lowwinds

Gave this piece of crap one more try after setting balance up 1oz to nose. Was flying nice but slow then radio glitch sent it nose down to ground very hard. Problems solved it is toast smashed to bits . I could not be happier . Worst plane i have ever owned R.I.P. u piece of crap.

dkme

I just got my TX,RX, and ESC back and hobby services says they all checked out fine which is disappointing. I'm real anxious to get this back together and see how a trip through the postal system can fix a radio system.

d_bodary

My Feedback: (85)

The more and more i think about the radio system. the more i have to think it results from the Speed control right next to the receiver. Try wrapping some aluminum foil around the speed control. Not tight around it but leaving some airflow around it. The weather has'nt been good lately to try it myself. But if someone in a warmer climate or just better in weather would try it. If it works report back. If it does'nt report that also. it might help some. may not help others. But like they say only one way to find out.

zxblaster

i have the typhoon 2 but my wife wants a jet. she never flow before. think its a good buy for her? i was going to get a trainer cord also.dont really care about the mod. cause she needs something stable.
anyone know of a better trainer jet????

White Raven

My Feedback: (1)

There is really nothing else out there as far as a jet trainer. Most first step EDF models are well beyond any point of a "Trainer" or beginners plane. On a lighter note, there is a few planes you might be able to use if you yourself have plenty of experience. None of which, would or could you get for under $400. None of them are ARF. If you like building, the Minx 300 or it's larger brothers. Plans can be enlaged, or you can buy a kit possibly a ARF kit. EJF sells them as sport jets.

You could buy a brushless motor as an upgrade, and that might not be so bad. Could always buy the pieces and use your own equipment - more money but more reliable! Or you can wait and hope that in a short time, someone will offer planes for a Jet Trainer.

I am working on a design for a EDF Trainer, using better componets which can be used in other aircraft later. I am waiting mostly on the motor and testing. If all goes well, I plan on using a Minifan 480. With the motor I picked, it should make 2 pounds of thrust on a 3s lipo. I hope to keep the plane at or below 3 pounds. If all goes well, I will make plans availible - most likely for free.

I hope which ever you decide to do, gets you good results. Glad to hear of woman wanting to be in the hobby! We need more couples like you! If you can't get a jet, there are other great start kits out there... Hobby Lobby's Tipsy is a good one.. would look cool if modded into a EDF!

dkme

Cloud-base,

When I was putting the electronics back in the jet tonight I noticed the ESC was in a sealed bag- it made me wonder if they sent back the same one or a new one. It wouldn't be too hard to drop the ESC in a plastic bag and seal it, but they didn't bother for the receiver and just stapled that bag. Do you recall your ESC coming back sealed? Have you tested your radio gear since? I'll test mine and post.

cloud-base

First, I did not send in the ESC. They told me to only send in the radio and receiver based on our conversation. But, I went back and double-checked the slip. I thought they repacked my equipment, but in fact they sent a new radio and receiver. I missed that statement the first time around. Some of my faith has been restored!

However, remember the first time I did a radio check the plane miserably failed. After a few guys in the club took a look, one quickly said it was probably receiver interference from the ESC. I moved the receiver as far back as possible with the existing wiring and it worked fine on the first few flights. Then the glitches began.

So, d_bodary may have something. Move them apart and add some shielding. lowwinds nosedive experience has me a little gun shy, but only one way to find out! Now, just wait for the right weather amid a busy schedule.

Has anyone else tried adjusting placement or shielding of parts? Let us know if this appears to solve the issue!!

idealhobbies

My Feedback: (3)

I'm giving mine one last chance. I've smashed mine twice trying to get the POS in the air. It took 2.1oz in the nose to get it to balance perfectly, but the weight seriously hurt it on the last flight. It never rose above 10 feet with duel pod at full throttle. Went about 80 feet before it nose dived and buried in the ground about 6 inches. Smashed all the way to the battery. First... their foam is no wonder technoligy, like they claim. It's far more fragile that the foam the Super Cub is made out of. The Pod locks don't work. Both crashes the pod went flying off. My first crash was about 15 feet from launch. The wing snapped, the pod came off, and the battery flew farther than the plane did. After picking up the pieces and repairing the damage, I found that the balance was so far to the rear that I had to make some serious changes. That's when I added the 2.1 ounces of lead. Far to much!

