3A21

Hi, many moons ago I did a bit of research on the subject and after much consideration purchased a Slow Stick to take to the local park on the weekends and, along with my son, learn to fly. Unfortunately I did not take into account the fact that as a meteorological oddity of my area, there always seems to be a sustained 5-7mph wind with frequent gusts up to like 10-12. As you may have surmised my attempts at flight resulted in the plane being forced down before I could correct, or my trying desperately to ground the plane before it got blown away. Now I'm not down on the Slow Stick, I've read accounts from many a happy owner, and am sure with the right environmental conditions flying this thing is a breeze (in fact I did enjoy a few fleeting moments of serene stable flight between mishaps.) I know when I'm licked, and for many months now the 'Stick has been resting in my office at home, receiving the more than occasional dark looks from my missus. But I've not given up on the idea of R/C flying, thus, I was hoping someone here might be able to recommend an alternate airframe that I might easily transfer all the electronics from the 'Stick into, allowing me to salvage some of my initial investment. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

Hellcat1st

GWS E-starter Try to get one with the 400 size motor a little more weight in your instance should help

3A21

Many thanks.

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BTW, just sitting here idly musing, if weight is the real issue here (and I rather figured It might be, just wasn't sure into how much heavier an airframe those wee little servos could be installed or if my problem lay in those rather large wings) would it be possible, conceivable or even prudent to replace the stock center rod with a heavier one? I'll likely still check out the E-Starter, but this might also be fun to try.

Hellcat1st

I am not sure how that would work Try zip tying on som lead ballast to bottom of frame start with about 1 once go up from there local auto parts or tire shop should beale to get you the "MAG wheel weights" sticky helt inplace by twosided tape and marked in 1/4 ounce incraments just remember to watch you Center of Gravity. The 1 problem I see is the airfoil design being an under camber wing it is essentailly a parachute flying into the wind if you dont have a nose down additude the "parachute wing" Catches the wind makeing it difficult to fly But give it a try and let me know how it works.
things to remember hevier planes have shorter run times and need to move faster to fly but that shouldnt be much of a proplem with a slow stick. Hope this helps

Time Pilot

I like my Estarter and think it's a great little plane. I do remember, quite vividly, my first flight with it after spending much time on a Slow Stick and my 'one step up', a Great Planes BLT.

It's kind of funny now, but I remember I couldn't put myself up to fly my second pack for the day because the adrenaline was running a bit high from that 'fast' airplane, wondering if I'd be able to land it without destroying it. The problem was really mine though, because I was running near full throttle thinking that it needed all that in order to fly, half throttle would have sufficed for most of the flight.

Before you go for the 400 because it is heavier, consider the packs you'll use. I have custom 7C 1100 GP nimh packs which fit nicely in the battery bay (as long as you don't use the stock battery hatch) that balances the 350 powered Estarter perfectly. Lighter packs would need some extra weight in the nose.

My 350 motors haven't lasted too long though. I'm on my fourth, average time per motor around 12 hours.

DogAddict

3a21,

I have a slow stick and live in a windy enviroment as well. The way mine is set up it can handle up to 10mph winds. It does get pushed around alot in high wind but it is manageable, especially in the 5-6 mph winds. I think this is due to the large 8 cell 2/3 1100 nihm electrifly pack I have on it. Also all my joints are reinforced with packing tape. It is much heavier than running it with a lipo but the extra weight seems to help. If the plane isn't totaled then it might be worth another shot. You can get the battery pack for $20 from tower hobbies.

DA

3A21

Well, I charged her up and took her out tonight (i journeyed just over a half hour today to the hobby store with the intent of picking up a heavier battery pack and possibly some weights, but much to my dismay it went out of business on the eighth of this month, shame too, because they really did have a great supply of stuff, problem is the owner's never there, just his missus, who is a nice lady but has never been, despite her best efforts to help, very informative.) the expedition started out just running over to the park to let my son play with the aero ace i bought him yesterday, and since we were having some success with that i got brave, ran home and got the 'Stick. i attempted a few take offs and got her off the ground, briefly, only to find myself grounded by perfectly timed gusts of wind. Went for a hand launch, it stayed in the air a bit longer until the fellow in charge of the wind turned to his buddies and said "hey, watch me frustrate this guy," and turned my slow pseudo-level flight into a Kamakaze dive bomb of doom. I was trying to get the nose up, but to no avail, and in the end it went in at a 45 degree angle with some drift to the right. On an almost humorous note it struck the ground in such a manner that the cute little wire gear struts bent and sprung back, launching it back off the ground, I not see the broken blade on the ground, and the nose was pointed up s i figured what the heck, i gave it full throttle and tried to gain some altitude, at which point it began shaking like a Tokyo skyscraper during an 8.5 quake. realizing what was wrong i cut throttle and watched it land tail first in the grass. No appreciable damage, propellers are cheap enough (just got to suck it up and drive to the nearest Hobby Town, they carry the plane so hopefully they carry the props) but I think I'm going to re-visit the Slow Stick project at another time and try to find a pusher, be it an rtf or something that I can use my current radio gear in...any recommendations along those lines would be very welcome

Espresso-Outfitters

Take the slow stick out only when there is little or no wind at all, it will perform just like the sims and you will have alot of fun. I too face counterproductive conditions pretty much all year round and can say, playing the recop game upon being able to take the starter set up and transfer to another bird to save money is a nobel, but nieve way of going about it. I say this from personal experience of trying to do the same thing, have several planes and all are set up with their own equipment since it's just as pain to transfer it all over again and again as well as it's nice to have it all plug and play. If you are getting the uglies from wifie for spending this type of cashola on this stuff, you can point to moe's tavern and ask her if she would rather you spend it there....................

If you go with a faster bird, the wind will not affect it nearly as much, yet trying to fly a slow stick to Mig or Zag will prove to be a great challenge, I hope you have no shortage upon a clear, large, open flying field. You gotta take it easy upon your current bird and always keep it within the context of why it was built, find those rare days where conditions are doable and get in alot of flying time, or learn within the confines of a few trees that are upwind of you, keeping your plane lower to the ground and getting good at it before moving on, short hops are acceptable in training. I've seriously thought of buying plane tickets to land somewhere more condusive to flying for that alone.........

R/CPLANECAR

I have 3 slow sticks and 1 pico stick all with difernt setups but thay all fly well in a 7-10 mph wind the pico is hard but it will fly, what i do is move the cg to make it nose heavy and it has more control in the wind and i use 2250ma bateries to increase the weight to 21 oz it flyes great .

Leo L

The EasyStar is probably your best bet. You should be able to use all of your electronics in it and it is one of the best beginner planes at handling the wind. Try flying very early in the morning, just after sunrise. The park where I fly has 10-15 mph wind most of the time, but on many days from 6:00AM till about 7:30AM it is at less than 5mph. Good luck!

How does your son enjoy the AeroAce? I have found it to be a terrific plane, particularly for beginners.

kcwannafly

I have 2 wings for my slow stick. A stock one and a clipped one for flying in the wind. To clip a slow stick's wings you cut off the wing tips just outside of the aileron marks. You should also beef up the wing by replacing the fiberglass rods with carbon fiber ones and use longer ones on the trailing edge. The clipped wing is much more forgiving in gusty condition, however you do trade off some of the slow sticks inherent float that comes with those huge wings. [8D]