Hobbico NextStar
07-23-2004, 08:08 AM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
The one I am flying, on take off it veers to the right severally. In the turns it yaws bad. When the student makes a mistake it is harder to recover than most trainers. Good luck with yours. Hope you get it flying decent.
07-23-2004, 08:43 AM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
I'm a well experienced flight instructor & I just crashed a student's Nexstar on its maiden flight. It wanted to turn hard right. I had to use full left rudder & full left aileron to to make it fly straight (albeit in a steep left bank -- sort of a 60 deg knife edge). The AFS was active, but set for 30%. It snapped into a right hand spin twice, & in each case I was just barely able to make a save. Eventually I ran out of airspace & it hit a tree with relatively minor damage.
The post mortem revealed a severe right thrust setting, that Hobbico later confirmed to be "normal". I suspect that the right thrust in this particular ac is substantially beyond Hobbico's intended set up. This could be the case in the other incidents noted in this thread. we intend to test fly it again next Tues with a different Xmitter/rec set up & (no AFS). If it still does the right turn thing again , I will now know enough to kill the power & dead stick it in.
This test will confirm the thrust line issue & if it is the case, it is an easy fix (although it shouldn't have to be done).
The post mortem revealed a severe right thrust setting, that Hobbico later confirmed to be "normal". I suspect that the right thrust in this particular ac is substantially beyond Hobbico's intended set up. This could be the case in the other incidents noted in this thread. we intend to test fly it again next Tues with a different Xmitter/rec set up & (no AFS). If it still does the right turn thing again , I will now know enough to kill the power & dead stick it in.
This test will confirm the thrust line issue & if it is the case, it is an easy fix (although it shouldn't have to be done).
07-23-2004, 10:41 AM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
It is interesting about the issues some have had with the NexSTAR - I am a student who purchased one. At the advice of the Instructor as well as advice I found here, the plane never had the AFS connected. My instructor flew it's maiden flight and it flew just fine. I had the speed brakes and leading edge slat extensions on at that time. My instructor requested that I removed the speed brakes and we left the slats on (AFS still unplugged).
My lessons were conducted with this setup and I soloed after 6 buddy box flights. The plane continues to fly well. I almost crashed it a couple of days ago - pilor error. Just after takeoff, I tried to make an aliron trim adjustment with the plane at too low of an altitude - inadvertantly hit full left trim and the plane winged over - managed to recover with full right stick about 2 feet off the ground and fixed the trim. Learned a lesson there!!
Point being, my NexSTAR flies very well - hopefully you folks can address the issues you have encountered and get the bird in the air.
My lessons were conducted with this setup and I soloed after 6 buddy box flights. The plane continues to fly well. I almost crashed it a couple of days ago - pilor error. Just after takeoff, I tried to make an aliron trim adjustment with the plane at too low of an altitude - inadvertantly hit full left trim and the plane winged over - managed to recover with full right stick about 2 feet off the ground and fixed the trim. Learned a lesson there!!
Point being, my NexSTAR flies very well - hopefully you folks can address the issues you have encountered and get the bird in the air.
07-23-2004, 04:18 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
Funny thread... The NextStar sells for 399.00 Because it includes the AFS and Nextstar Verision of G2
Yet everyone recommends not using the AFS. If thats the case you can get an RTF trainer for 299.00 or less and get G2 Lite for about the same price.
Sounds to me that contrary to what Bax is saying its is marketing Hype that is selling this Plane.
I remember threads on this board claiming how this might be the first uncrashable trainer (I think RCadmin hinted at that in several posts after doing a review) Now that the plane has been out for a while it seems that its high tech gadgets aren't making much of a difference and many seem to have complained about its construction quality.
Yet everyone recommends not using the AFS. If thats the case you can get an RTF trainer for 299.00 or less and get G2 Lite for about the same price.
Sounds to me that contrary to what Bax is saying its is marketing Hype that is selling this Plane.
I remember threads on this board claiming how this might be the first uncrashable trainer (I think RCadmin hinted at that in several posts after doing a review) Now that the plane has been out for a while it seems that its high tech gadgets aren't making much of a difference and many seem to have complained about its construction quality.
07-23-2004, 05:05 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
This is to reply to britbat thanks for your info I think that I am going to leave the plane on the ground untill the dealer I purchased it from contacts the manufacturer (bill baxter). This way I hope they will back up their crash warranty. This plane has been in my house since Dec. 03. What is a few more weeks. Thanks ford all of your help. The motor setting was the first thing the 2nd instructor was talking about. I think the factory has turned the mounts around or something.
