Hmm, I will do it quick for now, more indepth tomorrow, bed time, that nine eagles charger is crap, at least mine was, but being my first plane I did not know that, I am using the charger from the Sky Climber, 2-3s charger, and it balances wonderful.
I love the HK packs, makes the CG perfect without weight, and they run almost twice as long.

studioRS,

It seems from your photos that you have already installed a Zippy 350mAh before on your Sky Surfer.

Why buy the NE 250 mAh at three times the price? Weight?

(I could understand that; I had to insert a 2g screw in the back for proper COG with the 250mAh, which weighs in at 16g; the Zippy is 5g heavier, so I would have to ad still more weight on the back, and would probably end up with a plane some 7-8% heavier than it was at the start. But I am just curious...)

G.

Sorry for double post

Is there a way of making sure the propeller will not slip away from the motor shaft in flight, in the cases where they are assembled as a slip fit?

This may seem contradictive - after all, the propeller must go in and then come out if needed - but I would not like to have another experience, so I lightly roughened the shaft, and gave the propeller hub some light pushes on the side that the shaft goes in to tighten it up a bit. But there may be some other means (short of CA, I mean )

Originally Posted by GLFaria

studioRS,

It seems from your photos that you have already installed a Zippy 350mAh before on your Sky Surfer.

Why buy the NE 250 mAh at three times the price? Weight?

(I could understand that; I had to insert a 2g screw in the back for proper COG with the 250mAh, which weighs in at 16g; the Zippy is 5g heavier, so I would have to ad still more weight on the back, and would probably end up with a plane some 7-8% heavier than it was at the start. But I am just curious...)

G.

Yes I did install for the photos and flew once, dropped the nose like crazy. Maybe it was pilot error. Anywho, planning to use these when I upgrade my Surfer and it has more power (brushless motor, brushless ESC) to handle the extra weight. For now I'm going to just fly it as is with the original spec battery so I ordered two more.

Originally Posted by GLFaria

Sorry for double post

Is there a way of making sure the propeller will not slip away from the motor shaft in flight, in the cases where they are assembled as a slip fit?

This may seem contradictive - after all, the propeller must go in and then come out if needed - but I would not like to have another experience, so I lightly roughened the shaft, and gave the propeller hub some light pushes on the side that the shaft goes in to tighten it up a bit. But there may be some other means (short of CA, I mean )

I'll have to check my spinner and propeller tonight. Yes, a small drop of CA would work.

On my maiden flight, I literally just charged the original battery, never even checked the voltage, put it into the Surfer, turned everything on, checked the controls and gave it 3/4 throttle with a toss! Worked like a champ.

I have had no issues with the 350 in stock form, but it has to be placed in there just right for it to balance with no counter weight. I never could get it to balance with the stock battery without weight added to the rear. You have to stand the 350 on end with the wife to the bottom, it will squeeze in there just right.
I just finished one that I have gone BL with little 2.3 gram servo's and a micro 4 channel orange rx. Wow it flies so much different, I can tune the TX to make her nice and smooth, lots of expo almost like it used to be with more power, or flip the switch and do snap rolls, inverted flight, and high speed dives to about 2 foot off the deck. I did go with a much smaller BL than most, and a inrunner at that, but it works fine and gives a little more run time off the battery, just what I was looking for to be honest.
As for the prop, yes a drop of CA is needed, still not hard to get it off when needed, but it keeps it on there when it is needed.

ok, thaks. I put a (very) small drop of CA glue on the shaft, I'll see what happens.

As for the busted pack, it's been in the salt bath since yesterday prior to disposing of.

Any more feedback about the chargers/packs, people? I may just buy another small, probably 2S-3S charger, from another manufacturer, just in case...

G.

Why don't buy a real computer charger from Hobby King or R2 Hobbies?
They didn't cost much, are safe and easy to use. I have used mine for a couple of years, and no trouble at all.

Originally Posted by ArneHu

Why don't buy a real computer charger from Hobby King or R2 Hobbies?
They didn't cost much, are safe and easy to use. I have used mine for a couple of years, and no trouble at all.

Yes, ok, it's in my plans, have been checking types and brands (HK seems fine), but any order will take some time getting here and I would like to work in confidence meanwhile!

G.

I wonder if anyone has experienced this...

Flew the Surfer this weekend both days and went through six battery packs! Anyway, on the second day, first pack I would launch about 3/4 throttle and ti would get 40 ft up and deadstick, all input, then just grass land. Fortunately I had a little up elevator and it would somewhat recover from the stall. Like I lost the bind.

