I got the prototype rudders built, I had no way to properly attactch them, but its just a test.

Flight report...

After installing the rudders I went out for the flight. I tested my CG, nosie heavy, just how I like it. I fired up my DX6, and was off.

First Impressions. Adding rudder input realy dident do much for me, I could fly a knife edge about 33% farther.

After adjusting controll horns. I moved the push rod one hole in, tested the rudders and tosed her into the air again. This time there was more responce from the rudder, but still not what I wanted.

Test 3, I moved the push rod even closer yet to the rudder, tested it, and tosed her into the air again. I atemeped a knife edge, and to my suprize it flew a long time befor losing to much altitude. It had atendancey to roll but it was easly corrected by some conter roll.

Not only would it preform a semi knife edge, when climbing vertical, if you hit left or right on the rudder, it will turn around, with no rudder input, and drop staight down on the path going upward. At high speeds it realy dident efect flight, except when doing a knife edge. At slow speeds it becomes a nucence, not realy aiding in landing.

Adding the weight of 2 servo did not slow it down enough to notice, I am kinda ticked because the battery is slowly lossing it power. The next rudders I build for my next stryker will extend below the bottom of the plane, giving more lift. I would recomend this mod, and I am suprized not many people have tryed it. Very fun to experament with a 4th channel.

Happy Flying,
-Dustin

I asked a few questions about the availability of a replacement painted fuselage, and about how the factory does the paint scheme. I also asked for other references on the design of the plane. This is the reply I got. You guys may find this information useful. It was stuff that is pretty evident though.

PRODUCT SUPPORT INQUIRY FROM HORIZON HOBBIES

Any water based acrylic hobby brand paint will work on the F-27 airframe. Do not use aerosol paints as they will eat the foam. the stock paint scheme is airbrushed at the factory. The stock instruction manual is the only reference we have for the ParkZone planes. We only sell the Stryker C as a plug and play and they do not match to the same frequencies as the original F-27 or the F-27B. The replacement bare fuse for the F-27C is only sold unpainted.

I hope you find this information useful, if you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to contact us via email or phone.

Thanks!

Joe

Product Support Team Member

Horizon Hobby

4105 Fieldstone Rd.

Champaign, IL 61822

877-504-0233

productsupport@horizonhobby.com

CONCLUSION

The system that they use is that they will not give you a cheaper or more convenient option for replacing your parts as close to stock. Instead, they won't even match a frequency for you, no matter how many Strykers you've bought. They plug & play doesn't even come in the same frequency as the origional. It's all a well thought out money scheme that has product sales statistics, and not customer preference behind it. They made no effort to accomodate me, and they probably wouldn't if everyone who owns a Stryker asked for it.

Also, the paint scheme on mine is identical to others. It has to be a machine that does the airbrushing. Someone said they dusted the paint on. It is flat paint, and they suggest water based acrylic.

From experience I have found that glossier paint will accent the bumbs on the foam surface. It kinda looks like Snakeskin with black. It was a spray enamel that I sprayed into a cup, and then brushed on to cover spots were tape pulled the paint. The contrast in the factory scheme and the gloss paint makes it look cheap, but not as cheap as missing paint. I didn't try touching up stripes, I just painted a semicircle on the bottom where I taped a broken nose on.

If you don't know what to do, and are wanting to do a new paint scheme on your stryker, here is a link.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...06#post3480006

New rudder pics, enjoy

-Dustin

I just got the Six series 2700KV Eflight with a 40amp ESC, and 11.1 Thunder power in my 27B, this thing wants to go fast, I tryed it a full tilt in the living room last night, acted like it wanted to rip off the back of my plane/scared me too, the wife was sleeping and it scared her too.......HA! Im going to use a 5x5 prop what do you guys think?

B

I crashed mine pretty good the other day. I was down low and fast and then I heard a flapping noise... Then I lost control of the plane and it just twisted into the ground. It looks like one of the foam elevons failed, started flapping and... CRASH. The crashed knocked the nose off, bent the wing tip really bad and destroyed the elevon.

Looks like I'm heading back to the LHS to get some more fuselages.
Now the creative juices are flowing just thinking about how to paint it.
I like the tiger theme, but to me tigers are orange and black. Not yellow and black so I think I will go the orange and black color scheme.

I also picked up some balsa and Depron. I'm going to make balsa elevons and Depron tail fins. I have always thought these two areas to be too weak, especially on the "C" model.

Originally Posted by crosborne

I crashed mine pretty good the other day. I was down low and fast and then I heard a flapping noise... Then I lost control of the plane and it just twisted into the ground. It looks like one of the foam elevons failed, started flapping and... CRASH. The crashed knocked the nose off, bent the wing tip really bad and destroyed the elevon.

Looks like I'm heading back to the LHS to get some more fuselages.
Now the creative juices are flowing just thinking about how to paint it.
I like the tiger theme, but to me tigers are orange and black. Not yellow and black so I think I will go the orange and black color scheme.

I also picked up some balsa and Depron. I'm going to make balsa elevons and Depron tail fins. I have always thought these two areas to be too weak, especially on the "C" model.

You & me both. The break on mine was 6 or 7 inches back on the fuselage, but I taped it back pretty sturdy. It still flies, but I noticed flying it cause the fuse to warp up right were the break was.