07-23-2004, 05:41 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
qwazzy123,
I see you are from Colorado, And I think I know you. Have you been to the feild lately? I was going to go out thursday evening , but by the time I got off work the weather was bad.
Talk to you later
Scott
"Bushwhackers"
I see you are from Colorado, And I think I know you. Have you been to the feild lately? I was going to go out thursday evening , but by the time I got off work the weather was bad.
Talk to you later
Scott
"Bushwhackers"
07-23-2004, 08:04 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
from south arkansas Just want to figure out what is wrong with this plane I think the factory has made mistakes. Hope it hans't cost AMA very much in insurance claims, this plane tells everbody they can fly it with no help. It might be true if the plane was flightworthy when it was made.
07-23-2004, 08:09 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
You are right. this plane will not fly without the new stuff that has been placed on it. Unless this stuff covers the mistakes building the plane. If you take this off nobody can control the plane
07-24-2004, 02:17 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
After my instructor took my brand new Nexstar Select up a few times, and I had a few fly arounds for a few days he recommended to remove the speed brakes. So the next day while flying with my instructor (I was on the buddy box) I gave full throttle to perform a simple roll. The plane lost all control and DID NOT respond to the TX. My instructor barely made recovery about 25 feet from the ground.
After swallowing his heart (cause it gave a real scare) we rationalized what could cause such a reaction from the plane. He concluded that the servos were too weak and could not overcome the forces on the wing surfaces. He thought that maybe high torque servos would solve this problem.
Boy am I glad I read these threads, cause now I know its not the fact that the servo were too weak. Its simple, the plane was poorly engineered.
I must admit though, she flies sweet with the speeds brakes and the stabilizers attached. Though I was hoping I had bought 2 planes in 1. Was thinking to upgrade this with flaperons and removing the speed breaks and stabilizers as suggested in the manual, now I know that's not a good idea. This plane was meant to be flown at low speeds, maybe that's why its such a good tool to learn how to land with.
I bought a Venus 40 at a very good price and stored it until I'm ready for such a hot baby like her.
After swallowing his heart (cause it gave a real scare) we rationalized what could cause such a reaction from the plane. He concluded that the servos were too weak and could not overcome the forces on the wing surfaces. He thought that maybe high torque servos would solve this problem.
Boy am I glad I read these threads, cause now I know its not the fact that the servo were too weak. Its simple, the plane was poorly engineered.
I must admit though, she flies sweet with the speeds brakes and the stabilizers attached. Though I was hoping I had bought 2 planes in 1. Was thinking to upgrade this with flaperons and removing the speed breaks and stabilizers as suggested in the manual, now I know that's not a good idea. This plane was meant to be flown at low speeds, maybe that's why its such a good tool to learn how to land with.
I bought a Venus 40 at a very good price and stored it until I'm ready for such a hot baby like her.
07-24-2004, 06:35 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
thanks for your information. I took my plane back to the shop that I purchased it from. We disconected the AFS and he said that he would be at the field tomorrow to try it out. He said that the first pilot had made too many adjustments for the AFS. I hope to let you the good not bad tomorrow evening.. I know that the computer sim. ssurde makes a differece when you turn off the AFS.
07-24-2004, 07:30 PM
#37
RE: Hobbico NextStar
My brother and I have all three Planes that are mentioned here. The Sig LT-40/ Hangar 9 Alpha .40/ Hobbico Nexstar Select, and also a Tower Trainer .40MKII. All four of these are fine Trainer Planes, and all four fly nice. The Tower is a little smaller than the others with a 62" WS, but it still handles well. The Alpha, and especially the Nexstar have loads of lift. Both these Planes are solid Flyers and both came with real good running powerful engines. The Alpha has the EVO and Nexstar a real fine O.S .46. My Sig LT-40 was the Kit Version and I installed a GMS 40 on it. All four of these Planes fly extremely well, but I do give the Nexstar the highest marks for the greasiest landings. It floats in extremely slow, and is super easy to land with rarely a bounce. The Sig LT-40 is big with a 70" WS, and a real favorite among Flyers. Just a great no frills excellent Plane with very predictable good Flying habits. Can't think of a bad thing to say about the Sig LT-40. The Alpha .40 with a 64" WS is another Trainer that is well built, fly's great, and has a very good price tag among RTF ARF's. Probally one of the best buys among RTF's in my opinion. The Nexstar is also a good buy in my opinion for what you get with it. Even if you don't like the AFS it is still a good buy. It is a good looking Trainer that don't look like a box, and it comes with the Higher Priced, high quallity O.S .46 Ball Bearing Engine. Once you include the Nexstar edition Simulator that comes with it, you can't hardly beat a price of $400. For all the effort that they put into the Nexstar I was glad to see that they kept the Plane affordable. Even if you don't learn any faster with the Nexstar then you might with any other Trainer, you can still take pride in knowing that you have a great looking Plane with a Great engine that fly's good, and you even have a Sim to play with when you can't get to the field.
