crazychris46dividedby2

i just got the megatech hydrofly 2 and its a pretty sick al terrain vehicle. flys nice, goes on water great, and even grass. only issue im having is that the battery dies out too quickly. im considering putting a 3 channel lipo setup in it for longer flight times. ill post again soon with the results. oh and does anyone know how well lipos deal with moisture or water?

ArrowNaughtic

I have the Version 1 hydroflyer and never have gotten it to work. very unimpressed with it and it just sits in the box...........


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

hey arrow whats up? sorry o hear that your not impressed with yours. mine on the otherhand is my new favorite rc! first off i hear that the 2 is better than the 1 because of the materials used on it. so try and sell it off if you can then get the 2. i recommend this because i just took the electronics out of my blade cp+ and put them into the hydrofly2. its got full elevator rudder and throttle in full digital proprtion now and the run time is way way longer. as for power it will rog in about 15 feet where as stock took about 25. for the rudder control i took the orange signal wire that comes off of the esc and sliced it into the orange signal wire on the servo and plugged it into the rudder control channel (4) on the reciever. i must say out of all the rc's tht i have this one sure as heck beats them all. oh and for you or anyone thinking of doing this i also suggest trimming the skids down so that they are the same width as the "runners" they are attached to. i say this because it reduce the ammount of friction from the skids to the water, or pavement (does not apply to in the air) and thus allows less power needed to get it going! good luck to you and anyone else thinking of upgradeing, this thing is screaming for it! chris

ArrowNaughtic

Post some pics chris........... I know you are the most diligent modding guy when it comes to the different stuff. I remember your mods to the lil Havoc heli's and what not. Does the hydrofly 2 come with a better electronics setup? (Servos, not actuators and Electronics you can get too without opening the thing up? Or did you just modify yours to accept the servos, RX, ect?
I have been thinking of beefing up the one i have, but I just don't know if I want to spend the money to modify......... Pics please of the mods that you did would be greatly appreciated. You may have revived my interest in this thing. Just finished covering some GWS floats for one of the Estarter's or a Slow Stick...maybe both.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

well at the moment its at my girlfriends house so it wont be until thursday till i get the pics up for you. as far as showwing you the mods i did it still looks the same other than the skids being trimmed down. but ill get you the pics anyways. but as far as the electronics go im not sure what the stock HF1 had. in the HF2 its got what i call the bang bang controls meaning the rudder bang full left or right quickly, same as with the elevator which is either up or neutral. but at fist look i thought it had a true servo for the rudder from the shape and look of it until i discovered it was only 2 wire. as for the elevator it uses a simplle actuator. but the mod took me around 5 hours to complete. inside the canopy where the rx/esc are located i had to cut out some of the foam to fit them. same thing for the elevator servo, which was a little tricky because space was limited but i squeezed it in. the rudder servo was very simple to install. it shape and size is perfect for a hitec h55 micro servo, i believe its called. i suggest that you do revive your hydrofly1 if its anything like the hydrofly 2. you said before you could never get it to work. how so? and is it made of the flexible foam like the airhogs planes are? ill have to look it up online to see if its similar to mine. catch you later, chris

ArrowNaughtic

Chris, the biggest hurdle with the HF1 is that the motor is grossly underpowered. It has never produced enough thrust to even propel itself forward on wet grass or pavement. All it does is howl. I got 2 spare props with it and neither is even close to having enough pitch or thrust to move the thing. I honestly see no way to improve thrust except go with a brushless motor and seperate electronics like you have done. Maybe i will get after it again this week and install a different power system in it, I hate the actuators, just seems to toylike for my taste. I would think some decent electronics and a good powerful motor might make it into a fun lil zip toy on the water with some aerial stuff kicked in. For flight I would consider makeing larger control surfaces and do like you did. Install actual servos for more precise control.
looking forward to those pics.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

ill do you one better ill try and get you a video of it this week or weekend. i agree it did seem a little underpowered with the stock setup. today was awsome, i managed to get it to do a loop and a barrel roll. it crashed shortly after the barrel roll but till something i doubt it could do with its stock setup. i to am thinking of going brushless with it. id like to get a actual 3channel plane setup for it so i can re-assemble the heli. as far as the control surface size goes i too thought they needed to be bigger but it turns out that the controls for it are very sensitive as is. im considering using the 4th channel on mine and adding some ailerons to it. also considering putting some small foam wheel on it, maybe have them set inside the skids so that just enough is stick out the bottom for it to roll bu not enough to create any excess drag in the air or in the water. ill try to get you a video with sound so you can hear it. its insanely loud. my neighbors came outside today to see what was going on and were asking questions about it. they were surprised when i took it into the air! ill get back to you soon arrow, chris

