Hey guys I need a little help. I had a mini Funtana that was destroyed ( long story ). I was running a himax 2812-1080 with a TP1320. My LHS thinks this will work in my new Brio 10. I don't 3d at all, just casual flying with my friends. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Glad to hear you are all having a good time with your Brios. I just maidened mine today...and buried it. I set it up exactly by the book...CG was spot on, expo, and control throws. I took it off and it only needed three clicks of up. Tracked really well but on low rates with 1/2 stick of elevator it would snap to the right [X(]

I kept flying. Knife edges, death slides, and high-alpha knife edges were SO easy with it!! I was flying the Park 480 with 2100 Thunder Power and the rudder servo up front. It needed slight down to fly inverted so I know it was not tail-heavy, but not enough down to be nose heavy.

I figured the incidence was off and I would check it when I got home.

For those who haven't tried it yet, the Brio does an awesome and slow inverted flat spin!! On my second inverted flat spin, I centered the sticks to recover, it nosed down, and I fed in some up to fly level and the SOB snapped right, nosed down, and BOOM...crushed fiberglass, wings and canopies flying everywhere!! Even crumpled and ruined my TP 2100 li-po.

Bottom line, anyone else have snapping issues with everything set up and balanced by the book? And before you ask, I straightened all of the crooked control surfaces so nothing was warped.

I have a dumb question.
Anyone flying with gearbox setup, how do you install or remove prop?
My Six series setup is all done except the cowl mounting, spinner. The instruction on prop mounting on six series is totally wrong. No way to install prop correctly with cowl on.
Any other spinner suggestions? I am going to call Horizon on Monday to complain about this. Without cowl it works just fine since I can hold the shaft/spurgear.

With TP 3S2100 (Not ProLite), it pulls 300watts on fresh charge at WOT initially, but drops really quick. I don't remember the amp draw, but it was nearly 28amp.


Ihncheol Park
P & A Hobbies

Beware of a quick snap to the right AGGHHHHH!!!!!

Yes, on my 7th flight the little brio re kitted itself....

I was doing a stall turn, I was pulling after the downleg while slowly advancing the throttle. It pulled up about 15° droped the right wing with a little lunge, then quickly snaped right - right into the deck. it was a faily violent snap and it felt like I had no control.....

I have a old Great Planes Cap 40 that is over weight with a satio 91, that plane has the whole elevator snapping issue, but nothing like this.... Because of my experience with the cap, I know how the elevator feels when you are pulling and you get that feeling like if you pull any more something bad is going to happen. As I was pulling on that downleg, a friend standing behind me heard me say "it's going to snap" and wham... it did 3 snaps to the right from about 20 feet, I was able to start recovery but it impacted rather flat smashed the fuse sides, broke the cheap fiberglass sock and cheap carbon wingtubes....

The canopy and wings are in good shape - anyone looking for parts?

it looks repairable - but not worth the trouble. because it flys too crappy for my taste....

All in all I have to say that the Little Brio was a total dispointment, and would not recomend this plane to anyone.... It is over weight at 32.5 oz and flys too crappy, yea it does a lot of fun little tricks okay but overall it doesn't fly as well as the Quiet Storm. My old Storm did everything way better....

Luckly all my gear seems to be okay, I don't think I will be getting a replacement Brio. If I get anything it will be a new Storm...

IMHO don't waste your money here, if you want a little look a like pattern plane get the Storm.... It's lighter by almost 6 oz. and flys more like a 2m ship.

My Brio weighs in at 29.1 oz with lipo. Ive not noticed any of the snapping tendancy you have mentioned.

This weekend Ill yank hard on it to test it. Im thinking you had something wrong with the airplane. The elevator is very important in this matter. If the two elevators dont equal each other when you pull it will snap everytime. Reinforce the joiner between the two elevator halves with carbon. The elevator MUST stay even during a pull. If one side of the elevator has slightly less throw, it will snap and snap quickly in a hard pull.

I just picked one up at the LHS. I prefer this to ordering onlie because you are able to open the box to check for ''China Syndrome''. One aileron has a little twist to it, but not so much that it couldn't be fixed.

