quote:

ORIGINAL: smperry

Maidened mine on Saturday too. All stock with a TP 2200 mAh 3 cell.

Same wind conditions and your description of the maiden was exactly what I experienced.

Walking back to the pavilion after the first flight, one of the peanut gallery sitting there says, "That's a keeper". I gotta agree. One fine flying model.

sp

quote:

ORIGINAL: smperry

I've been having a ball flying my F-16, however a couple of problems have cropped up. I was hoping someone may have encountered and solved them.

I didn't like the look of the cooling hole the instructions said to make in the canopy. I had a TP 2150 mAh V2 3 cell puff up after a couple of flights. Has anyone else had battery cooling problems?

The other problem is more serious. I was flying along, away from me at about half throttle and fortunately plenty of altitude when the motor quit. I pulled a little up elevator to set up a glide and turn the model back toward me. No control response. I closed the throttle and waited a few seconds, then goosed it a bit to see if I could get it back. I got motor and control enough to turn back around and set up for a landing and then it all quit again. There wasn't enough altitude left to wait as long as I did before. The model glided in, but did so a bit nose down. The hard landing tore the front off the air scoop, but did no other damage.

The flight was not long or hard enough to run the battery down and I lost both servos as well as the motor. I am flying a Spektrum radio. The model has a 6100e Rx installed. The model responded to control and throttle inputs when I picked it up out in the field.

I think that the problem may lie in the ESC. I think these power systems push the limits and perhaps a bit past the ESC's limit. It is also possible that the radio is having binding issues, but I have had such good service out of my Spektrum (and am so heavily invested in the system) I don't (want to) think it is the radio.

Has anyone else had a similar problems in flight?

sp

quote:

ORIGINAL: smperry

Due to the fact that this is a fast moving lawn dart, I decided the only responsible thing to do is to replace both the Rx and the ESC. Normally I'd replace one and see if that fixed it and if not then replace the other. I got lucky that the model didn't skewer someone and I don't want to take the chance of that happening if I guess wrong about what to replace first.

I bought a 35 amp ESC with a built in heat sink to replace the 30 amp unit that came with the model. I'll swap Rx with another model that has never had any trouble. I doubt it is the Rx, but the F-16 is just too fast to take a chance of loosing control again.

I was real impressed that when I lost all control the model just kept going straight with only a little nose drop. It really does fly on rails.

Popping open the fuselage looks like some surgery involved, I'' try to post photos.

I'd sure like to see a photo of your air cooling hole under the nose.

sp

quote:

ORIGINAL: smperry

I was going to install rails too, but one of the fields I fly at doesn't always have the shortest grass, so i decided to leave it alone rather than add something to get ripped off on landing.

Speaking of landings, how do you deal with the grass clippings that get pulled into the sir scoop and hang up on the stationary supports in the fan duct? I always land with the throttle off and try to flair with the nose up a bit so as not to scoop up so much grass, but if there is a single clipping on the field, it's going down the scoop.

The repairs and paint job added 2 oz to the AUW. It is noticable on launch. Takes a harder toss and sinks a bit more before accelerating away, though it picks up speed in a dive faster.

sp