Joel---Great vids and to the others thanks for the tips!!!...

I have some Hyperion 320mAh and 450mAh cells...The 450mAh cells are pretty wide...I may be able to remove enough foam to get the battery to fit but it's going to be VERY tight...I see that the 550mAh cells are longer but not as wide..

Kevin

I got home and enlarged the battery compartment---The 450mAh batts fit!!!...Now I've got to get to work soldering on connectors...

Kevin

Here are a couple of pics of my Hyperion 450mAh battery that I made up from bare cells as compared to the stock battery...Although the Hyperion has a larger footprint the stock battery is thicker...The Hyperion is wafer thin compared to the stock battery...

Although the 450mAh batt did help out with the nose weight, flying didn't improve much...The plane simply wants to hunt in pitch...I also have a TON of down elevator trim with this plane to fly level...I'm almost tempted to just double up on my 320mAh batteries in parallel for a 1S power pack and 640mAh in power for even more nose weight...Although I'm flying with a larger/heavier battery the CG hasn't changed much at all...

I don't understand the elevator hunting...Next, I'm going to take out the expo..I have a modest 30% on high rates and 25% on low rates...

Kevin

Martimer,

Thanks! I really enjoy flying her in the yard. Zigzagging between the trees is a lot of fun, and it helps to keep my reflexes sharp. She is surprisingly nimble. I also fly her at our winter indoor spot.

Kevin,

Thanks! I love the plane.

It sounds like you may have an incidence or thrust-line problem, but I'd need more info to make that determination. How easy is it to fly inverted? When trimmed for level flight & rolled inverted, does the plane climb, remain nearly level, or dive? How about power-off behavior? Does it hunt in pitch power-on & power-off? How is the stab-to-wing alignment? Are they parallel with respect to each other? How about the thrust-line? How much down-thrust does it have? A side pic would be great.

Joel

Originally Posted by turboparker

Martimer,

Thanks! I really enjoy flying her in the yard. Zigzagging between the trees is a lot of fun, and it helps to keep my reflexes sharp. She is surprisingly nimble. I also fly her at our winter indoor spot.

Kevin,

Thanks! I love the plane.

It sounds like you may have an incidence or thrust-line problem, but I'd need more info to make that determination. How easy is it to fly inverted? When trimmed for level flight & rolled inverted, does the plane climb, remain nearly level, or dive? How about power-off behavior? Does it hunt in pitch power-on & power-off? How is the stab-to-wing alignment? Are they parallel with respect to each other? How about the thrust-line? How much down-thrust does it have? A side pic would be great.

Joel

I'm thinking that the plane doesn't have much of a variable concerning thrust lines, incidence, etc as compared to others...Everything looks good/well put together from the factory...I did notice that the horizontal stab is rather floppy...I'm going to add CA glue to the points where the stab meets the fuselage to get the stab a little more stable...And the wings flex a LOT in flight...I would have liked to have seen a little larger carbon spar (1/2 to 1mm more???) than the stock spar...

I only have 4 flights on this bird...The first two without the gear---The third flight with the gear and I landed 1/2 way through the flight and took the gear off...Flew without the gear and she was definately faster...I did roll the plane but didn't try inverted flight...

I'll try a little less expo and see what she does when inverted...

Kevin

I just got through running a bead of foam safe CA along all of the seams where the flying surfaces meet the fuselage/engine pods---As well as applying CA to along the spar...This stiffened up the airframe IMMENSELY!!!...A loosey/goosey airframe will cause a plane to hunt/wander all over the place...I'll fly it in the AM to see what I have...My youngest has a baseball tripple header tomorrow playing catcher for ALL of the innings...I'd better get the flight in tomorrow AM as I don't know if I'll have enough light left after the BB games......

Kevin

I fly mine in the three way intersection in front of my house. I have found the Mossie to have a strange attraction to trees. Perhaps she just remembers her roots?

The only plane I have had to recover from the trees more often is my Twirl (a twin rotor autogyro).

I find it interesting to compare the flight characteristics of the two planes - The Twirl gets stuck more often at the top of the tree while the Mossie seems to prefer the middle of the leafy height of the tree.

So, it looks like a nice day to fly and as it turns out I have nothing to do after all so I went flying. First up was the Mossie (of some reason it was on my mind...).

Turns out that there are some slightly stronger winds up around 75 feet and as I was making a turn to final I hit one of those (I was flying high to avoid the trees) and got her into a spin. Normally this is no problem since I had altitude. Unfortunately she had "drifted" over a house, costing me the precious feet of spin recovery altitude.

