The Hobbico Aerocruiser has its quirks but can be flown. Here are some tips. The 7 cell AA NiMh batteries must be cycled several times before you fly the plane. Charge the batteries overnight, then run the motor with prop on the plane until the ESC stops the motor. Let the batteries cool for 20 minutes. Then charge overnight and run the motor. You get the picture. The plane has a direct drive motor. No gearbox. This means it is built for speed, not thrust. It takes a long time to build up speed. To get it to fly you must start the motor on high and throw the plane hard and level toward the horizon. Let the plane build up speed before turning or pulling back on the elevator which will only stall the plane. Once speed is obtained the plane will respond to your controls. Gradually let the plane climb before turning using the rudder. This plane is a 400 size and requires a large area to fly properly. Many flyers try to fly the plane in too small of an area. It will take a soccer field to properly fly.

Good luck,

Ed

Hi,

From all what I read in this thread I get an impression that all of you have an idea that cheap means bad, and low quality. I strongly disagree. Of course it is true that some companies decrease price by decreasing quality, But not all of them. I bought a glider for $60 few weeks ago, and I could fly it even on my first day.

I made a mistake, thought, by not finding someone with experience to help me, but I still could keep plane in the air until some tree came up one the way

Now I can keep plane in the air until battery runs out, and land successfully 90% of the times I try to.

I can only say one thing. It is safest to buy planes from the companies that are advertised on TV, and everywhere else.

[8D]

HUH ! on tv , i have never seen in my entire life a commercial for RC planes on TV. but some of what you say is true price mean nothing , my Freedom Flyer has outlasted my Skyliner by 15-4 crashes , go fiqure , the skyliner was $289 , and the Freedom Flyer was $120 delivery included.......

I've seen four commercials about different RC planes. And the reason why I said that is because usually only the companies which have are successful (which is the sigh of high quality and low prices!) are advertised on TV, or papers, etc, because they have money for it! Maybe this kind of doesn't make sense for ou, maybe it does, but if you read any of the books of the successful businessman you'll get it!

well...... you live in canada .THIS may be the reason why I have never seen any commercials my entire life !

Maybe, or maybe it's because you just don't watch the channels where there are such commercials. My little sister watches TV program for kids, and there are commercials about RC helicopters, planes, and car, shown all the time!

You'd be much better off buying your own radio setup and put it in cheap wattage plane or graupner tipsy

Sorry but i have to throw this in about hobby zone planes. I have an Aerobird (pre challenger) and for hand launching all i have to do is pratically hold it up and let go with a very little toss. Also if you want more control when gliding or under power move your control lines down to the bottom hole. If that doesnt satisfy you drill another hole below it (see pic--dont use very bottom hole-to hard for servo to pull under stress) I cant believe what a difference it made. and now when i have the power off and am gliding it flies like the standard config. under power. Hope this helps.

-John

I've gotta tell you guys this, and most will back it up. The bigger the model, the easier to trim out and fly. I have been out of RC for thirty years and got hooked by seeing the add on 'TV'. Didn't want to drive for an hour just to buzz around a bit with a glow plane. Then spend another hour cleaning it up. I picked up a 5 channel JR and stuck it in a GWS Beaver and have had a good time with it. It is flyable on 6 cells, but 7 or 8 make a real differance. Best to use niMh batteries, lighter and smaller. It will almost ROG off a picnic table.

Posts: 7
Joined: 11/2/2003

From: knoxville, TN, USA
Status: offline
RE: Why can't I fly? (in reply to 1sttimer) Contact Moderator | (Post No. 34)


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dude [X(] i am impressed please tell me how much was the plane and also can it do rogs off of grassy land with out burning to much battery power ?

Sorry, won't take off in the grass. I think the kit was $39 or $44, is pretty complete. Just add the Rx and servos. If you build this, add a wood piece behind the LG wire to keep it from digging into the foam on landing. Also come up with a better way to mount the tail wheel. It is easy to knock loose. If you have some experience, it should go together in three evenings. I like to mess around with the details, so it takes me a bit longer. You can make your own custom decals by printing the designs on clear shipping labels. Make sure it is clear and not opaque. You will get much better color saturation if you print over the design two or three times. Attached is a photo of a GWS Mustang the I did from an unpainted kit.

nice paint ! but im going for an electric that will take off on grass land and I think I have the right plane in mind ! thanks for the info....

Ah-hah. Ed "No Stick" was on the mark. After buying a Triton battery charger and cycling the batteries I was able to fly the aerocruiser into a tree (about 20 feet up). That's progress in my book! I also analyzed the battery in my Skyvector and according to the Triton charger the 600mAH battery pack now only holds 400mAH. That model's been on my shelf for a couple of years, so I guess that explains that.

