spent last summer flying aero bird elec. park flyer bought a surdy birb 2 & a o.s .25 fx , j.r. quatro w/basic flight sim part of hanger 9 arrow trainner pkg gettin good w/ sim want to no if any one can give me idea of how the sturdy bird handels before i fly it

A guy came to our field with a sturdy bird.

He had never flown anything before. He claimed to have used the simulator for a year, so one of the instructors took him up on a buddy box for a free intro flight. He flew flawlessly and was able to do advanced maneuvers.... inverted figure 8's, outside loops.... The plane looks like a spad to me but it flew well in the hands of a beginner.

I am still jealous as heck!!! I just can't believe it. (Meanwhile, I am still having trouble getting lined-up with the runway).

So, buy it, but don't bring it to our field, OK? LOL, I can't take anymore 'natural' pilots.

I'm not bitter. ......WAIT!....yes I am!

Great choice of airplane........but don't use the .25.......just too underpowered! (personal experience) Buy yourself a Super Tigre .40, .45 or the .51 and use that instead and I know you'll be pleasantly surprised! Also, when you're building the wing.......use the strapping tape over the entire wing surface.....the strength gained is worth it and the weight is negligible. I also use 5/16" dowels for the wing hold-downs. This modified plane can fly inverted indefinately, it can hover with the .51 and it's a real joy to learn on as well as being an everyday flyer! I use 16 - #64 rubber bands to hold the wing on and it can withstand a full back pull out from a full- powered dive! We also use skis on the Sturdy Bird 2 all winter long. Out of a hanger full of various planes........the Sturdy Bird 2 has to be my favorite and that's not just because I learned to fly glow with her, either. I've also modified my fuselage to not use the dowels to hold the engine on, instead I just attach the firewall with screws. Loops, snap rolls etc.......you're going to have soooooo much fun with this plane that you're going to wonder why more people don't fly this bird! Inexpensive too!

I have a 40 LA on mine, the stock fuse is a little heavy, after I crashed the first time, I got a new fuse AKA, PVC drain pipe from Home depot, it was half as thick as the stock drainpipe, flies much better, looses the brick syndrome.

thank's so much for the feed back, im new to the forum and i can see it,s going to be gerrrrate!. i have the arrow trainer from the hanger 9 pkg it has the .40 evo engine i thought about useing it from the start hooby shop guy / r.c. pilot rec. .25 fx for a begginer like me also said .25 engine would be usefull down the line. have went to 2 different clubs my scheduel conflicts & their not to close thought about just taking it up some elec. exp & basic sim exp. understand orinentation perspectives.

Use the .40 evo.......you'll be happy you did!

This sounds pretty good, can I get a look at it and maybe some of the prices for other engines please?

HHMMMMMM a .40 you say??? Well I had one years ago with a OS .25 FP on it and it flew quite well. Plenty of power to do whatever you wanted with that kind of plane.

have.25 os fx monyed & broken in started good wont start to day how cold is to cold is to cold for this eng. it 's 25 f

If you want to taxi around on the ground all day......then use the .25.....it's about all its good for.

I agree that performance will be marginal with the 25. The sturdy birdie II really is a 40 size plane. Anytime it is colder than 55' you might have difficulty starting it. Heat the engine somehow and it will start. Keeping the fuel warm helps alot. Methanol doesn't vaporize below 55'.

if i go with the evo 40 what size prop should i use?

I like the Master Airscrew 10x7 on the club's .40 Sturdy Bird 2.

Gee then what was I doing? Had plenty of power to take off, do rolls, loops, Immelmanns and Cuban 8's and just about anything else.

I couldn't tell you what you were doing, but I think it would be a disservice to advise using a .25 with the Sturdy Bird 2. Certainly experienced pilots could and do fly the plane with a .25, but as a powerplant for a novice I strongly dissagree. If you have a problem with my humble opinion, censor me.......you are the moderator, just remember it wasn't I that first took up issue with another's opinion.

You can consider it a disservice if you want but I stand by what I said. Yes I am an experienced pilot but I have had newbies fly it with the .25 and guess what??? No problem. I don't have a problem with your humble opinion but there are other opinions out there and mine is speaking from experience, not presumption.

I just have a problem with statements like this as it's erroneous and I based my comment on actual hands on flying.

HMMMMMM.......a .25 you say? Plenty of power to do anything I want? Did I get that right? What if I want to hover or fly in 25+ mph winds? The word "presumption" has the word arrogance in it's definition......how is it that you can "assume" that my opinion isn't based on experience? Please resist the urge to degrade anyone with your future posts. Regards.

