AMG TWIN-PROPELLER RTF R/C STUNT AIRPLANE
AMG Twin-Propeller RTF R/C Stunt Airplane, retail $99.95 (www.amazon.com...)
Manufactured by Wen Sheng
Last updated 06-08-14
This isn't a flashlight, household lamp, Christmas light set, or other thing that glows, but since I love things that fly (also why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" on my website), and because it has several LEDs in it to help you see it during those pesky night missions, I figured "what the hey".
This is a medium-sized (18" (45.7cm) wingspan), lightweight, easy-to-fly remote controlled airplane. It has two motors (not just one like many other R/C aircraft), and is steered by varying the power to each motor, not with an adjustable horizontal stabiliser like single-engine R/C airplanes (and most real airplanes for that matter) have. Its propellers have three blades, not two like most other R/C airplanes. And it has wheels so it can take off from and land on hard surfaces such as sidewalks, parking lots, packed baseball diamond infields, and unused streets.
(05-19-14): From somebody who knows their {vulgar slang term for a fudge bunny} about aircraft, comes the following (no changes to spelling, grammar, or syntax were made):
2-engine airplanes with individually-variable engine power can be
steered by unequal engine power. It is probably possible for some
airplanes to achieve a "coordinated turn" by merely boosting the power to
the engine on the outside of the turn.
Boosting power to the outside-of-turn engine will cause the airplane to
yaw, which will contribute to turning.
Boosting power to the outside-of-turn engine, with yaw rotation, also
increases lift of the wing on the outside-of-turn side. That typically
causes the airplane to roll, so that it is "banked" into the turn. Since
the wings are rolled / banked, their lift vector has a horizontal
component that provides much of the force that changes the direction of
the airplane's movement.
The tilting of the wings detracts from the vertical component of the
lift vector. Therefore either more engine power, or pitching the airplane
upwards (which slows its speed) is required to avoid loss of altitude.
Thankfully, increasing power to the outside-of-turn engine is likely to
come close to solving all of these issues.
A "coordinated turn" is turning with the proper usage of both roll and
yaw.
If roll is insufficient and/or yaw is excessive, then this situation
is known as a "skid". A typical skid is with turning effort being
excessively by rudder, and insufficiently by aelerons (or unequal power to
engines of a 2-enginge airplane). Result: The airplane points towards
where it is turning, but it is sluggish at accomplishing the turn.
The opposite situation is the "slip". This is when the airplane is
rolled / banked excessively for the turn, with insufficient contribution
by rudder (or unequal engine thrust from 2 engines). The airplane "falls
into its turn" more quickly than where it is pointing. Loss of altitude
is likely, unless engine power is increased to extent above that required
for making that turn a coordinated one with sustained airspeed.
An extreme case of the "slip" is the "side slip". In that case, the
airplane is banked (rolled from level), but it is not turning. That has
the airplane being rolled as if turning one way, and it is yawed the other
way (from rudder). The airplane is pointed towards the "wing-up side"
of where its straight flight is going.
Turns, slips, and skids require airplanes to increase engine power to
maintain level flight. All 3 of these require extra airspeed above "stall
speed", whether from more engine power, or from gravity power while
descending.
One problematic item is turning and/or slipping with airspeed close to
stall speed: One wing can lose lift from "stall condition". This can
lead to a "spin" - which requires expert maneuvering (and lots of altitude
to fall through) to recover from.
(01-16-09): The following is from an email sent by a pilot; this person knows more about aircraft than I do.
I read a few of your RC aircraft reviews, and you have a pretty serious misconception stated at least twice in discussions of models with 2 motors: In full-sized aircraft or in RC, the horizontal stabilizer is NOT primarily involved in turning the aircraft. It does have a secondary role in turning, which I'll return to later. I have dabbled in RC aircraft a couple of times in my life (I'm essentially your age) and I also have a private pilot's license for full-sized aircraft, although I have not exercised that privilege since moving out of Colorado.
The first part of your misconception seems to be that the horizontal stabilizer controls horizontal movement. Not so.
There are three rotational movements: yaw, pitch and roll. Yaw is the horizontal displacement of the nose and tail about the vertical axis. Pitch is vertical displacement about a horizontal axis roughly aligned with the wing, and roll is vertical displacement of the wing tips about a horizontal axis roughly aligned with the propeller shaft.
