RC Planes

Lucky the wind gusted . Elevator and rudder knackered
crumper in places. Flaps bent. Bah

The tree was above a brook. When I had in the air the wind came and oy flew quite far and too fast

Inaccessable. Thorn maze to get to the tree.

I'm cut up bad

This model is going to have a short life I can tell
 
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My advice would be to this:
Take the model back to standard. No flaps, no lights, etc. Go to what is a known easy to fly platform.
Check the ailerons and other control surfaces move the correct way.
Make sure the battery is secure. If the battery is moving about the model will behave very oddly.
Get a mate to help you launch or build a dolly so you can concentrate on the controls during a launch.

Although the simple way to do all this, is to go to your local model flying club and ask an experienced flyer to check it all out and perhaps even give it a quick flight to give it a once over.

I was taught to fly when I was a kid and it gives you a real boost in flying ability very quickly. They will also help you to avoid bad habits and be a safer flyer.


The bottom line is that the bixler is a solid, sensible and easy to fly model. It is known for its stability and versatility. If you are having problems flying it, either there is something dramatically wrong with you model/installation or you need some help to learn the basics.of fixed wing flying.

Not trying to be rude, or annoying. Follow my advice and it will save you a lot of heartache, time and money. It happens to us all. I smashed up a second hand spitfire model a few weeks ago. I rushed to get the refurb and installation done and ended up with a loose battery after a hard turn and the model became unflyable and took a direct hit to a large bollard.
 
The flaps were not being used. There is only two leds now

I will check everything over again. Cheers for advice

Despite sorting out the rates. It made it difficult to launch on low rates. Even the low rates I had set were reccomended for beginners. In the bedroom.it was all working. Out on the field it turned out that low rates were only working for elevator and rudder. Ailerons were stuck doing the same movements for low, mid, high. Hence the over sensitive controls, it was enough throw for high rates
 
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Did you do a range check before flight. ?

This is a very basic model and will fly fine straight out of the box. Take it to a local Bmfa club and get them to do a once over and quick test flight

Like the other poster ( malt vinegar). Not trying to be rude. Just offering advice as I have been flying rc models some 15 years now.

Perhaps all the mods you did added too much weight ? Who knows.
 
There was no problems with range. Already pinned it down to probably too much wind. My dual rates not working on the ailerons, so way too sensitive. Wouldn't say its too heavy. Not done any mods that no other bixler owner hasn't done. Just some tape.

Elevator and tail glued on. And posted on multirotor forums seeing if there is anyone local
 
Think I might take that offer up after all :p I will let you know when its properly patched up and i have gone over the surfaces again. I would say the place I fly although I could fly it there as it has space, its more suited to my multirotors really. Do you know any good spots which are public access, quiet and plenty of room ? Bouncy soft grass a bonus :p
 
Whereabouts in Cardiff do you usually fly you're quads?#

First immediate places that spring to mind are Pontcanna / Llandaff or Blackwier fields.
 
Sorry to hear about your issues DJMK4, sounds like it's repairable at least?

Got my 9x yesterday and started playing around, few more bits to sort still but got the basic setup done including a switch that does both flaperons/spoilerons depending on the position of the 3-position switch, don't intend to use it straight away but thought I might as well set it up :p

Initially the motor/throttle wasn't working, trying to fiddle with it and go through the setup I 'discovered' that it was just reversed, ended up briefly at full throttle, unfortunately being lazy I hadn't taken the prop off, luckily just 4 scratches/cuts on my wrist, oops. It did point out that the motor mount that I'd read wasn't always best secured but felt good wasn't all that great, it came off at some point during the incident so got that to do.

On that point, what is the best glue for the motor mount, I've got an unlabelled 'contact adhesive' that came with the plane, hot glue gun, CA or epoxy?
 
Repairable yep, the elevator and rudder has been glued back on with Gorilla glue, and I am going to protect that a little now with some crossweave, I have crossweave over most parts, inluding strips on Ele and rudder, but now looking to cover most of the elevator and rudder.

I used gorilla glue for motor mount.
 
I finally had my maiden flight today, was a bit windy, met office said 8-10mph + the occasional gust, didn't feel that bad, at ground level at least, but it's all good :p

Reading about the floater jet I'd setup one of the switches on the 9x to give some up elevator for take-off, in the end for the first battery I felt like I needed to have that 'on' all the time otherwise it would tend to dive a bit, even after trying to trim it (so easy when not flying, as a n00b on their first flight it felt like a huge risk trying to trim it...), so kept that on but was fighting it all the time so it was a bit messy.

