Got this Fighterbird USED from Ebay, and because of all the good info on this site, finally had it flying today. I made a post about this earlier mentioning the difficulty I had launching it left-handed and swapping hands, letting the spring loaded throttle drop to idle and ultimately crashing it several times. Solved that problem today by hooking a rubber band on the throttle in the full power position, which was easy to disengage once I had some altitude. The bigger threat was keeping the servo working. In testing on my bench I found that due to the impacts that the plane had, the servo was working intemittently. I could make several left-right stick movements and the control surfaces responded normally, but would then stop answering commands, and the right elevon would be in the "up" position. I found that I could restore normal service by switching the TX off, then back on and the control surfaces would trim neutral and resume taking commands. I decided to fly it that way, with my hand at the ready to interrupt the power, as I would not lose that much altitude. This worked for two flights (learning flights), but could not reach the switch fast enough and it spiraled in to the high grass due to the right elevon in the "up" position.
I don't know how to trouble-shoot the servo, and I hate to drop $50 for another fuselage if this one just needs a simple repair. Of course, I have had the circuit board/servo partially out of the 'Bird and can't see any obvious damage.
Have any of you folks worked on the circuit board or servo and could give me a clue as to where I might look? Just got a taste of flying this today, and all the rapairs I made were good as it tracked straight and climbed as it built up speed. Could be fun.
George