Extra: Difficult to video camera

With a new Sony Handycam, my neighbor, Tom attempted to record me flying my Copperhead Aviation "Extra Stiffy." To my demise, he could not keep up with the plane. I did rolls, stall turns, etc. and the plane just moved a bit too quick. Plus it was very very bright out and hard for him to see the LCD. But at least you can see the plane take off vertical.

SDM Piper Cub Motor Upgrade

My buddy, Dave, wanted an inexpensive 3-channel plane so he bought the SDM Piper Cub from Harbor Freight Tools for $79. The plane did not fly stock so he decided to upgrade the motor and prop size per suggestions from "Shun Da Piper Cub" forum from rcuniverse.com. The guys on the forum are very nice and helpful -- plus they are quite innovative.

UPGRADE COSTS:
$30 -- 9.6 v 1000 mah batt (Parkzone)
$30 -- charger
$2 -- firewall for motor (from the Parkzone Piper Cub set up)
$25 -- motor/gear drive/prop (from the Parkzone Piper Cub set up)




The photo above shows the Cub assembled with the geared motor with the motor cowl off.






The angle of the prop shaft may scare you because it is so off center. Don't worry about it -- you're good.









Using a Dremel we grinded/sanded down the stock firewall until it was perfectly flat. We then used 5-minute Epoxy to glue on the Parkzone Piper Cub firewall. Then we held the gear assembly up to the firewall and marked where the four screws will enter and drilled accordingly. We also drilled a large hole to pass the wires through into the fuselage. We wired the motor to the ESC (electronic speed control) and screwed the gear box & motor to the firewall.










Here you see the angle of the prop shaft with the cowl on.












Here, again, you see the angle of the prop shaft with the cowl on.










In order to adjust the CG (center of gravity) we placed the receiver near the servos and using double stick tape we taped the back of the ESC to the back of the receiver.

I recommend buying some one or two inch shrink tubing (it's clear and shrinks by 50%) from your local rc aircraft store and remove the casing around the ESC and receiver and sealing it in shrink wrap. They will cut a lot of weight and help the plane's performance.



In order to power the geared the motor Dave bought an eight cell 9.6 volt 1000 mah nimh battery. We soldered on the correct connections so the esc and batt could talk. This battery is heavier because it has one more cell than the stock battery, which should help with windier flights. The down side is we had to carve away the batt compartment and fill the nose with foam and slide the battery inside of it. We marked the battery with a sharpie to remind us where the CG would be with the battery. We then packed foam behind the battery in the batt compartment so the battery could not move at all.

For the record, with all that Dave has spent and time we have both invested in this plane I believe spending $159 on a Hobbyzone "Super Cub" is a much better choice. The plane is complete and very well built and perfect for a beginner. Spending less than $160 on a 3-channel plane is not a good idea unless you enjoy working on your plane, which I do, but the owner Dave does not.

Decorating your styro plane

Here's a sneak peek of my Graupner Mini Piper, that I am converting to a Piper Grasshopper.Using olive drab (color) styro safe spray paint that I got from my local hobby store (lhs) I painted my plane with the LIGHTEST coat that I could that fully covered the plane. I taped off the areas that I wanted to paint my stripes and then sprayed it. I also taped off the tires and spray painted the rims. With a brush, tape, and black and white styro safe paint I paint, I painted my army stripes. Next, I will add Army decals after I use some alcohol to clean the surface. I still need to touch it it with olive drab and a brush, especially around the nose. I made a mistake by rubber banding the nose pieces together and the glue stuck to the rubber bands. It's better to use pins only. This plane will look great when it is complete and I am so close. I bought my Graupner Mini Piper from Hobby-Lobby and it is a good first or second plane.

Flight Report: Copperhead Aviation Extra Stiffy

A great 3rd park flyer is the "Extra Stiffy" made by Copperhead Aviation. Beside my plane you will see my original radio, HiTec Flash 5 and my new lipo charger/balancer -- FMA Cellpro4. If you think that this hobby will be a long-term investment for you I recommend thinking ahead. I am very happy that I bought a radio that I could grow into, because I did not need to upgrade my radio.

This plane's performance is outstanding. It will fly vert. Imagine driving a sports car and then driving a standard car. The sports car accelerates better and corners very well, because of stiffer suspension. The same can be said about the Extra Stiffy, because the plane overflows with power and is very stiff; therefore it is very responsive in the air.

Take-off took less than 8 feet and before I knew it (in seconds) the plane was 65 feet in the air. I flew at about 1/3 throttle. The plane tracked very well. Rolls resulted in no loss of altitude. Loops and inverted loops were easy pulled off. The plane required a little speed to be landed and could be flown to the ground with throttle and no elevator.

