dabba

Hi, I recently built my first plane after migrating from heli's

I bought a shockflyer 330s with axi 2208/34 +TP850 Lipo &Jeti 5chrx 18-3 controller.

I intend to fly this outdoors, never indoors.

I took it out for its first flight and on landing broke the nose off oops!
Having repaired this I fitted a ply nose mount, the c of g is within spec but when flying the model
always goes skyward i have to force its nose down, it always wants to go up!
I have the elevator trim full down still it wont fly level.

I notice the tail flaps around and during fast dives the aeilrons flap around like nuts.

Is this all normal for this type of model ?

Best Regards & Thanks

d

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

I'm going to send this over to the 3D forum where people have more experience with Shock Flyers.

The Shock Flyer is not supposed to fly fast. Full power dives and high-speed passes are a NO-NO. It's a bunch of flat sheets of foam; structural rigidity is limited.

As far as its tendency to climb, I am betting that the plane is not straight. Maybe it wasn't built straight, something is flexing in flight, or something got bent somewhere along the line.

As I said, the "Shocky" is pretty popular among the 3D crowd.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

I the same plane and it flies nothing short of awesome. If the incidence or anything is off you should be able to see it with your eyes. Set it on a bench and give it the eagle eye. Look at it sideways. Does the main wing and stab look level with each other? I bet its way tail heavy. Where's the CG at?

How about the engine thrust? Is it straight?

dabba

Thanks For the tips, It flew a few more times and I have since snapped it three times.
Great fun, cant wait to get another one.

Are there any pther shocky types that are a bit more solid ?

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

I think you're right, you started with the wrong plane. You intend to only fly outdoors and you basically bought a great indoor plane (or 0-5 mph winds outdoors). I flew mine outdoors in a 10+ mph wind and I could see the wings flexing and realized that it was not for any wind over 5mph.

I'd start a new thread and ask what a good out door foam plane is. Maybe something bigger and heavier to handle the wind better.

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

The shockflyer is designed as a indoor plane. Thats not to say it cant be modified to fly outdoors. I built my shockflyer specifically to fly outdoors.

Here is how I did it.

First make sure the C/G is 33% of the wing chord. If I remember correctly it comes out about 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" behind the leading edge of the wing in the middle of the fuselage.
Next reinforce the front of the fuselage with extra depron foam on both the top, bottom, and both sides of the fuselage all the way back to the rear of the battery slot. This will make the nose stiff and a little heavy.

Change the wing carbon reinforcement struts out from that thin stuff and use 4mm carbon rods instead.

Get a carbon arrow shaft from wally world, and cut off the fins and nock, then glue it down the entire length of the fuselage.

Next reinforce the tail with the kevlar fishing line trick mentioned all over this website. It will keep the tail from flexing a lot on high-speed manuevers.

Learn to hover and hand catch the plane. The landing gear is USELESS outdoors. Remove the gear all together. With the extra reinforcement in the nose, if you do stick it in the dirt, it will make it MUCH more durable.

When you go to fly it, you will find it punches through the wind much better. Dont try to fly it on full throttle. It doesnt fly well zipping along at top speed. The minute flexes in the fuselage and wings, cause it to get really squirrely. Half throttle is more than enough in most cases.

I know you are using a brushless motor, which is fine. Here is the setup I used. Bear in mind that theroetically this setup is not supposed to work. This is because the battery is TOO much voltage for the speed controller and the motor. This being said, I know different. It does work, and it works well. I have had over 70 flights outdoors with this setup and never burnt up anything. The motor will get hot on long flights, so keep them short and let it cool down.

Here is the setup.
GWS 350 DS gearing
GWS 10.4 prop
11.1v 340mah LiPo
BSC-10AN Bluebird Speed Controller
then of course your choice of servos and reciever.


Next...Im gonna tell you something which you will probably never hear from anyone referring to electric flight. Dont worry about the weight. With the setup I mentioned above, it doesnt really matter how heavy it is. The GWS motor cranking off that 11.1V battery will take the plane rolling straight up, until it is out of sight. LITERALLY.

Dont fly it around on full throttle all the time though. It will really heat things up alot. The reason this setup works despite the recommendations of the manufacturers, is that the motor is only recieving the full 11.1V during full throttle. It will fly sportily around on half throttle and even climb straight up on half. At this throttle the motor is probably getting around 7-9V. which is considered its engineered max. It will sustain full throttle for short periods with out any damage. Besides even if you do manage somehow to burn up the motor, its only 19 bucks to replace it.

Good Luck and enjoy.