Based on what I have heard here, and the fact that I already have a E-flite 480, here is how I have decided to st it up. First and formost; pull-pull on the elevator. I have a strong suspicion that that ''snap to the right'' issue is due to the elevator flexing. I cannot think of a better way to solve it without adding a lot of weight. I am also going to replace the steel cables with kevlar.

I plan to start working on it tonight

To fix the elevator problem...just use two carbon fiber strips. On on top of the center section, and one on the bottom of the center section. Cut the covering away, and CA the strips in there. It wont flex after that.

I check my wreckage last night and my elevator halfs are stiff and connected well...

The elevator servo is located on the right side pushing that side elevator, so the theory is correct that a somewhat floppy elevator would cause the snaping issue.

In rethinking what happened in my crash, I was pulling easy on the downline, and I remember not getting any response intitally. Thinking from experience not to pull hard I eased off the elevator as I went to almost full power then started the pull again. I was on low rates and I didn't pull the stick all the way, I was easy on it.

I am thinking it might of been some kind of a high speed stall at first because of the intial lack of response.... at this point I said out loud to a friend standing by me, oh, no it's going to snap.

the snap started with the nose down, after the first snap it basiclly leveled off then snaped once or twice more before it hit zero altitude. the snaps where super quick and I do remember releasing all the elevator as it leveled off, but it was still snap rolling....

the Cap model I mentioned in my other post snaps the same way, it's got split elevator pushrods, super stiff. hard balsa flying surfaces no floppy halfs... it's over weight and a rear cg position. I tried adding "differential" to the elevator halfs, trying to lesson the amount of throw on the right side half beyond 1/2 stick, but that didn't help either.

the cool thing about the cap is it does all kind of cool lomcevaks type snaps and you can recover from them, it might snap but you can stop it before it goes beyond 90° in roll. And the snap is totaly predictable. I have been flying this model on and off for 10 years... it's a pitty that I didn't even get 10 flights on the brio....

I think if the brio was much lighter than 32 oz +- it would be a much better plane.

good luck guys and be carefull, I am not the only one that has lost a mini brio....

this is interesting....

that whole floppy elevator snap roll theory...

my brio snaped right, and I was thinking the elevator pushrod was on the right side, causing more right elevator, causing a right snap.... I agree with the theory it makes sense....

well I was looking at my wreakage again last night and my elevator pushrod is attached to the left elevator half - not the right, so if I did have a floppy elevator, I would of had more left elevator in that pull than right - wouldn't that cause a left snap ?

I don't believe a weak elevator structure caused the quick snap rolls

I've got my assembled and ready to maiden, and I notice the the wing is real ''flexy''. I suspect that the problem may be a combination of factors. Aerodynamics is one, and the airframe could be more rigid. A larger wing tube, or a one piece wing would be definite improvements. I ended up using a ''Y'' elevator pushrod with the servo mounted on its side in the rudder pull-pull servo location, and a tail mounted rudder servo.

hey guys, maidened mine last week. first impession was that it felt a little heavy at 31 oz. I powered it with an AXI 2808/16 and a castle creations 35. right off the ground it was a rocket with a couple of clicks on the trim it flew nice. It flew like a much larger airplane. Although i liked the overall performance i thought the roll rate was a little slow for the size of surfaces. Stall turns were fantastic. I decided to try an approach while i still had battery left and boy did you have to smoke it in to keep it from tip stalling. Took back off and flew for a few more minutes before coming back in. This time i came in with flaps and power for a much slower approach. much better way to land this beast.

Flew it again this morning, and had a little problem . Was in the air for about 2 min when i came out of a spin and in the downline added power with no response. Then all of a sudden just did one snap to the right. I had no control of anything. At this point it still had no power but i had elev,ail, and rudder but only 40 ft of alt and was headed away from lz. At this point i just tryed to pick up some airspeed ad put it down as nice as poss. At about 5 ft at tipstalled but thankfully just hit the nose and landing gear at the same time. Not too much damage but i dont think i will waste any more time at this point. my prodigy just flys so much better.

MY elev servo is on the opp side of the direction of the snap. It was just a shame they overbuilt this plane because i feel it would be so much better if it wasn't such a pig. I dont know if the throttle problem was a speed control problem or a radio problem. Once i got to the wreckage i tried the controls and everything worked but the throttle. after a couple of cycles on the throttle stick it worked fine. The radio i am using is a spektrum and have never had ANY problems of ANY kind. Just baffling to me as there was plenty of airspeed when it snapped.

