I checked my balance again and you guys are right, it was tail heavy. I had to add about 22g to balance it. It has a better feel, but doesn't help the lack of power. I switched to a 8x6x2 prop but didn't notice much of a difference. But I noticed dbc chose an "HD" prop, whereas I got a slowflyer one.

That slowflyer prop will load the motor a good deal more than the standard HD prop. That may be the problem. However, don't expect a huge improvement. The 8x6 HD only draws about 6-8% more power than the stock prop but it's also a little more efficient. The power bump is subtle but noticeable. If you really want a big jump on the stock motor, you'll have to go to a 3 cell battery and then probably prop down a little.

Well.. I had my first, honest-to-goodness, slam-it-into-the-ground wreck yesterday. It was also my first flight with the prop and spinner dbc recommended, which I do like and will be sticking with. I was enjoying the increased roll ability after I had moved the ailerons one hole outward on the server horns, and for reasons I'll never know, I pitched the nose down before starting another roll. I almost pulled out of it, but I was only about 50' up to start with (my second mistake.) If I'd had another 20' of altitude to work with, I think I would've saved it. I heard the SMACK, and saw the wing pop off. I took the walk of shame towards the plane, expecting to find it destroyed. When I got it to and surveyed the damage, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. There must have been a lot of momentum from the wings, pushing them forward at impact.

• Both wing struts had popped off
• The windshield had popped off and had a few small cracks
• The plastic mount (with the two holes) for the leading edge of the wing had popped off
• The plastic mount for the trailing edge of the wing had ripped up and out of the fuselage, still attached to the wings
• The wiring for the aileron servos/wing LEDs had ripped through some of the white tape hiding the wiring on the underside of the wings
• The front top side of the fuselage, right behind the mount for the leading edge of the wings, had split where the two halves of the fuselage meet. The wiring had actually pulled forward, through where the halves had split apart.
• One of the aileron servos had weakened its glue joint and was loose
• One of the wing tips was broken off and was hanging by the LED wire
• The bottom of the fuselage, right in front of the battery bay, had slightly split where the two halves meet
• The top edge of the motor mount must have loosened from the fuselage, as the motor pivoted upwards about 10 degrees when I pushed on the bottom of the motor
• The ring in the front of the nose cone, just in front of motor, had a crack
• The top side of the wings had a fracture just to the side of the middle, from the leading edge about 3/4" long, but it didn't go all the way through to the bottom side

Luckily, all of the damaged foam were clean breaks, with none actually missing. Considering how much force must have been put on all the wiring, I was shocked to find no damage to them; all of the servos and LEDs still worked perfectly. There was no mechanical damage. The motor shaft was still straight, and the battery was ok.

With a couple hours of work, some CA, and some packing tape to reinforce it, I had it all fixed. Not a single part needed replacing, except the prop obviously.

I was back in the air just over 24 hours later. All she needed was one click of aileron trim, and one click elevator trim, and I notice no difference in flight. Flew through my batteries without incident, including good landings, which is rare for me.

I'm still flying this plane several times a week and really enjoying late evening flights near dusk when the lights show up nicely. 55 flights so far with only a broken prop early on as the only problem.

They have had a significant price bump up at Banana and now are probably priced more in line with the competition. Us early buyers got a real deal for this nice RTF for $99.95.

Anyone else have experience with this one?

I still have mine but haven't flown since mid-November due to the cold weather.

I plan on keeping it for scale flying, but I already have thoughts swirling in my head for a second plane. Obviously I need something that's still a solid, stable flyer, but I'd like something that can handle the basic aerobatics more naturally.

I've also been perusing the FPV forum. I have a feeling that's an itch I'm going to eventually have to scratch.

Since my forced exodus from Port St. Lucie and my return to Florida (Orlando) I've been only flying my Parkzone T28D and rebuilt Habu... with occasional test flights (Phase 3 EF-16, Banana Hobby Pitts, Electrifly Gee Bee, UMXes). I plan to get another high-wing plane - something like a Taylorcraft. This FMS was too underpowered for a beginner like me.

