The Ember flies upside down better than I thought it would. It is almost impossible to maintain altitude while inverted though. If I break the front end of the stick or get a wild hair iA will mount my motor straight and see how much better it flies inverted.

The GWS Slow Stick, which is almost the same design as the Ember in a larger scale flies inverted suprisingly well. The millenniumSS with a symmetrical wing of course flies as well inverted as it does right side up. I just built a Millennium SS with dihedral and flew it for the first time Tuesday. What a fun plane

My Tiny Bright Lights came in today and are already on the plane. However, it's too windy to fly it outside right now to see how they look.

Man!!! For something so tiny they sure are BRIGHT!

Well worth the money.

Bill

My lights arrived quickly (3 or 4 days) -
You get no - warm fuzzy message letting you know your order was
received or being processed etc.

no instructions included but there is a youtube video I found
giving basic install instructions

tinybritelights.com product install (1 min 13 sec)

The install was easy.
The advice given here on the forum about the plug and which way to attach the light control box helped out.

The lights look great in the dark.
These tiny lights really are....bright !
- especially using such a small about of current.

My first night flight ever (10 minutes ago) -
looks really nice -
neighbors arrived home with their kids just as I was testing -
heard them say, " hey look ! "

- thumbs up on this product !
- why is the wire for the tail strobe so long ?
I thought this set was custom made for ember 2 etc ?
(better too long than too short I suppose)

- finding a good place to locate the 'landing light' was hard
ended up with it taped to the underside of the wing above the brick -
but the brick blocks the light from shinning on the 'run way' -
so may need to relocate - maybe to the bottom of the light control box.

- I tried to keep the wires out of harm's way -
don't want to snag a tree, or get wires in way of controls etc...
kept lights back a little from wing tip or edge where contact happens on a crash

- a light wind turned me around on one flight and I landed behind something
but the lights made it so easy to find the plane !
- this is exactly what I hoped it would be
realistic, pretty and functional

- ace Larry (now a self certified night pilot

I located the landing light on the leading edge of the wing, just far enough out so it didn't have to shine through the prop. Because I fly my Embers rather high and far out, I wanted to be able to see the light as the plane was approaching me. It is, IMHO, the brightest of the four lights in the #2022 Micro Light set. These lights really show up at dusk or late dusk, a good time to fly around here as the wind is usually calm.

RD

Doug, tks 4 the pic and idea of where to locate the LL.
...that's what I'll do

and tks 4 the other posts you made - very helpful

A funny thing will happen tomorrow night when I fly at the gym -

...last week when I flew at the gym, (first time with my new Ember)
a guy with a very large foamie crashed into me and his prop
ate up my tail and elevator - feathers everywhere-
it looked like a hawk attacking a dove

...not entirely his fault, he supplied replacement parts -
no hard feelings....

So tomorrow when I show up with my Ember lit up like a Christmas
tree - well, I can just see the look on his face and imagine his
first thoughts !!!!

Then I'll explain the idea for the lights came BEFORE last week's crash
HIM - yea, sure,...right
Me - no , really !

Ace Larry

Originally Posted by Ace Larry

...last week when I flew at the gym, (first time with my new Ember)
a guy with a very large foamie crashed into me and his prop
ate up my tail and elevator - feathers everywhere-
it looked like a hawk attacking a dove Ace Larry

If you have an official coordinator for your indoor event(s), you might want to consider what we (York County Flyers) are doing at our indoor events. We alternate flying time periods, between the micro-flyers such as the Ember, Vapor, and other similar size and speed planes, and the 3D foamies or other faster & larger planes. It reduces the chances of a major mid-air wherein the larger plane (aka 12" prop monsters) eat up the smaller planes. I had this happen to my Ember 1, ultimately requiring a change out of the main wing. Just a thought. And it's really cool to see 4 or 5, maybe more Embers and Vapors "roaring" around the gym. This is where the micro lights really come in handy. We actually had the gym overhead lights turned off for a session of "night flying". Needless to say, the Embers with Micro Lights really had the advantage!

RD

I have said many times in the past that the included transmitter with Embers left something to be desired in the "resolution" of the signal, resulting in rather "ratchety" movement of the rudder and elevator, when compared to the smoothness obtained with the DXi transmitter. My comparison was made between the included transmitter with my original Ember, and an Ember 2 with a DX6i transmitter.

I had the opportunity today to check out a new Ember 2 RTF, with the included transmitter. I was most pleasently surprised to find the control movements were MUCH smoother than what I see with my Ember 1 and original transmitter. Quite possibly ParkZone has upgraded the RTF transmitters, or possibly my Ember 1 RTF transmitter was not up to snuff. Whatever the case, the RTF transmitter that came with the Ember 2 I flew today was quite an improvement.

No wonder the Ember 2's are so popular!!

