That looks like a fun outing.

Hey Steve, why don't we do something like that here. We could get all the Bixlers and Skysurfers together over at the farm we fly. What do you think??

Originally Posted by flyandi

I just added a access bay under the belly.. easy to access and can store everything in the fuselage now.

how did you add an access bay under the belly and not mess with the carbon fiber rod that is supposed to be placed along the belly line or how did anyone with access bays on the side of the fuse not mess with the elevator/ruder push rods that are on the side (at least in my sky surfer v1)?

Finally went out and tested my new RCTimer 2200kv. Was quite windy so it was really hard to tell exactly how well it is compared, however it did seem to go against the wind pretty well at WOT, and climbed quite fast. It was also quite a bit quieter, almost silent compared to my old motor and prop. Still running 6x4, but this time everything is well balanced and there is NO vibrations. My AP worked flawlessly from dead stick to WOT. Made landing in stabilized mode easy with the strong cross wind :P.

Now I feel much more confident to fly to some limits... my next flight I am either going to climb full throttle up as high as I can until I have drawn out about 2000mah from my 2700mah battery. This gives me a good safe amount of power for what will probably be a long glide back down, or I am going to go in a straight line and see how far I can get before either video or RC control cut out. I am expecting 3km with my current setup (Probably climb to 1000 meters for cruising), though hopefully 4 (my current record is 2.24km), and that is using an omni on 2.4 (with 1 watt booster), no low pass filters for my 1.3Ghz video either.

I think my next step is a 2.4Ghz patch antenna since they are cheap, as well as a 1.3Ghz Helical, and low pass filters for both ground and plane (My 1 watt 2.4 booster creates a lot of noise up close to the vRX) which should help a bit too with range.

Unfortunately I think I broke my 5db 2.4 antenna off my TX in my backpack after flying today which is an RP-SMA antenna, and the only other antenna I have is SMA... So now I either need to fix it, use my radio with no booster (Which will limit me to about 1km range...), or find a way to connect an SMA antenna to an RP-SMA connector (not sure if I can just jump the two female holes to make it work with a piece of solid copper...), plus the one that broke is supposedly 5db (stock antenna that came with 2.4 amp), and I think my stock TX antenna is 2db gain, though they seem no different in size or design...

Hey Self, the fun thing about this hobby is you can build it anyway you want. Experiment and have some fun with it. You don't have to put the cf rod on the bottom of the plane. I for one do not do that to my planes. I have found a way to reinforce my planes from the inside before I put them together. Have a little imagination and you'll figure it out also. Once you crash your plane a few times, you'll figure it out.

Originally Posted by Maddmax

Hey Self, the fun thing about this hobby is you can build it anyway you want. Experiment and have some fun with it. You don't have to put the cf rod on the bottom of the plane. I for one do not do that to my planes. I have found a way to reinforce my planes from the inside before I put them together. Have a little imagination and you'll figure it out also. Once you crash your plane a few times, you'll figure it out.

Max

Is that the V4 Skysurfer? Duh. I have got to read the text for photos before i post.

You may want to mention that you will need to remove the nose weight if you go with a 2200mah battery over the 1300mah.

Hi Vince, that's my last V4 with internal reinforcements. I just started another plane and will post pics soon. I finally destroyed my original plane from last June to the point it's pretty beat up. I'm planning on rebuilding it with the stock crap pieces and then launching it with a couple of M80 fireworks in it. Plan on sending it out with a real bang!!!

Originally Posted by Maddmax

Hi Vince, that's my last V4 with internal reinforcements. I just started another plane and will post pics soon. I finally destroyed my original plane from last June to the point it's pretty beat up. I'm planning on rebuilding it with the stock crap pieces and then launching it with a couple of M80 fireworks in it. Plan on sending it out with a real bang!!!

Always the showboat.

Just make sure there aren't any little kids around and don't do it over dry grass.

Although you could always hang it from your ceiling as a reminder to not push the envelope too far.

I'll have better memories of it blowing up than letting it hang around collecting dust. Besides, the wifes complaining anyway about my ever expanding air force!!!

Originally Posted by Maddmax

I'll have better memories of it blowing up than letting it hang around collecting dust. Besides, the wifes complaining anyway about my ever expanding air force!!!

Fire in the hole!!!!

Wind knocked over my GS today and broke my tripod BUT I still had a good FPV flight (just no recording today). I flew without my amp since I accidently broke my RP-SMA antenna, and I still got 1km out with no problems and no low pass filters :P. AND I had the most beutiful landing I ever had, was so soft the landing gear didn't even make a noise on the landing .

That is why I bungy cord mine to a cinder block underneath. Learned my lesson last year at the CO FPV meet.

Can I ask- do you all have the brake on your ESCs programmed 'on' in your bixlers/sky surfers- so the prop doesn't 'windmill' with the throttle off , producing more drag, when gliding?- with the less drag, more likely to glide for further and extend our FPV flights (I would have thought at least)- also the easy star II http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=TPRM2RRwYIA is either out now or soon to be out and amongst other features it comes with a folding prop- wondered if this could work on our bixlers/sky surfers (if we could get hold of it of course)- the easy star 2 folding prop is unusual as most folding props of course are designed for gliders with props on the nose but naturally in regards the easy star/ss/bixler- it's pushing and therefore needs to fold in the other direction- unless there are other similar folding props out there..

I have seen plenty of pics of people putting folding props on, I don't know just how much of a difference it makes honestly, I can glide for a LONG time either way, and I do not have any braking set on my ESC.

I think the T-28 was inch away from me

Here is the video:

SkySurfer FPV VS Parkzone T-28 - Close Call - Mid Air Collision (0 min 15 sec)

Originally Posted by Maddmax

That looks like a fun outing.

Hey Steve, why don't we do something like that here. We could get all the Bixlers and Skysurfers together over at the farm we fly. What do you think??

Sounds like a possibility - we'd need permission from the site manger...

-Steve
http://www.ilovefpv.com