Dub

They look pretty good, also the price is spot on. Even with our lousy exchange rate it works out about $50 cheaper than the Cessna. I liked the look of the Focus 400, it could be a good next step plane, I've never flown a low winger. I just have to get it past the minister of finance

Dub

Just bought a GWS Spitfire, looks great but I reckon it will be a handfull! Cant wait to see how much faster than the Cessna it is. I recently bought a Spektrum DX6i to fly my short lived Cub/L4 Grasshopper. I want to use this in the Spitfire(receiver) Does anyone know if I can run the AR6200 without the satellite receiver?I tried looking through the forums here but I dont have a couple of years up my sleeve to make sense/sift thru the other forums.
Cheers,
Dave

shaneomac

won't the 3s lipo burn out the stock motor and esc?

RC_Kiwi

Looky at this......[link]http://www.parkflyers.com/html/rc_cessna_182_pro.html[/link]

Dub

Did you see the wing bending? Mine didnt like it after a few hard turns- even with a CF strip along the top. The wing is complete with its extension now, has an extra 15cm added to it, hope it makes up for the added weight of the tail dragger setup. The Spitfire is a real handful to fly, but man its quick compared to the Cessna! The G300 had its second flight last weekend but old mate reversed his aileron servos by mistake and the inevitable happened, Hes been getting a lot of building practise

parkpilot01

I just maidened my cessna (4 channel 2.4GHz version) the other day, and it flew great, I really can't understand the problems some people have had, unless it was a different version. I did modify the plane a bit before the first flight though:

1. Glued a 3mm carbon fibre rod into the wing to stiffen it.
2. Covered the fuse and wing entirely in packing tape.
3. Covered the tail feathers with packing tape (apart from control surfaces)
4. Threw a set of bigger tyres on .

My local park is a grass field so I had to hand launch it. So I had the plane in one hand, the tx in the other, so I gunned the throttle with my teeth and gave it a chuck. It flew great, if a little touchy. Rolls aren't that pretty in this thing, but I was happy enough just flying lazy circuits over my head at about 75 feet. On my second flight the motor cut off kind of caught me out - I was flying away from the short grass i call a runway and at low altitude. But the little cessna handled it fine, I had just enough altitude to turn it round, and I landed it right by my feet.

I've got a few years of RC experience, I taught myself to fly with a Hobbyzone Supercub - fantastic plane, then moved up to nitro planes and got my 'A' certificate later last year (I'm a UK flyer) and I bought this plane for something to fly at my local park. I really wouldn't recommend this plane for a beginner, I think it's just a bit too touchy. For that, I would suggest a HZ Supercub, because it's easy to fly, built like a tank and there's a fantastic forum that suggests loads of mods for it.

megatel

l have a cessna 182 Electric aircraft ,This is a very scale Foamy.

Chadwell

Maiden flight, finally.

Well its been a LONG time since I posted on this thread. Like page 45 of so back in summer of 2006. I had found great info on this thread when I was looking to build this plane way back then. Igot great advice on motor, ESC, batteries, etc. I bought the wings, fusalage, tail feathers and landing gear from Parkflyers.com and everything else through misc sources. I went with a brushless+lipo setup. Bought everything in 2006 right before my wedding. I then went away for my honeymoon and then life kinda got in the way of the project......the pieces sat in the basement ever since. What a waste.

But I FINALLY got the motivation last month to get it together and fly it. I have never flown anything other than the two channel Air Hogs (pretty fun for what they are, a toy). I wanted to do this right so I started reading this thread again, from the beginning, and it helped me with my build. I even joined a local electric only club and have been flying on a buddy box each Wednesday evening for the last 3 weeks using a club owned trainer plane until I finished my own. Fun but I couldnt wait to fly on my own and with my own plane.