I walk over to the Surfer and everything was fine like nothing happened. All controls work, motor is fine. I picked it back up and fly through this battery and two more. This happened twice always on the first pack. Weird. Time to upgrade to more consistent Rx, servos and gear so I can use my DX6i.

I'll say it again, what a great little sailplane, wonderful in the air and I can even get the high speed sailplane whoosh on a low flyby!

Hi, GLFaria.

I have a Dynam charger from HobbyPartz with delivery in a few days. The "Dual power" that I have is currently out of stock but the DC version is available. It can be powered with any power supply as long as one doesn't exceed the input current while charging (A 1amp power supply would only allow charging to about .8amps). HK has 5amp and 7amp power supplies at a good price and they are powerful enough to charge at the full rate the charger is capable of.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/60p-dyc-1004.html

BTW. I use Loc-Tite on my motor shafts. I just put a small drop on the shaft and let it dry overnight before I put the prop on. It provides just a little stickiness and extra friction but still comes loose easily when needed.

Oh yeah, that's the other thing... The prop and spinner came off twice.pushed back on, but will require some type of adhesive or sticky stuff. My plan is to use some windscreen bitumen, black rubber butyl gooey stuff.

Originally Posted by peterlngh

Hi, GLFaria.

I have a Dynam charger from HobbyPartz with delivery in a few days. The "Dual power" that I have is currently out of stock but the DC version is available. It can be powered with any power supply as long as one doesn't exceed the input current while charging (A 1amp power supply would only allow charging to about .8amps). HK has 5amp and 7amp power supplies at a good price and they are powerful enough to charge at the full rate the charger is capable of.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/60p-dyc-1004.html

BTW. I use Loc-Tite on my motor shafts. I just put a small drop on the shaft and let it dry overnight before I put the prop on. It provides just a little stickiness and extra friction but still comes loose easily when needed.

Thanks. I am in the course of deciding if I'm staying in the hobby (in which case I will be spending more) or...
Anyway, I deem the charger in this kit worthless and unsafe to boot - twice it went over the charge limit to 8.4 v, without the green light ever going off to show end of charge. I will have to chart it - time vs. volts from a given level - while I do not get a better charger.

A small drop of CA didn't do the job on the propeller. After the prop came off twice in the same afternoon, being in the field and only having CA around, I put a big blob of this on the tip of the shaft and inserted the prop (for a moment I was afraid I had glued the shaft to the motor too...). So far, it stays put. If I have to take off the prop later I will then decide on how to tackle that.

I found out that after a number of crashes on landing (the ground on the flying site I could find so far is mostly rocks and a lot of thistle - dry at this season, so difficult to see - so I am never sure what will follow when I get below 20cm from the ground) the battery has become rather loose and often pushes the canopy out on landing. I will have to find a good way of securing it (velcro?...).

And as I had enough of anxiously peeping through the canopy opening after assembling the wing to see if the wires were not getting to the servos - most of the time they looked awfully close, I decided to go the not so elegant way - I opened a small "window" on the side of the fuse and and pull the wires and the plug to the outside (see the attached photos). Not so pretty, but it gets the job done.

I really like this plane - I had a swallow chasing it for some minutes, so it must look like a good mate for a swallow, if a little oversize... she gave up in the end.
However, I found out that:
- this is no beginner plane, never mind what they say in the ads. And - I am a beginner...
- It is certainly not meant for flying in wind.
- Trimming of the control surfaces seems rather critical, unless you don't mind using a lot of Tx trimming - which I'd rather not.

BTW, normal CA glue seems to work well on this foam.

That's understandable, GLFaria. I've drifted in and out of the hobby many times over 40 years and nearly gave up before I found a good instructor to break the bad habits I developed trying to teach myself. I do not recommend small planes for beginners. At least 48" span for a powered trainer, preferably more like 60", and roughly 6 feet for a glider is more suitable. It takes a while to learn what you are even looking for and the bigger the plane the better they fly. One can learn with a smaller plane but it's kind of a stacked deck because they just can't match the speed range or stability of a bigger airframe. A better charger would be a good first investment if you stick with it but I'll keep my eyes open for a budget charger from a U.S. vendor that can deliver in a few days. I'll post back here if anything catches my eye.

Cheers!

I dont think it's a first plane. But when you have just a little experience, it's easy to fly. and very fun.