My prodigy only weighs 20.5 oz and has no ill effects other than a little weak landing gear bracing. I think i'll spend a 160 bucks and try an icon 312. Keith

Guys,

Ive heard multiple reports of the Brio's going in due to a uncontrollable stalled spin or snap.

I've experienced this stalled snap twice on my brio. Im pretty sure I know what the problem is now. At first I thought it may have been just a dumb thumbs, or the elevator flexing based on the reports. I dont think so now. After experiencing it myself, its a very unique situation. No warning or anything. It will be flying along fine, and all of a sudden WHAM...into the stalled condition. It normally happens when your in a turn or pulling up into a vertical position on a downwind leg.

The manual recommends a CG at 110mm...its too far back.

During a smooth turn, the plane may suddenly roll out (like its going into a snap roll), the surfaces will all stall, and the plane will begin a uncontrollable spin. If you have enough altitude you can relax everything, pour on the power and hopefully regain control, but its very difficult. If at low altitude...its toast.

I would recommend moving the CG farther forward. I havent yet determined exactly where yet, but I would cut it down to about 97mm or so to start.

At 110mm it doesnt feel tail heavy, and will seem to fly fine. The symptoms are as follows.

1. In a shallow smooth turn, the wings will rock rapidly opposite the turn like its rolling out of the turn. LET GO of everything, and go to full throttle. Allow the plane to build up airspeed before you try to "fly" it.

2. If you try to continue the turn by correcting with ailerons, the nose will drop. You will lose aileron authority, and it will spin to the ground.

I now have to replace one of the plastic wingtips on mine due to this. It cartwheeled. Luckily, not much damage other than replacing that wingtip and it scuffed up the cowl a little.
Its the weirdest thing Ive ever seen any plane do. Normally when a plane is tail heavy, you know it the first time you lift off. But this thing will fly fine...until you get it to that point...then it goes nuts. Literally. If youve got your CG at 110mm...be careful. Eventually it will stallout, and you'd better be ready for it. Its really hard to pull out of. The first time it did it to me was on a downwind pull to to vertical. It started flying into the vertical, and then it rolled suddenly out of control. The second time I was in a normal smooth turn to downwind, and it rolled out of the turn like a snap. I hit the throttle and attempted to regain control. I just about had it when I ran out of altitude and it cartwheeled on the runway.

I KNOW my elevator isnt flexing, Ive already corrected any possiblity of that happening. We had a long talk about this out at the field after my little mishap. The general concensus was that the CG was too far back. I agree. I think that 110mm CG is right on the borderline of stability and crash. Im gonna replace the wingtip, move the cg up to about 97mm and try again, and keep moving it forward until it will no longer stall like that. Flying around just shy of a crash is not the correct way to set it up.

If I cant fix this problem, Im gonna sell it and replace it with a Fliton QuietStorm. I plan on flying pattern competition with one of these in the Sportsman class. If I cant rely on it not to go nuts in the middle of my sequence, its not reliable enough to fly in competition. I wont compete with inferior equipment or set-up ever again. I learned that lesson already.

get the storm, I am going back once I get a few bucks....

What is everybody using for servos on their Brio's? I'm running a Hacker A30-16M and TP 2100 3 cell in mine and i'm not sure what servos to use. They recommend the Eflite 75's, but they seem rather wimpy for this plane?

I have Futaba 3110's in mine....they work GREAT. Love em. 22oz/in of torque and only weigh 7.7g

HANG GLIDER, JUST A QUIK ONE ON THE STORM, HOW DOES THE HATCH STAY ON, IS IT LIKE THE PRODIGY OR IS IT SIMILAR TO THE BRIO. THANKS KEITH

Would you guys recommend this plane over the Katana Mini? I already have a Funtana Mini for 3D stuff.

