Mav-Ric

My Feedback: (10)

So I did it. I'd been reading reviews about this ParkZone F-27C stryker for a while now. Some people say it has good flight characteristics and is suitable for a 2nd or 3rd plane. Other discussions state that though it is an RTF foamie, it is for the most experienced flyers (only because it's so fast). It would be my third plane and I've been flying long enough to correct mistakes. So what did I do? On an impulse, I ran down to the local hobby shop, did some talking, and $250 later, walked out with my new Stryker. I put that bad boy together (it took only about 10 minutes to complete - working very slow and dilligently). As most of these discussions say, it can be done in just a few minutes.

I worked last night and I had the gitters.... I wanted the night to be over with already so I could take her out to the field! Morning finally came, and I charged the battery... It took about an hour and a half, and I'm assuming that it's because the battery hadn't ever been charged before. While the battery was charging, I took the time and opportunity to do some final ground trimming on the airplane. The charger let me know that it had finished, and I put the battery in. Of course, being the maiden flight, I didn't know what to expect, and so I was a little nervous. The wind was blowing pretty good, I'd say about 12-15mph coming from every direction imaginable. No one else was at the field, but I was too impatient to wait for someome more experienced to do the air trimming. [>:]

The instructions say to toss the plane and then open up to 3/4 throttle. I aimed her directly into the wind and tried what the manufacturer suggested with no luck. She sunk right away and bellied out on the grass. I ran over and picked her up, and there wasn't a scratch on her. For the second launch attempt I held it tight and pushed the stick to full throttle. I tossed her and she immediately began to bank to the right. I corrected with some left imput and she leveled out. I knew I had to get her high and fast so that I can make some runs to trim her out.

I brought her up about 3 mistakes, and began the trimming process to level the flight. I trimmed a little left and she was not rolling anymore; however, she kept wanting to go verticle. I tried to trim the elevator, but it just seemed that I couldn't get her to fly level. Of course, trying to trim in while the wind is throwing your plane all around is difficult, rarely ever recommended.

I finally got her to a comfortable "level" flight, periodically riding the down elevator. I wanted to see more of what it was capable of. One thing I want to note: from the sound of the motor, when I pulled back on the throttle, there was very little play in the motor output. In other words, from 3/4 throttle to full throttle, there was not much difference. The same goes for half-stick. Between half stick and 1/4 power, there was not much difference. So the motor was either full power, or spinning so slow that I couldn't keep her up. The plane simply does not fly at low throttle.

Anyhow, I began doing some rolls, and inverted fly-by's, and did some vertical runs. The plane actually handled pretty well. Indeed, this is not one for beginners (and as you will shortly find out, it may not exactly be the one for intermediate pilots either..lol). It doesn't have the self-correcting tendencies that trainers have, and it is very sensitive. Anyhow, I'm about 6 minuts into the flight and it was going just fine, back and forth, up and down, inverted, etc, etc. I switched the transmitter into high rate to get a taste of that. More responsive? Yes. Controlable? Maybe.

I played around with the high rate for a while longer and decided it was getting to be that time, and so I wanted to do a few landing approaches to see the tendencies of the plane at low speed approaches. I did a few good set ups, came in, and aborted. The wind was just trecherous and I got that gut feeling it wasn't going to be good. So I set her up for the final approach and came in, the wind was just throwing her around. I came about 6 feet from the ground (I should have just set her down here), but I aborted, pushing full throttle, up elevator and left stick, as I did this a real good gust of wind just blew and threw her inverted (yes, this is where it all ends)! I tried to correct, and being in high rate still (I should have switched it off!), I over corrected, rolling her to the right and she went inverted nose first into the ground at full throttle. [X(]

The plane looked like it had exploded into about a thousand parts because sh*t just flew everywhere! I ran over to her as fast as I could. Now here is a true testament to the durability and resiliance of this plane. I hit the grownd so hard that the eart shook. When I came up on the plane, all that had broken was the nose cone (which fit right back into where it broke off, being easily re-set with Foam safe CA), and one of the vertical fins - that was it. The battery hatch flew off, and the battery itself came out during impact, but nothing other than the nose cone and one vertical fin was broken. I took her right home, placed the battery back in, checked the control surfaces, checked the servos, the motor - everything worked as if running into the ground a full throttle didn't just happen. I don't know if it is just because of the angle I hit the ground or because this is just one tough plane, or that I'm just lucky as hell that I didn't total her. One thing I do know is that she is certainly repairable and I expect to be back out in a few days.