Originally Posted by tta flyer

I plan on keeping it for scale flying, but I already have thoughts swirling in my head for a second plane. Obviously I need something that's still a solid, stable flyer, but I'd like something that can handle the basic aerobatics more naturally.

Check out the Flyzone Acro-Wot or Millennium Master. Any of the newer Parzkone warbids are pretty stable too. Avoid the Gee Bee... it's insanely difficult to land without nosing over. The Banana Hobby Pitts is also super easy to fly, but quality issues and poor landing gear prevent me to recommending it as a second plane.

Originally Posted by voxel

Check out the Flyzone Acro-Wot or Millennium Master. Any of the newer Parzkone warbids are pretty stable too. Avoid the Gee Bee... it's insanely difficult to land without nosing over. The Banana Hobby Pitts is also super easy to fly, but quality issues and poor landing gear prevent me to recommending it as a second plane.

Thanks for the advice. I won't take this thread too far off subject but I've got a short list of planes that I'm considering. I've got a couple more months before the weather even considers getting better.

Well I didn't let weather get me down - Took this thing up with my new DX6i my wife got me for xmas and a 6Ch Orange RX R610 receiver. There was about 5-8mph winds, but nothing I couldn't handle. First thing I found out, though, was when trying to get it up in the air my alerons were reversed! WOOPS! I couldn't keep it going like that and as it was about 15-20ft off the ground, forced it into a spin but pulled up hard as it neared the ground. That managed to crash it on its belly nice and evenly.

Luckily there was about 5 inches of snow to "cushion" it, but it still made my front gear pop out and my battery door to come off. The windshield and a side window was a little jostled, but they both packed back in without me needing to glue anything really. After fixing it back up, I brought it back out and finally got it up in the air. It flies nicely when you add some Expo to it. Did some touch and goes until my fingers froze off, and so far I've been waiting for the wind to die down again.

I too enjoy the late afternoon/evening flying as it really catches people's eyes. I even got approached by a guy and his wife/son in the park and he mentioned he flied an F18 from Bananahobby and we got talking about this particular model. Good feedback from him on their product. Small world, huh?

I've had this model for awhile....

Only recently subbed this thread as I just found it !

Anyway, I agree with most of the posts in that this is a very scale rendition of the venerable old Cessna 182; probably one of the best I've seen as far as scale outlines go. BUT, it's extremely underpowered, especially for what I'm about to attempt....making it a seaplane....!

I'm putting floats on this thing because I really like the way it flys, and it just looks great in the air....but the nose gear is garbage, and I want to keep the model. It also has no power. I'm gonna put a two blader on it (thanks for the idea, dbc!) and possibly try another motor/ESC combo which will enable 3S operation. We'll see how she does after I prop it up a bit...probably with an 8x6, maybe even an 8x7, I dunno, I have many, many props sitting in my extra parts box --- never pass up a deal on props !

With the floats on it, who cares if it loops or rolls; it's a seaplane! All I care about, is will the thing break water tension and get off under it's own power...! As long as the thing'll fly around and look cool with those floats hanging off the bottom, that's all that matters...

I'll keep ya'll posted on the progress,
John

Have you gotten your 182 onto floats yet, John?

The 2 blade 8x6 only provides a slight increase in performance - maybe not enough for good float performance.

Others have posted that the supplied motor/ESC are the same as FMS uses on 3s batteries in some of their small warbirds. I was intending to try propping down a bit and using 3s. I just don't have any 3s small and light enough to work appropriately.

I've gotten 66 logged flights on the stock power system with the 8x6. Performance is just adequate, but this little Cessna looks so good in flight that I don't really mind!

Still working on it, but we're very close.