ORIGINAL: Montague
I've only flown the NextStar a few times. I honestly wasn't impressed, it was a pretty average trainer. The one I flew had the flaps removed, and the LE devices both on and off.
The LT-40 is more of a floater than the NextStar. The NextStar appears "small" compared to the LT-40 and Alpha, and seems harder to handle than either. (I didn't measure the wing area, but the fuse is visibly smaller, which makes it harder to see in the air, which I think makes a difference). I didn't compare the NextStar side by side as I would have liked to, but I really found I prefer teaching landings with the LT-40 or Alpha.
None of this is to say the NextStar is a bad plane. It's not. It's a perfectly serviceable trainer, and if you have a NextStar, you should be able to learn to fly it just fine. You won't find anyone who can't learn on a NextStar but somehow learns on some other trainer. And I don't think the NextStar will make learning faster or slower than any other trainer.
(the sim, on the other hand, is a different story. Any sim will help a lot, regarless of it coming boxed with the trainer or bought seperately).
The AFS system is ok when it works, but the FMA co-pilot is superior, IMHO. The AFS was getting confused at our field by a large building with lots of glass that was opposite of the sun (at least that's what we figured. It didn't see to work right, so it got disabled pretty quickly). The Co-Pilots that I've flown with did a much better job of handling the building, clouds and so on.
As for flying with a flight stabalization device, they aren't bad when used correctly (assuming they work as designed). As Bax said, the key is to keep them turned way down, so they are just helping a little bit rather than doing all the flying for you. I did get to have fun once with a guy's trainer hooked up to a co-pilot with the gain on a seperate channel. We turned the gain up to max and did all kinds of goofy things. It's speed at recovering was amazing. We never did try an autopilot-landing, but I've no doubt it would have worked.
But for training, we set the gain just a hair above "off". The student could still roll in to a turn, release the ailerons, and pull through the turn pretty normally, but the co-pilot was still helping with maintaining altitude and with recovering from rolling the wrong way or other such normal beginner problems.
I've only flown the NextStar a few times. I honestly wasn't impressed, it was a pretty average trainer. The one I flew had the flaps removed, and the LE devices both on and off.
The LT-40 is more of a floater than the NextStar. The NextStar appears "small" compared to the LT-40 and Alpha, and seems harder to handle than either. (I didn't measure the wing area, but the fuse is visibly smaller, which makes it harder to see in the air, which I think makes a difference). I didn't compare the NextStar side by side as I would have liked to, but I really found I prefer teaching landings with the LT-40 or Alpha.
None of this is to say the NextStar is a bad plane. It's not. It's a perfectly serviceable trainer, and if you have a NextStar, you should be able to learn to fly it just fine. You won't find anyone who can't learn on a NextStar but somehow learns on some other trainer. And I don't think the NextStar will make learning faster or slower than any other trainer.
(the sim, on the other hand, is a different story. Any sim will help a lot, regarless of it coming boxed with the trainer or bought seperately).
The AFS system is ok when it works, but the FMA co-pilot is superior, IMHO. The AFS was getting confused at our field by a large building with lots of glass that was opposite of the sun (at least that's what we figured. It didn't see to work right, so it got disabled pretty quickly). The Co-Pilots that I've flown with did a much better job of handling the building, clouds and so on.
As for flying with a flight stabalization device, they aren't bad when used correctly (assuming they work as designed). As Bax said, the key is to keep them turned way down, so they are just helping a little bit rather than doing all the flying for you. I did get to have fun once with a guy's trainer hooked up to a co-pilot with the gain on a seperate channel. We turned the gain up to max and did all kinds of goofy things. It's speed at recovering was amazing. We never did try an autopilot-landing, but I've no doubt it would have worked.
But for training, we set the gain just a hair above "off". The student could still roll in to a turn, release the ailerons, and pull through the turn pretty normally, but the co-pilot was still helping with maintaining altitude and with recovering from rolling the wrong way or other such normal beginner problems.