Well, I finished my plane and let a club member maiden it just to make sure it was flyable. He was impressed with its stability. No one had a buddy box set up that would work with it that day so I didnt get any stick time on it but at least she flew. Then we made arrangments to have the right cable to use this wednesday on club training night so I could fly it the first time on a buddy box. That would have been the smart thing to do.

But there was simply no way I could wait to fly it. I had been smart and patient far too long, I needed to get out and be stupid and fly it myself unassisted. I took it out today to a local park at lunch with 10mph winds just to make it even more interesting. It really would serve me right to crash it and crash it hard. But luck was with me. I flew it around for about 20 minutes, did 4 fairly nice landings Ithink, no nose overs, no broken props, etc. I did 3 ROG and one handlaunch just for the heck of it. I mostly just flew a circuit but I did do a couple loops, one ugly hammerhead, one semi-planned stall just to see how quickly she recovers, mostly I just flew her back and forth, getting the feel for it. Oh what a plane! If it handles this well in 10mph winds, what is it like with no wind? I cant believe I was dumb enough to fly alone, no buddy box, on a windy day for the first time, especially after waiting 3 years to fly AND after joining a club to do it the right way. Oh well, impulse flying I guess. I got lucky.

No one was there to take in-flight shots but here it is on the ground with her simple but custom paint job (if I can figure out how to upload photos correctly).

Woo hoo, I am finally flying! Why did I wait so long!?

Chadwell

chris1379

Nice looking plane. Congrats on the maiden. Are you flying at MVRCC?

Chris

Chadwell

Thanks.

I joined Cincinnati Silent Flyers (www.silentflyers.com), an electric only club. Iconsidered the Miami Valley club you mentioned and they do have what seems to be a very nice field but I liked the idea of an electric only club. Also a much smaller club, 50 members versus over 200. Seems it might be a little crowded at the Miami Valley field, no matter how big it is. The CSF uses the field that the GCRCC (Greater Cincinnati RCClub) vacated about 10 years ago. Its nice, surrounded by trees and has a 400' long paved runway. I am gGlad I joined a club, Ifought the idea for awhile but now that Ihave joined, its a great resource of info and advice.The club members are very helpful and so far, I havent met any old crotchety know-it-alls so that good.

Chadwell

sapes

Another new guy here. Got my brushless 2.4ghz cessna 182 in the mail a couple days ago. This is my first plane. I read alot of this forum, but couldn't do 126 pages though, lol. I ran a 3mm carbon rod down the length of the main wing. Taped everything with the transparent tape with the threads. Can't get the FMS sim to work on vista, or recognize my remote via the mic cable. I'll have to learn the old fashioned way, if it ever stops raining. Maybe I'm the chosen one and can fly right away, lol. When I opened the box, a counter wait had come loose and was rolling around the fuselage. I had to tape it to the very front of the plastic cowling in order to achieve proper CG. I hope I didn't had to much weight. Plane seems really sturdy though, could take a beating. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mike

Chadwell

Good luck with the maiden flight. Time on FMS was very helpful to me as well as time spent flying the $30 two channel Air Hogs (fun for what they are and they really help you get your sense of direction down when plane is coming at you if you havent flown before).

Granted, I have only been flying for a short time but the best advice I can give is that altitude is your friend. Get high and get there quick when you first take off. MANY mistakes can be recovered from if you are high enough.You can start flying lower later after you get a feel for it.

Mike

RC_Kiwi

I agree, I sort of got it the wrong way round, but after learning to fly higher my crashes decreased. When I tried FMS on vista it did not work very well, could either see the landscape or just the plane, not both at the same time so it's probably vistas fault. Good luck for your maiden flight!