The fixed horizontal stabilizers (the little wings usually at the back of the aircraft that stick out horizontally) and movable elevator attached to them (or the "stabilator" or "all-flying stabilizer" in the case of a single piece which moves in its entirety) control PITCH. Although this points the nose up or down, and so generally increases or decreases lift, it really controls airspeed: nose-up leads to slower airspeed and nose-down leads to higher airspeed. The aircraft's "state of trim," which depends more or less on the position of the elevator or stabilator, tends to maintain a constant airspeed, although the varying airflow with changing engine power off the propeller does affect trim speed somewhat. POWER translates into climb or descent: at a constant airspeed, more power means climb and less power means decent, and at a constant power more speed means descent and less speed means climb (until you reach the "region of reverse command," when induced drag increases so much that lower speed means MORE power is needed to maintain level flight, or in the most extreme case: when the wing stalls and a small decrease in speed leads to a loss of lift and RAPID descent). This is a common-sense situation: it takes more power to go uphill at a constant speed than downhill, whether in an airplane, car, bicycle or scooter. The lack of a solid hill doesn't really matter.
So, you probably really meant that the VERTICAL stabilizer (the fin sticking up at the back of the fuselage), which affects yaw, controls turning. This is also wrong, although not completely in the case of some RC aircraft. However, unlike in a surface vehicle, YAW, although it does slew the nose sideways, does not turn the aircraft in the sense of causing it to travel in a circular horizontal course. That is actually the result of ROLL, or banking. Rolling into a modest bank angle causes the lift vector of the wing to point sideways as well as up. The sideways force becomes a centripetal force that moves the aircraft in a horizontal circle. The only centripetal force provided by yaw directly is the vector of the engine's thrust resulting from the yaw angle, and except for military jets, the engine's thrust is WAY less than the force of the wing's lift, and is not enough to turn the airplane through a decent arc. (Other exceptions exist in 3D aerobatics, but I'm ignoring that.)
In fact, in a really well-designed airplane, the rudder is hardly needed to turn, and in RC aircraft, low performance planes with 2 channel control have rudder and elevator, but high performance 2 channel planes have aileron and elevator control. (Assumes either glider or constant-power engine/motor. Read as "3-channel" if you want a throttle control, too.) Low-performance models use yaw-roll coupling to let the rudder CAUSE the roll needed to turn the plane, usually via excess dihedral in the wing, but ideally, roll is controlled directly by ailerons. The problem is that ailerons cause roll by increasing lift on one wing, which raises that wing but also induces drag (lift is not free of cost) and slows it down. The wing going up needs to go faster, not slower, to go around the outside of the turn, so this causes "adverse yaw:" the plane tends to turn the opposite of the intended direction, at least while the roll is occurring (the effect becomes less, but not zero, while maintaining a constant bank angle). The rudder is primarily needed to provide a yaw force to offset this adverse yaw and lead to a "coordinated turn" in which there are no net yaw forces, also described as lack of slip or skid. (Deliberate slip is a another use of the rudder to increase drag on the aircraft, and skid can cause the fun/dangerous spin or snap-roll when combined with stall. Brief rolling motions with proper rudder use leads to a "Dutch roll" in which the heading of the airplane doesn't change while the wings rock back and forth. Look them all up if desired!) Older airplanes had lots of adverse yaw, and needed active footwork on the rudder control pedals to make a nice turn or good Dutch rolls, but more recent and more clever designs can make almost-coordinated turns with your feet off the rudder pedals, at least at average airspeed.
There IS an important roll of the horizontal stabilizer in turning: If you want to turn and simultaneously maintain constant altitude, you need to pull back on the stick (pitch the nose up) to increase lift, since as you roll the lift vector would otherwise be the same force. With part of the force directed horizontally, the aircraft would begin to descend unless lift increased, so total lift must increase by either more power (and more airspeed) or more pitch (and slightly reduced airspeed). The latter is usually chosen, so to turn an airplane properly, you use aileron to roll and simulanteously rudder to control adverse yaw, then as the bank angle increases, back stick to increase lift and maintain constant altitude. It's all much easier when you are in the aircraft and can FEEL the results vs. an RC model or flight simulator program, except the consequences of mistakes are worse.
