After 3 great flights on Saturday, landing in the snow, had a mishap on Sunday...

Gave her almost WOT as usual and tossed her into the wind. Immediately rolled just about upside down before I got her back wings level, but by that time she had lost almost all altitude. Thought I may be able to save her so left the throttle wide open, but her belly smacked the hard snow and BZZZZZZZZZZZ a bunch of fan pieces shot out of the back end. The fan shroud had deformed enough to contact the blades and that was that.
No other damage but still a bummer.

Already ordered a new fan from Don's Wicked. Hopefully it'll be pretty well balanced, I noticed there was a pea-sized blob of blue tac inside the old fan hub where Don had balanced that one.

Since the fuselage is pretty dinged up I was thinking about buying a new kit of some other 64mm EDF plane, F-16 maybe, (since Stinger fuselages seem to be OOS everywhere) and putting the 4000+ set up in that but decided my Stinger's not ready for the scrap heap just yet.

Next time may try throwing it while holding the fuse behind the wings instead of the tiny little finger detents. That way I can put a little roll to the right, like a football spiral.

Shame I couldn't get her in the air, my buddy was ready with his iPhone and a Doppler speed app. Would have been interesting to get a top speed reading.

@ supercollider and Michael Paxton,

Thanks for the advice, I'll be picking one up shortly. Looking forward to it!

GrahamWilson, glad to hear it. have fun.

Kurt, sorry man that sucks, getting it back in the air is the best thing now.

The weather is clearing up here the next few days and I have to go out of town for work. So, I wanted to fly but then I thought why not just throw the Stinger in the trunk and take it with me. Thats another good thing about this little jet, you can take it with you and have some fun even when you're not at home.

Cheers

Kurt,
I and a few guys at the field use a bungee for our stingers. It's the safe way to go. You read a lot of posts here where the same thing happens as yours did. I have never seen a bad launch with our bungees.

Originally Posted by NCRealEstateGuy

Kurt,
I and a few guys at the field use a bungee for our stingers. It's the safe way to go. You read a lot of posts here where the same thing happens as yours did. I have never seen a bad launch with our bungees.

I'm good for many launches underhand, esp on 4s with extra power no prob, and into the wind off couse, really fool proof. Hope I haven't just jinxed myself!

Originally Posted by NCRealEstateGuy

Kurt,
I and a few guys at the field use a bungee for our stingers. It's the safe way to go. You read a lot of posts here where the same thing happens as yours did. I have never seen a bad launch with our bungees.

I've wanted to try a bungee for a while.
Where did you locate the hook on the plane, and how? Any pics?

Where did you buy your bungee cord?

http://www.activepowersports.com/gre...vader-edf-arf/

I've made over 25 good hand launches with the stinger, this one was just a bit too low of an angle I guess.

Bought it at tower hobbies... it is just a light wieght hi - start. I will take a pic here soon. The tow hook is located at the front of the finger holes... right at the CG.
I know the Stinger can be hand launched over and over sucessfully, but like you know, it only takes that one time when things go just a bit wrong, and then your plane is benched.

Hobby King has their blue bungee tubing. 20 feet of that and another 20 of braided line from Home Depot and the nook goes under the wing in front of the finger holes. The thing is you really have to mess up to have a bad launch with a bungee..

Originally Posted by Kurt

Since the fuselage is pretty dinged up I was thinking about buying a new kit of some other 64mm EDF plane, F-16 maybe, (since Stinger fuselages seem to be OOS everywhere) and putting the 4000+ set up in that but decided my Stinger's not ready for the scrap heap just yet.

Motion RC has the Fuselage

http://www.motionrc.com/freewing-stinger-64-fuselage/

a bungee hook should never go under the wing of an airplane.............especially a jet. it's a sure fire recipe for disaster. the ideal location for a bungee hook, is 60% of the distance between the tip of the nose and the CG of the airplane. it will give you a nice flat trajectory at launch. get too close to the CG and you get a launch that is more akin to a high lift glider launch, which is darn near straight up. not the most ideal thing for a jet that would be marginally flyable at that point. take the advice or leave it, but most on here would agree with me, that the advice is sound. even Nick Ziroli uses the 60% point for his bungee hooks.

Rich

Have a look at the Stinger MkII
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...tor_Mount.html
4s metal gear servos

Originally Posted by GrahamWilson

Have a look at the Stinger MkII
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...tor_Mount.html
4s metal gear servos

wrong link, the correct is this:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._EPO_PNF_.html

funky colors!

Yeh, some how my iPad does this link redirection thing occasionally. Thank you for supplying the right link

That poor airplane.

EDIT: It gets worse.....as near as I can determine, it seems that HK has deleted the standard Stinger from their lineup, and replaced it with this.......creation. No more Stinger kits from HK?

I know we're supposed to be Hooligans to fly this plane but this is a little over the top no?