RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

mcneil, I'm a former auto tech, and now I build custom restaurant stuff. our site is dineart.com. If you went to an outback steakhouse and they had a metal display with menus, salt, pepper, et,c. Then you've seen some of my work. Another favorite, easy to find, is pf changs. At the bar of many of their stores is a custom tower that I built. at the end of all that is that I'm not an engineer. tim

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I'm a jarhead. and a fabricator.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I'm a mechanic (despite what my boss says...) and I draw the comic [link=http://tweebus.smackjeeves.com/]tweebus[/link]
I was at TRU yesterday and seen they had a bunch of the AA's with the
old packaging. Now you've got me wondering if the 2006 might be in them?
How do they mark the box to tell you what's inside? The color schemes would
have to be different. Maybe they had an over stock of old boxes.
Almost bought the [link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006M5YSK/102-3012399-0633709?V=glance]Rush[/link] model they had there. A single motor plane with
rudder control for $25. Not much info on the box so I passed but after reading
some reviews on it I might go back and get one. I'd like to build a Fokker D8
from it from some plans I have.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Compared to me you guys are aeroautical engineers - it was a complement. I'm a retired college prof - psychology/sociology but I do have an undergrad degree in physics (not that it helps much in designing planes (or spelling)

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Well - I'm a wood worker now (lathe turning and custom furiture mostly - so I have a shop full of tools. So I opened the newly packaged green and yellow plane and measured the motor and compared it to the new jet (the old F16 has a completly different set up and is not compatably measured but clearly has a larger moter) and the old biplane. The motors of the old and new biplane are identical (10mm wide by 14 mm long). The jet's is narrower and longer (8.5mmby 16mm). So I'm not sure what is going on with your new biplane (was the positive flying you wrote about done with a stock biplane or mono-wing mod?). iIll try to get out today (though it is raiing again) and see what my new one does. - By the way I also have the stars blue one from the combo pack - still boxed. I had not planned to open it but now????

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I flew it stock, right out of the box. I know that when I tried to buy a blue with stars last month they were out of stock. My first hint was that the paint still smelled. None of my others still had paint odor. I was flying it with my mouth open in wonder. I then pulled out my best mono and confirmed what I was seeing. I did not even fly multiple flights at first. I guess I was to stunned. I have gusty winds right now, but they usually die down later in the evening. I did think about going to target this morning and see if they had the a channel plane that was unavailable earlier. Decided that that would be overkill. The only a plane I could find was silver and black. Packaging is the same. Maybe a bigger battery? My first and second run planes have what appears to be a different battery. First run planes don't have the aluminum stickers. TIM

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Another thought occured to me. When we upgrade our product we sell off whatever stock is on hand, but continue fill orders. For us it's stainless vs mild steel or a better powder coat. I guess I back to whomever spinmaster buys these from is upgrading the product. They are filling orders with the newer product in older paint schemes. Spinmaster wants new paint to accentuate the product line, but why get rid of the older paint schemes? And why should we assume that they are static in their design upgrades? I know I have two distinctly different product runs. The first plane I bought I found online at a northeast department store. It would only fly well in moderate winds and had trouble climbing to any height. Then they became available from Amazon/tru.com. I got three second generation planes and one first gen plane. Again, the lack of aluminum stickers seems to be the key. The second gen planes fly well, seem to fly best in lower wind conditions but can climb easily to about 40-50 feet until they become unflyable, mine seem to need full power for this and then you can cruise. From this we all started our modding. We KNEW we could make them better. It appears that the companies involved are paying attention. And it appears they are making the planes better,i.e. more flyable.
My thought now is that spinmaster and the company that actually devolops and builds these things is paying attention. They appear to be respec.'ing the planes and upgrading them. And they are letting us sell the plane for them, to some degree. What other product do go to the store hunting for? And if you're like me you probably tell the people around you what a great product it is. And how you can't wait for the new model. This is classic guerrilla marketing.
So they are listening to us, but they are using us at the same time. And if you can find a paint scheme that was unavailable a while back and now is, take your chances. Tim

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

They can use us all they want (IMHO), as long as they IMPROVE the AA by doing so.

They'd be VERY wise listening to us, it can only BETTER their product thereby increasing sales and it doesn't cost them anything. We're like their R&D division!

Tom

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Sure they're listening- stupid not too.
I've been reading other reviews about the $25 or $40 dollars spent
on a toy (toy?) that doesn't fly. Fly like what? $200? $300? A bird?
There are so many factors involved it's amazing the foam flies at all.
With some effort and patience some of these cheaper planes can fly
like a million bucks.