I soldered 3.5mm connectors on the motor as I realized the 2mm connectors were actually quite small for the guage of the wires coming out of the motor....I think it'll easily handle 3S. Going up to a 30A ESC t ohandle the extra juice.

It's a heavy model to begin with, and the fact that I'm planning on flying off of floats and on a 3S1300 won't help matters....but what will is the fact I'm running a collet adaptor along with a MAS 9x6x3 prop ! Fitted the new improved powertrain yesterday and performed initial static testing.....! Dude, this thing flat out PULLS! PLENTY, and I mean PLENTY of power on tap. I'm beginning to think FMS chose a reliable 3S motor, put it on 2S and called it "a beginner" plane. Which of course it isn't. I really wonder why they just didn't go with 3S all along?

She's about 90% done. Still might add flaps before the maiden; I have a couple of servos sitting around and plenty of hardware in my spares box to make it happen. Also, a critical link, I'm still deciding on which floats to use. Currently planning on the 21" GWS floats. Putting those together right now. These are the "proper" length, but the darn thing is so heavy, I don't know if they'll keep it afloat !

Anyway, I'll keep you posted,
John

You normally need to prop down a bit going to higher cell count. Are you sure the 9x6x3 is not overloading the motor? Did you check the current draw? I seem to recall checking the stock system and getting excessive power draw on 3s.

Originally Posted by dbc

I did a quick power check on 3s battery. 283w and 24.4a - beyond the rating of the esc and probably the motor too. It sounds nice on 3s and pulls great. You'd have to prop down a little to make this work and I'm not sure FMS makes a lower pitch or smaller three blade with the tiny shaft hole. I could devise something with other props though - and I may try this eventually. The other issues is weight. My 1300 3s is 109g. Way more than the 64g supplied 2s. Plane needs a little nose weight but not 45g.

I'll fly it a few more times on 2s before deciding.

Here's my earlier post on 3s power draw with stock prop. Be very careful with that larger 9" prop as power draw will be even higher and beyond the ratings for the ESC and probably motor too.

As I said earlier, I upgraded to a quality 30A ESC. No idea about power draw on the motor though...

The MAS prop has fairly skinny blades and aren't known for pulling lots of watts and amps; they're generally on the lower side. But the important thing, is that this prop produces lots of thrust; at 50% throttle, the thing was practically pulling out of my hand...it felt awesome. Ran it static for a few seconds and the motor was cool to the touch...not even close to getting hot

Also, I modded the prop-shaft so it now accepts smaller diameter collets, of which I have many in my spare parts bin. I also have numerous brand new props to experiment with, most of them 2 blade. I chose the MAS 3 blade because it was smallish and I knew the prop would produce the thrust I need. I'm not keen on propping down --- stock is 8x6x3 (I think); what would I prop down to? 7 inch? Not going to happen. Besides, most models in this size range (900mm-1000mm) are running on 9 inch props. So again, I wonder why FMS went so budget minded? In a way, they really set alot of folks up for failure by putting such a seemingly anemic powertrain in this heavy of a model. Otherwise, this is a brilliant plane. The details are fantastic and I actually like the cheesy lights...a nice scale touch.

My main concerns are the plane having enough power (thrust) to break tension and get off the water. With this powertrain, I anticipate it'll do this very easily . The big question is, will the motor hold up? Who knows? If it does let go, hopefully I'll have enough altitude and be able to float her in. With a new, 30A ESC, at least I know I'll still have control...

I'll post some pics soon,
John

Originally Posted by Justwingit

I'm beginning to think FMS chose a reliable 3S motor, put it on 2S and called it "a beginner" plane. Which of course it isn't. I really wonder why they just didn't go with 3S all along?

I suspect these bell motors (rated 25A max) probably like to operate in the 18-20A range and any higher for extensive time will fry them. Is 222 watts enough power with floats?

I've been frying motors left and right lately by overpropping and failing to pay attention to my watt meter