Durafly Sea Vixen

[Goose10]

Posted by Wingman on 26/01/2013 19:18:14:

Don't have this model but how about - throttle stick to max - connect battery - two beeps - throttle stick to min - number of beeps = nr of cells - possibly plays a tune - then throttle works.

Wingman, tried that and throttle at max resulted in about 8 high pitched beeps then a series of tunes; brought throttle down then two beeps. Unplugged battery , throttle stick at min now no beeps. Sounds to me like the ESC is the culprit. Have a spare ESC so will try that.

[Ian Ross 1]

Hi Goose 10,

Please ignore my last post. I have now had a look inside my Vixen.

The lead from the UBEC goes to the throttle, the lead from the ESC goes onto a spare outlet ( I am using an Orange RX and I have the lead on channel No 1 ,( the binding socket) ).

Hope that helps. Ian

[Goose10]

Thanks Ian, I have the opposite war round on my SV, as on my Vampire, both are Spektrum receivers. Am going to try with a different ESC and the UBEC this afternoon as no life from the motor now. All other servos are responding so its either the motor or the ESC/UBEC in my opinion.

[Goose10]

Update,

have now got new ESC in and plugged into receiver as per Ian's config, and the ESC lead into the Bind port; now I get tune and 4 beeps, pause then single beep, so sounds like the UBEC is dud also. Anybody know of a suitable replacement?

PhilNic

[Goose10]

After sorting ESC , finally got out today with SV and a Turnigy 3300; paid special attention to CG which meant the LiPo just about being held down by the strap. Hand launched the SV and headed off on a flat trajectory, very stable, then saw pieces of fan come out the back. Luckily the large wing area meant that it could be glided down to safety. Learned a lesson which was to check the collet tightening even on a PNF.

Field replacement of fan and it was away again, boy it goes, and handles very nicely, looks great; tried a loop and the swept wing came into play as the speed dropped and went into a flat spin. Luckily had height and was able to drop nose and recover.

Very stable flier, got several flights in, one with a bit of breeze to contend with and was surprised as to how easy it was to handle.

Dead chuffed..

Phil Nic

[Ian Ross 1]

Finally got a chance to maiden my Vixen today. Wow, it really flys well, so much faster than the Vampire but still a joy to fly, perhaps not ideal for 1st time EDF but to others, great fun.

Rolls and big loops are very scale like, also does a great fast pass at under 3 feet. I think I will now put on all the drop tanks etc, this will most likely slow her up a bit , also need to slow down the servos for the undercart as they are a bit fast for scale.

All in all well worth every penny, well done Durafly, another great plane.

Ian

[Goose10]

For those who hand launch here's a tip.

I was frustrated by how flimsy the armaments are when landing wheels up (not a criticism as clearly not designed for this) so did some mods to the tanks and the missile launchers as follows:

1. Take about 2 mm off the supports and screw in two thin screws, ideally wide threads and about 1.5" long, into the supports, about 2" apart.

2. Identify where the screw heads would fit in the wing and Dremel out a recess for each screw.

3. Fill each drilled well with either hot glue or epoxy and position the armament screw heads into the wells.

4. There will be some gaps which can be filled/reinforced with glue.

Tried landing with this method and the SV glide allows for a nice gentle landing; will need to consider some fibre glass for the tanks as they are taking the brunt but, it's basically:

- shorten the armament mountings

-use two screw each item and Dremel a few recesses.

Job done,

Phil Nic

[Startazz No1]

Mine has just been sent out from HK UK so i thought i'd share a buddy code to anyone who is thinking of buying this sweet looking plane,oh if you do click on the link (buddy code) you will save a few quid.

**LINK**

[MThemadhatter]

How did you get on with belly landing with those mods ?

I am thinking about getting the ARF version of on of these and using the radio gear and power set up from my HABU.

I fly off grass and a couple of guys have got the Vampire and have a hard time taking off so I was thinking of a lighter hand larunched version.

[Goose10]

Worked really well and I also learned that this bird glides really well on approach; I have now got it down to a fine art where I can flare right at the last minute with enough airspeed to just about stall about a foot above the ground.

This has the wing area to do this, and the mods I mention have worked, although I did have to redo one pod after an earlier heavy landing.

[MThemadhatter]

I have received mine today, I got the ARF version as I am transplanting the radio gear over from my HABU, and I aslo have a set of servoless retracts I could use. However the vampires at the club struggle to ROG unless the grass has just been cut.

Obviously as mine is ARF all the components are loose and the fuse is in two pieces, so I have one question what glue would you use ?

I think its made of elapor/EPO type foam so I was thinking medium and slow CA with kicker and maybe epoxy for the wings. Also did you remove the paint from the glued surfaces ?

[Goose10]

Used epoxy to glue parts together and all good; no issues with the booms like the Vampire. Regarding the paint question, I always sandpaper off any paint (or as much as possible) where surfaces to be glued are concerned...

[MThemadhatter]

Thanks for the advice, I have started building mine and am doing a seperate build thread here, **LINK**