Durafly ZEPHYR V-70 - Phoenix R/C simulator - SupermotoXL Designs

Details: Published: 25 June 2018

*Re-release fix note (Rev: 2.0) on 7-July 2018, please download new file updates.
dev zephyrv70 xl1

About

The DURAFLY: ZEPHYR V-70 is my most beloved EDF glider plane in my hangar...its electric turbine powered plane that will blow people away with its Jet liner like turbine sound despite its runs from a li-po battery instead real gas. The sound is 100% a head turner with huge audible scream of SWOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!!, it flies fast leaving shockwave of air turbulent surrounds it, very aerobatic and despite what looks like a sloper or glider it is actually full thumb on stick hot liner style plane....in short not for beginners level. If you haven't seen one in action head to my youtube channel there are two video clips of me flying the Zephyr V-70 in various places.....hint, yes i originally owned 2x unit. This hot liner once was sold only at Hobbyking.com but by 2018 the Zephyr V-70 have become extinct species and its come back still unknown. Today this plane just hang on the wall of my "Pilot Lounge" room where i can seem 'em everyday not because i'm lazy but it has became a rare model i wish not to put dent or scratch on it....exotic plane.

So thus the only way i could enjoy more out of it without risking cosmetic scratches on this beautiful flying animal is by revitalized it into digital form, turn it into 3D model and port it into PHOENIX R/C simulator....so i could fly all day away from the sun hahaha!...nope i just suck at hand launching this plane in real life, its heavy have very troubling launching aerodynamics because i hate hand launching a big plane and it need bigger space to fly but don't worry its forgivable in simulator ...hehehe!

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The build

Unfortunately i couldn't get the original theme sticker on this plane (2nd unit) because i never like the pattern so the whole sticker sheet went into the bin and while the first Zephyr V-70 that have the original body decals was sold, so the current Zephyr that's modeled in 3D is my existing second unit that have been painted partially with matt black paint. However to make it looks interesting some part of the body have been added special custom design decal and added extra green paint lines along side black color to make it the plane looks stylish and appealing.

Unlike my previous 3d model build for Phoenix R/C this one have slightly higher poly count per-parts especially the front fuselage to produce smooth surfaces and also around the EDF duct case. The 3d meshes worth: Vertices = 2670 + Faces = 2911 that already include the collision parts. Overall the meshes complexity is good enough to be rendered smoothly by modern computer or today standard notebook when run on Phoenix R/C simulator. Overall it took me 2 days to build the model via Z-modeler, 5 hours of texturing work via Photopaint and 1 day to compile functional surface control and parameters via Phoenix R/C builder and next day (Sunday) doing some test flight.

My real ZEPHYR V-70:

3D construction:

Texturing works and decaling:

Applying control surface and parameters:

Final production in R/C Phoenix:

Flight characteristic

Below are the virtual stock attributes value on Zephyr that influence a lot on how it flies in Phoenix R/C, i setup close to my real world Zephyr V-70 specifications:

Wingspan: 1533mm
Flying weight: 1150gram
EDF unit: 6 Blade 70mm
Motor rpm: (2223 3400kv Brushless Outrunner x 11.1v) = 37,740rpm
Main wing airfoil type: MH32
V-tail stabilizer airfoil type: Flat profile

The plane handled well in Phoenix R/C simulator giving almost 95% feeling of flying an actual real Zephyr V-70 model with same amount of speed, vertical thrust, surface control dynamics and of course its a hot liner so it won't glide or float around despite it looks like one unless it flew into head on high wind. Another realistic aspect about this airframe which apply to real world is if the plane is tweaked to high amount of speed and thrust power equivalent to putting 4s li-po pack or flying into heavy windy weather the Zephyr's main wing and whole air frame will flutter a lot so don't be surprise if it flew 'shaky' if you turn on the weather to very windy condition.

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Despite being V-tail on my real Zephyr V-70 i could easily mix around to have both Elevator and Rudder control but on Phoenix R/C simulator by default i didn't put any mixing at all just some normal Elevator control so you'll be flying standard 'Bank and Yank' control just like any high speed EDF jet plane does...i could put mixing but the build manual on Phoenix R/C builder is a bit brain draining due to lack of online guides. About the crash physic if it happens to hit the ground the main wing, aileron and rear elevator surface control will break apart if you crash really hard in simulator.

If user not satisfy with my current setup on its flight attributes they can easily edit some parameters inside the simulator via "EDIT" button from the menu with few clicks, very easy. So i hope you enjoy this 'virtual' DURAFLY: ZEPHYR V-70 jet glider on the simulator, its the most unique electric EDF glider/hotliner that actually sounds like real gas turbine available on foamy radio control aircraft...to bad the vendor HobbyKing.com no longer carry on selling the model since DURAFLY stop producing it by end of 2017 but hopefully it will be re-release by popular demand. However i'm glad to have last unit of this magnificent loud screaming hotliner in my hangar and i hope you too can experiencing the same in Phoenix R/C simulator. Enjoy the flight.

Video

Tools used to create these custom model:

3D Modeler program: 3D Zmodeler v1.07 and v2.0 (*.OBJ support)
Compiler tools: Phoenix Builder v1.0.p
Texture editing program: Corel Photopaint

Related article & community

Here are list of article and links related to the actual real world model.

*Re-release fix note (Rev: 2.0) on 7-July 2018:
+ Fix short glide problem
+ Accurate stall rate fix
+ Accurate surface control reflex on aileron
+ Real world handling accuracy: 98% (Depending on weather setup)

** Upon new file updates on Phoenix model inventory the word "(rev:2.0)" should appear on ZYPHER V-70 model details/description. Else if changes doesn't not appear please delete the earlier model by manually delete the model folder in Phoenix R/C program.

Full gallery preview | Video preview | Download this Phoenix R/C model

*Installation instruction: How to install custom models in Phoenix R/C

Durafly ZEPHYR V-70 - Phoenix R/C simulator

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