Kiwi

sapes

Well I got about 40 seconds of flight time. First flight, plane climbed, then dove, climbed again, then dove and crashed. Main wing snapped off fuselage. Glued and taped fuselage back together, and taped wing back on. Crashed again, ended up bending the drive shaft abit. Local hobby shop didn't have one that small. Hopefully I have time this Monday to fly again.

spidr_01

hay guy's I ordered the same 182 under skyartech and I cant get mine to fly. the first flight it went into a climb and then stalled and nosed in. I hand lainched it and it was uncontrolable. after repairing the wings the second flight i hand launched it. it went about 30 feet out and about 20 feet up  and i lost control. it augered in.  you can get replacement parts for it under skyartech on ebay shipped from the us for cheaper. just look for the skyartech cessna 182. I have a new main wing comming for 27.95 free shipping
.

chris1379

I have some advice and a question. I've had my Cessna for 3 years or so. The really surprising thing to me is that it flies faster than you think it should. I agree that altitude is your friend but you need to climb gradually. This plane is heavy for its size. Make sure you have plenty of room on takeoff so you don't have to turn until it gets some speed and altitude. Otherwise, you may tip stall it. It's just not stable without some speed. After you get some altitude you can play around with the airspeed and get a feel for it.

Now the question. I have been struggling with the ailerons on mine from day one. It's the old style with one servo and the wire-in-a-tube linkage. First of all, shoud the wire have a definite bend between the tube opening and aileron horn or just kept straight? secondly, has anyone converted the old style wing to use 2 servos like the new ones? If so, I'd like to see how it was done.

Chris

RC_Kiwi

I have converted mine two two servos. I'll post some pics in the next day or so as well as a description. I want to convert mine to tail dragger as my landing gear is stuffed. my advice for the tipstalling etc is BRUSHLESS!!! I can take of in about 3 metres!!

Dub

Like Kiwi said, go brushless, you wont believe the difference to standard!!!! i learnt to fly on this plane (and play with powertrains) and if you have the patience you will get the bug and next thing you know you will be buying gas planes hey Kiwi!!(nice work on the RV4)

RC_Kiwi

Thanks Dub. I'm looking at a GP Synapse EDF now . But of course I'm looking at the most powerful setup.

Chris1379 heres those photos I said I would post (finally).

Yep the Rv4 flys really well. Very easy to fly with no bad tendencies so far. It was fun building it too, even if it did take 7months exactly from opening the box to maiden. Heres one or two photos of it. See if you can work out the prop on one of them. Thats what happens at idle with a camera phone .

Btw anyone have info on converting the cessna to taildragger. My stock lg is dead and I want to do ROG takeoffs again. And landings.

Kiwi

RC_Kiwi

Well instead of going taildragger I just made new maingear, beefed up the main wheels and made the nosegear steerable as well as stronger. I used a micro servo that I had lying around for steering and mixed it to the rudder channel. Gotta love computer radios .

To windy to test but here's some pics.
Kiwi

Dub

Nice work!! yours looks like it has just rolled off the showroom floor Kiwi I thought about replacing the fuse and wing but freight costs more than the parts now[:@]Ive removed my taildragger gear, was too heavy and really changed the way it flew plus they look heaps better as a tricycle setup. Gone back to the little 2215-1700 to see how it flies with light weight and the extended wing.

ash99

If anyones still struggling to get the SIM working on Vista, try fiollowing the link and downloading the software. it certainly works with the original controller.

Ash.

ash99

Oops for the link. Here it is. www.smartpropoplus.com

alaursen

I received the Skyartec version of this Cessna last month and it flys nicely. Very lightweight so wind can be a big problem, though.

I could not get the XP to recognize my controller with the supplied cable. I finally found that I had to remove the TXmodule while using it as a "joystick" and now it works perfectly! I guess it was causing interference. They included a 5 channel 72 MHz radio (SKY501)in my package.

Art

jrutter

<meta charset="utf-8"/>I got this plane as a christmas present and just opened it up this weekend to play with. It seems as though the battery is not holding a full charge, when I put the battery in - the rudder, aileron and elevator respond but the motor doesnt. If I plug the batter into the plane on one end and the wall on the other, everything works fine. So Im guessing the battery is a dud.