....half hour before sunset there's a window-

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I just flew the new again and had to bring it down from 60 feet. The glide ratio is the same as my mono. I then took my other bipe and took it to 40 feet and did the same test. the older bipe dropped like a rock 1'/10'. the other glided back at around 10'/1'. I think they changed the styro they build them from. Which could answer the all questions about flyability. Any way back to flight. Tim

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

BTW, spinmaster, send me an A channel plane that flies and I'll quit telling people they don't fly.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

the channel of the plane wouldnt make much differance in the planes ability to fly, nor the material its made of. since these things are mass produced, probably on an assembly line, by people who probably know little about planes, they get slapped together. with production like this, its very easy to have a plane that is a little off kilter, causing it to perform completely differant than the one came off the line right behind it. they have CQ, but they probably just make sure the wing isnt upside down, or other major obvious problems. i'd be surprised if someone took each plane and gave them a close looking over, making sure every thing is square and in line.

the smaller the plane, the more a little change in the wings will cause a big change in flying characteristics. it doesnt take much to tweak a plane and have it turn left or right on its own. just the same, it doesnt take much to tweak it back and have it flying properly. they may have changed the location of the battery on the new models, moving it forward however much further, so it doesnt stall so easily, and so it glides a bit better.

nick

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

nick, I hear what your saying, But I have 2 a channels with the same problem in differing degrees of severity. The bloody thing cuts out. It chooses what speed to fly at. One is first gen the other is second gen. I live in an area without "other factors".
I'm going to fly full throttle on the new one now. Tim

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

ok the the 2006 biplane will not duplicate the flight of the older mono with or with out canards. It will fly to the same heights but cannot turn as quickly. On low to medium power the performance is the same. The glide ratio seems to be the same as a mono with canards. At high power the new bipe climbs, period. BTW my best mono is at this time resting on a roof awaiting a gust of wind.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

micro, if the foam was less dense I think it would make it lighter. It would also make it more flexible I think. tim

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I got a 30 min window this evening and tried the new green and yellow plane from the new packaging. It flew exactly within the general perameters of my old planes. All my planes (6) came with the silver tabs. They all flew dfferently from one another. A couple took some really innovative tweeking to get them to fly right (stop porpousing, fly streight)but all are doing ok now. I think you got the box with the golden plane. I think micro builder is right - it's a crap shoot on what comes off the line. As we all know you build 1000 radios with the same specs and some work great and a few won't even turn on. Granted that these planes are not a complex thing but any one battery or motor or even some tweek in the overall fitting of parts would be all it takes. I don't think Spin Master has changed anything significant (though they now go on about how the materials the new planes are made from is flexable but it looks and feels exactly the same to me (foam cell size, surface finish,etc). So until someone comes up with a more general set of experiences to show tha the new planes are improved I'll leave my blue stars and strips in the box and repack the green and yellow one for my grandson's birthday.

I did fly the new jet some and will post a bit on the "new spin master jet" forum thread.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Anyone know of a source for the thin foam that the tail feathers are made of? I could use balsa, but don't want to.

Edited to ask:

Also, where did you find a green and yellow version?

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I go to my local hobby shop or Jo Ann's Craft supplies for balsa but you may not be able to get pieces that thin. In that case you can sand a piece down but I'd go buy a little balsa glider and use it's wing or tail parts. Those planes are as cheap as a balsa sheet.

The Green and Yellow (and a couple of other new colors) and the black jet are part of the 06 model AA. The boxes have the actual color of the plane on it and is a fancier shape box with one edge angled down. The new AAs and jets are apparently not everywhere yet - I don't know why and the distribution seems quite random. I know they are in parts of Calif. Washington and a couple of other states. I hope more people will find this thread and let us know where the planes are showing up. I think it may also be that they are ToysRUs exclusives.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I got another half hour flying early this morning -I am not a morning person but addictions will do that to you. I must abmit the birds singing and the dew on the grass was pretty - except now my shoes are wet.