07-28-2004, 07:01 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
After Sunday's flight I am surprised at the formance of my Nexstar. The hobby shop went through the plane and reset all of the throws. My instructor the took the plane up after unplugging the automatic control no turning it to 0 setting. After getting up the second time he let me make several circles around the field I finaly got the shakes and let him bring it to the ground. After 7 monthe I was proud to get it to the ground after the post that I read about this plane.
07-29-2004, 07:20 AM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
I test flew the repaired Nexstar on Monday this week, this time with the AFS disconnected. The same hard-right-turn behaviour was present as in the first flight. When I cut the throttle to ~ 1/3 the right turn behaviour became manageable but was still present. Unfortunately, what appears to be a radio Rx problem subsequently appeared & the Nexstar began an uncommanded steep decent & commenced to turn right again -- there was no response at all from the controls (throttle included) & the decent continued to groud level. Serious damage resulted. I contacted Hobbico & they said to pack it up & send it back.
This is obviously not typical Nexstar behaviour, but it would appear that there are a few "rogue" Nexstars out there. We shall see what Hobbico does in the way of honouring their guarantee.
This is obviously not typical Nexstar behaviour, but it would appear that there are a few "rogue" Nexstars out there. We shall see what Hobbico does in the way of honouring their guarantee.
07-29-2004, 07:48 AM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
The turning changing with throttle setting really makes it sound like a thrust line issue.
The Nextstars that I've seen havn't had this problem, plus lots of people on here have flown it with no problems, so I don't think it's a fundimental flaw in the airframe itself. I didn't get a good look at how the engine is mounted, but if it relys on plates to mount the engine, it sounds like there is a small-but-non-zero occurance of the engine getting mounted wrong.
Something to keep in mind, but probibly field fixable, so next time we get a new Nextstar at the field, I'll look closely at the engine thrustline.
The Nextstars that I've seen havn't had this problem, plus lots of people on here have flown it with no problems, so I don't think it's a fundimental flaw in the airframe itself. I didn't get a good look at how the engine is mounted, but if it relys on plates to mount the engine, it sounds like there is a small-but-non-zero occurance of the engine getting mounted wrong.
Something to keep in mind, but probibly field fixable, so next time we get a new Nextstar at the field, I'll look closely at the engine thrustline.
07-29-2004, 10:39 AM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
Regarding the post about gear damage. It has happened to me and at least one other at our field. If you look at the design, there is no "give" at all. It the gear was a single peice, there would be no problem, but since it is not, it tries to flex, and effectivly hinges where it enters the fuselage. It is held in place by the plastic "lock" from above, but only by a thin plywood sheet from below, which is glued to the body. A hard landing, or lots of ok landings will sooner or later push the bottom of the fuselage out.
07-29-2004, 02:01 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
Well in my case, I cut out the damaged under section and replaced the cracked ply with a piece of 3/8 poplar. Cut it to the exact size and you can round off the bottom to follow the curve of the plane.
The real fix would be to replace the Nextar gear with an after market set. Depends on your balsa engineering skills.
The real fix would be to replace the Nextar gear with an after market set. Depends on your balsa engineering skills.
07-29-2004, 02:04 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
And while you are at it, replace the nose wheel for one that offers better suspension and/or flexes closer to the wheel. Land the plane on grass and your nose wheel will bend enough to damage the fuselage behind the nose wheel.
07-29-2004, 02:43 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
I was wondering about the toughness of the main gear -- I suspected future problems.
That nosewheel problem is pretty standard for trainers. Other than easier take-offs for students, trike gear is just not a very good idea for models.
That nosewheel problem is pretty standard for trainers. Other than easier take-offs for students, trike gear is just not a very good idea for models.
07-29-2004, 03:13 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
Thanks for the infomation. My question is really ,I guess how about securing the landing
gear to prevent it from flexing ,or falling out as in my case, which compounded the problem.
gear to prevent it from flexing ,or falling out as in my case, which compounded the problem.
07-29-2004, 09:02 PM
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RE: Hobbico NextStar
Falling out was a problem with early shipments. The fix is to grind off about 1/8 inch from each of the legs
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My hobby store did it to all of their stock before selling them.
As for stopping that flex, I dont see how without replacing the gear for a solid 1 piece, which means modifying the fuselage.
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My hobby store did it to all of their stock before selling them.
As for stopping that flex, I dont see how without replacing the gear for a solid 1 piece, which means modifying the fuselage.
