lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

While I was at the NEAT Fair, I saw one of Cox's Christen Eagles flying. It appeared to be very stable as well as aerobatic. After watching for a couple flights I decided that I needed one. I went to the Cox booth and Talked with Jim Terry, from Cox and made arrangements to get one. For those who might be interested I thought I might post some photo's and comments through the construction process.

lynnb

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The Christen Eagle comes in a box that could be used for storage or traveling. The foam inside the box is formed to planes shape giving it good support. The box has a handle built into the side of it making carrying very easy.

theradioflyer

Looks nice!

lynnb

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Much of the assembly is all done for you. All tail parts are monuted and glued in place and appear to be straight. Controling surfaces are hinged and control rods are hooked up. I did find the elevator and rudder were stiff and hard to move. The fix is to unhook the control rods and move surfaces back and forth many times to the full lenght of there travel. This procedure seemed to get things moving much easier. Motor, Speed control, Cowl, Prop and spinner come preinstalled. Even though this is already done, I still recommend removing the Cowl and making sure everything is tight. One note worth mentioning, I was concerned about the strength of the main Wing cabanes. Much to my surprise I discovered they are plastic with wire reinforcement inside them.

lynnb

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The wings are made of injected molded foam. Ailerons are already hinged and control rods are installed. There was a little binding in the ailerons as well. It turned out to be the applied decals were stuck to the aileron control rods. When handling the wings be carefull not to damage or break the aileron control horns that link the ailerons together. All that is needed is one aileron servo and theres no need for a servo extension ( one less thing to buy ). The outer wing struts come attached to the bottom wing. One item of interest is the way the outer struts are fastened. Cox uses Zip ties that go through the wing and around the strut. There are pieces of plastic reinforcement on the opposite side of the strut for supporting the Zip ties. They seem to hold very well making removal and installation very simple. There very transparent and won't be noticed unless pointed out.

lynnb

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Specifications for the Christen Eagle are.

Top Wing Span 33.6 in.
Bottom Wing 32.25 in.
fuselage Length 28.75 in.
Wing Area 396.8 sq, in.
Flying Weight 23-25 oz.

lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

Servo installation is very simple. Cox even supplies servo arms that are already on the pushrods. I don’t know what servos the arms are for, I used Hitec HS-55’s and the arms didn’t fit. If you choose to use HS-55’s there will be no need to modify anything to make them fit. They fit the servo mounts perfectly. When installing servos into the fuselage, there are openings in the bottom of the servo mounts for routing the servo wires. This will guide the wires right to the receiver location. The HS-55’s fit nice and snug in the foam servo mounts Cox recommends that you install a foam wedge between the servos to help hold them apart. I used a piece of foam from the box that the Eagle came in. After servos were in place I used a drop of UHU foam safe glue on each servo tab just to make sure the servos were going to stay still.

lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

Inside the fuselage right above the bottom wing opening there's a little pocket. The Rudder and Elevator servo wires come right to this location. I decided to use the FMA M5V2 reciever because of it's long range and being full Dual Conversion. To install the reciever all you have to do is turn it on it's side and it will slide in and fit snuggly into the little pocket in fuselage. With the installation and removal of the receiver being so easy i'm able to hook the aileron servo lead into the reciever and slide it into place.

lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

Installing the aileron servo is every bit as easy as the Elevator and rudder servos. The Hs-55 fit the pocket perfectly, just slide in place, a drop of UHU foam safe glue on each servo tab and your done. The pushron wires are already made, just hook them up, adjust as needed to center ailerons. After you have installed the wings and hooked up ailerons you may need to adjust the ailerons again. I found with added weight of upper ailerons, that made the lower ailerons droop down a little.

lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

The aileron linkage control horns, connecting upper and lower ailerons. Come already installed on wings. These control horns work very well and are plenty strong even for there size. When installing clevises to the control horns be very carefull not to side load them, i'm sure they would break if to much force is applied. The pushrod wire used also comes already assembled and was nearly the perfect length. Just one turn on the clevise and the ailerons lined up perfectly.

lynnb

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The canopy is completely finished and ready for installation. Built into the fuselage is re sest area, with two sided tape already installed. Simply remove the cover paper off the two sided and stick canopy to it. Remember to check ailignment on canopy before installation. You only get one chance to have the canopy ailigned properly.

