FERNDALE AIR FORCE

I have a good elapsed time for a double stir stick in low, but active wind conditions. 20 minutes. It took my charger 25 minutes to charge my defective(please don't ask)lipo for the SS. Duriing that time I flew the double stir stick mod almost constantly. Several hand grabs to check the status of the charge, and a couple of crashes due to my being cute and the wind. I never chased the plane more than 15' and launched from the crash site. Obviously I was not flying at full power the entire time, usually 50-70% power. I did not fly it until the esc shut it down. This a fairly new plane and obviously is trimmed out and performs well. Tim

lumpa

please help! my aero ace keeps fliping over and i cant fly it with the attached wings because it flips and falls all the time. Its really annoying.

Little-Acorn

Huh? What? What clearance?????

I'd never heard of the AA, until a guy showed up in our cul-de-sac with one yesterday. Couldn't take my eyes off it. Especially when his 6-year-old son bounced it off a few houses, and just picked it up and tossed it again and kept flying.

A true backyard flyer, RTF, just throw it and it flies, and you control it? UNHEARD OF. Back in my day, you'd spend weeks or months building something that would let you indulge your flying bug... and it would often last about 1/3 of a flight. And if anything other than the wheels touched the ground, you were in for more weeks of rebuilding beofre the next attempt.

What will they think of next?

Is this clearance still on? I just checked Target's website, and no AAs were mentioned in the Clearance section. Under AirHogs, I found the Storm Launcher and a few others at the usual prices, but no AA?

Where can we get them now? How much?

Inquiring (newbie) minds want to know!

[:-] [:-] [:-]

yoyoboy

lump when where u flyin the plane if it was yesterday or today it was the wind. what wings are you talking about the bottom or top.

H8SUVS

[/quote]

Where can we get them now? How much?

Inquiring (newbie) minds want to know!

[:-] [:-] [:-]
[/quote]


They seem to have pretty good stock at almost all the Targets in San Diego. Escondido has Acro Jets now too. Both Mira Mesa and Kearny Mesa Locations have the Bipes and Jets....last I checked. $30 each. I started my collection before Christmas with a red bipe....now I have a green one, a jet and the Acro Jet. Car club meetings on Tuesday nights are quite interesting now

Oh, I have 2 Havoc Heli's too.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Ok, guys here is an acro-jet gutted. It has the same board as the bipes, Tony the transistors(?) are bv4. same battery. I changed the channel from the mods thread. The motors seem to spin slower. Yes, I'll measure it tomorrow against a bipe. Once you trim it a little it flies really well. Googled Person bent the stab down a bit and made that plane fly better. I pulled the canards off and repositioned them and changed the channel. This one is worthy of purchase, with the understanding you are gong to have to trim it out. Tim Here are some pic'sTim

Djstinger

Fern (Tim), The acro-jet is smaller than I thought it would be, I was thinking more along the lines of the Fury, which you said was crap! I am going to have to go get one now so I can add it to my hanger/garage which already includes 1 modded mono, 2 stock bipes, 1 modded jet, 1 Single Wing, 1 cloud cruiser, 2 picco Z's, 1 Storm Launcher, 1 XL T-maxx, 1 40" Tunnel Hull, 1 snow ski car, and 1 28" x 12" Swamp Buggy, ya I know I said I wasn't doing to get the swamp buggy but I'am addicted to RC what can say... some pic's are posted in my gallery for those who are interested. I GUESS ONE MORE TOY ISN'T GOING TO KILL ME.

DJStinger
aka (Tim)

Neurotex

Tim, so it's an AA with just new foam outerwear?
What about the motors? Jet or bipe? I can't remember where I
read which one the a-j has.
I once put a bipe motor and a jet motor on the same plane to see
if there was truly any difference. The jet motor does put out slightly
more thrust- enough to throw the plane in a spiral.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

neuro, it appears to have jet motors.

DJ, that is the fury. GP came up with one fix(bend the stab downward) and I altered the angle of the canards, the hard way. I'll check stir sticks this afternoon.

Tim(AKA Fern)

Neurotex

Jet motors- that's a plus.

I've got an extra prop puller. It will pull any of the AA style
props and many others without causing damage to the prop
or motor shaft.
This one turned out quite nice. It's stainless with a brass shank
and the pin is hardened. Just $6 if anyone is interested.
ooooo shiney!

Little-Acorn

Just picked up an AA biplane at Target, for $29.99. Was the only one they had. It's a green one, on 27 MHz Channel B. I was inspired by a neighbor who was flying one in our cul-de-sac.

One problem - As I recall, his was green too, and was also from Target. I don't recall what channel he said he was using, but we may be on the same channel.

Is there a Channel A available for the AA Biplane? Or a 72 MHz, or etc.?

I'm also curious: Does the plane have a LiPo battery in it? Anyone know what voltage and capacity?

Thanx all!