ArrowNaughtic

Sweet Chris......... and dagnabbit at you at the same time! I am now looking over the brushed motors as well as the brushless ones and have already commited a Spektrum RX to it. The DX6 should handle it quite well and will look at some sheet foam they have at the LHS........ 8 bucks a sheet. Maybe some Delta wings to add lift, itr sounds as if ELE and RUD controls are ample already.
So.......that leaves deciding which ESC will go in it and waterproofing. The real challenge is the prop. the clearance is not a whole bunch with the stock setup, I am thinking I will have to go with a GWS DD prop or see what I can find in pusher props.
I cannot believe I am getting sucked into another project............. I have about 10 too many going now, but i honestly have to say.......these have had my eye (the Megatech ALSV's since they first came out) and I was amazed at thier diversity. I bought mine from my LHS for dealer cost, I went back 3 days later and cussed him out....... but kept it. I know at least it will be a demon on the water and will help pass the time this summer during our fishing/wakeboarding trips. When am I ever going to find time to golf again? All I ever see anymore is awesome flying sites.......... with pesky flags at the end of the pristine runways.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

here are the pics, ill try getting a video today!

ArrowNaughtic

Great pics Chris! I will try to mod mine this week and see if I can't get some serious speed out of the prop. Do the wheels come stock on the V2 or is that another mod?


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

no i modded the wheels on it. uses alot less power to get it moving but at the same time it tends to go off in random directions so it my opinion that using them isnt as good as it sounds. i had it flying for about 6 minutes straight yesterday. im getting better at flying/driving it with all this practice. get yours modded and post some pics. i started a video yesterday but my cameras battery died so ill try again once the weather clears up. chris

ArrowNaughtic

Its on the bench now. Looks like it has a brushless inrunner in it, 3 wires coming out to the can so I am wondering if it just needs a better ESC to get the RPM's up. I see that the rudder actuater is a bit different on mine but still should be an easy mod. How well does yours handle when you give ELE movements? I was thinking it needs more elevator surface and possibly more Rudder surface too.
I will give it some attention tomorrow and take some pics. This may turn out to be something fairly decent when its all finished!


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

its not a brushless motor, i thought so to at first but i think the 3 wires have something to do with the throttle steps it uses. i say this because i took of the circuitry on the bottom of the motor and theres ont 2 contact points on it. as far as the elevator and rudder go there plenty big enough for it. its very sensitive to inputs when in the air so you shouldnt need to do anything to them. im thinking eventually of adding some ailerons to it cause in flight the turns to tend to cause a slight roll wich the ailerons would allow corrections of. weather here is still horrible so its gonna be a bit longer before i get those videos for you. but get me some pics of your HF and its stock electronics i want to compare them to mine. ill get pics of the stock electronics from mine to if you want to see them. chris

ArrowNaughtic

Ok bud......I will start cutting now. Will take some pics along the way so you can see what my progress is.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

ArrowNaughtic

Ok...a few pics of where I am so far. I should have realized the shaft lengths are different. I now see you cut away the mount to slide the motor out farther. This is not a huge deal but how well does that little plastic strap hold the motor in?


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

crazychris46dividedby2

the plastic strap holds it pretty well but for added support i used a small amount of super glue on the bottom side of the motor. be careful not to overtighten the strap as i have a small crack in mine now from it. have some repair work to do to mine now though, i got a little over confident the other day at the park and had it up around 60 feet and it passed in front of the sun as i was turning and when my eyes readjusted it was upside down in a nose dive. i started leveling it out with the elevator almost like the last half of a loop but it hit the blacktop and tore a good chunk off the nose and broke one of the rudder hinges. also trim your skids so that they arent as wide. it will move more eaisily this way! good luck and keep the pics and progress coming! chris

ArrowNaughtic

Hey Chris........I still haven't really made any progress on the Hydrofly, Am debating on going with a GWS Direct Drive prop and see how ballistic that thing can be. I have a brushed ESC, RX and servos all set up but am trying to decide which brushed motor I want to use. I have quite a few to choose from so may be able to fiddle with that some also. I will get more done on it tonite, have too many pans in the fire it seems.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

nitrosportsandrunner

what can i do about the battery! it dies really quick. i got mine used, and i think the battery might be done. i cant take off from the ground, the power just cuts out.

the battery is 9.6v, but will a 2s lipo power the plane as well? i know that there are some small 2s lipos that have built in low-voltage cutoffs, so all i would hav to do is plug it in.

crazychris46dividedby2

well first off i havent had mine for a long time, but when i was using it, i had a new set of electronics and a lipo in it. but the main reason i modded mine was because the stock battery had almost no lifespan to it. so id say your issue is just the stock setup for it. i too couldnt take off from the ground with the stock setup, and could only get it airbourne if i was hand launching or taking of from water. if its something you plan to keep and use for awhile i strongly suggest getting a nice 3 channel setup for it and using a lipo. best of luck to you, chris