Greetings,

How in the @#$&%! are you guys getting this airplane so light? 29 oz ??? 31 oz RTF ??? Mine comes in at 32 oz WITHOUT BATTERIES. [X(] My equipment is as follows:

Code:

 Airframe                                     18.0 oz (Stock airframe and hardware with weights listed in this thread)
 Extreme Flight Touque 2818 - 900 388 Watts    4.0 oz (With prop adapter)
 Air Boss/Extreem Flight 35 Amp ESC            1.0 oz (Maybe a little overstated)
 2 x H-81 Servos (Elevator & Rudder)           1.2 oz
 2 x Futaba 3110 Servos (Ailerons)             0.5 oz
 Spektrum Receiver                             0.5 oz
 Servo Extensions & Misc stuff                 1.0 oz
 Lead ballast in nose                          1.0 oz
                                              -------
 Expected Total                               27.2 oz

Where in the crap did the other 5 oz come from? With batteries this thing comes in at 38 oz to 40 oz RTF. I've flow it at this weight and though it does fly heavy, it has no bad habbits. Any suggestions?

Best Regards,
The Dude

33.4 ozs AUW with Eflite Power 10, Castle Phoenix 45, 2100 TP Prolite. Only mod, was using 2-1/16" wheels from Hobby Lobby and NMP aluminum axles from Central Hobbies. No wheel pants. Rear mount elevator and rudder servos. JR 241's all the way around. JR 610 RX. 2- 12 inch JR extensions. This is the heaviest of the recommended setups. CG is just about right on the wing spar(front edge of recommended CG with Lipo right over landing gear). One flight so far. Seemed to fly OK considering it was really windy. Unfortunately, had to deal with the typical warped surfaces and a slightly warped wing panel just like a lot of people have been getting. Plenty of vertical pull. Will probably prop down from 12X6 APCE though (41 amps static). Initial impression is even at this weight it will fly just fine. Control surfaces were all setup to what I would typically use on a 2M pattern setup on the low rate for starters.

On the Storm...

I just taped the cowl and canopy with clear tape, it's light and works.

Stock E-flite Brio
Futaba 3110 servos all around
Pull-pull on rudder
Hitec 05S Rx
E-flite 40A esc
E-flite Park 480 motor
Cellpro 3cell 1250mah lipo
Wheels changed out for Hi-maxx 1g mag wheels.

Left off the wheel pants and the plastic spinner
Balanced via equipment location, with no added ballast.

Total = 29.1oz ready to fly with battery.

I didnt even lighten anything. Built it just like the manual says.

Your heavy weight is a result of the equipment you are using.
Your motor is almost an ounce overweight
Lose the 1oz of ballast and balance it via the lipo or equipment relocation.
1oz for the ESC? If thats correct that's insane. The E-flite 40A esc only weighs about 10g
H-81's are overkill. 1.2oz for two servos is not cool. Switch them out to the 3110's which are only 7.7g each, and they have plenty of torque for flying it.
If im not mistake the TP 1320mAh 3cell only weighs about 60g. Not sure what battery you are using, but might want to go lighter on that too.

Hi Mike.

Wphew.. I was reading through posts to date and what you described for Jeff is almost exactly what I went with. I got the Power 10 motor recommended, and a pair of Radical RC 2200mah 11.1 volt LiPo's (I believe they are 15C). My servo's are the Airtronics 94091Z's and the ESC is the Eflite 40 amp model as recommended.

I am still open for suggestions on a beginning prop.

So far, only the ESC and the servo's are here. I am foaming at the mouth waiting for the rest of the stuff.

DS.

Greetings,

Mine liked a 11x7 though, it's kinda' moot now. I was in the bottom of a split S when it stalled/snapped right into the ground. I had the CG on the 100mm mark and the elevator throw was less than the low rate suggestions. There was an old school pattern guy at the field and he saw it go in and we both agreed it was a tail heavy condition with to much elevator throw. You may want to consider moving your CG forward and keeping the elevator throw to less than 1/2". This is not a 3D plane, it's a pattern plane and it should be flown as such.

On a side note - The damage was not to severe and I'm in the process of making repairs. However, the electric is comming off and being replaced with an OS 25fx. I'll let you know how it goes.

Best Regards,
The Dude

so is that 4 crashed brios on this list.... all within 2 weeks +-

sounds like we are all repeating the same experiment. mine was a downwind pullup from a stall turn. snaped it right to the deck.

seems like eflight needs to do a recall every one of us followed the set up directions, setting it up with Qui Qui's set up (cg), and we where all under the suggested weights.

eFlight if you are reading this???

Something stinks - don't buy the hype!

$119.00 pile of cr*p!

sorry, I am just calling it like I see it