GRANT ED

Me and a friend have got our Aerobird extreme's going and while they are a lot of fun I feel like i have to baby it around due to the lack of autority in the controls. I have the string on the lowest hole and always fly in "sports mode". However I would like more control. Has anyone extended the control surfaces?? I was considering taping some stiff cardboard onto the end of the controls to give them more area. Any other ideas??

stevennh

Fly in "pro-mode" you will get almost twice the control. "Sports-mode" is the tame one. I only flew once in "sports", once I tried pro I never went back. I am flying in the second to bottom hole and in "pro-mode" I have all the control I want. "Pro-mode" will double the control since your control surfaces will oppose one another when turning rather than just one surface moving at a time.

Steve

GRANT ED

Sorry I ment I had it in pro mode. I may be asking to much but a lot of times I had the sticks at full deflection and was wishing I had more.

stevennh

I don't remember where I read it, but there was a conversion plan for the tail that converted a much larger amount of it's total surface to control. There was a video of the ABX in flight with the new tail that showed extreme control. If you search for it I'll bet you can find it. The video shows some really tight rolls and loops. I would be a bit worried with more control, my main wing is already getting creased right at the end of the carbon rod. I think the main wing would have to be beefed up as well as the tail to handle any more control throw.

Steve

GRANT ED

I don't really want to increase control for aerobatics, just for normal flight. I was watching the DVD that comes with the ABE and I can't imagine throwing it around like they do on the video I just don't think I have enough authority. I am a little hampered by the fact the park where I fly is a little on the small side. Its not to bad but it can take a bit of manuvering to get in a good landing position.
Before anyone ask's I am an experienced flier. Have been flying planks for a number of years and have just started on heli's.
My friend on the other hand is rather new. He has a 40 size trainer that he is learning on at our club and bought the aerobird for a bit of fun. He is having a bit of trouble landing the plane and has said he would like more control and I have to say I agree. I may increase the area of the controls just a little bit as an experiment.

stevennh

Interesting. How much throw do you get on the tail surfaces doing hard right and hard left using no elevator? I am happy with the level of control I get on my ABX and I am using the second from the bottom hole for the control line. It is almost a little bit sensitive for me with my current setup. I don't have the plane in front of me, but I estimate I get about 3/8" travel from center to peak both up and down when moving left/write with no elevator. With up and/or down elevator at the extreme right and/or left, I get around 3/4" or so travel from center.

Steve

Airborne 2007

Check out this website.

http://groups.msn.com/HobbyzoneRCPla...76731040233148

A guy came up with a pretty good way to extend your controls surfaces. Steve, there is a video link on the page. That may be the one you were talking about. It looks pretty good in the air for a hobby zone 3 ch plane. Near the bottom of the page it shows a step-by-step directions of how to do this. It includes some helpful pics as well.

Hope this helps.
-John

f00sion

ive got my controls lines in the last hole and also extended the surface with some sticky-backed carbon fiber sheets that I had... pretty easy to do rolls now, just have to make sure to have enough speed.

GRANT ED

Thanks for the idea's guys. I think I'll tape extensions on for a test and if I like that I will probably do the mod in the link. Cheers.

stevennh

I have a quick question on your rolls. I can roll OK, but it seems that I get a nice smooth tight roll right to the point of being inverted, then the plane seems to bleed off speed very quickly and the last 180 degrees is sort of a spiral (dive/roll). Does the extra control surface help here? I push the stick full up when inverted to try to hold it there (while keeping the stick right or left depending on my roll direction).

I took my old (broken) tail and used some milk-jug plastic to cut two 2" by 4.5" rectangles out. I then bent them in half and glued them to the bottom and top of the broken tail (while bent in a correct "V" shape). I used some white glue to fasten them and also a bit of clear packing tape. I like the result. The tail is very rigid and it flew well yesterday. I did not notice the extra weight. I have been landing medium length grass since I got the plane, with the gear on, and end up flipping over on landing quite often. This seems to have stressed my tails. I hope this modification will hold up better than stock. I need the gear in place when using the drop module, and I like it there to protect my video system (it is not on the bottom of the plane, but I still like to keep it up off the ground as much as possible).

Steve