I've gutted and put on a new fuselage, cockpit, nose, repaired the other wing that broke in the 2nd crash. I have taken the duel pod off, and gutted the single pod. I'm installing a 4200kv brushless motor in it. If there's not enough thrust with that, I quit. Putting in a Spektrum AR6000 reciever in too. The duel pod is a joke. The thrust difference is negated by the added weight. If it flies with the brushless upgrade, then I'll change wings. As I see it, Hobbico/Flyzone have far too much of my money at this point.

A trainer aircraft? NO!!! Too much work has to go into the plane to call it a trainer. If you truely want a trainer, go Hobbyzone Super Cub!

ZXBlaster, your wife may want a jet, but if she crashes and gets discouraged, it will be wasted money and she'll walk away from a hobby that could bring her a lot of joy. Talk to her and show her postings about beginner aircraft. www.wattflyer.com has pages and pages of kudos for the super cub ( http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12218 ). I have one myself, and I love it.

cloud-base

I had a chance to test the returned radio and receiver today. The radio check worked up to about 13 yards. Beyond that, the servos went bezerk. After arming the engine, same story. Any throttle setting produced wide variations in the engine. I could have the throttle at 20% or 100% and the engine would erratically vary from 0% to %100 and everything in between while the servos did the jitterbug.

So, I tried the aluminum foil trick. Didn't work. Wrapped the ESC, then the receiver, then both. Same results. Moved the ESC all the way forward and the receiver all the way back. Same results. Didn't seem to matter what I did, the best distance I got was 15 yards.

I shall report my results to Hobbico tomorrow and see what they say.

Is anyone having better success at all????

Erik St.

Just to help "balance" the Diablo reports, I am enjoying mine now. My first two flights were crashes, but after I got the weight forward and nose down I'm happy. It's a fine second plane for me because it's faster and more responsive than my Sky Fly.

That said, it does seem fragile, that "twisting foam" picture is a joke....better yet, a downright lie, or maybe my plane isn't made from the same material. But it's flying great now and there is no reason for me to crash it.

I carved out foam in the nose and moved the battery forward over an inch and added a nickle to the nose. Redistributing weight seemed better than adding too much. Flys great.

What I want to know is are there any cheaper brushed moter upgrades that I can get so I don't have to go brushless with new ESC? Good luck to those haveing problems.

idealhobbies

My Feedback: (3)

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=3850
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=4860
Grand Total Shipped: $32.43

The motor is serious overkill, which was my point.

StormJunkie

Hey Everyone

Have been reading this thread for the past week as I was debating getting a Diablo or not...First a little about me...

Really enjoy RC flying, but know very little about it. Been playing with several of the Air Hog type 2 channel planes for the past year or so and wanted to step up in to the slightly larger arena. Anywho, like the replacement parts for the Diablo as well as the potential to upgrade, not to mention it was about the least expensive way to get something larger and with a little more power. So I ended up getting one...

I knew that I would break it and have to repair it as well as replace parts to make up for the learning curve, so I was prepared for that going in, and anyone else in a similar situation should understand that the plane will break and likely early on if you have not done any 3 or 4 channel flying. Anyway, got the box and had to make a repair to the radio right off the rip as the little plastic mount for the antenna was broken. So took care of that with some Guerrilla glue and took to building the plane. I took the advice Erik gave and hollowed out some of the nose of the body so I could slide the battery forward. Slid it as far forward as I could and then added two pennies to the top of the battery. The center of gravity was exactly where it was supposed to be. Made sure the rudder and elevator were straight and working, burnt the engine in, and off to try and fly...

Got to the field; had a thrower toss the plane, was on the last 180 of a oval and made the turn too sharp, got the nose pointed up, and stalled it during the turn...plane went nose down from about 30 feet up. Crushed the nose back to the battery compartment and broke a wing. Looked pretty rough. Took it home and with a little packing tape and CA glue I got it back together, at least well enough to fly...Back to the field, same result, less fly time. All of this because I am learning to fly. Not poor plane performance.

