Originally Posted by YosefAugers

Step 7 - Screwing the two rectangular pieces into the wing halves to hold the two halves of the wing together.

First, make sure you have the right screws. Recall that earlier I showed that there were two baggies with six screws -- one with smaller and one with larger screws. In the picture below, the far left baggie, for the nose wheel, contains the smaller screws and the far right baggie, which we're going to use now, contains the larger screws:



I just went ahead and made a video of how I am putting the screws through the two rectangular plastic pieces to hold the two wing halves together. The video is kinda long -- about six and a half minutes and I'm saying "um" a lot:


Here is the link for windows users.

Here is the link for mac users.

I have a question on this step, did you fit the rear wing plate with the magnet with the little rubber spacers that were in the bag? I didn't see where else they would go and it seems to make that wing plate more flush. Thanks for the Great work I am on this step now...the darn tape took a good 30 minutes to get on the tail. Bad eyes didn't help..lol

Originally Posted by Ginohio

I have a question on this step, did you fit the rear wing plate with the magnet with the little rubber spacers that were in the bag? I didn't see where else they would go and it seems to make that wing plate more flush. Thanks for the Great work I am on this step now...the darn tape took a good 30 minutes to get on the tail. Bad eyes didn't help..lol

Ginohio,

Wrt the tape - I'm sure glad I never had lasik done. I can just pull off my glasses and my 8+ diopter myopia gives me a near microscope view of tiny stuff. Now if I can just keep my hands from shaking...

Wrt the little rubber spacers, let's make sure we're talking about the same thing. I presume you're asking about these (click on the picture 1-3 times to zoom in):



I thought/think they're just spare plastic rings to squeeze the clevis pins that are on the ends of the control rods that connect to the rudder and elevator:



What do you think?

Originally Posted by YosefAugers

Ginohio,

Wrt the tape - I'm sure glad I never had lasik done. I can just pull off my glasses and my 8+ diopter myopia gives me a near microscope view of tiny stuff. Now if I can just keep my hands from shaking...

Wrt the little rubber spacers, let's make sure we're talking about the same thing. I presume you're asking about these (click on the picture 1-3 times to zoom in):

Attachment 4819098

I thought/think they're just spare plastic rings to squeeze the clevis pins that are on the ends of the control rods that connect to the rudder and elevator:

Attachment 4819125

What do you think?

Yes, those are the spacers I was talking about, Hmmm lol maybe your right. It doesn't show them in the manual anywhere.. on my last piece of tape on the wing fins I found if you just take your fingertips and slowly brush the edge of tape away from the corner it comes right off.. after all that time....live and learn. I am going to just put the spacers in the bag and assume they are for the clevice like you said..Thanks

Originally Posted by ginohio

yes, those are the spacers i was talking about, hmmm lol maybe your right. It doesn't show them in the manual anywhere.. On my last piece of tape on the wing fins i found if you just take your fingertips and slowly brush the edge of tape away from the corner it comes right off.. After all that time....live and learn. I am going to just put the spacers in the bag and assume they are for the clevice like you said..thanks

I've got larger wheels installed and took her out intending just to do some taxiing but she got airborne...

Yosef's HZ Firebird Stratos - First Flight (0 min 15 sec)

Yosef's HZ Firebird Stratos - First Flight - Slow Motion Version (0 min 21 sec)

Originally Posted by Amichai

See what I mean about the "new model rat race"!? Finding batteries is always hard for new models. When I got my Blade MCP X, you pretty much had to stab someone for an extra battery! At least this model has more of a standard battery than that brand new connector type on the MCP X.

Just an update, got my extra battery in the mail today from HobbyZone

Yosef,
Congratulations you are the first non-company person to demonstrate this plane. Your field does look a bit rough. How was the power when attempting to takeoff? I fly from close cut grass and am hoping for some ROG's.
Gary

Steerable nosewheel?

