if you read earlier posts in this thread, I think you'll find some reference to lengthening the antenna...although I was reading that with interest too and it wasn't clear to me how they did it.


i posted this without seeing the earlier one...it's back somewhere in the middle.

Noob question: the thing I'd like to know is how do you physically attach the extension? Or do you somehow just attach the longer antenna wire in lieu of the original?

Im just trying to figure out WHERE I would put this at, I dont see any existing antenna at all.

I just took mine out for its maiden flight, bad idea because it was windy, the wind literally took my plane about 3 hourses down. So im inside just messing with it, too hard to fly inside in anything more than a circle so ive got to wait. Very impressive so far though!

Diggs, you have to cut open the nose of the plane...do a search for posts by micro_builder, he details the process very thoroughly and there's info in that section of the thread (yep, it's in this long long thread) about where the antenna is, as I recall...I haven't done it yet either.

Oh if i have to cut into the plane i probably wont bother than.

it's pretty easy apparently and you can just goop it back together. micro_builder has a pic a couple pages back showing you how easy it is.

but if you get used to keeping it close, you won't have to worry about antennas and such, just enjoy itlike I am

if i remember correctly, you can get to the antenna without having to open the fuse up. if you pull the clear tape off the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer, and give a little tug, the two tail wings will pull out. after you do that, you should be able to get ahold of the end of the antenna, since its ran through the hollow tail boom. the best way to attatch the extention would be to solder it. if you were to just wrap the two ends together, you may get glitches. easiest way to solder it would probalby be to get a little solder blob on the tip of the iron, and dip about 2 or 3mm of the end of the antenna in the solder blob, this should remove the thin plastic coating on the wire, and also tin the antenna. then, do the same thing to one of the ends of your extention peice, then solder the two together. if you're not comfortable with soldering, try bringing it in to a hobby shop, they'll usually do soldering for a really cheap price, maybe even free. if you cant find a hobby shop, bring it to a high school and find a science teacher, they may just have a soldering iron.

nick

i got mine today..red channel B. i am very pleased! although, on my last flight, i charged it for 15 minutes and it wouldn't fly right. it just did not want to climb..it dove. i tryed adjusting the elevator, unsucessfully. i will let it charge the full 30 minutes and see what happens.

Where's the best place to buy one of these online? Forgive me for not reading through all 19 pages of this thread.

theres a link in here somewhere

You can buy the plane online at www.aeroacemods.com for $30 + whatever they charge for shipping.

They also have some advice on extending the antenna and will send a bit of antenna wire to you for free. I assume it comes with installation instructions, but I don't know.

By the way, removing the tail requires quite a bit of force and it probably will never be quite the same afterward. It seems to be glued in place, not just taped. On most of the planes you can see the end of the antenna tucked in beside the vertical tail fin if you look very closely.

Barry2,

odd that yours seemed to be glued in place. i just removed the tape and gave a little tug. pulling the verticle stabilizer first helps, as both wings are sort of interlocked. putting them back in shouldnt be a problem either, since they have the little insterts to hold them in place. and, considering a number of AAs need a bit of trimming right out of the box, people shouldnt have a hard time getting it to fly like new again.

nick

Hi Nick et al:

I'm out in LA on a trip and bought an AA at the local Tar-Jay (Target for those of you who are not of the French persuasion) and it was a C channel. It's a little laggy on the throttle but otherwise works just fine, like the others.

I split the fuse carefully on the seam with an Xacto per Nick's instructions, pried the thing open enough to see what was going on in there, then sliced out a bit of the foam forward of the battery, moved it forward (probably an inch or so), squeezed it all together with some CA, took it out and it flies like a dream. Very stable, only does the porpoise pitch when it gets hit with a little gust. Thanks Nick!

I have a little dinner plate foam I'm going to make some wing extensions per my earlier posted adventures and turn this puppy into another miniature soaring machine. Love these little airplanes.

SkyPix,

moving the battery does wonders, doesnt it? glad it worked out for ya.

what CA glue are you using that doesnt eat the foam? is it the foam safe kind, or just normal super glue? i guess i havent tried using CA on EPP foam, but i know from experience CA glue will eat a nice hole in most other foams.

nick

I too took off the bottom wings, ripped open the fuse and moved the battery as far forward as I could. Then used foam safe ca to put her back together. It's a great thing.

I agree this is a great way to kill time and I love this little plane but why does mine always have to land on my roof?

