I have two radios, neither of them have ATV. (Focus III, Futaba Skysport) Also I have the small servos from GWS and I am not looking to buy all new everything, so that I can fly slope planes.

I am asking you all if you can throw out some ideas as to which plane/wing to get that will allow me to use my existing gear(more or less) Are there any jet looking slope gliders out there I can get??

Last, what are your thoughts on using my LifeLike 757 foam glider conversion as a sloper? It uses the EDF-50's which I have removed. I have not done it yet, however I feel that it ought to work, except the winds in San Luis Obispo may be too much. It would be neat to have a cheap jet slope glider. What are your thoughts?


Thanks for your time,

Mike

Any advice is helpful, I don't know a whole lot about slope gliders but I know it is fun.

Hey now, fellow Santa Barbara denizen! I know that your parkflyer gear will work great in a miniWeasel, and I also know how you can easily and cheaply modify your Focus III to have ATV so that you can happily fly said miniWeasel. But I suggest you contact Michael Richter about it, as he's done a number of the modifications himself. He can set you right!

http://www.flyweasel.com

I read your post message first then this, obviously it solves some of my problems of not knowing how to do it.

Mike

Ah hah, I found it. How to mod the Focus III so that you can limit elevator throws for flying wings:

http://12.45.56.6/~birdworks/focus.html

That page describes two ways to do the mod: one that uses a resistor to provide a literally "hardwired" amount of elevator rate limitation (not recommended IMO), and the second which uses an adjustable potentiometer (pot) to provide variable amounts of elevator rate limitation. The latter is preferable and doesn't look to be much more difficult that the first option to install. All you need to be able to do is solder and follow instructions, as far as I can tell.

A plouf, a pibros, one of those mini warbirds or slope wings. You don't need to modify your focus, you just need to be light on the sticks. ATV is just a plus. Your life like might just work. You may however may need to add spars and possibly weight to get it to fly well. I think you should build a pibros first it is cheap and easy to build. What ever you decide to do once you go slope you never go back so start selling your motors and props.

Originally posted by omega blood
You don't need to modify your focus, you just need to be light on the sticks.

I handed a modified Focus III to a friend who has been flailing around for a year, and he could finally fly instantly! Yes it may be a good thing to learn on a stock Focus III to learn to delicately handle the sticks, but often this will do the trick. Sometimes you need power steering to get the idea.

I dunno about being light on the sticks, I'd rather have the ability to fly the plane well without having to make sub-millimeter inputs on the elevator channel. I flew an XR that had full throws (very extreme throws in fact) that was controlled by a Focus III, and I didn't like it at all. Seems like a decent enough glider, but the radio arrangement was severely lacking (IMO) with the Focus III. It didn't have enough aileron throw for my taste, and way too much elevator. To each their own, as always. For the small amount of time & money it costs to upgrade a Focus to ATV using a pot or even resistor from Radio Shack, why the heck not do it, if one plans to fly wings?

I'm all for using ATV and such, as I fly with exclusively with a computer radio. However, I spent the first half of my R/C "career" flying 2 channel slopers with a simple 4 channel radios that had neither ATV nor dual rates.

There was never a plane that I couldn't set up with appropriate control throws just taking the time to adjust the linkages. On top of that, you can make the controls more or less sensivite simply by adjusting the height of the control sticks (assuming your radio lets you do that). Make the stick taller will mean your thumb has to move a longer distance, and make the control less sensitive.

Now, I can see how this situation is complicated if you are flying a plane with mixed controls, like a wing, but otherwise, it shouldn't really be a problem.