's are $40 each. The good side of mini servos for a 60" class plane are $60-70 each. Not to mention packs are more expensive, motor/esc is more expensive, as well as needing a bigger space to fly. Its all relative and if you want a biplane...there really arent any other serious contenders

 

[zmonster97]

Both of the replies above are very true. It doesn't really do too many things better than monoplanes, it's just a biplane and some people want that. You don't have to want a biplane to want it either. It does pretty much everything just as good as a monoplane and is another plane to consider when buying a plane.

It does have a lot of rudder authority so you could do some pretty good HAKE. The rudder authority also helps in tumbles and things like that. It will also do anti-torque rolls. Not too many other planes can do that.

The roll rate is pretty insane on this plane, too!

 

[Steve_B]

Thanks for the replies guys.. It's a good point that it should be the RTF price that I consider, and yes, the 60" models will no doubt end up costing quite a bit more RTF. It's still going to be $60 more than the 51" Slick but maybe that's worth it for the 'biplane novelty factor'. The KE comment is interesting, I guess the area of the big inter-plane struts works like giant SFG's! My PA Ultimate AMR is also a good KE plane once the mixing is programmed (needs lots of mix), though in general I don't think the AMR has much in common with the Vyper Bipe, other than the number of wings they are very different models.

Maybe one day if they have a big sale

 

[gyro]

Thanks for the replies guys.. It's a good point that it should be the RTF price that I consider, and yes, the 60" models will no doubt end up costing quite a bit more RTF. It's still going to be $60 more than the 51" Slick but maybe that's worth it for the 'biplane novelty factor'. The KE comment is interesting, I guess the area of the big inter-plane struts works like giant SFG's! My PA Ultimate AMR is also a good KE plane once the mixing is programmed (needs lots of mix), though in general I don't think the AMR has much in common with the Vyper Bipe, other than the number of wings they are very different models.

Maybe one day if they have a big sale

http://www.3drcforums.com/showthrea...elp-for-Fanatics&p=16444&viewfull=1#post16444

 

[Blucor Basher]

Guys, thanks very much for the nice comments about the airplane. The price of a biplane is always an issue, since developing one costs 500%-1000% of what developing a monoplane costs, and building it costs about like building one and half monoplanes. That left us with two choices: charge more than a monoplane or cheap it out. We went with option #1.

Thanks for a great mini review!

 

[zmonster97]

Glad you like it Ben! Thanks!