RD

Well, after abusing, gluing and repairing my Ember1 to a point of sorriness I wouldnt even post a picture of, I bought one of the Ember2 fuses that has been offered here on the forum, and a new wing from HH. Thanks to Pattern Flyer for a great deal...a complete fuse w/ brick and motor for less than a brick alone from HH!!!

Here's the result...

First off, I dont have a scale , so I have no clue of how much weight I've added. The tires are DuBro. The top lg reinforcement is a sandwich of two layers of 1/32 balsa. and the bottom reinforcement is 1/64. I dont know what kind of wood the skewers that form the rubber band attachment points is. It's not bamboo, seems to be hardwood of some type.

The skewers are ca'd to the wing mounts...I had the wing firmly captured when I glued the skewers. This locks the front and back mounts together, although they are still free to slide on the fuse boom. Now, I can use the rubber bands for insurance. The wing can be easily removed whenever desired.

Tail feathers are foam dinner plate, still need to tidy up their edges.
With the 110 battery all the way forward, it balances at the stock cg. I tried 1/32 and 1/64 balsa tail feathers, and the cg moved back almost an inch from stock. Too heavy, but pretty.

I've only got to fly it once, in too much breeze, and rain on the way, but it did great for the 3-4 minutes I flew. Between the dsm2 electronics (using my DX5 from my Radian), firmed up structure, and a skosh more weight, it seemed more controllable, and certainly has a degree of wind penetration it never had before. Rolling takeoff from smooth asphalt was about 6-8 feet. I really want to practice taildragger landings with it. Note the original main wheel on the tail.

What a sweet little airplane. It's good enough to begin with that my "improvements" didnt screw it up at all! Now,let's see what I can do about that plain white airplane...

As always, Your Mileage May Vary...

Nice build olthump.

I would be interested in the AUW, though. Next time you're out, take it by the post office and see if they'll weigh it for you.

Bill

Thanks SR. I need to ship a few ebay items, I'll try to take it with me.

Of course, one flight doesnt tell much, but ROG was great, and hand launches didnt seem to sink much at all. Need a nice calm evening at the park instead of a windy front yard. With the 110 and 130 batteries I use, duration might be down a bit due to weight, but this feels alot "friskier", and I suspect I'll be using alot more throttle overall-less slow flying and more zoom zoom.

Does anyone know if the control unit of the Ember 2 can handle mounting a Blade mSR motor and second if that would add any power?

Originally Posted by Sir Raleigh

Next time you're out, take it by the post office and see if they'll weigh it for you. Bill

Then, send it to me so I can fly it!!


RD

All comments and suggestions are always welcome.

This is Mk1. This all got started because I broke the lg trying to remove it from the accumulated blobs of ca on the old fuse. Wasnt at all planned out. Just had balsa and blades at hand, and next thing I knew my long suffering g/f was calling out in the garage "Where's my cuticle scissors?!@?"...

Doug, if Santa brings me a set of those lights, I figure the landing light will be great on that lower lg brace.

I'm also gonna try just 1 skewer mounted centrally if the weight turns out to be an issues. The big improvement seems to be rigidity. If I had little carbon rods, I'd do it the same way. Flying mildly w/o the bands is also an option. It might be better for a stone beginner for the wing to be able to pop off in a crash.

dang weather!!!

Originally Posted by rocco987

Does anyone know if the control unit of the Ember 2 can handle mounting a Blade mSR motor and second if that would add any power?

If you are referring to the main motor, I dont think the brick will be the problem, the gear ratio will not be good. I believe the main mSR motor is much higher kv than the Ember motor which is the exact size and possibly kv of the mSR tail motor. It appears that the mSR tail motor and the Ember motor are the same..

Originally Posted by olthump

All comments and suggestions are always welcome.

I'm also gonna try just 1 skewer mounted centrally if the weight turns out to be an issues. The big improvement seems to be rigidity. If I had little carbon rods, I'd do it the same way. Flying mildly w/o the bands is also an option. It might be better for a stone beginner for the wing to be able to pop off in a crash.

The wing hold-down skewer arrangement is quite practical. However, I question the need for this, and the attendant additional weight. I find the main wing is well secured via the LE and TE wing mounts and the small tape used to hold the wing to the mounts. I recently changed out the wing on my Ember 1, found it easy to do. I have yet to run into a "loose" wing problem on any of my 3 Embers. The tape on the LE of the wing helps reduce dings and cuts due to impacts, from what I have seen. You apparently are using the stock motor, so I don't see where there would be a problem with excessive thrust. The added weight of the modifications, to include the wheels, would result in an increase in wing loading. Possibly that is your concern. Still, a neat idea for holding down the main wing. I would use small diameter CF rod, and also the smallest/lightest rubber bands I could find.

RD