Nightstalker

Got one of these for Christmas. Looked cool enough on the cover of Backyard Flyer magazine and the review article was seemingly good, but man it's squirrely and seems tail heavy. Granted I'm new at 3 channel - but I've been flying a 2 channel Firebird Commander for 6 months or so and can fly it great even without 3 channel control. Flew my dad's Parkzone J3 Cub a few times before Christmas and did pretty good once I got used to having elevator and rudder control - made me want my own 3 channel (but not the same one as the ol' man's). Plus, the Cirrus xmitter it came with is a 4 channel which seemed like a good thing to have once I'm ready for a park flyer with aelerons. Did I get suckered, or is it just me being a newb. Also wasn't really impressed with the overall quality of the plane in general, and even with a decent approach (due to sheer luck on my part) it lands awful in the grass or dirt with the flimsy wire gear and cute little wheel pants. Haven't got the confidence to try landing on hard smooth pavement yet. I fly in a very big wide open field for safety sake and it's not the smoothest place on earth. What do you guys think?

rutlts1

I bought this plane as my first electric. I have about six years experience with glow-powered, four-channel planes, but I wanted something smaller that I could play around with at local parks and at college and something that didn't require building, covering, etc. I have flown and successfully landed this plane four times, and I think it flies rather well. It is much faster than I anticipated, and it climbs quickly, too. I do agree with the comment about landing, however. This is a tricky plane to land smoothly. I have only tried to land it on grassy surfaces, and it always wants to flip over onto its back as soon as it touches down. I think this is due in part to the wheel pants catching on the grass, although another factor that this plane seems to be particularly affected by is the prop wash over the control surfaces, which, when landing, is minimal due to the reduced throttle. I have noticed that the controls become mushy when the throttle is low, which makes the elevator less effective close to touch down. It is a vicious battle on final approach, because I want to keep the throttle up in order to keep control effectiveness, but this plane likes to speed up and climb with the application of any power. However, the first time I flew the plane, I managed to keep control of it and land it in a relatively small space, surrounded by trees (because I didn't expect this plane to require the size of flying location that I now realize it does, due to its speed). I think that this plane has the ability to become squirrelly if the battery is not situated far enough forward in the compartment, or if it is over-controlled, or if it is not given enough power into the turns. This plane seems like it could stall quickly in a turn if enough power is not used. In general, though, I like this plane so far and think it has potential. It just may take a little practice to smooth out the landings.

Nightstalker

Glad to here someone else has one of these too. I was beginning to wonder... Actually now that I've got several flights on it and added just a wee bit of nose weight, thing does flies pretty cool. I also agree that the thing is kinda fast (or seems real fast due to its size) but you just gotta stay ahead of it.
I'm also thinking about puting the Parkzone Decathlon landing gear on it. Looks like that style of gear would help. Still don't like the stock gear - way to flimsy for my landing style[X(] Plus, I'm getting ready to transition into glow planes with a club that has instuctors and a PAVED runway. Electrics are merely for my convenience and pure amusement, a stepping stone of sorts.

Thanks.

JawaSnack

I got the Watt-age Decathlon as my first electric and have had an absolute blast with it. I have the same problem landing (wants to flip over) so I just took the landing gear off and added some weight to the front to balance it out and it flys great and lands great on the belly of the plane!! I broke a couple props so
i got a prop saver to fix that problem, but it doesn't work with the stock props from wattage (does fine with the generic GWS ones though) and I like the stock prop better so I just take my chances at breaking a prop!!

alanrw

I bought this plane. Couldn't get it to fly worth beans so I put in a brushless motor and CC ESC. It flies on a 3 cell lipo pack. I also scrapped the landing gear and just belly it into the grass. Works out great. The new motor and ESC really made a difference. It flies really well. I didn't trust the radio setup so I swapped it out for a JR transmitter/receiver and now have no radio issues.

alan

fivaxis

I tried this plane out for the first time today. I've flown a little on a 2 channel styrofoam plane before and managed to do alright but this thing would not fly for crap. At least the radio is nice and will be going into the GWS Beaver I just ordered.