I've gotten several flights on my new Cessna 337 and find it a solid flier.
The Cessna 337 is a 55 inch wingspan ARF designed for a pair of .25 glow engines. I was interested in doing an electric conversion so chose a pair of Turnigy 3536B 1300 kV motors. They provide great thrust. The scale-like takeoffs occur within about 30 to 40 feet with only about half throttle. I have the 337 set up with counter rotating 9X6 APC props all powered with a single 4000mAh 3 cell lipo battery.
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The build log here on RC PlaneViews goes into the specifics of the aircraft's components and assembly. This review is about the flying! I painted the 337 as an Air Force O-2 and it looks great in the air. The airplane is one of the heaviest I own. It came in at 5 pound, 10 ounces. This weight gives it a solid feel in the air. It will do loops at about 3/4 throttle and rolls smartly. The 337 tracks smoothly and has a broad flying speed range. At 2/3 throttle it is fast while at the same time it slows down nicely for landing. That is not to say it is a floater. Too slow and it will likely stall. I haven't wanted to test it! At altitude it slowed nicely and stalled with a smooth, straight-ahead nose drop. This sized ARF comes without rudders. As a result, the turns show some lack of coordination. I've also been a little afraid to deal with much of a crosswind. No rudders so I'm a little cautious.
I power the 337 with a 4000mAh FlightMax battery. Since I'm running two motors I set my timer for 4 minutes. Those first flights resulted in batteries with about half capacity left over. I've been upping the time. My last flight was about 6.5 minutes but it stressed the battery. My Hyperion Battery Checker showed the battery discharged to about 17%. Too low for my taste so I'm planning on flying about 5 minutes.As this is my first balsa and covering model I was a little apprehensive about the landings. The heavier model has proven to be pretty easy to land. While I've gotten into a couple of PIOs (pilot induced oscillations) when I've over controlled the landing most have been smooth easily controlled.
Due to the narrow wings I keep the speed up and fly it down close to the runway. When initiating the flair I smoothly bring the final bit power off and it settles onto the runway.The 337 always seems to generate some comments from folks at the field. It looks good and it flies good. For a $77 ARF, I'm well pleased.