My experience comes from flying a duraplane with the fp25. Our field was surrounded by trees and i actually had to fly around inside the trees to get enough altitude to fly out. Takeoffs were slow unless the grass was very short. If the grass was very long it was difficult to get off the ground at all. Once at altitude it was pretty fun to fly. I found that removing the landing gear and replacing the factory drainpipe fuselage with a lighter one really helped the performance. Then i put on a 40fp and that made all the difference.

flew it to day w/ the .25 was manageable made four box paterns cut back speed to feel out landing speed flew to close to 80 foot pine tree had to climb to get it plane suffered only minor damage i hand launched the sturdy bird ground conditions were bumpy. flew good need some landing advice ie paterns aproach line realative to my position knowing i need to land in to the wind. have exp. belly landing small elec + some basic simulator practice

Now who is making ridiculous comments???? Hover? give me a break!!!! When you say all the .25 will do is taxi the plane I can only percheive that you have never flown one as you would know that the engine can and will fly it. I got mine back in '90 as I hadn't flown in 12 years and wanted something that could handle abuse. I flew it for 2 seasons with that poor old anemic can't fly the plane engine and never did I feel that it was under powered and it flew quite nice at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle.

How do you feel I degraded anyone by stating a known fact? Oh and BTW the guy that bought the plane from me with the engine flew it for another 3 years, no problem!

does it really bother you that someone was able to do what you say isn't possible that you have to resort to asking questions like the one above? Hover, 25+mph winds, jeez Louise!

Your verbal postioning indicates that your experience with the .25 is all inclusive. It's pointless to even try to reason with such strong emotion. Also, for your edification a Super Tigre .40, .45 or .51 propped with a 12x4 MAS will hover the Sturdy Bird 2. A MAS 10x7 will also fly the Sturdy Bird 2 in winds of 25 mph, but not powered by a .25. There's no comparison between a .25 and a .40 equipped bird and since the original poster had both....it was my recommendation to use the .40 he had. HMMMMMMMMM??? You might also want to consider that your postion as "Senior Forum Manager" might lend credence to your statements.....because there are those that live at different altitudes and still others that fly off of less than desirable fields where such a broad statement wouldn't apply. I've watched two pilots come to the field with .25 powered Sturdy Bird 2's and not get off the runway. Experience, there's no substitute.

CORNERS!!

You guys, stop right now.

Now, I have two 25FP's. One's worn out, on a Senorita, will no longer lift the plane off grass. If I have one of the young stalwarts handlaunch it (yep, handlaunch a Senorita) it will fly, a 9X5 APC seemed to be the best bet (again, it was worn out when I got it.)

The other came new, with the SturdyBirdy I bought in about '91, complete with Kyosho 5-channel radio. I hate that plane, but it did fly okay in a 26 mph wind, once. Just to prove I could do it. The engine worked great in an old Ace Super Pacer, too (sure do wish I hadn't splintered that Super Pacer the third time...)

The old timers (okay, they're 3 years older than me) in my club refer to the FP series as "Flea Power."

Just FYI,
Dave Olson

My position has nothing to do with anything here so quit bringing it up. All I did was state that the plane would fly with that engine and with that combination could do what I wanted it to do within its limitations, limitations that all combinations have. You posted what I feel was a stupid question when you asked if it would hover with the .25 and fly in a 25 mph wind. When these planes came out way back they were really popular and a lot of guys here used them for fun combat with those poor little .25's so what I was saying wasn't inclusive. You say that you got it to hover and fly in high winds with the engines listed well sure you did as you can fly a cement slab if you put enough engine on it, jeez give me a break. If you want a small rocket put the 40 on it and have a ball, if you want something a bit more docile then the .25 would handle it and that's all I have been trying to convey here. I don't feel I am showing a strong emotion, only speaking what I saw happen in the real world here.

If calling someone's question stupid or using the word presumption (which is defined as arrogant behavior) to describe someone's opinion isn't degrading I don't know what is. It's apparently too much to ask for someone in your position to take into consideration what harm the lack of intonation an inflection the typed word has, but it should be a matter of common decency not to insult those that have a different opinion than you. Now that you've shown how you conduct yourself, I will not continue this repartee. Regards.

going to run w/ the .25 for now i apreciate the input varied opinons varied situations ie my skill nominal wether + field conditions all contribute to defrent prospectives / opinons these varied opinons broaden my perspective thank you still looking for some good input on landings if thats a fair question.