So my mini-funtana does not roll well in the grass with the tiny wheels and cuffs on it. Anyone know what it will do if I put bigger wheels onto it and leave out the cuffs? I dont want it to look weird but its hard to find such short grass or a paved surface!

I typically run 3" Dave Brown foam wheels on the grass strips around here. They make touch and gos a lot easier, and may make your take-offs easier since the plane will not react to small bumps as easily.

Dr.1

Hoo baby.... If you do put 3" tires on that sucker, do us a favor and post a picture or two.

I've got a mini-edge. It sucks. Blasted thing actually will hook a tire ON PAVEMENT!! It's cost me a motor shaft (and the motor is trash when the shaft breaks at the bearings) that broke, a bent motor shaft (same deal... trash), at least two screwed gear boxes, and one servo. OK, the servo might have just frozen in fear on it's own. After all, darn near every flight killed something expensive and mechanical, and I think it figured it was next and couldn't stand the suspense.

The carbon fiber gear legs on the first set of gear weren't very strong. The 2nd set seemed ok so long as I didn't try to take off from the ground...... grin............ or land fast........ "fast" as in, "at a speed sufficient for the aircraft to remain airborne".

I've attempted to fly that dog off of a soccer field that's very closely mowed bermuda grass. That "green billiard table" was just cut a day or so before. On the landing, the wheels hooked something..... jeez, I got not a clue WHAT...... and that pig dug it's cowl into the grass (and that balstedly beautiful egg shell cracked like a.... well, like an eggshell) and then flipped.

BTW, I left off the pants when I first assembled the thing and put on wheels that were 1/2" larger than the ones from the kit.

3" wheels or similar will help on larger planes, such as a 40 sized trainer, but not on this plane. If it is the min-Funtana I'm thinking of, it has a 30" something wing span an weights 1.5 pounds. 3" "standard" wheels will kill that plane. Way to heavy, will mess with the balance point and move it forward and down by a lot, add too much drag, and would look totally silly.

IMO, you best chance of getting a setup that will work in grass is to use pylon racing wheels like the following.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXK845&P=7

These are cheap, should bolt on with only a minor change (remove pants and maybe new bolts for axels), aren't very heavy, etc. Their thin section will allow them to roll thru grass with little resistance, and they are larger in diameter than the stock wheels.

If that doesn't work, you might try stripping the gear. That plane can easily be hand launched and belly landed. Doesn't look as nice in the air without the gear, and you may need to put a skid plate on the bottom, but it is better than tearing out the gear due to tall grass. It can also be harrier landed if you have the skills, which is almost a zero airspeed landing.

BTW, I hand launched it on it's one and only flight over the soccer field.

JohnW,
I think the belly landing deal might not work very good IF that mini-Funtana has the original gearbox and engine that was the original "suggested power system" with the first Funtana/Edge's. At least mine seemed to be extemely fragile for a couple of reasons.

If those two models are flown with an outrunner and it's somewhat shorter prop, anything might work. But as long as that 12" prop is on the gearbox, the engine won't stop it from windmilling even when the engine is shut down. And if that "huge lever arm" hits anything other than air, it seems to kill either gearbox parts, or motor parts.

And my cowl was really beautiful, but really weak. I thought about flying mine without the gear but after seeing just how little it took to turn the lower part of the cowl into paint flakes and beautifully clean glass cloth (I would have thought that SOME resin would have penetrated between the inside coat and the outside gel!), I blew that off. I also costed out what it'd take to do a "prop saver" rig on that power system. I figured to heck with the prop, I was just BLOODY TIRED OF BUYING $65 MOTORS! and replacing gearboxes.

Hey.......... I sound mad, right? Actually, I'm not. That model taught me a bunch about these newfangled ARFs and this "new" RC hobby that I was just getting back into after more than 15 years. It was poorly designed and probably/maybe shouldn't have been released until they had the outrunner power system they're NOW suggesting.

Darock, your probably right on the belly landing. I've flown the mini-F a few times, but it wasn't mine, it wasn't stock (used a outrunner), and I never looked real close at the setup as it pertains to belly landing. We had a paved RC car track that made a perfect "runway" so landing was a non-issue. I really didn't know if a belly landing would work on that plane, but it does on many small electrics. I'd still think the pylon racing wheels would help, but again, without owning that plane, it is just a guess.

The one I flew was a monster with the outrunner setup, don't know which outrunner, but it was a Model Motors Gold AXI with Castle Creations controller. As small electrics go, I thought the mini I flew was a very good performer. Capable of precision aerobatics and 3D, well behaved, huge flight envelope. Almost flew like a larger plane. I really didn't notice any weak build... I'd consider it a light build. I'm sure it won't survive much of a crash, but if it was made stronger (i.e. heavier) it wouldn't fly as well. It is common marketing to sell stuff at the bare minimum configuration. This presents a lower sticker price. I understand the complaint, but I can't really fault the vendor for packaging the plane configured for a "cheap" brushed/geared setup. Outrunners that would have worked in that plane were available long before the plane was released. It just goes back to marketing tactics. But tactics aside, I was impressed by the mini I flew.

LOL, I had the same problem with my Mini Edge, I got it too rog & fly pretty well but not once did I ever land it gracefully!! I finally put it out of it's misery not too long ago when after a nice little display of a short hover pulled out of with a sweet looking knife-edge I promptly pile drove it staright into the ground. Freeing up the speed controller, 4 new servos, & the 3-cell lipo for an Airfoil Z Yak!

JohnW,
Actually, when EFlite released the Edge they suggested the best power system was their own 400Park brushless inrunner and gearbox. There was nothing about the setup that was low end of the price range. The motor was $65 and the gearbox about $15. They just didn't want anyone putting some other retailers power setup in the model. You're dead right about there being plenty of outrunners around then that would have been perfect. EFlite has recently discovered that their own brandnew Park400BL outrunner (at $60) is now the perfect powersystem. That's what is annoying about the deal.

And with that suicide power system, they should also have suggested some kind of "prop saver" setup. And didn't.

But what the heck..... It got me back wanting to fly RC and gave me a headsup about the ARF industry. GRIN..... I'm using the stuff I just pulled from the Edge in a decent little ZERO that comes with a prop saver. Hey, can't sweat the little stumbles when you're having so much fun.........

HiYa Grump..... Wish you lived near enough to come this weekend to our electric fun fly. I'm building the ZERO 'cause one of the other old guys has been talking about bringing a "combat Corsair" he's doing as electric....... chuckle chuckle...... And I plan to POUNCE ON HIM OUTA' THE SUN with my ZERO....... just when he least expects it!!!!!!!!

darock, you’re probably right, they weren’t going to suggest a competitors motor for their plane. The electric flight aspect of our hobby has had some growing pains. Can’t get motor makers to rate their engines the same, hard to determine life cycle on LiPo packs, esp at different current draws, which motor to pick when there are a zillion types on the market. Some software tools like Motorcalc help some. But I think the best bet is to search forums (like RCU) to see what others have done, then make an educated guess on a setup that will work to your liking, and hope for the best. Always need to take manufacture recommendations with a grain of salt. Cheers.