mini Laser
3D
I started hearing good things about this little plane and one day when
I saw it at the hobby store I just had to have one.
It's a very complete kit as it includes even a motor and gearbox. I'd
rather it was available as just the airframe alone however as the the motor
and gearbox were kind of cheezy. The first thing many people do to the
gearbox is upgrade the sloppy bronze bushings with ball bearings which
I did too.
I have been flying the ML3D with the 3:1 280BB setup after the original 300 motor died an early death. It flies fine this way. ROGs in about 20 feet from packed dirt, or can do an upwards underhand toss for hand launch. The control throws are insane, typical of extreme 3D funfly types. Roll rates are dizzying and it can do very tight loops. Gets about 4-5 minutes of mostly full throttle aerobatics. You can slow it way down and just putt around I suppose to get longer flights but I find the "3D" stuff a lot funner.
You also need to beef up the landing gear mounts on this one. The supplied
structure is soft balsa which won't stand up to anything but the lightest
landings on smooth surfaces. Replace these components with the same thickness
of light-plywood and it will be fine.
| Wingspan | 31.5 inches (80 cm) |
| Length | 31.5 inches (80 cm) |
| Wing area | 278 square inches (17,9dm^2) |
| Specified weight (6 cells?) | 14.8 oz (420g) |
| Weight as built (with 8 cell battery) | 17.8oz (505g) |
| Motor included in kit | Mabuchi 300 type can motor |
| Motor presently in use | Multiplex Permax 280BB |
| Propeller | 7x6 Gunther |
| Gearbox supplied | 4:1 |
| Gearbox now in use | 3:1 Graupner FG3 |
| Radio gear |
|
| Battery | Sanyo 8 cells 600AE |
| Kit manufacturer's web site | http://www.lasermodels.com/ |
| This kit goes together really quickly. All parts are superbly laser cut and the fit is perfect. The construction is of very lightweight design and the balsa was of excellent quality. The turtledeck could use a few more stringers though for a better look when covered. Wing tips should have an extra stub rib at a diagonal angle in the front corners too. |  |
| Here it is completed. The covering on it is red EconoKote and shiny chrome Oracover. The chrome was actually a little bit lighter than some of the other opaque colors. Covering it with litespan would be the only way to further lighten this plane. The kit has about as much 'lightness' as possible already designed in. |  |
| I found that the rudder control horns were too short for the pull-pull operation as supplied. The pull line would interfere against the side of the fuselage at about half of the recommended expert level throw and it could go no further. I doubled the length of the horns to get around that problem. I also changed the lines to kevlar 'Spider Wire' fishing line instead of the suppled stretchy monofilament line. |  |
| The original speed 300 type motor that was supplied only lasted about
6 flights before the brushes burned up. It may have failed due to the combination
of high rpm with the high current. Motocalc showed 40,000 (motor) rpm at
full speed with this setup.
So I replaced that with a Permax 280BB motor. The 280 BB's brushes are a lot more durable than the 300. Because the 280BB needed a different gear ratio I installed it with a Graupner 3:1 FG3 gearbox as shown here. |
 |