Originally Posted by FireyFate

I have 2 different flap positions programmed. I'd say they go down about a 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch... but I'm not at home to measure. I'll give you exact measurements when I can, but it probably won't be until later this week. I've got an old Navy buddy coming into town this evening.

can u get some video of it flying with these?? im interested to see how it goes

I have been flying mine with the wings inverted and think it flies great. It is an awsome looking plane and you can not beat the durability of the EPO foam. I think that people should try flying this plane more and quit reading what all the complainers are beating to death. Make your own opinion and dont jump on their bandwagon without prior investigation. With that being said, i too am interested in what people who are flying them are doing with theirs. I have been flying for 35 years and believe the knowledge base contained within this group is a powerful tool if taken with a grain of salt.

FireyFate,

Are you mixing any elevator with the flaperons? How much?


Has anyone tried a slowflyer prop? I was thinking something around 11-4.7. I have used my datalogger in flight on the stock prop and it very rarely pulls over thirty amps with that happening on long vertical lines. I would expect the slow flyer to draw less amps and blow more air over the control surfaces.

Originally Posted by bluebird

I have been flying mine with the wings inverted and think it flies great. It is an awsome looking plane and you can not beat the durability of the EPO foam. I think that people should try flying this plane more and quit reading what all the complainers are beating to death.

bluebird, I also liked it more with the wings inverted and that is the main and I think the only major complain people have about this plane. People want it to fly better with the wings upright not inverted. Also give it a try and fly it with 12x6E prop.

Subscribed to this thread: I can also say that I am a happy owner of this extra with the wings inverted. :-)

I am really enjoying this plane.

Like most others, I find that on high rates full elevator input can make it snap roll (on low rates it will not). This is only on up elevator, not down - i.e. very tight loop or bottom of a dive. So I mixed a little flaperon into elevator, and find that I can achieve a slightly tighter pull-up before it snap rolls.

Anyone else mess with that?

Also, is it just my asymmetric brain, or is KE one way slightly different than the other? I find that right wing up KE is easier to control than left wing up...

I noticed the same thing on knife edge, but I buggered my right wing up and thought maybe it had something to do with that. I have had epp foamies that go better one way then the other, but was usually due to the battery stuck on one side of the fuselage. This guy has everything pretty centered in the fuse, so I don't know why. I am better with the right wing up, going right to left anyhow. I kinda suck the other way and don't practice it enough.

I thought about mixing flaps to elevator, so thats good to know that it made a little difference towards the positive.

I need to try the flaps on landing yet too. Interested if here was some up elevator mixed in.

Ahhhh . . . some nice chatting about the plane. Thanks guys.

Oh just thought about something on knife edge. Look to see if the servo linkage is "pulling" when knife edge is good and pushing when bad. May be servo stalling and/or linkage flexing. I think the same phenomenon contributes to weird elevator behavior. i will have a closer look at mine as well.

Nice little pull pull set up would be sweet.

Originally Posted by Scooter04

Oh just thought about something on knife edge. Look to see if the servo linkage is "pulling" when knife edge is good and pushing when bad. May be servo stalling and/or linkage flexing. I think the same phenomenon contributes to weird elevator behavior. i will have a closer look at mine as well.

Nice little pull pull set up would be sweet.

Hmm, that would make sense... except that now I look at it, it is pushing when it is on the "good" side!

Pondering this a little more, I think I have the same preference in my UM Sukhoi XP... so that may mean that it is a generic thing - either in my brain, or related to the prop direction/wash.

I originally noticed that the vertical stab and rudder were a bit bendy. But I subsequently managed to "land" my plane upside down and cleanly ripped them both off (D'Oh!). But they went back on very neatly, and afterwards I put a thin CF rod down the length of the trailing edge of the rudder, and in fact it is now better than ever.

[Edit: Actually, where a dual rod setup would be nice is the elevator - if there were a control rod going to each side, it might add more stability in sharp pitch controls.]