Originally Posted by Gary Hoorn

Yosef,
Congratulations you are the first non-company person to demonstrate this plane. Your field does look a bit rough. How was the power when attempting to takeoff? I fly from close cut grass and am hoping for some ROG's.
Gary

Hehe, that was the smooth stuff - I'm not sure how she'll do out on "the prairie."

Power seemed fine once she got moving.

If your grass is between a putting green and fairway, you might want slightly larger wheels (I hope to be posting about this shortly) but I would think you'll be fine.

I'm sorry for my ignorance but I have no clue what "ROG" means. Sorry.

Originally Posted by IWC

Steerable nosewheel?

Nope.

Yosef,
ROG means Rise Off Ground or takeoff.
Gary

Hello all,
I flew the maiden flight on my Firebird Stratos today. I have had it for about a week but I am kind of a perfectionist so I took my time to make sure I did it right (and to my standards). I did not attach the landing gear since my intention from the beginning was to leave it off and fly it almost like a powered sailplane. I have a Multiplex TwinStar ll also and I enjoy the multi-motor configurations. I did think that the sequence of the manual for assembling and making the Stratos flight ready was a little out of order and perhaps confusing but alls well that ends well. I, too, found that I could not insert the pin that secures the wing until I drilled out the wing plate. I also attached the wing fins on the left and right wing halves before joining them. I did not use tape on the fins but rather I used a VERY thin line of medium (gap filling) CA and held them in place for about ten minutes each until they were secure. I do, indeed, have a great deal of experience and I have over 20 years as an instructor. If anyone has any questions I will be glad to try and answer them. More to follow in about an hour. Dinner calls.....

As mentioned above, I maidened my Stratos today. After completing assembly, I am happy to report that it looked great! I doubt though, that I will ever install the landing gear. The main reason is the fact that I like the looks of it without the gear and, quite frankly, I was a bit disappointed to find that the nose wheel was not steerable.
On the other hand, I am happy to report that it flew just fine! Although I have three batteries (my local hobby shop was able to secure two more in just three days) I took only one with me since bad weather was reportedly headed our way.
Wind was 5 - 7mph and I hand launched it into the wind with ease. It had plenty of power and was very easy to control. The virtual instructor seemed to be working as advertised although I am going to disable it eventually. I am an instructor at our club field and I just wanted to see how well it worked and to evaluate whether I could readily recommend it or not. I must confess that the "little red" transmitter felt a little odd and will take some getting used to. My initial impression though was very positive. I am quite sure that I will have many enjoyable flights with the Stratos. One flight though, is not enough to give a full and impartial evaluation. I hope to get in a number of additional flights during the coming week. Upon landing I did notice that, without the gear installed, I was able to make a smooth landing but the canopy latch was the first thing to touch the grass when I flared. I did notice a few grass clippings inside the battery area when I removed the battery. For that reason, I installed a Great Planes nylon Wing Tip Skid right in front of the canopy latch when I got home. The skid looks pretty good, if I say so myself, and looks almost as if it was designed to be there! I will add more this week after several more flights. Stan

I flew my new Stratos today on low rates. It took off in less than 20 feet across my driveway. It flew pretty well but I will fly on high rates next time I try it. I live in a subdivision and am completely surrounded by trees. I have less than three hundred feet in which to fly until I get above them. I need the high rates to get it down in a tight circle to line it up with the road. It is pretty tough even though I will need to glue the front landing gear mount back on due to a rough landing on the road. My intention is to use it as a keychain or flycam1 camera plane to film the subdivision and the surrounding area. To date, it's the largest I've tried to fly here. My micro Cessna, J-3 Cub and Champ have had no problems here before. In case anybody is wondering, I'm not a beginner. I'm not very experienced but I have dozens of planes in the garage from micros to 6' wing span planes with some EDFs and Biplanes mixed in the bunch. Along with the Stratos, I flew my AR Drone 2.0, Blade MQX, MX2 and two Force RC helis today also.

I got it put together today.
Here are some pics.....
In the box...


Fresh build waiting for take off...


getting ready to taxi, notice I put ma AMA# on the tail....


I am uploading a short video shot on phone for today's first flight....