Electron 54 Review
Warren Green/Speedfreeks.com
January 2004
Well I have to say from the start that when I ordered the Electron 54 made by
Norm at Tuffplanes after reading some of the reports on its performance, I had
very high expectations for it. A lean, fast and durable DS machine that had
great potential for 100mph and over. I wasn't to be disappointed.
The kit came with all the hardware other than tape (pretty standard) and the quality of the materials was very good. The first thing I noticed was the excellent quality of the cut wing cores. There was almost no slag on the wings and the spar grooves were cut very neatly indeed. The instructions are reasonable, but have since been upgraded with a supplement from Steve at California Sailplanes. The construction of this plane is quite simple, fast, and very strong. I would recommend this kit to intermediate builders and above. I lot more effort and care is required than for a combat foamie.
Radio installation for the Electron is fairly straight forward, although it is a tight fit. I used HS 225MGs for their extra torque. They are only a mini servo, but just fit in. HS 85MGs would fit in easily. The battery pack is very cleverly configured into 2x2 AAs (end on end) which is then positioned in the fuse with goop. This allows for a sleek, narrow fuse.
I followed the recommended taping methods after spackling the plane and spraying 3M, but used cross filament tape instead for added strength. I ironed each piece of tape down and then sprayed 3M again, and covered it in Solartex. I then coated the WHOLE plane in diluted goop until it had a smooth finish. In this case, it took about 6 thin coats.
The setup is described in the Planes section, however it is important to note that the COG is 62mm behind the leading edge, not 66-68mm as recommended.
The Electron 54 flies in almost all wind conditions (8 knots to unlimited) and is at home on the front side as it is DSing. Its inverted flight is not great but it will do it in good lift, including inverted loops. Roll rate is excellent and very axial, but its biggest asset is its ability to bang a turn. At high speed, its like a rubber ball bouncing off a wall. It just seems to change direction in an instant. It has beautiful handling characteristics even at low air speed, and when setup correctly flies very neutral.
Not only is the Electron 54 a joy to fly, it has proven itself to be resistant to flutter at very high speeds, amazingly stable when cutting through the boundary layers DSing and at 110 mph it has only very minor flex in the wing. I'm confident this plane is capable of more than 140mph (about 230kph).
The new Electron 60 (which has now replaced the 54) has had some minor modifications made to it as opposed to just scaling it up in size. A shorter root chord and a thinner airfoil, together with the bigger wingspan should make for an even more lethal combination.
All in all, the Electron 54 has been excellent value for money, and it has far exceeded my very high expectations. I'm sure the Electron 60 will bring even more speed, so stay tuned for its upcoming review.