Originally Posted by exeter_acres

darn.. sorry about that..I've updated the page...

slacker, what have you been doing all week?

Playing paintball in the empty warehouse

Originally Posted by stgdz

slacker, what have you been doing all week?

Playing paintball in the empty warehouse

Probably flying a Crack Yak in the warehouse.

I finally dug out the MXS today to get it ready to fly it since I haven't flown it in quite a while. I changed the sfg's out for the racing wingtips just to see what the difference will be. Discovered that the tail wheel was missing, it must have fallen off the last time I flew it and I didn't notice it. Luckily I had a new Dubro tail wheel assembly and it was easy to adapt it to the MXS. So now it's ready to go as soon as the weather clears. Kind of wondering if anyone can give me any ideas what to expect in different flight characteristics.

Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy

Luckily I had a new Dubro tail wheel assembly and it was easy to adapt it to the MXS. So now it's ready to go as soon as the weather clears. Kind of wondering if anyone can give me any ideas what to expect in different flight characteristics.

Well, it;'s going to taxi better with a tailwheel.

Originally Posted by Doc Austin

Well, it;'s going to taxi better with a tailwheel.

I don't know if it will help much in the thick grass soccer fields, but at least it will save on the rudder wear.

Got my boy 11 yr old an MXS for his bday, Man did he have some fun saturday Flying it with the speed tips. I am going to have to lower his timer to save my batteries.

Got some more time with the MXS last weekend on Saturday but unfortunately my ailerons had a ton of blowback. Tried to use the servos from my gutted PA260 for temporary but they just weren't cutting it so I still haven't really gotten to wring her out. On Sunday idk what happened, but on my first flight I was doing a rolling spin into a rolling harrier and the nose just wasn't coming up like I was expecting. Ended up pancaking HARD in the grass I swore the plane was done-for. It still blows me away that the only damage was a few fractures to the formers where the gear mounts and a small tear in the wing where a plant stabbed through. Little tape there, a little CA and some epoxy for good measure on the gear and it's practically new again, minus some tiny covering issues.

After that fuss, I decided to rob my 3DHS Edge's tail and use the Savox SH-0255's for my ailerons. Turns out that now one of those was dying and ended up nearly killing the MXS. The one and only flight I had with it yesterday was by far the scariest flight I have ever had in the hobby. I've never had to work so hard to save a plane before. The aileron inputs were so inconsistent. I think the bad aileron got stuck full deflection, then as I'd try to correct, it would still move, but with a mind of its own, getting stuck along the way at different amounts of deflection. That made for quite a few unexpected rolls as the plane crept closer and closer to the ground. Somehow the nose got pointed up as I was about 20ft from doom and I punched out managing to gain some altitude. Got up to about 80ft by the time I finally managed to get some sort of stable, descending harrier at which point I just let it continue it's decent wherever it happened to go so at least it would pancake wings level again. Managed to set it down without a scratch on the plane or re-breaking the freshly repaired gear, but my knees were shaking beyond belief. Even just thinking about it gets my heart pumping.

I'm so thankful for having purchased a quality airframe. I still have yet to even see this plane's full potential in the air but already I can see it's strength is truly something to be admired. From what I have seen though, I think it's easily going to be my favorite plane in the fleet. The few minutes of time I've had with it, even with the poor ailerons, have been nothing short of awesome. Hopefully I'll get to put a video together next week after I get the servo replaced.

You're going to get some blowback on these small servos unless you run them on 6 volts. The 85MG on the elevator (if that's what you're running) is fine on 5 volts, but on the ailerons a 65MG servo is getting a little marginal on that voltage. If they are high use servos, they are gonna crap out out you.

These 48" airplanes are getting to be so high performance that I believe we are getting marginal on the smaller sized servos. I change them out a little more often than I was before and sending them back for service. Usually the potentiometers will get scored from stalling, or the amplifiers weakened. This problem has almost gone away since switching to the Airboss 45 Elite ESC and it's onboard 6 volt BEC.

On the HS85MG, I have never had to send one back except for stripping the gears. I did have one with a bucketload of flights start to get sloppy, and I need to send that one back. Mostly the HS85MG as been utterly bulletproof in these planes, especially on 6 volts, which is why I love them.

The first Extra EXP I ever flew had a super cheap ESC in it. Even with new, high quality servos, everything stalled and blew back so badly that the plane was dangerous to fly. The problem was that cheap ESCs usually have a cheap BEC that doesn't put out enough current. We put a seperate 6 volt BEC on the plane and that transformed it.

Originally Posted by Doc Austin

You're going to get some blowback on these small servos unless you run them on 6 volts. The 85MG on the elevator (if that's what you're running) is fine on 5 volts, but on the ailerons a 65MG servo is getting a little marginal on that voltage. If they are high use servos, they are gonna crap out out you.

These 48" airplanes are getting to be so high performance that I believe we are getting marginal on the smaller sized servos. I change them out a little more often than I was before and sending them back for service. Usually the potentiometers will get scored from stalling, or the amplifiers weakened. This problem has almost gone away since switching to the Airboss 45 Elite ESC and it's onboard 6 volt BEC.

On the HS85MG, I have never had to send one back except for stripping the gears. I did have one with a bucketload of flights start to get sloppy, and I need to send that one back. Mostly the HS85MG as been utterly bulletproof in these planes, especially on 6 volts, which is why I love them.

