Larry Driskill

I was flying my 48" VA powered wing the other day and had been airborne several minutes when thought I experienced a glitch. The problem was that the plane appeared to not want to roll out of a left bank when commanded. But, it did recover and I though it was probably a glitch as there is a narrow segment in the northeast corner of our field where several folks have thought they experienced interference. And . . . I had also let the plane get farther away than I should have and it was kind of hard to retain good orientation.

When it recovered I flew it back over where it should have been and everything appeared fine. After a bit I heard the engine richen up (normal prelude to an empty bladder [the engine is on a bladder and runs wide open without a throttle or shutoff until the bladder is exhausted]) and decided to point the plane straight up and gain max. altitude so I would have some gliding around time.

When it quit I rolled it over in a left bank to start the glide and discovered it would not come out of the bank. Since it was so high I had plenty of time to stir the stick and attempt a recovery. I still had elevator, but no aileron.

And now the good news. The plane drifted about 300 yards downwind and spiraled into a plowed field, hit nose down and survived without any damage except for collecting a half pound of dirt on the castor residue.

Examination revealed a dead HS-55 servo. That servo had come out of a plane that had failed to live through an unplanned high speed return to earth. But it had worked fine on the bench and for several flights. I'm beginning to wonder if the HS-55s are a bit marginal for the LiteHawks in the hands of someone who occasionally "arrives with authority"? I am getting a pretty nice stack of inop HS-55s and none of them have any visible damage or broken gears.

I've replaced the aileron servo with a HS-81 and we will see how it holds up.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

I agree with your conclusion Larry... The HS55 is a good all around servo but you may have found it's red line on your application.

DICKEYBIRD

Having seen Larry's R/C LiteHawks fly, I'm of the opinion that regular ol' servo electronics can't stand up to the effects of the intense radiation encountered when blasting through a wrinkle in the space-time continuum!

cyclops2

All mine get at least 1 yearly crash check for safety reasons.

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Having read of the flight of your 48-inch Litehawk and DickeyBird saying he's seen others fly, I thought to myself, "self, I bet you can finally purchase one of them thar R/C combat kits. Go to his website and place your order."

Usually I try not to listen to myself as I've received some bad advice from that source in the past. Alas, I was wrong/right again. I seen nothing that doesn't have 'strings attached' when I went yonder. Well, I guess there goes another of my Christmas wishes down Santa Claus Lane. Heavy sigh.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

I've got a pile of HS55s that don't have much time on them. The first ones held up reasonably well, but the ones bought in the last year have sucked. I'm trying HS65s now.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Larry, how ARE those kits coming along, I need more stuff...Rog

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Like them or not, Servo City is having a "blowout sale" on them at $10.99 each:

http://www.servocity.com/html/hs-55_sub-micro.html

Silvaire

My Feedback: (50)

Just to mention a regular RCU sponsor, the everyday price for an HS-55 from Tower Hobbies is $10.99.

(Also, through 11/30, for orders over $125 they have free shipping AND an additional $15 off.)

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

That's good to know, the last time I checked the Tower price they were $13.99 I think. Did Hitec cut their prices?

scudrunner77

Larry- I had a rough landing with my combat wing and upon retrieving it found a failed HS-55. Not sure what causes them to fail just from a jolt....

I sat down one evening with a pile of inop HS-55s and got most of them working again. I think about 5 or 6 of them. Some had stripped gears and some just froze up. The frozen ones started working again after taking them a part , finding nothing wrong, and reassembling. And YES I'm dumb enough to stick them back in my airplanes[8D]

Larry Driskill

Raymond, Rog - I've worked my way up to real serious thinkin' about getting back to work on a RC LiteHawk kit, but the real job in my life keeps intruding on my good thoughts.

I installed the HS-81 and it appears to handle the aileron load just fine.

But, the plane is not turning out to be as much fun to fly as the 36" versions. With the long wing I don't think it does as well in the wind, turbulence and gusts. And it appears much draggier. I land short of the intended point most every time, where as the 36"ers tend to float forever. But I need to move the CG forward and try that before any final pronouncements.

I'm thinkin' Pigg may be correct that 36" is a nice size . . . as long as you keep the power down to a reasonable level.

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

I use a lot of HS-55's, and based on how easy it is to strip the gears I would not ever use them on an aggressive 1/2A model. They strip more easily than any other servo I use, but then again I haven't used my HS-50's yet.. However once I changed out the gear sets they were good to go again. I have had good luck with them in my electrics, but I had a cantankerous canard model that hit the dirt a couple of times and both times took out the gears on the canard elevator HS-55. The most aggressive model I use them in is an E-Flite Mini Funtana, but it is overpowered and I do not fly it gently. So.. I guess I mean to say I like them, but have reservations about them for higher performance 1/2A models, and anywhere where vibration could be a problem. It seems the gear set is strong enough for normal operation but there is little overhead safety margin when the surfaces get bumped.

MJD

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Darn! Now the HS-55s are back up to $13.99 at Tower again. Why does the price keep changing?

Silvaire

My Feedback: (50)

Dave,

That's pretty much standard marketing practice for Tower. Why? I suppose to move merchandise and be competitive. I've seen many products offered by Tower get introduced at a low price then shoot up in a few days - and I've seen just the opposite too. This seems to be more common with their "outside" merchandise than with their own products. They know how the orders are coming in and what their contracts are with their suppliers and act accordingly.

That being said, as of this moment you can buy HS-55's in lots of threes for $30.97 - which works out to about $10.32 each.

Arlen

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, Arlen. I ust did that very thing last night. Along with another Berg Microstamp, a bunch of APC 5x7.3s & 6x2s and a quart of Sig 1/2A fuel. Although today I didn't break a single prop.

eroc144

My Feedback: (1)

It seems that Tower moves their prices quickly to match their competitors. A few weeks back Central hobbies offered Hitec 65s at $19.99 and Tower almost immediately dropped theirs from $26 to $22 (as of today they're back up to $26).

I've always been "nervous" about using Hitec 55's in anything other than throttle, mainly because they seem so darn fragile. We've had a bunch of them die for no apparent reason which and instills FUD when flying. I've been moving over to Hitec 65s and have been extremely happy with them, except for the price. Hitec 81's are slightly better but are heavier. Of course in the long term it's better to spend $25 on one servo that lasts than $14 on one that needs to be replaced on a regular basis.

I've also tried the GWS pico servos which seem pretty good, but are EXTREMELY noisy. Every one I've bought sounds like its grinding itself to death when it moves. What are your experiences / preferences?

EG