RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

i'm looking at my plane now, and it seems that you would need to put the control rods to the side of the fiberglass rod. There is about 1/8 inch clearance between the prop and the rod on my plane, and i think this is normal since i haven't even flown my plane yet.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

I replaced my fish lines on my skyfly with the (E) strings from a guitar. these are the smallest ones and stopped the streching problems common to these planes. The servo end can be bent in a Z to fit the servo and the tail end, I replaced the horns with horns from an aerobird. A little tricky to fish them through but it can be done. I may try a little stiffer guitar string and see if I can elimate the rubber bands altogether. Sort of set it up just like the aerobird .

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

i'm not really familiar with the aero bird, and it's a little hard to find info on it since it's discontinued.

I went out flying today, and my plane acted more like a glider than an airplane. The motor could not produce enough thrust to keep the plane flying level, even with a fully peaked battery. So, I went to my LHS and got a new motor (different brand, i think it's GWS) And now the plane flies pretty darn good. My only complaint is that it won't do loops. The GWS motor that i got has a lot more torque than even a good sky fly motor, so i will be able to run a much higher pitch prop.

Can you guys stock sky flies do loops?

Tomorrow (oops that's today in about 8 hours. Just looked at the clock) I'll go back to my LHS and get a prop adapter and a couple of props to fool around with, as well as some flex cable control rods.

The only mishap I've had with my SkyFly is that i ran right into a tree and broke the wing in half. This was in no way the plane's fault, it was mine since the plane was far away, and my bad eyes (no depth perception) told me that the plane was alot closer than i thought. Good thing the wings are only $10.

The plane fared rather well with ROG take offs and landings all done in the shortly trimmed grass at my local YMCA soccer field.

Fun Stuff!

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Got a new wing today, as well as some 2mm control rods, dubro quick links, and an ElectriFly 3mm prop adapter with a 5mm output shaft mated to a APC 6X4 electric pusher prop. This goes very nicely with my upgraded motor, and the new control rods greatly increase precision.

I got the prop adapter to fit my motor by placing a smallpiece of aluminum tube between the motor shaft and the prop adapter. I cut a slit all the way down the side of the tube so it would compress with the prop adapter for a snug fit.

The new prop is not only more powerful and efficient, but it is also quieter when used with the prop adapter since it is moved farther back from the fuselage. (only about 1cm.)

I recommend this prop for anyone who flies a sky fly because they will see an increase in performance and runtimes.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPVF3&P=7

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

j.m. what GWSmotor did you put in you Sky Fly?

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

I figured it out! It's not a GWS at all! It's a great planes motor.

I remembered that on the package it said dc-3, and that it had a deans plug and long wires on it.
(it says it's a speed 400, but it's actually a 380 can size)
here it is:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGAT9&P=7

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

If that's a 380 size. I wonder what size the stock
motor is? I didn't think a below 380 size was in
any of this size plane.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

It brings a 380. I just got and flew my SkyFly today. It rocks. :D

And pics on the rod mod would be greatly appreciated!

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Are you hand launching your Sky Fly without the landing
gear and belly landing it in the grass. Or taking off from
the ground with landing gear? Done any mods to it yet?

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Where I flew yesterday there was really long grass, so I had no choice but to hand-toss it.

Only thing I've done to it is reinforced the elevator hinges with tape, that's it. Right now I was setting it up to go out and one of the nuts that go on the control horns broke, so I'm grounded until tmrw. [:o]

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Hi All, I haven't forgotten about the pics... Life just always seems to get in the way...

I'm out of town at the moment for the holidays. I should be able to get the pics posted 2nd week of Jan08.

I flew my modified skyfly last week and it flew great until I put in a dead battery, got about 5 seconds into the flight, lost power and had to emergency land it....folded the wing in half
But it was a wing that was almost ready to retire anyway...

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

do you guy's sky fly's do loops?

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

I have one of these it doesn't seem to pull the rudder much at all in either direction is there any way i can fix this?

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Hi revo3.3traxxas ,

my skyfly had really crummy control throw. When I replaced the fishing line with dubro control rods and used the inner most hole on the control horn I was able to at least double the throw.

If I can ever get around to getting the pics up here, I will have one that shows the amount of throw i was able to obtain.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Will Dubro control rods fix all my problems? will it push left and right i really want to fly it because as of now it's just gathering dust..

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

revo3.3traxxas,

I had pretty much given up on my skyfly before making the control rod conversion.

My skyfly wouldn't respond fast enough. If there was any wind, I had even less control.

I got to the point where I wasn't able to improve my flying skills with it.

Now that I have converted it, I can actually fly it low and slow and have enough control that I don't have to worry about it suddenly slamming into a tree or the ground because of lack of response.

I also didn't like the amount of resistance on the elevator surface so I cut the foam and used hinge tape. Might make sense to use hinge tape on the rudder as well.

Kevin.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

i lost mine in a tree again because of my stupid eye site.(no depth perception) So tomorrow I'll have to get up there on an extension ladder. By the looks of it, it didn't damage the plane at all.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

I have a Sky Fly great plane, even though it has a larger turn radius my Spitfire (parkzone) but it was my first 3 channel plane. I love that thing, unfortunately I have to replace the fusalage, tail and wing. I will also have to do some of the mods you guys did. Even though I have a more advanced park flyer, I still like my Sky Fly.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Well...

I just rethreaded the control wires thru the closest hole on the control horns, instead of the far ones like it comes from factory... and wow! A heck of a lot more throw! I was getting about 3/16ths of an inch, now I get a bit over 1/4ths of an inch!

Can't wait to see how it flies tmrw morning!

Haven'tr tried the rods yet... we'll see if after this it still needs them.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

it DEFINITELY needs them, and you need to cut off the "hinges" that it comes with and replace them with a bit of packing tape (clear stuff). I get close to an inch total throw, and my linkages aren't even on the closest hole.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

Well, flew today.

My SkyFly can now do loops. Still hard to do and they're not perfect loops, but they're loops nonetheless.

Threading the control wires thru the closer holes helps, but then the rubber bands don't have enough power to return the surface back to neutral... so it makes handling a little more complex.

Regardless, I was able to fly some nice circuits, slow fly-bys, pulled some hammerheards, and had lots of fun. Near the end of the second battery, I tried something dumb and ended up lawndarting into the ground nose first from like 10ft. Good thing it wasn't higher, but it was high enough that it broke the wing rubber bands and put a nice dent on the wing.

Any chance of getting those pics up, jm? :D

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

probably not, since it's my dad's camera,and he'll think it's stupid what i'm doing.



By any chance,

What's a hammerhead?

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

I THINK its when you pull up into a vertical climb, cut the power, and let it fall back into line.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

http://www.fightercombat.com/vid_hammerhead.htm

Mine weren't with rudder, but just rather let the plane hang and it'll flip over on itself, usually nose-over-tail.

RE: Sky Fly by Fly Zone
 

i do those perfectly, and i didn't even know i was doing some sort of maneuver! I was just trying not to stall when i didn't have enough airspeed (or battery)to make a full loop.