I'm building up a Wattage Mirage 2000-5 pusher jet, thanks to the Hobby People sale. This is the second Mirage I've built (don't ask about the first Mirage!)... and I thought I'd share some mods I'm making and get the E-Zone's opinion on them!

First up, I applied strapping tape to the bottom of the nose:

Drilled some vent holes in the back for cooling the motor:

Another shot of the hole on the right side of the fuse:
(there's a hole on the left side too)

And last so far...
The air intake wouldn't do much good unless the air had a place to exit, so I drilled out holes in the motor mounting plate to match the vent holes in the speed 400 motor:

I forgot to add, in that last picture you'll notice I cut away the last little parts of the motor mount plate that stuck down past the foam and act like a hook for a jet landing on an aircraft carrier....
Hopefully it'll help keep the motor plate secure in landing.
Also I soaked the plate with thin CA glue with hopes of strengthening it.

That's all I've done for now. As you can see I haven't really gotten too far assembling the plane yet. I'll post more pictures as I continue assembly.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for modifying this jet?

Thanks for your feedback!

Sorry I am a littlebit confused about your TA connectors ? When I start with e-flying I use this. After some problems with
glitches I changed all to 2 or 4 mm goldconnectors, now everything is working without glitches !

Rudi

Rudi,

Sounds like your original connectors were either worn out or just had an intermittent connection... sometimes you can tighten up the fit a little by compressing the socket slightly w/ needlenose pliers, but it's a quick fix and might accelerate wear.
If it was a glitch due to poor battery connection, I would expect the ESC would need to be re-armed to turn the motor back on mid-flight.

I've used these connectors on RC cars and haven't had any problems.... yet.

Hi AC,

you are wright, but a RC Car is not a plane, when a RC car have glitches nothing happens, but the plane is totaly damaged ! only you spent some cents for the connectors !
I use gold connectors also in my Slowflyers as you can see.



Rudi

Just ordered some deans ultra connectors... I think I'll need all the power I can get for this plane.

Thanks for the tip Rudi!

Sorry Man I just don't get it, I have over 100 flights on mine, the only mods that were made was ditching the reflex tabs, adding 1 degree of extra up thrust, a 5x5 APC prop, and a Zagi 400 motor with 8x500ar battery pack, flies like it's on rails, fast, maneuverable and tough 15.4 OZ ready to fly and painted as shown. After several very serious crashes it's still flies today still hand launches without a hitch. All the mods you are showing either add weight or drag. All the ventilation is really not that necessary and it will only help duration marginally by the time you add the drag coefficients. Just something to think about.

@AC : I am sure, that you will make it wright ! Ops , What I have forgotten, is it correct, that the Mirage is your first RC-Plane ? If yes I think it is not the best modell to start flying RC-planes !

@EAMRC: Nice finish, really !

Rudi

Great looking Mirage! I'd be afraid to fly it after putting so much effort into making it look so good.

I had a tough time with my first Mirage. I snapped the front of it off more than I'd care to say, hence the strapping tape.

Also, I noticed the motor got hotter than hell.

I'm trying to sure up the plane so it will take a rough landing or two and last a while.

My original battery pack is the 8 cell 650mAh NiCad "Tysonic" pack I got from Hobby People. I've heard this pack might be poor quality, and I ordered a 500AR (zagi 400) pack that will hopefully provide more *umph* at launch to get her moving.

I'm just trying to learn from my past experiences so that I don't crash and trash another Mirage!

Rudi,

This Mirage is technically my 4rth plane.

About a year ago I put the Mirage together as my first RC airplane. I was used to RC car components, so the airplane stuff was all new to me: the small servos, small esc, the linkage... etc...

<puts flame suit on>
I flew though assembly and didn't really have a clear concept of how to check/set the CG on this, or any airplane. I think the plane was waaay tail heavy, and also the battery pack was not cycled enough.

Basically I did everything the WRONG way. Even where I chose to fly. I tried flying in a dirt field w/ tall weeds and shrubs. Not a good idea.

I fixed the plane a few times and got frustrated and got rid of the plane, but kept all the electronics.

After a few months I got the flying bug again and got a Lite Stik. I carefully constructed it and modified the wings so they wouldn't fold and made sure it was balanced properly. I was pretty excited when I found I could actually fly it!

After I mastered the Lite Stik I made the next natural step to the Mini Max. Everything about this plane was better, and I'm pretty confident with it. So confident I want to to give the Mirage another shot.

I can see a bunch of guys saying to me now "just cause you can fly a slow park flier doesn't mean you can handle a pocket rocket!"

I'll give a flight report, even if it's carnage. With pictures.

Hi AC,

the old story , learning by doing (the same way as I learned it)
Please report about results.

Rudi

Hi Fernando,

nice and interested project. Which weight and which edf (engines)
you use ?

Rudi