EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

hey guys.........there has been a lot of interest generated by the new micro flyer produced by wattage. there seems to be very mixed reviews on the plane and it makes it hard for interested people to know which side is correct. let me start by saying that i bought the plane as soon as it hit the shelves. i had great visions of flying in front of my house all day. when i got my hands on it and threw it up for the first time i felt i was cheated. it flew horribly and i had no control over it. i kept trying untill one time i picked it up and the rudder would not work. i took it back to the hobby shop and they agreed it should not have broken so they gave me a new one. i took it out in dead calm winds and...................WOW................like magic the plane flew great!!!! i was so excited that after the first flight i charged it up ASAP and got out to fly it again. this time i landed it in the soft grass and i see that the rudder is not working again. i was not about to take it back because i knew they would not exchange another so i took it upon myself to fix it. i pulled it apart and found the actuator wires had broken because they were installed with not enough slack.


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...058978_mf1.jpg

EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

As of right now i have owned 4 of these planes and every single one has lost rudder ability. I know 3 others who have bought this plane and each one of them has the same problem. So........ here are the negative sides to the wattage micro flyer.

1. Actuator wires break rendering rudder useless.

2. Flight characteristics seem to vary drastically from plane to plane.

3. Transmitter range is extremely weak. Plane stutters and looses signal a lot.

EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

Now........what can we do about it you say? On my fourth plane I was determined to make it work. Here is what i did.

1. Cut the plane open with a new #11 x-acto knife. Trim lightly along the seems so you do not cut into the receiver or antenna.


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...058996_mf2.jpg

2. You can now see were the actuator wires are broken. pull the actuator coil off the plane and GENTALY pull some more wire out of the coil. Solder the wires back into the receiver terminals outlined in the picture below. (be sure to check polarity to see if the rudder moves the right direction)


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...060971_mf5.jpg

EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

3. Now is a good time to adjust your motor. I put a 1/32 shim of balsa on the right side of my motor to give it a little right thrust.


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...059033_mf4.jpg

4. You are going to have to add glue to get it back together, which is going to add weight. The way I see it........this thing is over weight already. What I did is trimmed all excess Styrofoam from inside the fuselage that I could. Here is where I cut.


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...061442_mf7.jpg

EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

****There is not much you can do about the transmitter range (at least nothing I know about). All I can say is try to walk toward the plane while flying or try to keep it close to you.

5. After the weight is trimmed and wires soldered up........I glued the fuselage back together with plain old rubber cement. Use as little glue as you can while still making it say together.


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...058996_mf2.jpg

6. I chose to keep the landing gear and the gear plate off to save weight. I fly my plane in a grass park. That doesn’t really matter anyway because the gear is USELESS. You cant takeoff and land on the gear on purpose no matter what you do so why add weight?

EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

After all this work i bet your wondering what the payoff is I can now fly the plane in 10 mph winds and when its calm i can get the plane high enough that I can hardly see it anymore. I have it trimmed so i can fly it in a city block intersection and i have even done some rudder rolls from a higher altitude. I get on average, 5 minute flights (depending on wind.


http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/1...059053_mf6.jpg

EVOL's OPINION :

The micro flyer is VERY fun to fly when it is working.........to the point where you are thinking about it all day at work untill you can go home and launch it. That being said...............

If you are looking for a no hassle fun plane to fly I would NOT suggest buying this plane (get a slow stick). It is frustrating and you run the risk of damaging the actuator on the first flight and then you are out $40 (i heard wattage will replace planes but it takes a long time). If you are not willing to put up with replacing units or fixing it yourself you are throwing $40 out the window. This is a new step in the field of the RTF micro flyer and I am glad Wattage took the first crack at it. I hope the interest people have shown in the micro flyer fuels more companies to give it a shot.

***I AM HOPING OTHERS WILL POST THEIR IDEAS OR FIXES ON THIS THREAD TO GET THIS LITTLE PLANE FLYING EVEN BETTER***

chall

Great info EVOL, but I'm a little puzzled by one reference. If the wires are breaking at the receiver terminals, there is no need to try and unwind wire off the actuator. You can just splice in any old wire you have around. Surely an inch or so would give you the slack you seek.

There's no magic in the enamelled magnetic wire.

But if they're breaking right close to the actuator coil, then you'd have to unwind enough to solder new wire on. Sounds like delicate surgery to me!

EVOL

My Feedback: (2)

yes your right.........but for those who might not have extra enamel wire arround they can gentally pull some slack out.

andyjbj

Good work on the Starfire...so it flies?? How well/how fast? I imagine it's a real joy!
Today I'm going to finish my plane for the MF system...check the thread on Small Flying Arts if you're interested.

Bodie Jr

Hello all. I'm new here but I have a mod you can try at your own risk. I added 2 additional cells to my Tx for the WMF with good success. I've been flying it with this mod for awhile with no problems but I don't know at this time what the voltage regulator can handle. I haven't dissected as of yet.

My range has increased to 90 feet and it flies great after some static trimming. Another addition I am going to do is add some noise reduction caps to the motor if it doesn't have any. From the pics it's difficult to say for sure but there seems to be no caps on the motor, the best I can tell.