It appears very similar to a Tuffoam™ Power Plane, 8000 Series; though I do not believe that this plane comes from the same manufacturer, and there are enough differences between this and the Guillows Tuffoam™ P-38 Lightning R/C "Park Flyer" Airplane that lead me to believe that this isn't the same one with just a differing body coloration.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE P-38 LIGHTNING:
This is a replica of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning - an aircraft used by the United States military in (I believe) World War II.
The P-38 Lightning was a twin engine heavy fighter powered by two Allison in-line piston engines. The aircraft was the result of a US Army order placed in 1937 for a high performance aircraft capable of operating at high altitude.
Despite its size (wingspan 52 feet (15.849 meters), length 37 feet 10" (11.536 meters)), it had a crew of just one - the pilot.
This flying model is 1/35 scale - so it is larger than you might expect. It's not *HUGE*, but it isn't puny either.
SIZE
This toy is remarkably easy to use for an airplane...here's how to get it flying:
Assemble it (see the included instructional material - you really only need to install the landing gear {wheels}), screw the antenna into the top of the remote control, and as with any rechargeable product, charge the flight battery (see directly below) -- then you can pretend to fly a really large dragonfly (well, that's what the kitty cat would think it is if it were designed to be flown indoors).
Attach the ribbon to the remote control's antenna, extend the antenna, point the antenna straight up, and observe the ribbon. If the breeze blows the ribbon at less than a 45° angle, it is safe to fly.
1: On the bottom of the airplane's fuselage (body) in front of the battery door (very near the charger port), there's a black slide switch. Use a fingernail to slide this switch forward to the "on" position.
2: On the remote control, turn the "on/off" switch to the "on" position.
3: Push the left-hand joystick on the remote up and then pull it back down -- this "arms" the airplane's motors.
4: Hold the airplane (level, not pointed up or down) in one hand, push the left hand stick on the controller up (toward the front), and firmly but gently toss it straight forward.
Alternately, you may place it onto a hard (paved) surface with a decent length of clear space ahead, and lift off the ground this way.
5: The motors should immediately throttle up, and the airplane should now begin to climb. Be certain to aim the remote control more or less up at all times; this will help to reach maximum range of the R/C.
For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.
Turn the airplane and remote control off when finished using them.
Same switches as before, but slide them in the opposite direction this time.
The battery in the airplane itself is rechargeable; however the batteries in the remote will need to be changed from time to time.
To change the batteries in the remote, turn the unit upside-down, unscrew & remove the small Phillips screw holding the battery door in place, and set it aside. Place a thumb on the texturised area near the top of the battery door, and firmly push toward the bottom edge of the remote. The battery door should then come off. If it doesn't, you may need to enlist the aid of a small standard (flat blade) screwdriver or a butterknife in order to get it slid down far enough so that it comes off with your fingers. Very gently place it on the ground, and kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy for their insect tummies and subsequently strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.
Remove the black battery carriage from the remote, and set the remote aside.
Remove the eight used AA cells from the carriage, and dispose of or ecycle them as you see fit.
Insert eight new AA cells into the carriage, orienting each cell so its flat-end (-) negative faces a spring for it in each chamber.
Place the now-full battery carriage back in the remote, orienting it so that its two metal contacts on one end face the springs for them in the remote's battery chamber.
Finally, place the battery door back on and screw in that screw.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery door into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?
Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.
To charge the flight battery in the airplane itself, unscrew & remove the screw holding the battery hatch onto the underside of the plane's fuselage (this word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it; the word is pronounced "" ) {body}, plug one end of the included charger cord into the exposed receptacle (the one that's connected to the battery but not plugged into anything else), plug the "wall wart" into any standard (in north America anyway) 110 volts to130 volts AC 60Hz receptacle (or, "wall outlet" or even, "wall socket" if you prefer). A red light on the wall wart should come on.
When this light turns green, disconnect the battery, unplug the wall wart, place the battery hatch back on, and screw in that little screw.
The flight time per charge is not stated in the instructional materials or on the packaging, but I'd expect it to be more than 5 minutes.