Took it back home repaired it again, and took it out the next day. First flight went great. Flew around awhile, landed and flew some more. Eventually crashed it again, but it will also repair again.

So I am basically happy with the plane, I knew what I was getting in to. The plane is very easy to repair, and despite the talk about the rudder being flimsy, the tail is the only section of my plane I have not broken. I like the way it flew with the battery compartment carved forward some, but I would suggest adding some packaging tape to that area to add strength where it was carved out. I would also suggest taping the cockpit/cover on during flight. Mine came off during the first crash, and I think if it had stayed on it would have added some rigidness to the whole battery area. I also suggest adding a strip of tape down the underside of the plane. If the plane goes nose down this should help keep the belly strip and reinforcements in place. The engine mount areas could also use some tape in the thin area where the wing mounts. The wing mounts could also take a little tape around where the through rod goes. I would go ahead and tape these areas if you are pretty sure you are going to crash. If you don't, you will be taping them soon. After adding tape to my plane I removed one penny from the nose. Maybe add a little slice of tape around the engine mount hooks as well as I had one of these break on me. With three good hooks and a little tape my engine pod is staying on.

Since I read much of this prior to ordering my plane I also ordered the dual pod, the stunt wings, as well as a brushless motor. I have also already ordered two more bodies, a engine pod, and another wing set. I plane on continuing to repair the currently functional but wrecked plane while I gain confidence. My next step will be to add the brushless motor to the single pod. Then I will try the stunt wings out at some point. Finally at some point I plan on putting the dual pod on with dual batteries. This is where I need help...

PLEASE HELP...

If I am going to put brushless motors in the Diablo dual pod what size battery should I step up to? Also a couple of general li-po questions...How often should they be charged? Do they have to be drained prior to charging? What kind of fly time should I expect from the Diablo stock setup and would there be a difference if the brushless were installed?

Thanks y'all, this thread was a big help in my decision to get one of these planes!

Also if you are looking for some really great real time weather data on the web...no charge, no cookies, no ads...
http://www.stormjunkie.com

idealhobbies

My Feedback: (3)

Lipo Info :

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187

http://www.rctoys.com/pr/2006/12/06/...mer-batteries/

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1584

As far as brushless... a 3 cell, 11.1v 2200mAh should do nicely. It will fit just fine inside the Diablo. If you have not ordered the 2 brushless motors AND the 2 brushless esc's, why not just use the single pod and use 1 brushless? That's what I have done. The weight of the duel pod counters the added thrust that you get. Been there, seen it, done it, bought the Tee Shirt with the duel pod.

paul daniel

StormJunkie: I agree with the above. I do reviews for a magazine and flew the plane with the twin pod and short wing. It's a brick in the air and I don't think is worth the investment. It is so underpowered. Not one of Great Planes best efforts. I'm a weather nut too and will contact you about some other way we can work together though your web site.
Paul

StormJunkie

Thanks ideal! Just the info I was looking for.

Paul, Thanks and look forward to hearing from you. My email address is on the front page of the site.

As for the diablo, I am attempting to put a brushless motor in the single pod now. Wow, what a pain in the ... I think I am going to have to call flyzone and see if I can get the engine pod components (foam and plastic liner) in order to get this thing in. I have now take apart three pods and actually managed to get the rear cowling off of the hyper flow, only to find that the 20-40-3500 that is recommended on the box does not have the same size ridge on the front end of the motor...Arghh. Off to buy a drill bit. Any suggestions on getting this motor in is greatly appreciated!

On a calm day the plane is nice and slow fun in its stock config, but I really think this could be a fun plane to fly once the power and center of gravity issues are worked out. Structurally it is really easy to repair even after fairly major crashes.

Thanks again y'all

idealhobbies

My Feedback: (3)

I'm in the middle of the same upgrade process. My motor did not quite fit through the hole either, so I had to trim away the inner ridge of the center hole. Now I'm trying to get it aligned properly. My blades are contacting the side of the cone. If this don't work.... it's going in the trash. I'm putting a 4200kv brushless in it. By God, if theres not enough thrust to get her flying correctly, I should at least have one heck of a lawn dart.