I haven't broken any actuator wires yet but mine seems to have good strain relief already. I removed the decals and LG to reduce weight also but It will ROG off my driveway with the gear in place. I made an adapter out of foam so I can use my 145 LiPo's with a strip of scotch tape for added security for the cell. Flight time and characteristics improved by using this cell probably due to weight reduction of the 145 cell.

Here's the weights of the stock Wattage cell compared to other popular cells:

Stock Wattage 150Mah Pack......4.8grs
145Mah...................................3.8grs
Worley 170Mah........................3.8grs
E-Tec 250Mah..........................5.6grs

Heres a pic of the 2 cell mod.

As I said earlier do this mod at your own risk as quality of components seems to vary with some models. This can possibly fry your Tx.

Overall I'm very pleased with the performance I have now.

partmangr

DO you think the extra two cells to the transmitter effect the charging of the lithium Ion batt?? Could it overchargem or is it regulated to a certan amp/volt no matter what is piped into the transmitter???

Dan

Bodie Jr

I'm using my E-Tech 1250 to charge my lipo's. I don't know for sure if Tx charging circuit is regulated.

I should have mentioned in my previous posts that I wasn't using the Tx charger.

I would suggest if you do this mod to check amps and volts during charging, without the 2 cells added, and compare your data to the amps and volts with the 2 cells added in order to charge the LiPo safely.

partmangr

Ok its official *****DO NOT***** Charge your batt off of the transmitter if you hot rod it with a bigger battery. The batt gets hot real quick, I snatched it out of the charger and threw it in the freazer. No real damage seems to be done as it was only in there for a second or two. I got a second plane to have a stock one so Ill use that one to charge batteries and the hot rod to fly.

Dan

Marc_Haase

My Feedback: (1)

[] Hey all:
Got a micro flyer today.....neat little plane. seems powerful enough for the low price and low expectations. Got a couple flights in and made a less then perfect landing. Recharge.....ready to go....."spin the propeller off"...? Yep. So I tried to expoxy the prop to the shaft.....spin off again...Any thoughts...?
Marc

Greg Covey

Marc,

Rough up the metal shaft a bit with either sandpaper or a dremel tool.

Then use a small amount of medium CA to hold it in place.

Good luck!

rfriedersdorf

Really good info on the Micro Flyer. I bought one and managed to get about 5 or 6 flights and a rough landing knocked the tail fin off. Which broke one of the wires on the maganant. I managed to soldere a stip of wire in it and it works fine now. I agree the wires on the actuators are really to short. Wattage needs to address this problem and give us all upgrades. Question, has any on manged to put and elevator control with different transmitter on one? Would be really cool to have one with speed control, rudder, elevator. And of course use a standard transmitter. Have fun.
Roy

Marc_Haase

My Feedback: (1)

Well, for $34 bucks, doubtful on the free upgrade. Would be nice though.[8D] I have had to repair rudder wires 2 times now. The first repair I had to disassemble the entire plan to track it down. And I dont know about you all, but I had to get a magnifying glass out to even find the other end of that copper wire. I know the whole concept was small, but I actually think this would be a lot more fun with a bit bigger wing and a lttle more hedral to slow it down a bit and ease those "landings". Less repairs, more fun. Anyway, still well worth it, I already got my $34 bucks of entertainment out of it, so I figure it's all gravy from here on out....

I would really like to see a version with elevator control. Maybe with that bit bigger wing, they could add the extra control surface.

Good luck all, keep the posts coming.[&:]

GWR

My Feedback: (31)

I'll have to try that transmitter mod. My MFer goes ok for about 20feet then starts twitching like from a lost signal. Right now I'm disappointed with it but I'll try again after the trans mod.

bboykin

received my plane few weeks ago have had great sucess flying it have bee able to keep out of swimming pool i let my 5 yr old grandson try it at his house he had fun it just took off and flew in circle i had him turn left or right he had a ball we flew it today same as before only problem is dthat i can't get the battery connections to stay plugged in while charging hope they make one with elev control will be first on order

ggshemaka

I have found that I experience a lot less interference if I avoid pointing the antenna at the plane. I usually point the antenna at a 45 degree angle towards the ground which seems to help.

Good luck

CostaRica1

I bought one for Christmas....The plane always dive to the left just after a few meters of "flight"...In their fourth flight the propeller just fell apart. I wasted 35 dollars.

snoop42

My Feedback: (1)

I had the wheel come off one side while landing when flying around the street lights. Forget about finding the wheel retainer! I noticed that the axle was long enough to use a small needle nose to put a 90 degree bend in the wire outside of the wheels. No more lost wheel for me.

EvolPenguin

These look really cool. I'm thinking maybe I should get myself one.

Alex

bboykin

received new one week ago it is for now 6 yr old grandson also purchased extra battery hope it works better on my plane if not will let grandson have it i am hoping that they can make it up, left, right and speed control this plane is fun if no wind

bboykin

just woundering if you can put the other 47 or 27mg receiver and magnet act. in one plane with the other one then have elev.control. have to have tray to hold tx's butt what would happen. someone has opened one up how about weight and room to add extra rec.