I expect the wind "at ground level" to pick up later today so recovery is not an issue. I did discuss the issue with the homeowner and I am not expecting a problem.

Please note that I do not normally fly over houses, I fly over the street (and over MY lawn). Had I stayed low things would be fine. I chose to fly high to avoid the possibility of engaging the tree and found the wind. Stupid and unfortunate and I anticipate losing that battery to over discharge. The plane appears to be undamaged and out of reach.

Originally Posted by richos

I use GWS Plantraco Propeller Adapters. Not the cheapest but the best.

Pop one off the sprue and push fit into the GWS 4mm hole and screw onto the shaft (thats it no messing around) in my opinion the best i have ever come across.

Plantraco Prop Adapter Set. Google it valiantGLX

These prop adapters enable you to fit GWS and other props with 4mm bore to 1mm, 1.2mm (0.047") and 1.5mm shafts. The set includes 2 of each type.

http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/prop_adapter.html

Happy to help valiantGLX

Thanks again for the help ... but I have another stupid question/s Do you simply push them on or should I screw them on, and which way around should I fit them, with the big end on the front so the prop cant fly off or the other way

I ordered my gear from micron radio control and I have to say Im not happy I ordered 2 sets of counter rotating 3 blade props but they sent me 2 bladed props. Additionally 1 prop is from another inferior brand I think, the one that says GWS on it is perfect, but the other one looks like it is made from cheaper plastic, there is no GWS logo and the holes are not centered on both props Both CW and CCW props were advertised as GWS

EDIT: I think I have answered my own question, I used the largest size prop adapter so I didnt need to screw it on, and I have the bigger side facing the motor.

Also as I suspected both of the props without the GWS logo have unn-centered holes and vibrate so badly that I cannot even hold on to the gearbox with a tight finger grip.

ValiantGLX,

You use the 1.5mm adapter. Push the adapter into the prop from the front, so that the flanged end of the adapter retains the prop, then screw the adapter onto the propshaft.

Joel

Watching the TN/FL game now....GO VOLS!!!...During half time I'm going to fly the Mossy with a dime added to the front of the battery...

I think that I know why the CG didn't change much after installing the larger batt---Due to how wide the battery is I can't move the battery as far forward as the stock battery...I may add some lead to the back of the nose cone to use as little wieght as possible and get the ballast as far forward as possible..

Kevin

Half time now....14-10 + VOLS!!!

I just now put in a flight with the Mossy as it was getting dark...(Street lights are on)...Skies are overcast and spitting rain...(The camo on the Mossy is VERY effective!!!)

I taped in a dime to the inside of the nose cone...Flight was MUCH better but still not good enough...Still hunting in pitch...Still a shade tail heavy as when I rolled inverted the plane needed very little down elevator...(With a wing like this I would think that more down elevator would be needed for inverted flight)...

I now have a penny taped inside of the nose cone but now it's just too dark to fly...I'll fly her tomorrow...

And a 6 minute flight with most of the flight @ 1/2-3/4 throttle only consumed 162mA from a 450mAh pack!!!....I'm thinking 10 minute flights!!!

Kevin

I just flew the Mossy with a penny in the nose cone...Better but still not as good as it could be...This plane must be EXTREMELY tail heavy...I rolled it inverted and if I just breathe on the elevator she climbs...

I put in an 8 minute flight and the battery voltage was down to 3.76v and put 302mA's back into the Hyperion 450mAh pack...Temp is 80* and the pack isn't even a hint warm...

Kevin

Oh yes she's tail heavy!!!

Originally Posted by Kevin Greene

I just flew the Mossy with a penny in the nose cone...Better but still not as good as it could be...This plane must be EXTREMELY tail heavy...I rolled it inverted and if I just breathe on the elevator she climbs...

I put in an 8 minute flight and the battery voltage was down to 3.76v and put 302mA's back into the Hyperion 450mAh pack...Temp is 80* and the pack isn't even a hint warm...

Kevin

Yup. If a Mossie wants to climb that badly when inverted, it's still quite tail-heavy. Some are more tail-heavy than others, however. Looks like you ended up with one of the really tail-heavy samples. With the elevator pushrod in the second hole out, it should take a modest amount of down-elevator to maintain level inverted flight, but not a lot. When the CG is about right, it should be easy to fly inverted circuits at less than WOT with elevator to spare, but the plane should not feel squirrelly when flown upright or inverted. When trimmed for level flight @ 75% throttle, the nose should drop moderately when you cut the power, and a small amount of up-elevator should be required to maintain altitude in coordinated turns at moderate bank-angles. When you go to WOT, the plane should climb moderately, but there should be no dramatic pitch-up.

Joel