StormJunkie

I used a 3/8" drill bit for the front motor flange. Still had to go back with a little cone Dremel stone and open it a little more. I think it kept everything fairly centered. If you are fairly well aligned, but still have very slight rubbing of the fan blades then you may just be able to cycle the engine. Let it run 1/4 throttle for a few minutes and then step up a 1/4 throttle until you reach full throttle. Should wear down any interference. Best thing is to use drill bits and cone type tools to hollow it out in the first place. More likely everything will stay centered.

I am putting a 3500 in the single pod, but would like to put something more powerful in the dual pod if I can. Any suggestions? And does a higher kv motor always correlate to more power? Or does the hyperflow duct have an ideal motor?

When I put brushless in the dual pod what size ESC will I need?

paul daniel

Hi Storm Junkie: Sounds like a lot of work. I would use the motor that Great Planes recommends. I think they're pretty inexpensive and should fit the fan unit. When you go to the dual pod, you will need 2 ESCs since you can split if off like the brushed set up. I would think 2 18 amps would work. Castle Creations make them and they shouldn't be too much. It's going to get tight inside the radio area with 2 ESC's. Good luck.
Paul

lowwinds

Here is the best way to fix this plane. TOSS IN TRASH CAN money saved put into something that works. Plane and problems fixed. No need to thank me just passing on what worked for me.

White Raven

My Feedback: (1)

Storm: Youmight want to check the voltage and amps the batter provides, as with two motors, you might be over doing the battery. May need a larger one, or a second battery. Honestly, with the added weight of the motors and pod, you'll have short flights at best, or a very heavy bird... just a thought...

pcpadgett

How do you get the old fan and motor out of the single pod?

StormJunkie

Hey Paul. I am using the Ammo motor that is shown on the Diablo box..

Padgett....Here is how I went about it....

I am attempting to put a brushless motor in the single pod now. Damn near impossible. Have to rip the plastic off the pod, trying not to crack it. Get the foam out of the way so you can get to the rear of the engine. Use CA remover to get the rear jet/engine housing off, then you have to adapt the hole in the front of the engine to accept the Ammo brushless that is shown on the box. Then install the bullet adapters on the engine wires, hook up extenders. Then install engine, glue the jet tail cone back on and try and glue the rest back together. Their has to be an easier way. I am calling Flyzone/Great Planes on Monday. Be interested to hear if you have tried or do try to put the brushless in. If I can get it in the single pod I am going to try it in the dual. I think the beefed up motor could make the plane fun to fly. Especially if you put the advanced wings on and the dual brushless. We shall see...

Not an easy task installing these motors. Take it slow and use CA remover, but try to keep it only in the areas you need it as it will damage the plastic parts.

paul daniel

Did you call Great Planes? That seems just like a whole ton of work for an upgrade. Then the fast that they mention the motor as an upgrade in their marketing materials. This is one of Great Planes efforts that I gave an "A" for effort but "C-" for execution. I sold off the duel pod and short wings since I did not fly well with them. Hopefully this upgrade does something. Mine is laying on the floor of my work area right now. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.

pcpadgett

Thanks. I was afraid of this. It would be nice if I can jsut buy the pod without the stock motor. Mine is glued in pretty good. I will probably distroy it trying to get it out.

StormJunkie

Use some CA remover, just try not to let it sit on the plastic parts too long. I have the same problem, pod is glued pretty well. Just peel it apart slowly and use a little CA remover. If you bought the plane from tower hobbies, you can call and tell them your issue. If you broke your pod trying to get the engine in they will give you a new pod. Mine should be on the way now since I already broke one pod.

I agree, they should either sell the pod parts unglued, or offer pods that have the brushless motors in them.

I am making progress on my single pod. Have the cables extended and managed to get the rear cone over the motor. Now just have to wire my bullet connectors and glue the pod back together...

Hope it is worth all the effort...