mrstingray

Just bought a fighterbird and loved it for the first 8 minutes. Being a novice, I crashed it ( guess even pros crash every once in a while). Anyway, it will not fly now. I toss it and it goes nose
down. Have tried adjusting the tail, adjusting wing, new battery,
everything but all fails. It flew great when I had it going. Any suggestions?? Wish I had gone to this sight before I bought the
Fighterbird. Seems there are some really cool park flyers I didn't know about before. Thanks in advance and this is a great site/resouce.

Joe

BykrDan

Hi;

I had this exact same problem with a Firebird this past week, and it took me a while to find it -

Check the fit of the tail boom in the "pod". The boom enters the pod through the hole in the back, and if you look at the pod, you'll notice a little indentation at the bottom that grabs the boom inside and holds it at the bottom.

My boom popped out of that indentation during a crash (not one of my worse ones, either), and was holding in a slight "down elevator", although without looking very carefully, everything looked fine from the outside.

It snapped right back into place, just by pushing up on the boom while holding the pod steady.

Check that - to make sure, you can look inside the pod through the hatch, and you can just see the boom on the inside, and the notch where it's supposed to fit.

Dan.

mrstingray

Dan,

Thanks for the heads up. Have tried everything with this thing
and was going to take it back to the hobby shop where I purchased to see if the guru over there could get the thing
up in the air. Messed around with it for a few hours and still no luck so will print out your instructions and give it a whirl.

How do you like your fighterbird? If I can get this thing going
well enough will get my 11 year old one for his birthday to have
dogfights.

Anyway, thanks a bunch and will let you know how it turned out.

Joe

mrstingray

Dan,

Took your advise and looked at the tail boom. Sure enough
it was out of the snap holder. Installed and couldn't wait to fly
so went out and flew in front of the house. It did fly!!.........right
into the neighbors house!! No damage!! Thanks a bunch and will fly this weekend.

Joe

Mermak

Just a tip to avoid this in the future.

Drill a couple of small holes about 2 inches back where the boom comes into the fuselage. Make sure they are at the very bottom of the fuselage.

Then, run a small zip-tie through the holes, and zip it as tight as you can, then cut off the excess.

Voila! You'll never have this problem again. I did it to my Firebird XL, and it works like a charm.

Good luck this weekend!

Craig

BykrDan

Glad to hear it! Been there and done that, with the house...

Mermak - good idea with the zip-tie. I was just a hair away from doing just that to mine, but opted instead to drill one small hole under the boom at the notch, and let epoxy run down into it.

Took it flying the next day and caught the greatest (and last) thermal that plane will ever see! I saw about where it went down (about a mile away) but it must be in someone's back yard. Probably did "the house thing" again, too...

Oddly enough, I found an identical one in a tree right at the park I was flying from! Same channel, too, I believe! And no, I'm positive it's not the same one. Now, if I can only get it down :^)

I really like(d) mine. I like it enough that I flew the V-tail off of it, and replaced it with a more conventional elevator/rudder setup made out of "to go" boxes, and I liked it even better! I gave the rudder a pretty generous area, and I immediately noticed that my ROG takeoffs were easier, and I had more control in the air.

Happy flying! Despite what some will say, it's a pretty fun plane!

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

Please, do us all a favor, and fly in an isolated area. Fortunately, you didn't hit the neighbor or his family. Your behavior reflects on the entire RC population.

Better yet, join a club with a flying field, and share the fun with them.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

mrstingray

Dan,

Sounds like a good tip on the tail. Will have to learn some flying
skills first before I do something like that.

Good luck with the "new" plane. If you are ever in Va, will have to try a dogfight. BTW, the fighterbird was on RC Hobbies last night
on the DIY channel

Good luck and thanks again.

Joe

mrstingray

Craig,

Thanks for advice. Will take it. Just wanted to see if it would
nose down but wind caught it.................

Good lesson and thanks again.

Joe

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Great tips you guys!

I have an Aerobird, or I had an Aerobird, but the big wind took mine too. I have a new one now and am waiting for calm weather. However I am testing out a locator for my plane so I can find it next time.

Downed Plane Locator:

If you fly near woods or a corn field or something you want to add some kind of locator for your plane. You can see my post on locators here:
lo
cators for small electrics

If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them..

BykrDan

Hey, great idea with the locator!

Actually, in my case, I probably could have just listened for servos or motor as I walked through the neighborhood, but I got kind of frazzled and wasn't thinking. First time I lost sight of a plane.