Wind was also a bit stronger than I'd thought, once it got to a certain height there was a fairly consistent and 'strong' wind, so going upwind I was on 75-100% throttle and making some progress, downwind I was throttling almost right back and gliding whilst going faster. I also found, kind of obviously, that I needed to remind myself to crank the throttle up before/during the turns otherwise it had a habit of not really responding that well.

Still end result was 5-6 minutes of flying, no crashing, landing was messy and right at the last minute it clipped some grass with the end of one wing that spun it around but no damage.

So, bit of a rest, fiddle with the trim (ended up maxxing out the trim for up elevator), take off using the switch as before, then flick that off and a *much* more stable flight, another 5-6 minutes of relatively 'easy' flying, just some vague circuits, then a really good clean landing.

Checked the batteries at the end (3s 2200mah's) and they were at 12.15v and 12.22v, so looks like I was very conservative on the flight times, 10 minutes should be doable I reckon.

It was so awesome :D can't wait to go out again.
 
Just found this page whilst surfing OCUK, I've been feeling rather nostalgic about RC recently.

Started RC when I was 12 but stopped about 5-6 years ago in my late teens/early 20's. Would love to get back into it at some point, but I need a new PC first :D

Here are some pics of my old toys, getting itchy thumbs just looking at some of these!:

a1872318-34-Bickley_Katana_6.jpg

a2688129-156-IMG_8954.jpg

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dsc00499.jpg
 
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I need to try that programme a switch to give me Max elevator for takeoff

Mine's set to just +25% up elevator, and makes it a lot easier I think, did some 'glides' prior to the initial take off to check general trim etc (obviously missed the elevator :p) and it was noticeably different with/without the switch.

Nice plane, and flying FL630 :)
 
Mine's set to just +25% up elevator, and makes it a lot easier I think, did some 'glides' prior to the initial take off to check general trim etc (obviously missed the elevator :p) and it was noticeably different with/without the switch.

Nice plane, and flying FL630 :)


May need to do full on low rates, I was pulling back on elevator and throwing and it was struggling, I think mid rates were needed.

Will have to do some testing.



Nice kit above ^^
 
Thanks chaps :) Those toys were my pride and joy back in the day. The top one was electric, one of the first in the world of that size, 12S2P 10700mAh Lipo's, I think it topped out at 8.5KW power constant.

I've just re-read your first flight report above, you shouldn't need too much back elevator to launch if you chuck it at the right speed. Max up elevator trim sounds like the CG is a little far forward, try moving the battery back a smidge it might help. It should, in theory, fly straight and level with elevator flat to the tail, if you've got loads of up then it's certainly a symptom of being nose heavy.

Also, try getting used to launching with your left arm and always into wind if you're not already, that way you're right on the elevator if needed without having to go and find the stick in the split second it heads to the ground
 
Thanks chaps :) Those toys were my pride and joy back in the day. The top one was electric, one of the first in the world of that size, 12S2P 10700mAh Lipo's, I think it topped out at 8.5KW power constant.

I've just re-read your first flight report above, you shouldn't need too much back elevator to launch if you chuck it at the right speed. Max up elevator trim sounds like the CG is a little far forward, try moving the battery back a smidge it might help. It should, in theory, fly straight and level with elevator flat to the tail, if you've got loads of up then it's certainly a symptom of being nose heavy.

Also, try getting used to launching with your left arm and always into wind if you're not already, that way you're right on the elevator if needed without having to go and find the stick in the split second it heads to the ground

Electric? wow, how much flight time?

Yeh I did start throwing with my left arm, although I found it a litle difficult to control the elevator without the ailerons kicking in, the aileron low/mid/high rates were not working, so they were stuck on high rates where everything else was on low. Hence why it was very sensitive on the ailerons when it was eventually in the air, found it hard to control.

I would still like to try elevator on a launch switch, it would mean the elevator would activate without having aileron kicking in whilst im trying to get my radio back in my hand properly and then i can turn it off.

I did balance it before I went out so COG "should" have been ok, but will check that again.


When you say in to the wind, do you mean throwing it with the wind coming from behind you going forward with the aircraft? if so thats what I was doing.

It was a windy day which didnt help

Planning to take it out with Rhysduck off the forums here next time, so I can try a few launches with both hands on the controls, and see if I can get used to and also test out some self launches.
 
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