While cutting off leads from the "included" chargers to make ones for my Triton (does anybody know where you can buy all these different battery connectors?) I discovered that most of the chargers consist of a resistor and a mechanical timer. No wonder they include warnings like "stop charging when hot"! I'm no expert but such lame chargers seem like a recipe for battery trouble to me. And with these NiMH and NiCd batteries costing $4 a cell that's pretty scary.

Thanks to everyone for your replies to my thread.

chall, the best thing you can do is dismember those crappy timer chargers. You're right, they are a recipe for trouble. Peak chargers are the only sure way to know you're putting the proper amount of charge into the battery. Overcharging kills packs.

As far as the battery connectors, good luck. The connectors that come with the all-in-one planes can sometimes be purchased from the same place you bought the plane. Sometimes they're orphans. In that case, you should just swap them out for one of the fine standard plugs available these days. I use Dean's Ultra plugs on everything. That way I don't have to have umpteen leads dangling all over the place.

After flying my Aspire sailplane I can truly answer the question to this thread [8D] . The first thing Im going to do with any plane I buy or build is toss it , check the characteristics of the flight the land it as soon as possible. When I first threw the Aspire it was bucking like a wild bull , [sm=drowning.gif]up down up down etc.
I adjusted the horns to intermediate begginer after geting it down from a tree 150 in the air ,and it flew pretty good but unstable. The wind is this planes enemy and flying it isnt like flying a regular airplane . So the moral of the story is every plane flies differently so read alot about them if possible before flying


PS the aspire is very much under powered with stock set up in my oppinion.

i tried the firebird outlaw.. It flew great for me . The problem is wind. it cant be windy to fly the outlaw. Its a cool little plane but it gets boring just doing circles an touch and go's. I'm getting a challenger

Went out flying yesterday with niece, wind was 10 to 20mph and we had a low overcast. She was having a ball specking the Teddy out and losing it in the clouds. Flew out about six batteries and decided we had had enough and brought everything home in one piece. I've flown most of the stuff that's been discussed here and I still say the Easy Star would give you the most bang for the buck, real radio, real servo's, real speed control and a plane that can actually be flown by a beginner.

Mike

PS We're not going to fly today, the wind's 35 to 50. My niece thinks it's just a little bit too windy.

its nice to hear a story like this from time to time, and I live in NJ too isnt this wind a bummer ![:@] .
do you have a link for the plane you were flying ?

Teddy's no longer available, it's been repaced with the Easy Star which is made from EPP as opposed to styrofoam, the Easy Star has a better wing, looks a little swoopier and they've reshaped the fuse to make it easier to balance (most Teddy's came out tail heavy), it's also got a two piece wing with a fiberglass spar.
RTF at Hobby Horse http://hobbyhorse.com/multiplex.shtml

It's also available from Hobby People, kit's $56

Mike

HOBBICO...AERO CRUISER IS NOT A "TRAINER"

i started with one (kids gift to me) it would just fly sweet.....then drop out of the sky.....$$$$$$$$$$$$$

get a slow stick and do all the strength mods before you fly...and get some one to teach you....

you will love it

eef

Don't be a fool, don't get a firebird "What happens when you wreck you can't replace any parts off the junk". be good buy a slow stick (SS),GWS, don't worry about wrecking EVERYBODY does and my brother wrecked the so called ( Aero Cruiser).

-Trevor

I have a thought on this, what if theres a really experianced pilot off camera? Maybe these 12 yr old kids can't really fly these things. o well just a thought

Buy a slow stick from GWS for $35. When you get it and get it built, you will scare yourself. It wants to fly just sitting there,KW

I have not flown RC for over 15 years. Recently I have a renewed interest in the hobby because of the RC electric revolution, especially in the park flyer area.

I started out just before christmas with a $50.00 Airtech Stealth Hornet that i bought at Walmart. This little plane is a twin prop pusher powered wing. The plane uses differential motor control for steering, there are no control surfaces. See [link=http://www.interactivetoy.com]This link[/link].

I took the Stealth Hornet to a small park in my area and launched it. To my surprize it flew just fine in calm weather. The plane climbs with power on and decends with power off, the differntial steering is sufficient to make turns in a small park but it is not spectacular. Flight time is about 5 minutes with a 15 minute charge.

I have about 6 flights and a few crashes on the little wing now and have found it to be fairly crash resistant. My 11 year old son who has never flow RC before did just fine with it aswell. It's true what they are advertising, little kids can fly these things, maybe you just got a bad plane or a bad product.

I have heard good things about this product. Listen to Dart373's advice. The GWS Slow Stick will be my next park flyer, all I will need is a larger park.