I used American Tradition Clear plastic primer, a spray primer that eats foam. The resilient Z-Foam does fine with it, but I dusted a few light coats from 18" away before doing the real ones. I have a type of Delta Ceramdecor Surface Prep paint that I will put on next, and then Faslucent Orange & Faspearl Charcoal.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...&postcount=179

My origional idea was to Monokote the bottom.

The completed work so far:
1. CF Re-Enforcement
2. Priming Surface
3. Tail Stabs Black
4. Delta Ceramdecor Surface Sealer
5. 2 Coats Faslucent Orange on top

I have ordered elevons with hinges, because I can't figure out how to get the old ones off. If I could, then it's practically done. I will have to re-position some electronics because of the CF rod, but there's about enough room anyway.

Originally Posted by Bryan Bozarth

I just got the Six series 2700KV Eflight with a 40amp ESC, and 11.1 Thunder power in my 27B, this thing wants to go fast, I tryed it a full tilt in the living room last night, acted like it wanted to rip off the back of my plane/scared me too, the wife was sleeping and it scared her too.......HA! Im going to use a 5x5 prop what do you guys think?

B

Might want to re-enforce the mount area. The 1880kv motor on mine deformed the foam around the motor mount, even though it's an upgraded mount from the B.

Well, I tested out my 27b and I ran the 5.5x4.5 prop. I went to wall-mart and got some popsicle sticks and tripple glued them on to the bottom of the motor mount with CA. It is pretty bad though because the old motor, the 480, ripped off the back half of the plane last weekend, so it looks like crap, but with that CA and popsicle sticks It did the job nicely. The plane went "My Gawd" fast!! It was a full verticle climb until the plane was really small and getting out of sight...straight up. Incidentally the night that I ordered the F-27C motor mount, the hobby shop burned to the ground here in Hood River OR. The motor mount (original f27b) looked pretty good, as far as stress goes. What do you guys think about this, should I keep using it or should I get the upgraded mount before flying anymore? Maybe I should call the owner and see if I can get a rush order on that motor mount.....But this one seems to be pretty good so far.


B

Crashed my F-27C today, nosied it in. I was flying inverted to slow, it was eather trees, or ground.... Luckly this moring I got a new body.

I had just rebuilt my stryker, looked and flew better than ever. I was doing an invert loop at full power and knowing my luck, the planes canopy decinagrated, and a $75 lipo hit our gravel road at about 90mph, plane flooted back down and I caught it. Very sad tho, mabye it can still fly with this pack, what do you think?

Originally Posted by Bryan Bozarth

Well, I tested out my 27b and I ran the 5.5x4.5 prop. I went to wall-mart and got some popsicle sticks and tripple glued them on to the bottom of the motor mount with CA. It is pretty bad though because the old motor, the 480, ripped off the back half of the plane last weekend, so it looks like crap, but with that CA and popsicle sticks It did the job nicely. The plane went "My Gawd" fast!! It was a full verticle climb until the plane was really small and getting out of sight...straight up. Incidentally the night that I ordered the F-27C motor mount, the hobby shop burned to the ground here in Hood River OR. The motor mount (original f27b) looked pretty good, as far as stress goes. What do you guys think about this, should I keep using it or should I get the upgraded mount before flying anymore? Maybe I should call the owner and see if I can get a rush order on that motor mount.....But this one seems to be pretty good so far.


B

I would personally wait before flying it, mine warped at slow speeds. I didn't get it past half throttle once, and it messed the trim up. Not only that but the different speeds had different effects on the way the plane traveled. I junked it immediately, even though it's in nearly perfect condition. That's just me, and the elctronics in the C are more expensive. So is the LIPO battery, which is more delicate than a NiCAD.

Maybe the added re-enforcement would keep the frame from warping, but it's only a couple of days. I'm waiting on Elevons with the hinges included as we speak. It may be hard to do, but park the parkflyer.



THATCANFLY?
-Slow speed or full power. Which was it?

THATCANFLY - it looks like the battery is trashed. That is too bad. I lost my battery cover on my first flight. After that I used velcro to hold it in place, but was still always worried about the battery falling out.

Originally Posted by That can fly?!?

???Flyable???

The safe thing would be to write that battery off. I would never completely trust it and you could never be sure that it won't burst into flames while you are flying, turning your plane into a flying bomb.

Some people would put it on a good Lithium charger, like the Astro 109, put it through a few charge/discharge cycles in a fire container and see how it does. But, I would would just say get rid of it.

Originally Posted by LeadSled

THATCANFLY - it looks like the battery is trashed. That is too bad. I lost my battery cover on my first flight. After that I used velcro to hold it in place, but was still always worried about the battery falling out.

My battery won't accept a full charge since my last wreck. I'm still using the Stock F27-C LIPO charger. The first charge took 1 hour 45 minutes from nearly dead. Last time I charged it for 1 hour 30 minutes from more than half, and it was balancing cells the whole time. Has anyone else had this problem?

The solutions that come to mind are:
1. Better Charger
2. New Battery (It still has no power loss, even though I pull it while it's still charging)
3. Maybe a very long charge, just to see if I can get it warm.

Has anyone tried the Celectra charger sold as an optional accessory for Hobbyzone & ParkZone Lipos? http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/.../EFLC3005.html

Looks pretty good & is only 45$. Also, does anyone know if it is a car charger or house charger? I see inputs on the front, does it only work with a quick field charger?