You guys got me confused on this battery moving, whats the purpose of it?? and exactly WHERE are you cutting into the plane?

The plane is a bit tail heavy and you want it to be as light as you can so you don't want to add any weight. the way to make it super light and fly fast and true you should carefully remove the top wing making sure not to cut any wires, then cut on the seam of the fuse( you can see where the two half come together) being careful not to cut too deep and cut into any wires. Once the thing is open it will all become clear to you. Move the battery as far forward as you can, then use a small amount of foam safe CA or a small amount of 5 min. epoxy to put it all back together again making sure the wing is level with the rear stab and fin. It will fly so much better for you. Really it will. I did this last night and it took all of 5 min's.

So is there an advantage to putting off the bottom wing? Is it noticeable? My local Walmart has at least 16 of these by the way but those *******s charge $39!!

thanks Kona- someone should take pics of them doing this, im always hesitant about cutting into these types of things!

by taking off the bottom wing you will save waight and it will fly just as good if not better. The wings are only in place with tack glue and you can just pull on them and they will come out clean and if you don't like it like that you can put them right back in. The name of the game here is SAVE AS MUCH WAIGHT AS YOU CAN and it will fly that much faster and better. Just use and exacto knife and go slow and you will be fine. Just cut into it a bit at a time and then try and pull it apart if you need to cut into it a bit more then try and pull again. You can do it. I might buy another one for my girlfriend to fly and I will take pictures of how to do it. I got mine from walmart too but it was only $29.00

I read this post too late and instead of pulling on the bottom wings to get them off, I cut them off with an Exacto....I am charging it now and will check back in with results on how it flies with the bottom wing off.

I did add a couple of lights to the wings but think they might be a bit too heavy, i added them to the frontmost part of the wings so we shall see.

No big deal on cutting off the bottom wings. You will not wont to put them back on any way. You can also pull the pieces of the bottom wings that are left in there. Just use some plyers or something. You can also sand the fuse some to save waight too. Do you know about the center of gravaty and how to make sure your plane is balanced?

I just cut open the bottom of the fuse and moved the battery forward.
It sure made a lot of difference.

Here's the pictures. It really takes less than 10 min. to do the job.

-tychoc

Looks easy enough!!

Here is my thoughts on the plane after removing the lower wings. WOW! This sucker really flies now. Its much much quicker for sure. The one thing I did notice is that the turns are noticeably tighter and faster, much harder to control as well. I am not sure I need the battery mod as it climbs real well, real fast. It does take an instant nose dive when you cut the power though. Is that what the battery move is for? The plane is definately harder to control with the wing mod but probably just takes some getting used to.

I need to get some grips and an exacto before I go doing anymore cutting. I removed the wings with a kitchedn knife It worked fine.

i agree with tychoc, opening the fuse from the bottom, or the nose, is the better way to go about it. pulling the top wing off can be a bear, and getting it back on correctly can be just as much of a pain sometimes. not to mention, the lipo is pretty close to the bottom of the wing, a slip with an exacto blade into the cell could result in bad things. split the nose open and start peeling it apart slowly, a kitchen knife will actually work better for this probably, as an exacto knife might cut the foam itself, rather than just seperating it.

the picture i added shows how i modified mine. i charge the cell with my own charger, so by making the little access hatch, i can remove the cell to charge it, and change the CG pretty easily. plus, putting the connectors on let me remove the charging jack and switch, which removed some excess weight. i need to change a few other things and i can get the RX down to .9 grams. the black line shows where i usually put the front of the cell. there's a little strip of foam there when its new, but it has to be cut out, as its supposed to hold the lipo in place.

moving the battery forward changes the center of gravity. as konatiki said, the planes are tail heavy, meaning the center of gravity is towards the back more. this is why when you cut the throttle, it noses down and dives. if you put the battery forward, it'll climb more smoothly, and when you cut the throttle, it wont nose down, it'll actually glide. kokatiki also said that removing weight will make the plane faster, and that may have been a typo. the less weight you have, the lower your wingloading will be. the lower the wingloading, the slower a plane can fly. removing the two bottom wings will save about 2 grams, but it also removes almost 17 square inches of wing area (making the plane faster and more manuverable, as you noted). thats whats making it faster really. if one were to make new wings out of some 2mm depron, or some 1/32-1/16 balsa, you could keep the 17 square inches of wing area, and still lose almost 2 grams, making the plane even slower. phew, all that for a 30 dollar plane? i think i need to just go fly!

tychoc, where'd you get those nice little clamps?

nick