So - after all the fun with cannards and wingtip additons I stripped both the stock bilpane and its mono-wing mod back to basics and started playiing with nose weights. I know there was a lot of talk many pages back about that and most folks rejected the added weight as potentially slowing the planes down too much. But I am here to tell you I am now a true believer. I tried a lot of variations but found that adding a one inch piece of cut off 10D or even 12D finishing nail low in the nose maximizes the effect for both versions while getting the wieght far enough forward to minimize the amount of weight needed. Like I have written in t he past my main effort is to get the best flying for racing. So I want to be able to go as fast as possible while not climbing too fast. The nose weight also cuts porpoising to a minimum and turning is sharp and controlable. Power off glides are obviously steepeer but landings are still controlable with a bit of power on - that also gives you continued directional control. The monowing takes a bit less weight but a little experimental work will get you to the optimum flying. I never did feel I had too much weight and both styles of plane flew faster then stock with the monowing going faster then I have been able to get with the jet (which still tends to fly with its tail dragging - I am working on weight and tail variation for it - cutting the horizontal stabalizer a bit to add dowm down elevator and using the silver tabs from the biwing AA to hold them down little.)

I hope micro builder, neurotex and Ferndale will try weight and let us know what their experiences are.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Microbuilder, been a while since I've kept up on this thread so I've got some reading today. Forgive me if this has already been covered, and I'm pretty sure it has but can't seem to find it. I've now got two controllers and would like to dedicate one to just charging. I seem to remember a blurb about the TX tapping only a few cells to charge or something along those lines. What I'd like to do is provide the proper power via a wall power supply to charge the lipo on that TX. Any information or links you could provide me would be great. I would rather just cut the plug off one of the TXs and use my Celectra 1 to 3 cell charger to charge the lipo, but seem to remember posts about there being a diode in the RX that won't allow the charger to see the battery. Since I'm keeping one of my AAs stock I don't want to open it up to remove that diode.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Did a tiny bit of digging and found that the TX uses all 6 cells (9 volts) to charge the lipo, but only uses 3 cells in certain segments of the transmission circuit. Does anybody have a link or advice on how to wire a 9 volt power source to the TX? I would assume I'd just hitch up to the main positive and negative wire terminals, but the 3 cell taps for various TX functions complicate matters. I don't plan to use this TX for anything other than charging, so I wonder if the charging function will work provided I don't turn the TX on for controlling a plane without the 3 cell taps being wired?

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

i personally dont like cross-posting forum links, seems RCU doesnt like it either, but i guess this doesnt count: http://www.eflightwiki.com/eflightwi...irhogs_AeroAce

this is a compilation of links for X-Twin/AA modifications that i had done a while ago. its been about 3 months since i updated it, and a few new things have been done since the last update, but i think there should be some info in there about using an external AC power unit to charge through the AAs TX. if nothing else, there's some other TX charging mods in there somewhere. i've never done a mod for charging, i always just clip the battery and solder on my own plugs and use my own charger to do the cells.

nick

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

I know when I first started modifying the AA the first thing I did was add nose weight.
I believe it makes the plane faster and with the proper stab adjustments glides farther.
Best to have too much weight in the nose than not enough- which causes porpoising.

I flew my Arrow Ace/AA conversion last night with the Cub wing and am more than
pleased with the results. The larger Defender motors are a must for me now and I'm looking
to replace my other AA planes with these motors. I can't see going back to the smaller
motors now that I'm spoiled from how this plane flies.
The length of these motors are 16mm,
height = 8mm, width 10mm. The props are 55mm.
If you want speed and great handling try to get a pair. They may not work on the bibes
but they should work on the extended mono wing setup. Since you will have to set them
up on the leading edge as a tractor, you probably won't need to add the nose weight.
At about 40 feet up I can give it full right stick and go into a dive bomber mode. Nearing
the ground I release the right stick, let it glide out, then floor the throttle and watch it
take off again. Figure 8's are easier and heading into the wind is not nearly the problem
it was with the stock motors.
Twice the power and she still flies for about 6 minutes. Charging still takes me about 10
minutes but it's well worth it.

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

Just what my significant other was waiting for - for me to spent $60 on a defender so I can pull it apart!!!

RE: Air Hogs Aero Ace!
 

:) Well, I got mine at a discount for about $30 some time ago and the
the most fun I got out of it was ripping it apart!!!
Should be able to find some replacement motors for it.
Looking for em now....

What about using the motors from an Air Hogs E-Z Charger?
They're about $10 each. It's geared though and the prop may
be a bit large, but the motor is still bigger than the stock AA's.
L=15mm, H = 7mm, W = 9mm.
The shaft looks slightly larger but if you pull the gear and ream
the stock props- they might work.
I've got 4 of em so I'll try something with them later.