coloradoair

I just wreck me aero bird swift. I've been trying to make a completely home made slow stick out of the parts. its not going great. any one ever tried this or put the parts on a gsw slwo stick?

thanks

tam popo

Hiya - I own a Swift and a SS (plus 8 other planes!) and I reckon the only things you can salvage (if the Swift is a write-off) are: rx and esc complete, and 3 servos. The 480 brushed motor i probbly too heavy, but not sure. A smaller, lighter motor (with gearbox) might be good (370/400). If you want to go b/les you'll probbly have to ditch or modify esc/rx to match up to the 3 wire connections of a b/less. If it was me I'd use the bits in a SS kit with the stock 370 and g/box. Good luck....

tam popo

Hiya again - just thought of an alternative - wot about a Stryker? Its easy, all you need is a bare fuse and nose cone and put everything in it, including the motor! You can make elevons and fins from balsa and maybe buy the cnopy for peanuts. Cost the same as a SS conversion. See piccy for wot can be made.

JRickey

It worked for me but I used the motor in the SS kit. Go buy a $10 motor and get her done. Also I had to modify the servo mounts a little because the swift servos are smaller than most.

reuben199

HI, I went the same route after crashing my swift tomany times to count :-) but I put my swift gear in to a Pico full fuselage slow stick, all I did was unscrew the plastic mont that holds the reciever and elevator servo out of the swift and cable tied one of the wing alerion servos to the elevator servo and trimmed down the reciever mount to lower the reciever board and then cable tied this in to the pico stick fuselage, I had to trim the foam a fair bit but it fits, and you can still use the swift ESC and batteries, you take the wing off to change batteries, I'm going to upgrade the motor and prop to another gws unit, a EPS400 or EPS300, as its a bit under powered and over weight..... but more fun than a swift, which is still flyable and I would one day like to give it another go. ***any tips on what GWS motor and prop would be greatly recieved*** I'll try to add some photo's to my members area if anyone wants to check the pico stick out.

tam popo

Reuben - If you really want to enjoy that modded SS try using a 400 EPS (its better!!) and using a lipo 2S (about 1300mah). If you have trouble with the ESC accepting the lipo just lift off one of the black plastic 'shunts' that are fitted or reprogrem the ESC using Page 9 of the PZ Spitfire manual (on PDF on website - use Google). You will end up with a Stick that will keep up with most b/less models and might even be better. Mount your Stick wheels as close to the motor as possible to use as a sort of prop saver.

Reuben - there is also SS thread that might appeal to those who want to mod SS, with lots of tips, piccys etc. Go to first page of RCU threads under Park Flers etc. See you there.

reuben199

Hi Tam, that was a quick reply :-) I'll have a look at that combo, I removed the jumper and had it set with a 10amp esc (which was recommeded for the gws motor), but motor would cut out, swift esc works fine and does all the normal beeps etc on start up. If I go brushless I will reprogram the esc. I've added some photo's of my planes if you want to check them out.

reuben199

OPPs, I forgot to ask, do you know which gear ratio I should get and any ideas on prop's, the slow stick now weighes around 300grams (its a bit heavy but COG is ok) Thanks again Reuben

tam popo

Reuben - using that ESC etc you won't be able to go b/less - b/less motors have 3 wires,
not 2. There is a way round it by adding a gizmo, but don't know the details of it. What you have is just fine, as long as the ESC can cope with the 400 brushed.
Swifts don't die - they just get recycled!!!!!

reuben199

Thanks Tam, I'll let you know how I get on. I have ordered the 400eps, and a couple of different prop's that are recommened for that motor, They should be here in a couple of days. -Reuben

reuben199

I have recieved the EPS400 and installed it with a bit of down thrust and to the right? I have 3 prop sizes to try all gws 9x7 slow flyer, 8x6 slow flyer 10x6 direct drive (opps I ordered this one by mistake) with the new motor I have noticed a huge increase in power and hopefully I will get a fly in today before work

reuben199

Well, I took the swift stick out this morning and I'm TOTALLY happy with it, the EPS400 has heaps of power to cope with the extra weight of the swift batteries, I used the 8x6 prop and found it fine to cruise around and great to open right up and blast around, the motor didn't get overly hot so hopefully this is a good combo. I will be adding wing struts like on a cub as the extra weight of the swift batteries causes a fair bit of wing flex I would highly recommend this build for anyone who has an old swift laying around. Thanks to Tam popo for the help and suggestions.

tam popo

Reuben, mi amigo!! You misled us/me!!! Thats not a SlowStick.....its what we in the UK call a SlowStick F (I think) A real SS has just an ally or fibreglass 'fuse' thats just 10mm square section - no body like yours. It doesn't make much difference really, it still looks good[. The main difference is that on the normal SS you can everything about to achieve the optimum Cog and flight that you want. The wings move back/forward, the lipo moves, the servos and wheels can be moved - in fact its the most versatile plane I know, no other plane can do that (OK, SloV maybe).
Your next mission (should you choose to accept it) is to convert it to lipo and get even more oooomph outa that nice big 400. This message will self destruct in 5 seconds......byeee...

reuben199

HA HA......... I will add li-po's but at a later date, I managed to fold the wings in half today... might have to add some wing struts sooner than I thought to cope with the extra weight the li-po's will make a diffenece when I put the swift pack in the air also. Thanks for the help -Reuben

reuben199

Just an update, I have added super cub wing struts as they were available locally for a few dollars and some larger foam wheels from my chipmunk as the swift wheels were a bit small. I will hopefully get the swift stick out for a fly tomorrow after work and see how the struts work..... I' ve also just brought a couple of 1250 3s lipo's (for the chipmunk)would they be to heavy for this??? -Thanks Reuben