The AMG Twin-Propeller RTF R/C Stunt Airplane is meant to be used as a toy in a dry area outdoors, not as a flashlight meant to be carried around, rained on, thrashed, trashed, and abused, so I won't try to drown it in the toilet tank, bash it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a patio, let my sister's citty kats go to the litterbox on it or let my parent's big dog's ghost lift his leg on it, run over it with a 450lb Celebrity motorised wheelchair, leave it outside in the rain, stomp on it, pee on it, use a medium claw hammer in order to bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoñata, drop it down the top of Mt. Erupto (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piñata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout (located at Piñata Central), with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; the cannoñata (also located at Piñata Central) is only used to shoot piñatas to piñata parties away from picturesque Piñata Island, and Mt. Erupto is an active volcano on Piñata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be ***SIGNIFICANTLY*** more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.
The remote control's maximum range is not stated, but it is very probably at least 150 feet.
The frequency of this particular unit is labelled as 49MHz.
There is a long, thin black wire coming from the back of the airplane; pull, cut, or otherwise remove it!!!
This is the airplane's antenna, and it is absolutely necessary for the wire to be intact for the airplane to maintain contact with the remote control!!!
Photograph of the remote control.
Photograph of the LEDs on this airplane, illuminated of course.
This is as the airplane is facing you.
Spectrographic analysis of one of the forward (white) LEDs in this airplane.
Spectrographic analysis of one of the forward (white) LEDs in this airplane; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 445nm and 455nm to pinpoint native emission peak wavelength, which is 449.060nm.
The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/46/p38-2-w.txt
Spectrographic analysis of the rear (red) LED in this airplane.
Spectrographic analysis of the rear (red) LED in this airplane; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 635nm and 645nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 639.600nm.
The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/46/p38-2-r.txt
Although its maiden flights went OK, the camera failed to capture them because the blasted thing wasn't recording.
Semi-maiden "flights" of my AMG Twin Propeller RTF R/C Stunt Airplane.
I say, "semi-maiden" here because during the actual maiden flights on 06-06-14, my blasted camera was somehow misset and did not record them.
And I put the word 'flights' in quotation marks here because the camera didn't record any flight time at all; however the motor noise should cue you in into how long the aircraft was actually airborne.
"Flights" took place behind the Sears in Federal Way WA. USA on 06-07-14 (or, "2014 07 Jun." or even, "June 07, Twenty Stick-Pile-of-Crossed-Busted-Sticks if you prefer).
Weather conditions at flight time were clear, temperature of 59°F (15°C), and winds out of the NW at 2mph (1.73kts, 3.22kph).
O BOY! AN R/C AIRPLANE NOT FLYING!
So thrilling!!
So pulse-racing!!!
Actually, it kinda "maiks" "ewe" "wontt" "tu" "kik" "ovorr" "won" "uv" "thoz" "Penile-Whear®" "liggecher-rezistent" "prizen" "commbies" "ahnd" "thenn" "pruhseed" "tu" "bete" "thuh" "livengg" "tweadle" "owt" "uv" "itt" "withh" "uhn "olde" "orr" "uzed" "ho" (the gardening tool, not the other kind hahah!!!) doesn't it?
This video is 5.0074721183 megabytes (5,125,979 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty five minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.br>
TEST NOTES:
Test unit was purchased on Amazon.com on 05-22-14, and was received at 6:54pm PDT on 06-02-14.
UPDATE: 00-00-00
PROS:
Flies *EXTREMELY* easily!
Flies quite well once you get it in the air (but that alone could be a wee bit challenging!)
NEUTRAL:
I really don't care for the color -- but this is a subjective opinion that will not affect rating
CONS:
Controls seem to be just a wee bit sluggish to respond to inputs
Flight battery is a minor pain in the toliet muscle to charge
MANUFACTURER: Wen Sheng
PRODUCT TYPE: Remote controlled airplane
LAMP TYPE: 5mm LED
No. OF LAMPS: 3 (2 white, 1 red)
BEAM TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: Slide on/off on bottom of product's fuselage
CASE MATERIAL: Plastic & compressed foam
BEZEL: N/A
BATTERY: 8xAA cells (remote), 7.2 volt 150mAh NiMH rechargeable (airplane itself)
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: Very light splatter-resistance at maximum
SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
ACCESSORIES: NiMH flight battery, wind ribbon, charger, screwdriver, tube of Styrofoam-safe glue
SIZE: 490mm wingspan X 372mm length
WEIGHT: 111.0g (3.91 oz.) incl. flight battery
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
WARRANTY: Not specifically stated (reads "reasonable amount of time")
PRODUCT RATING:
AMG Twin-Propeller RTF R/C Stunt Airplane * www.amazon.com...
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