The first Extra EXP I ever flew had a super cheap ESC in it. Even with new, high quality servos, everything stalled and blew back so badly that the plane was dangerous to fly. The problem was that cheap ESCs usually have a cheap BEC that doesn't put out enough current. We put a seperate 6 volt BEC on the plane and that transformed it.

I'm running the Hobbywing Platinum 60A ESC and have the BEC set to 6v with 4a output. I think my issue with the Voltec servos was the long arm and amount of deflection. They worked fine on the PA plane(limited throws), but were dangerously weak here even on 6v.

How often would you say you change your servos out Doc? I've been beating these Savox 255's up for the better part of the last 9 months so it's failure is understandable. It's been in my PA Extra 260 and most recently the rudder in my 3dHS Edge. I'm still fairly new to the hobby so I'm unfamiliar with the life expectancy of these things. I'm digging these 255's with the resolution they have being digital and the 54oz/in of torque. Slightly more torque than the HS85 so I should be fine with these all around.

I'll most likely upgrade to a separate BEC though now that you mention it. Thanks for bringing that up. Reminds me back when I used to work car audio. We could make crappy stock speakers sound like gold just by putting a quality after-market amplifier to them and tuning it properly. There's power, and then there's quality power. Makes all the difference when you're trying to squeeze every oz of performance out of it.

Originally Posted by Motojunk

I'm running the Hobbywing Platinum 60A ESC and have the BEC set to 6v with 4a output. I think my issue with the Voltec servos was the long arm and amount of deflection. They worked fine on the PA plane(limited throws), but were dangerously weak here even on 6v.

How often would you say you change your servos out Doc? I've been beating these Savox 255's up for the better part of the last 9 months so it's failure is understandable. It's been in my PA Extra 260 and most recently the rudder in my 3dHS Edge. I'm still fairly new to the hobby so I'm unfamiliar with the life expectancy of these things. I'm digging these 255's with the resolution they have being digital and the 54oz/in of torque. Slightly more torque than the HS85 so I should be fine with these all around.

I'll most likely upgrade to a separate BEC though now that you mention it. Thanks for bringing that up. Reminds me back when I used to work car audio. We could make crappy stock speakers sound like gold just by putting a quality after-market amplifier to them and tuning it properly. There's power, and then there's quality power. Makes all the difference when you're trying to squeeze every oz of performance out of it.

I have some voltecs in an Ultimate AMR...the elevator as been replaces with a 65mg...the rudder just got a 65mg after the voltec would jitter, and the ailerons are next as they have a ton of free play....overall those servos are garbage

Originally Posted by Motojunk

How often would you say you change your servos out Doc?

About a couple of hundred flights and I sent them in to have Hi Tec take a look at them. This doesn't include the ones I strip beating the rudder on the runway. Remember how hard I fly them. Most people will have better results simply because they are not such gleeful abusers.

That, and I am really careful with my maintainence. Compared to park fliers, therse are big, fast, powerful planes. If you fly around people you gotta be responsible.

I'm still fairly new to the hobby so I'm unfamiliar with the life expectancy of these things.

.......assuming you dont have a weak BEC........ If they start stalling or blowing back, they need to go back. Also, if they jump around or act jittery at center that's a bad sign too.

Sometimes bad/sloppy gears can cause they to be jittery at center, but you can check the servo for slop and find that out. Usually, if the gears aren't sloppy, that sort of behavior comes from a scored potentiometer, and stalling/blowback is usually from a weakened amplifier...... at least that's what the invoice says when I get repaired servos back.

I'll most likely upgrade to a separate BEC though now that you mention it.

Make sure you get a quality one that gives you a real 6 volts. Like I say, the problem with cheap BECs is they don't always give you honest voltage.

Ztw 6a 6v bec is what I use. Quantum hobby sells them. Get the servos doc suggested also.


May I ask where youbalanced the plane on?

Originally Posted by Doc Austin

About a couple of hundred flights and I sent them in to have Hi Tec take a look at them. This doesn't include the ones I strip beating the rudder on the runway. Remember how hard I fly them. Most people will have better results simply because they are not such gleeful abusers.

That, and I am really careful with my maintainence. Compared to park fliers, therse are big, fast, powerful planes. If you fly around people you gotta be responsible.

.......assuming you dont have a weak BEC........ If they start stalling or blowing back, they need to go back. Also, if they jump around or act jittery at center that's a bad sign too.

Sometimes bad/sloppy gears can cause they to be jittery at center, but you can check the servo for slop and find that out. Usually, if the gears aren't sloppy, that sort of behavior comes from a scored potentiometer, and stalling/blowback is usually from a weakened amplifier...... at least that's what the invoice says when I get repaired servos back.

Make sure you get a quality one that gives you a real 6 volts. Like I say, the problem with cheap BECs is they don't always give you honest voltage.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!

I don't do the whole ground abuse routine you do(that poor plane haha) but I definitely fly my planes to the limit. I come from an action sports/adrenaline junkie background that can't afford to get hurt anymore, so now, with this hobby, I'm able to push it to the limit and past without ending up in surgery again. 27 years old and both of my knees have had reconstructive surgery

This is what I used to do for fun, so you can imagine how hard I push my planes



I fully understand the necessity of having quality equipment, which is one of the reasons I'm so happy to own the MXS. Hopefully soon I'll have her flying proper. Thanks again for the tips Doc!

Originally Posted by Motojunk

I come from an action sports/adrenaline junkie background

If you ever get to Florida, we could raise some serious hell!

Extreme Flight MXS EXP__Killin It.wmv (2 min 13 sec)