Couple quick questions:
Does anyone think that adding the glue is going to throw off CG and make her constanly nose heavy during flight?

In the wreck, there was a very small chunk of foam that broke off the wing and I never found it. It's a chunk missing from the leading edge of the wing about the size of a quarter. Any suggestions so that it doesn't complicate future flying? Would a strip of clear packing tape over that section of the leading edge work?

Thanks for reading my message. Comments are welcomed!

Mav-Rick

RCBruski65

My Feedback: (44)

It would take a lot more glue than what it will take to fix that, to throw off the c/g.

You should be fine.

Tim

probrosticky

My Feedback: (1)

these things are great! i flew mine with a half role of tape on it and never had a problem. best part is once you get tired of it being ugly. like 27 bucks get you all you need to fix it.
glu it and head out and have fun. i had a mid air with another one and it tore the fuse in half. glue and tape and 5 mins later i was up fighting agian.

jmohn

Hot glue works great too! I had one for a long time and would fly it anywhere and in any conditions. It was almost unbreakable. It will be fine.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

To fill in the missing foam chunk, use some Gorilla Glue. Put the glue in a mixing cup, add a drop of water or two, stir it up, and then pour it into the hole. The GG will foam and fill the hole. Then you can sand it to the final shape.

Brad

Yaniel

what i did to my stryker when i got is put packing tape all across the leading edge of the wing and also removed the motor mount and put packing tape under it too and reinstalled it. you'd be amazed at the durability the tape will add, the plane will flex and bend instead of snapping.

my first plane was a stryker and i dont think there was a glueless square inch on it and it still flew, it only got retired because i bought a stryker c which to this day hasnt been glued. and its my fly anywhere plane, winds blowing 30 mph?? fly the stryker!

you might want to check your cg if your stryker wont fly at low throttle, i can take my vertical, cut the motor and it'll take a LONG time to glide back to earth, also flying at 1/4 throttle isnt a problem for it.

the cg can be checked by putting your fingers on the 2 dots in the center of the "handle" to throw the plane.

acarter

I would do as fstblkgti said and put some packing tape over both leading edges. It will not only protect it from future landing but it will also cover up the missing foam.

Austin

Gereke

Ahh, after reading this I don't feel so bad about wind being the cause of me now waiting for a new fuselage, inner structure, motor out-drive, spinner, and cowling for my PZ FW190. My mishap happened during the landing process too.. Battery was getting low, so didn't have full power (hence why I was landing), was turning her to come in to final and a gust of wind hit it and rolled her over into hard nose first impact. Hit so hard, the canopy came off, and a crack even appeared just before the vertical stab.

Good thing these planes are inexpensive to fix/replace parts. They are great fun too

acarter

The cool thing about these planes ( I have the spitfire) is that you can just put a little packing tape on the crack and it's good to go. My canopy also fell off after a hard landing so I took the pilot out (extra weight) and glued it back on.

Austin

Gereke

Wish I could have fixed it with packing tape. The whole front end of the fuse was destroyed.. she hit HARD [:@]

RedGN

That repair job is nothing. A little epoxy and your off to the races. I love 5 min epoxy. it is super strong and fills in minor gaps. I use ca glue also ( i always use the accelator with it ) To fill in gaps bigger than minor ones i mix in chucks of syrofoam with the epoxy. works great. for big chucks, i cut foam to the shape of the missing peice and epoxy in. ( i always keeps extra foam from package for just suck occasions )
I can't tell you how many foamies i have fixed....alot anyway and that from last summer.
I may like fixing them more than flying them.... i don't know yet.

Good luck with the rebuild.