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

there are 3 channels for the AA, A B and C, they're all on the 27mhz frequency. if you both have the green one, you're probably on the same channel. its possible to switch channels, but it takes a good steady hand and some OK soldering skills.

the AAs have a 130mah lipo cell. all lipos have a nominal voltage of 3.8 volts, with a max of 4.2 and a minimum of 2.8 (never discharge past 2.8v or the cell will be ruined). i cant remember the capacity off hand, but i'm quite certain its at least 10C, so you have a little over an amp to play with.

nick

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Acorn, they are the same channel. The only models that shared paint were the red ones. You'll have to take turns, or switch to channel c. I would avoid channel a, it has issues. Tim

Little-Acorn

Thanks nick, good advice. I am fairly good at microelectronic soldering. How does one change the channel for this AA biplane? I may go to channel C if I can. Does it take changing crystals, or jumper wires, or...??

Little-Acorn

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

no problem. check out post #432 here for the channel changing mod: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_33...18/key_/tm.htm all it takes is a little solder to jump the pads, or you can install a switch to change to any of the 3 channels at any time.

if you click on the AeroAce Sticky at the top of the forum and you'll find a good list of other mods that are worthwhile as well (the steering without throttle is a must for sure).

nick

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

OK guys the a-j is worthy. I trimmed the canards and eliminated GP's fix and the plane is great. I'm working on a stir stick mod now, you knew I would, the first stir stick mod created a highly controllable sail plane. I was in the breeze for 5 minutes with minimal control input, primarily turn signals. I'll probably buy another next weekend. But I'll finish trimming this one out first. Tim

alset

The manager of a Target toy department told me that items that are no
longer planned to be carried by a particular store are put on clearance
(usually half price). I missed out on the Storm Launcher just after Xmas.
Not all stores will quit carrying the Storm Launcher.

BeeG

Micro biulder, TYCO makes a two glider pack sold @ target $30, it comes with the same moter set up as the air hogs, but not yet assembled. I have a book of heavier duty paper gliders, an thought of hooking the moter to them. Not sure if u could use'm. By the way good job!!

Djstinger

FERN, I am now the proud owner of a acro-jet channel A ( RED ). I was at 2 Targets yesterday and they both had them, but only RED and I could not find what channel it was anywhere on the box I think the only channel out right now is A, I will be changing it to B tomarrow. What a perfect plane to put lights and landing gear on, I wonder if I can get it to ROG!!! I also found a ( only one ) SL battery for $7.48 I hope I can find some more...

NEW PLANE SPOTTED... BeeG was right there is a new plane at Target but it is made by Mattel not Tyco and is called SKYFORCE. This little thing is a great concept it comes with 2 gliders with removable guts. The receiver and battery are in a plastic case with 2 motors hanging from it. With some minor assembley of the gliders, you get to put the Rx/motors in which ever glider you want, thats right a portable Rx/motors/and battery that you can use for what ever you want. The best part is it uses a " LIPO " battery. I am not sure if it is the same guts as Air Hogs but it is worth checking out. I was going to get one but I had to have an AJ.

For more info on SKYFORCE check out Mirco-builders post in rcgroups.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

I bought a set of sky force planes, I had severely limited range. I could barely get going and it was out of range. I'll probably return them for a 2nd a-j. Tim

Neurotex

Tim, you might want to lengthen the antenna wire first before taking
it back. From what I've read on rcgroups the plane seems promising.
Being able to quickly remove the motors & RX is what I've been looking
for.
What I also wish someone would come up with for the AA is some clip
in motor mounts that would fit the AA motors. Some way to just snap
the motors in & out off a plastic mount of some kind.

I just picked up some 3M Command picture hanging strips & a package
of industrial strength velcro to see if this material can be used for removable
& adjustable motor mounts. It seems combining the two makes for a strong
bond. That is using the plastic from 3M and the fuzz from the velcro pack.
I'll have to try it on a plane when I get the chance.

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

i started a thread on the SkyForce planes here: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5203510/tm.htm

i was not impressed with them, at least not for 30 dollars, the overall quality compared to an AA at the same cost was just sub par so i didnt figure they were worth it. but, a lot of folks seem to be OK with them, so who knows, the thread for them on RCG is getting bigger every day.

nick

Neurotex

I'm getting mixed reviews on the SkyForce. It looks like you either
love em or you could do without em. But I would take your advice
first micro, and just buy an AA.
So far the only other plane I've been satisfied with out of the box is
the SingleWing.

Neurotex

I used the velcro to attach a jet motor to an old bipe wing I had
and it works great. This works the best so far.
Better than the two sided carpet tape which, over time, became
impossible to pull off without causing wing damage. The original
AA tape would loose its stick over time and attract dirt.
Now I can switch wings, move the motors and try different angles
in just minutes.

The products by themselves didn't work at all but the plastic from
the 3M works great with the white strips from the velcro pack. Both
products have strong adhesive backings.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

neuro, I'm using the industrial strength velcro to hold the battery in the SS. I was thinking about putting lg on the a-j with it. Tim