Originally Posted by Rare Bear

Can anyone who has been flying the Flutter-By for some time comment on maintenance or parts they usually break? I am an intermediate pilot and have no doubts about being able to keep this plane from crashing, but we all have those days, from time to time. Is this plane pretty resilient with slight crashes & such?

I plan on ordering the Orange version w/ LED lights; can anyone comment on what type of servos and ESC Jack installs on these aircraft? I'm currently awaiting an email from him now. Thanks!!

Soon to be Flutter-By owner!

Great choice.

Jack did leave a post to this effect. The most often part he has had to send to owners is the Tail surfaces. Now he is clear that it has only been a few (5 or 8) in ten years (going on memory) and it has not been due to crashes, but rather people leaving them in a hot car. The tail surfaces are under a lot of tension and with the heat the carbon fiber resin softens and let's go.

It doesn't sound like anyone has really wrecked one, or that he has sent out parts due to a crash. Now Jack can speak to this better, but this was one of the questions I had as well. Note: I re read the post and it says the most often broken part is the tail....and it's only been a few so that says much for the rest of the plane.

What I like is that it's a mild to wild and yet take your hands off and it rights itself. Lots of owners have talked about the hands off flying you can do with this.

Anyhow I don't know if this helped on any level but I feel it's worth the risk to purchase a limited run hand built plane.

Now I will be flying in a hanger this winter and it can be a bit trecherous,
I am hoping that I won't be the first to be doing a parts order due to crash.

WraithChild,

I am hoping you will post the vid you where threatening earlier in the thread. I tried to send you an IM but for some reason it's not working for me. Or if it is I just sent you several. It just seems to do nothing and shows no sent messages. Sorry if you got a bunch.

I am hoping you will post something. This thread is starving for new media

I have had mine since the first E-Fest. I have had some spectacular mid-airs at both E-Fest and the JR Indoor. One mid-air resulted in a motor mount being broken. Not a big deal. I have rips in the wing, mended with tape from the underside. I have bounced my Flutter-By off a backboard in a very small gym, I have had it tumble across the flying field, trying to fly in very strong wind. I had to replace one motor. I think I burned one up. I have had to replace part of one elevator, due to as what Jack says. Keep them out of HOT cars. CF is made by gluing together lots of carbon strands under high pressure. Jack fixed it real quick. I had my mini-Flutter-BI fixed by Jack after Toledo one year. It got knocked around in the car, partially breaking the CF rod that runs between each side. Jack did a super job of repairing it and I returned to Michigan. I drove from Toledo to Muncie, Jack fixed it, I returned to Toledo to spend the night since it is a hike from Toledo to Muncie and back. I built two boxes to hold my mini-Flutter-Bys and they are really neat. Guess I should take a picture of them! I will say they are pretty sturdy. I have been flying mine for a number of years. If you treat them right, they will return hours and hours of flying pleasure.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred

Thanks for the great info, guys - much appreciated! Can anyone comment on what servos Jack specs this with, along with the ESC?

I plan on going for the Park 400 - will this be enough performance for me? I would like to try hovers and other high alpha maneuvers.

Rare Bear,

I use Tower Pro 9 gram servos and power-up 20 amp ESC's. The Park 400
(890 kv) is plenty to hover with...In my opinion the 450 makes the plane a little nose heavy.

Jack

Originally Posted by Rare Bear

Thanks for the great info, guys - much appreciated! Can anyone comment on what servos Jack specs this with, along with the ESC?

I plan on going for the Park 400 - will this be enough performance for me? I would like to try hovers and other high alpha maneuvers.

The park 400 is all he supplies them with. it's the perfect balance of power vs weight. In the review it mentions Tower Pro servos, I know the reviewer supplied some of the equipment but I am not certain if the servos where the ones supplied by Jack, my gut is that they where.

I also asked Jack about putting on a larger motor, he made it pretty clear that essentially with anything bigger your really adding weight. He said the setup he provides will give ALL of the performance we would expect from the review, or any videos you have seen. AKA high alpha hovers, vertical departures, low and slow, and ballistic climbs. His design philosophy on this A/C appears to be built around this performance premise.

With all that said, I took his word for it and let him set it up to his spec, which at the end of the day, if you can't trust the builder/desiger/test flyer....who can you trust

Your making a great decision! Others who have recieved them and posted comments in this thread have echoed the same sentiments....essentially they are extremely happy with the end product and performs EXACTLY as advertised...no better report than that.

Thanks for the great info, guys - much appreciated! Can anyone comment on what servos Jack specs this with, along with the ESC?

I plan on going for the Park 400 - will this be enough performance for me? I would like to try hovers and other high alpha maneuvers.

Are my posts in invisible ink?

Jack

Jack, too funny, I was wondering the same thing. I swear I didn't see your post at all and now it's just 'popped up'.

So let me guess, someone used a decoder ring to reveal the secret message

Rare Bear, I think that orange looks really sharp, I also went with the lights, can't go wrong there, in the end I went Yellow, my fond memories of 80's winter wear and bright colors had me choose fluorescent yellow.

For me it was a toss up, I could have gone either way.

Have you seen the flutter-by night flight video on YouTube? Looks darn good!!!

Originally Posted by Flutter-By

Are my posts in invisible ink?

Jack

Jack - sorry about that!!! I must have posted that 2nd comment as you were replying - thanks for filling me in!!!

The Park 400 it is - I don't want to compromise the balance of the aircraft, and it sounds like the 400 is absolutely perfect - many thanks for the feedback magnumb!

Thanks for all the feedback!!

Originally Posted by Magnumb

Rare Bear, I think that orange looks really sharp, I also went with the lights, can't go wrong there, in the end I went Yellow, my fond memories of 80's winter wear and bright colors had me choose fluorescent yellow.

For me it was a toss up, I could have gone either way.

Have you seen the flutter-by night flight video on YouTube? Looks darn good!!!

Saw the video - that's what made me want to go LED! Looks great - canceled a Traxxas Titan to make room for this bird.

Originally Posted by Rare Bear

Saw the video - that's what made me want to go LED! Looks great - canceled a Traxxas Titan to make room for this bird.

Hehehehe I was really so so on the lights too. Actually that vid sold me in color and lights. Gotta have it. Oh and yeah this money was going to another bird until I saw this. Funny how it hits ya.

So how did you find out about this plane?

Originally Posted by Magnumb

Hehehehe I was really so so on the lights too. Actually that vid sold me in color and lights. Gotta have it. Oh and yeah this money was going to another bird until I saw this. Funny how it hits ya.

So how did you find out about this plane?

Hey, Magnumb - saw the plane in a build thread some time ago and just re-discovered it via a Night Vapor thread.

I have had the double post problem now and then. I post something, it appears then disappears and almost by design, suddenly re-apears.

Yep Jack, now and then you write in invisible ink. but that is ok. We Flutter-By owners can see it anyway.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred

The lights Jack uses are the Cat's Meow. I have lights on mine, not Jack's, but the way Jack installs them, is great. By all means, get lights. At dusk outside or indoors for night flying, another whole experience opens up for all of us Flutter-By owners with lights on.