Thanks,
Dan.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Well, this was the first time I lost sight of a plane too. Of course this was the first time I ever flew an RC plane, so my track record is not good.

In any case I have the keyringers and am waiting for good weather AND free time to match up so I can get into the air.

npereira

Where did you get the info or instructions on how to do this?

mrstingray

Dan,

Thanks for the post. Explain the "to go" box setup and how you made it work. Anything to help me fly the thing better would help.

Thanks,

Joe

npereira

Same here,

the damn firebird XL keeps turning right all the time. I would like the tail to have larger control surfaces but looking around for some mods.

BTW, nothing is bent on the firebird, the vtail is straight. its just the damn controll surfaces that are not large enough!

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

For better control surface response you have three options:

1) move the connection points on the control horns closer to the tail surface. You should see instructions in your manual. At least the aerobird manual shows how to do it.

2) If that is not enough, you can take a cut into the tail about 1" further up the tail surface parallel to the original cut and the same depth as the original cut that creates the free moving part of the tail. Bend it so it hinges equally with the original control surface. Now tape them together. Clear packing tape should work fine. You have a longer control surface

3) For the Firebird XL and Fighterbird, you can try buy the x-pack that is made for the Aerobird. It is about $30.

The tail is larger with bigger control surfaces and I am pretty sure it will fit these planes. You might have to change the control horns.

Check out this thread
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...9&goto=newpost

The X-Pack also comes with a 7 cell batter pack that will give you more power either making the plane faster, or allowing you to run at reduced throttle for longer flights.

BTW, a common occurance on these planes is, after a sufficently rough crash, the motor can get out of allignment causing he plane to turn more to one side than the other. Check to see that the motor is centered in the body and that the body is evenly postioned when sighting from the V tail.

Let me know if these tips help.

Toypainter

My Feedback: (5)

Man, am I glad I read this board tonight. I had the same problem with my Aerobird, except my fuselage actually broke about 1/2 inch in from the boom. I was all set to order a new fuselage! Thanks guys!!

BykrDan

Happy to;

Here I'll attach bitmaps of the rudder and horizontal stabilizer patterns I use. I usually have to cut the left and right stabilizer separately, as most boxes aren't that big. Once the foam is cut, I protect the leading and trailing edges with packing tape. The whole assembly is then sandwiched together with pieces of 1/4" hardwood stock, drilled, dowel-pinned and glued together. I use another piece of 1/8" dowel for the control horn, and use flexible "keepers", just like the original Firebird horns.

Here's the rudder/stab: The hinge is also clear packing tape, both sides, and notice the "V"-notch to allow it to flex...

BykrDan

Here's the "elevator". The hinge line is just drawn on, for appearance...

BykrDan

Here's the hardwood blocks I use to clamp the pieces together. Let me state here that there must be a better way, but this is what I had in the garage!

Anyway, the elevator sits atop the larger, single block that attaches to the boom with the tailwheel screws. On top of that, the rudder, with its two 1/4" sqare blocks are saddled side by side. The rudder is pinned with dowels two its two side blocks. Those are, in turn, pinned through the elevator to the bottom block. You must drill through both the blocks and the foam (I used to think I could just punch the dowel through the foam, but not so - especially once the packing tape goes on).

I like this setup, but I assembled it before I realized you could buy a "performance" tail for the firebird as a replacement - it's a smaller V-tail overall, but with the same control surface area.

Have fun with it!
Dan.

npereira

What about getting the elevator and rudder servos setup?

BykrDan

Each rudder servo line gets strung through the two holes on the dowel horn, and then held in place with one of the rubber hose keepers from the original horn, much like the original setup.

As for the "elevator" servo, well, uh, my Firebird doesn't have one :^) That's why the elevator "hinge" line is drawn on!

Dan.

sargentw

Checkout my thread. This is the right stuff you need for these planes.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...hlight=sargent

Good Luck!

Tadd

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I did a high speed lawn dart into the ground last evening and broke the motor lose into the body.

Any tips on repairs and remounting?

here are some photos of the bird dismantled

http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=...21b33bc1ce050e

sargentw

Buy another body for $49.00. Don't fly when it's windy until your skill level increases. I had to epoxy the circuit board back on the holder, but I haven't knocked the motor out of it's mount.. If it's windy do a hand launch, circle around once and land into the wind. Then keep doing that, it's good practice and you won't beat up the plane.

Good Luck!