Yep, doesn't make sense for knife edge.

I have always wondered if mine rolls to the right slightly under too much elevator due to the horn being on the right side and the elevator being flexible. In other words I may be getting more elevator on the right than the left. There is not much meat in the center of the elevator. Haven't taken the time to try to reinforce it. Bought some carbon and have some lite weight glass laying around, but just haven't taken the time.

Good idea on the trailing edge of the rudder. Have seen people do that to ailerons too.

Originally Posted by jaskel

can u get some video of it flying with these?? im interested to see how it goes

I'll try to this weekend. I just got my onboard camera mounted as well, so that should make for some interesting video.

Originally Posted by bluebird

Are you mixing any elevator with the flaperons? How much?

Nope, didn't need any elevator to keep it flying straight. I'll take some measurements on my flaperons tonight.

Just wanted to jump in and say I am an EXTRA 300 happy owner. Granted I only have 1 flight on the bird, but it was a great flight, much better than I can say for other maidens I've had in the past.

I bought the plane used from a user on this forum, and it had been landed upside down once (by him), ripping the vertical stab off and scuffing the wings, but all looked good before I flew it. I guess the wings look a tiny flat but I thought it flew great and was super stable! I was halfway through the battery when I realized I had never even gone over half throttle. Plenty of speed but stays afloat fairly nice too.

I was extremely pleased with the landing. I had heard that it comes in a little hot, so I made sure to have plenty of room and speed. About 10 feet off the ground I throttled down and realized that I had gone all the way to 0 so I just kept descending and greased it perfectly, she nosed over in the tall grass, but that's to be expected.

Look forward to more flying and testing tonight!

Originally Posted by FireyFate

I'll try to this weekend. I just got my onboard camera mounted as well, so that should make for some interesting video.

Nope, didn't need any elevator to keep it flying straight. I'll take some measurements on my flaperons tonight.

Hows the best way to do flapperons on the AR500?? can it be done??

Originally Posted by jaskel

Hows the best way to do flapperons on the AR500?? can it be done??

Nope. You need a 6 channel receiver. One aileron plugs into the aileron jack, the second plugs into Aux1. It's a shame since you really only need five channels, but the gear channel is a waste in a plane like this.

That is a real pain with the AR500 and annoying since as FireyFate says you only really need 5 (real) channels for flaperons. But I am pretty sure that if you have a TX with lots of mixes you can use one to get rid of the effect of the Gear switch and then programme everything in manually.

If, like me, you are using a DX6i with only 2 mixes it is virtually impossible with an AR500, although if you are desperate I think it is just about possible, albeit with some loss of travel - this is how I have seen it done:

DUAL AILERON Actived
Left aileron plugged into Aileron Channel.
Right Aileron plugged into Gear Channel.

MIX 1 - Master is AIL, Slave is GEAR. SW is ON. Tweak the U rate later

MIX 2 - Master is FLAP, Slave is GEAR. SW is FLAP and the rate is 125% D.

FLAPS - Set to desired angle (down, up for spoilerons).

SUBTRIM - full whack in one direction to even the flaps out through the SUB TRIM option. Even then you may find that you need to tweak the clevis on your ailerons and fiddle with the rates.

And that is one of the reasons why I have AR6200 receivers and buy the PNP version of these planes!

If anyone is interested, an orange Sharpie matches the paint very closely and works well on dents that are showing a little white.

Originally Posted by jaskel

Hows the best way to do flapperons on the AR500?? can it be done??

I am using a Futaba radio with a Spectrum module. I know it's kind of like putting a Ford motor in a Chevy, but it works well.

I used the gear channel on the AR500 for the other aileron. On my radio I can select that channel to use for another aileron.

Not familiar enough with the Spectrum radio's to help out if that's what you have. If you have a Futaba and have any questions, let me know.

Bluebird - Good to know, thanks.