sheptack

Well I finally just had to have me another "Bugz" Indoor Flying Plane, so I went with the "Skimmer". The Skimmer flies a lot like the "Wasp" and was a pure joy to fly. These little carbon fiber Planes are not only fun to build, but they fly as good, if not better than expected. The "Skimmer" was easy to handle, loops were good, and you could fly it real slow, or go full throttle for some fast laps around the Gym. The 340 Kokam 2 cell batteries give long flights, with plenty of power to spare. If you use the 8x4.5 prop this baby is quite capable of hovering as well. This is a great little indoor flyer that is really hard to beat, and if you are into an evening of fun at a Gymnasium, all I can say is go get ya a Bugz Plane! The Build was very straight forward, and I encountered no real problems. I will now move onto some building tips & notes.

1. The Bugz Planes will require the covering to be heated to the carbon fiber rods. I have found that using a glue stick works very well instead to install the covering. This also avoids any possibility of breaking a rod from the heat, which can happen very easily. Once your wing/rudder/elevator frames are made, lay them on top of the covering, leave about 1/4" all the way around of overlap. Then just run the glue stick around the carbon rod, and the overlap, and roll the covering over. It is better to have more overlap than less. Then let it dry well before shrinking the covering.

2. Be very careful when shrinking the covering, and be sure to use the tubing provided in the kit to cover the carbon rods on the rudder, and elevator. The tubing helps to prevent the carbon rods from breaking from the heat, when shrinking on the covering. As an "Added Precaution" I went and bought some small clear tygon tubing at the hardware store. I then split it with a razor knife, and temporarily rolled it over the frames of the wing, rudder, and elevator prior to shrinking the covering. This gave me added protection from breaking the carbon rods from the heat gun, and allowed me to get a nice tight shrink on the covering without risking breaking a carbon rod. Just be sure to keep the heat gun moving at all times, and be careful not to burn through the covering.

3. Another thing I have found that works well for indoor flying is to purchase a Micro Z Antenna which is a mini Coil Loaded Antenna. These antennas seem to prevent getting "Signal Hits" while flying indoors with a lot of people at the same time. These mount real nice right on the main spar of the Bugz planes.

4. Be careful when you sand down the piece of carbon tubing that is used for the motor mount. If you sand off too much, the motor can then rotate on the main spar on landings, which then puts the landing gear out of alignment with the wings. If this moves on you, you can also drill a very small hole in the top of the round plastic motor mount, right down into the carbon rod, and secure it with a very small screw. This will keep it from rotating for good.

5. If you encounter any trouble with breaking of the tail skid carbon rod, let it stick past the main spar a bit, and then lash it down using dental floss or kevlar thread, and then glue (ca) in place. Another option is to use a 3" piece of wire (the same size as the push rods), and basically bend a 1/4" of it at the end, down 45 deg. Then lash it onto the main spar using the dental floss or kevlar thread, and glue (ca) it real good.

6. If you want to have a great time flying indoors, without the disappointment of having a lame plane, try one of the "Bugz" Planes from backyardhobbies.com and you will really enjoy it. I also think that due to the popularity of these little beauties, that they may soon available at other Internet RC stores, as well as at your local RC dealers. Enjoy!