Frank Skilbeck

Good issue, I liked the article on glassing, having done that to my Pat Teakle HP18 (see avatar) 20 years ago using a mini roller. But for those of you who haven't tried using epoxy glass its worth a go you do end up with a very resiliant finish.

On mine, I ran the snakes in slots on the outside of the fuselage and cut a hole through the fuselage for the rudder and elevator servos, these were then fitted with a hole to the Rx compartment to thread the leads through. The servos were then simply covered over with a bit of solarfilm, so if they ever go faulty I can just peel back the solarfilm "hatches" and make new one. The Rx is under a foam hatch as I don't use a switch just an extension lead which I plug into the battery. The battery is buried in the center though so if it ever needs replacing that will need some surgery.

700w is probably a bit OTT for the model, they say it flies on a 2,000 mah 3s, if you can get 700w out of that you'll be pulling over 70 amps. For 700w you'd need a large 4s battery or a 5-6s if you wanted to keep the amps down, but you'd need to check what fits. On SMC website they are suggesting aroubnd 400w and that should be fine. Make it heavy and you'll never lob it but would need a bungy to get upto speed, keep it light and you should be able to hand launch.

Posted by phil tobin on 21/11/2010 21:10:05: Thanks for the vid Frank, it looked like a successful flight, what happened with the landing, it looked like that bush swallowed it up?    The lift had just died, if you note it dropped a wing in the turn further out, so I'd decided I better bring it before I went for a walk and the ferns near the path didn't seem a bad option.

Here's a video of mine on its test flight in very light winds 

James I've got one set up on my Dx6i, thyey don't need programming as a heli, just set all the throws to 100% and don't revers anything and you should be good to go.  For first flights indoors you might want to add a bit of expo to the cyclic as it is much more responsive that the coaxial types.

Noel, procedure is plug bind plug into Rx battery socket, then the battery, it should start flashing, then switch Tx on in bind mode, and a couple of seconds later it should have bound correctly. Can you make sure you have plugged the battery in the right way up, if you put it in the wrong way round all that happens is the Rx light comes on and stays on. As regards binding to two Rx's last night I was flying my Parkzone Sukhoi with in-built Spektrum lightweight Rx and foamy with hobbycity 4 channel DSM2 Rx on the same model memory in my Dx6i with no problems, so I don't think they have to be the same type.

Having owned a Phase 6 a long time ago and flown a Ripmax Stargazer the Phase 6 is worth every penny at twice as much. The other option is a Middle Phase with ailerons.

The reason it can't is that the charger has to do some work with the energy from the battery, in the plane you convert the stored energy to thrust and heat, on the charger to heat only. In the plane you will be doing 200+ watts, imagine if you had a 200w light bulb in your charger while it was discharging, it might get a bit hot.  Leaving them fully charged for a month would not have done any harm, but if you did want to discharge them quickly then you could have just put them in the plane and done a ground test and then recharged to storage level.

The capacitors are to reduce the "noise" from brushed motors which could cause radio interference, not sure if this is the case on 2.4 ghz but it certainly was on 35 mhz.. Also note if you are going to run the brushless motors on Lipo's if you plan to use a 3s then you will need to fit a smaller prop or uyou'll burn the motor out. Also as most brushless motos are before lipos the ESC low voltage cut off is too low for a lipo and if you fly until it custs in then you will damage your lipos.  In all honesty I can't see why you'd stick with the brushed motors, brushless are so much better

Don't you mean OS FX40, the LA is the plain bearing with air bleed carb, FX and Irvine are both ball bearing with twin needle carbs and claimed to be about 40% more powerful.

Looking at the manual, it can be done, probably not 22 screws, just 6 to take the back off and then adjust screws on ratchet/rension to switch from LH to RH stick. I've taken the back off my Dx6i numerous times to replace the broken trims, its not difficult. But if you are concerned why not buy one from Inwoods who can obviously supply them in Mode 1.  The set thats really user friendly this way is the MPX Cockpit Sx you can swap modes by adjusting a couple of screws on the outside with the supplied key

Aren't Irvines now made by OS now and have an OS carb. Nothing wrong with the old Irvines though, the jetstream carb was always easy to set.