Flypaper 2

Double sided tapes didn't hold on mine. I put a strip of scotch tape down each side. Still hangin in

lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

Installing the main gear is very simple. There's a plastic socket in the bottom of fuselage. The wire simply slides into the slot and will snap in place. The tail wheel comes all preinstalled ready to be used. After many flights I've had no issues with the gear, all of my flights have been off grass. The grass at our flying field is kept fairly short and the Eagle will take off and land as well taxi, just fine.

Spiderman_48

Zounds! I won[X(] a Cox Christen Eagle at the JR IE Festival 11/4! I was searching for a review on it and yours answers a lot of my questions.
Cox people had a drawing among the pilots competing in the Cox Micro Warbirds races at the fly-in and I didn't even make the first cut, but I made a big score on the drawing! Don't know if Cox provided the included Spektrum DX6 radio, but I would like to thank them too! I've been gonna BUY one of those larger electric biplanes with an airfoil for quite a while, now I don't have to.[/font]
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Greg Covey

You won't be dissapointed in the COX Christen Eagle. It is a great design and value for $129 and even better for free!

Lynn and I shot some video today for my review on RCU. I'll post is soon here if it comes out ok. It was a grey November day here in upstate NY without much sunlight.

Here are a few flying photos we also took today.

lynnb

My Feedback: (1)

Congratulations on your winnings. You won't be disappointed in the eagle. I am real pleased with the way mine flies. I plan to add more to the thread as time allows. Mother nature gave us a small window of opportunity to fly today, so we made a video of the Christen Eagle. Also Greg Covey is doing a review on the Eagle, so there will be more good info coming. Have fun with the Eagle build it stock to begin with you will be surprised with the performance.

Greg Covey

The only fault I can find on this ARF package is that the supplied 3-cell LiPo battery does not have a node connector for balancing. It does have a circuit board under the shrink wrap so it is an easy task to add your own favorite node connector to keep the pack balanced for better longevity.

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

Hey, Greg....I am working on a review for the "other" place....

It really is a nice model!

Flypaper 2

Top wing on mine had anhedral in it and the bottom wing was flat. I sliced the bottom and put a bit of dihedral in it. Now the top wing is flat the way it should be. Probably just got a bummer. Flies very groovy now.

Greg Covey

Thomas,

That model is a bit big for you, isn't it?

I sent you an e-mail about the COX warbirds.

Flypaper2,

We saw the same thing on our models. It seems to fly just fine with the anhedral but the look kept bugging me. The fix was easy as you reported. Thanks.

Greg Covey

The video of the COX Christen Eagle was shot on a rather grey day in November with winds from 5-10mph. The little bipe with the stock power system not only takes off and lands on grass but has the performance of a much bigger model.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/CoxChristenEagle.wmv]COX Christen Eagle ARF Video[/link] (5.3meg)

Flypaper 2

Great video, Greg. Flies like mine does.Good plane, motor, batt. combination without having to buy anything extra to make it fly.

Spiderman_48

I was VERY surprised by the performance!!! I took it to the local little league baseball diamond (backstop recently removed) which was just about the minimum sized field for first flights. Weather conditions were poor, but I couldn't wait to give the little Eagle a try. Temp was 46 with moderate westerly winds (5-10 mph) bringing with them a light mist of rain. The surface was 50% dirt and 50% short grass, and the take off was not a problem. Aileron response was snappy (reminded me of the early 80's when I had the little Ace All-Star 3-channel .15 glow bi-plane) and pitch and yaw responded well too! The motor had plenty of power. I did a couple approaches and knew landing was going to be a piece of cake, so after a couple rolls, stall turns, and some lop-sided loops (forgot to do a lateral balance), I turned in my chips in fear of water entering the radio components in the plane as well as transmitter.

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

Never got the email....try the one I am PMing to you.

I occasionally do larger electrics, I will have you know......getting ready to electrify the 1/5 scale Cox/Pica Waco to tow my 1/5scale Worlds Models Minimoa scale sailplane....a vintage tug for a vintage glider!

aeromstr

posing a (stupid) question....
What is the bigger "hatch" for under the fuse of the CE...behind the battery compartment and, behind the gear mount???