Tony thats fine, just pull the red wire and pin out of the Rx plug and tape it back, that way you can reinstate the BEC in future if you want to.

Tested my Orange DSM 2 6 channel in a Fantom at the weekend, absolutly fine as far as I was comfortable flying the plane. Rx aerial would have been shielded by the battery in certain orientations, but absolutly no problems. I've just ordered some more at 7.95 US$ each. Great for park fliers.

Not sure on the exp, but may radio's have a diode in the charging circuit for protection, but that stops you from cycling them in situ. But you don't need to cycle them every time so taking them out isn't a big issue.

The hall effect current sensors look good, shame the display isn't above the neck strap hook, I find trying to glance at the timer on my Dx6i a real pain, whereas the one on my Cockpit Sx which is above the neck strap is very easy to read and only takes a quick glance.   Maybe they will be bringing out sunglasses with a head up display...............................

That isn't supposed to happen with freqency hopping systems, aren't they all meant to be able to work at the same time, or was your Tx right by the computer and hence swamping the signal.    

Jeremy - the mod you've done is basically what Multiplex have done with Pro, you should ask for your comission..........................

Nigel - I'm using a Multiplex Cockpit SX radio so the percentages probably won't help, but my flaps are set up as follows   Mid Position - around 30 Deg deflection, 1-2mm down elevator Full Flap - around 70 Deg deflection 3 - 4 mm down elevator   Note on full flap with no throttle the plane decends pretty quickly put doesn't pick up speed on applying power the decent is slowed and then turns into a climb without touching the elevator.   I did try the flaps on my Sx on the flight phase switch which has a programable delay, but found it just as easy to use the flap slider, with the indent as the mid position.   The 30 Deg flap allows quite slow flight and some drag and I often use it for landing, The 70 Deg position really adds some drag and I can do very steep approaches but need to add some power for the flare out at the end. I'd start off with around 30 Deg flap and progress from there if you are only having a single position flap as 70 Deg is too much in one go.   I'm using 3200 mah 4s batteries and c of g seems fine, it balances pretty much on the recommended point.   I don't tend to use any flap on take off and you need to be ready for the torque swing of the plane on take off, watch for it dropping a wing if you don't have enough flying speed on take off. I stated with a 13 x 6 prop on a 700 kv motor and it was too much so I changed to a 12 x 6 for less torque roll on take off and I still don't use full power for take off.   I have cartwheeled mine experimenting trying to take off with flap at slow a speed but this is the only thing I'd watch for, and really it was me getting over confident and pushing it.

Easy Glider is very Easy to fly, ailerons are not overly responsive and its best to mix a bit of rudder in. Is it the Easy Glider pro or the earlier Easy Glider. The pro is set up to take a brushless motor and can be finished as a pure glider or electric out of the box. 

  I have mine (Mk1) as a tail dragger and have the throttles mixed with rudder, I use a V tail mixer on mine so I can have differential throttle, not needed in flight but without it on the ground its impossible to keep straight on take off. I don't have a steerable tail wheel though but the differential throttle works quite well and you wouldn't need the steerable tail wheel. I have a separate servo cut into the canopy to mount my Flycam Eco on so I can rotate the camera while in flight.  For Motors I'm using are two of these http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=5423 running on a 4,000 mah 3s Lipo or 2300 4s LiFe with 18A ESC and separate BEC with 7 x 4.5 props.

Alfa Mig 15 would fly really well on 1300 mah 3s, but it doesn't come with motor or ESC. FMS also do a range of jets which fly on a 1300 mah 3s, but flight time is around 4 mins

Alfa Mig 15 is very good too, but a 3s 2200 mah is too big, if it doesn't have to be scale then the Phase 3 Fantom is a good hand launch EDF which flies well on a 3s 2200.

Wingman thats not a bad guide but the electric motors are more flexible than that, if for instance you wanted to use a motor in a small fast model you could put a small prop on it and up the voltage to get more revs and use a smaller mah battery, but if you wanted to fly a slower model you could go with a lower voltage, larger prop and increase the mah