The plane is expensive for a foamy at $89, but the reviews I have read seem to justify the costs.

www.copperheadaviation.com

How to repair your plane

This is my experimental Geni-pig airplane. It is a SDM Yellow Bee and can be purchased for $29 RTF at Harbor Freight Tools. They also sell replacement wings/tails. I added the Dubro 1.5" micro wheels and love them. I can take off of mulch and land in the grass. All I had to do is drill 1/16" hole in them and that was it. I have crashed this plane into the ground, fences, trees, buildings -- you name it. It's a tough plane for the buck.
My friend, Dave, can be a maverick pilot at times. And this time he took a nose dive from 25-30 feet up. He's a good guy. He's buying me a replacement Yellow Bee. In meantime, since he is the new owner, I thought I'd repair it and give it to him in a usable-state. But beware, the plane is much less forgiving even to gentle crashes now.
The first thing you do is "dry fit" all of the parts and think about how to best repair the plane. I used 5-Minute Epoxy, duct tape, and packaging tape. The dry fit went well, but I had a little trouble getting everything to align up perfectly once I began gluing.
When ever you are gluing your broken plane back together, regardless if it is plastic or Styrofoam, ONLY GLUE ONE EDGE AT A TIME. This will help you align it perfectly. If you try to to glue it all at once and one little part is not aligned the structural integrity of your repair job will be compromised. I always go in steps, often gluing in five or more stages -- even for small pieces. I do a little here and a little there. Low key and no stress. In the picture above I used duct tape (had to shorten it) to tape the inside of the canopy to hold the seal tight.
After I glued one side I added duct tape to the external part of the cockpit to hold it in place. You can use painter's tape too. Once it dried, I glued the bottom end of the fuselage together and then finally glued the other side -- this clockwise gluing technique allows me to align each corner as I glue, resulting in a smooth and aligned repair job.
I then sealed the seems with duct tape -- careful to not use too much as it adds weight. Also, remember that Epoxy is tough and weighs a lot -- so be conservative with it. You need a lot than you think. It will hold up and crashes will likely break anywhere, but along the Epoxy seem.
Finally I reinforced the two sides and the bottom with packaging tape and used my Xacto blade to clean off excess. I do endorse the use of packaging tape for repair jobs, but with cheaper "throw away airplanes," like this one, I think it is okay.

This plane will fly again. The number of flights will be determined on the ease of landings. If the plane never has a mild to hard crash again it will last a long time. After it is dead, you can gut it and make a SPAD (Google it) RC airplane or you can buy a cheap small free flight styrofoam plane, the ones you had when you were a kid, and build your own plane. I recently bought a few at the Dollar Tree just for that reason. Some day they will be home-made RC airplanes -- maybe used for combat fights. I like to recycle what I can.

Free flight with snow skis

It was a bit too windy to be successful with a take-off and landing in my backyard today, but the video below will prove to you that this little plane has enough power to get the tail off the ground and take-off from snow with hand-made skis.
What you need to buy is:
1) Harbor Freight Cessna free flight airplane for $6.99 with charger. Goes on sale for that price at least once per month.
2) To make the skis visit my sister site for DETAILED instructions. Also on the site is a video of Dave's LARGER home-made skis with take-off and landing. These videos are also on YouTube.com. The sister site url is:
http://www.rcplanepilot.blogspot.com/

Dubro Parkflyer Skis ($10)

What fun! Today is the first big snow fall we have had all season (powder, then frozen rain, and then more powder. Snow was mildly frozen on the surface. Perfect for RC snow skis). So I installed my Dubro Parkflyer Snow Skis I purchased for $10 from my local hobby store. I taxi'd around my backyard and had a couple super short and low altitude flights. I loved it. The plane is fast on snow.

The directions supplied from Dubro were helpful, but not perfectly clear. I drilled a few extra holes in my skis that I didn't need, because the directions were confusing. So I cheated and went online and Googled the installation and found a guy who posted pictures of his slow flyer with a pair on. I, too, am posting pictures for you to see so you can avoid the hassle all together.

Enjoy taking-off from snow and landing on it. I found the snow and skis to be VERY forgiving.

How to "loop"

If you have a 3-channel airplane the first stunt you will learn to do is loops. Before you attempt your first loop make sure that you are 3-mistakes high (75 feet) in case your plane stalls and looses altitude.

Inverted loops will be more difficult to achieve if your wings are dihedral, since your plane will not trim easily while upside down. My Graupner Mini Piper hated to fly upside down. The best I could do was very shallow dives.

Choosing your second plane

Selecting your second plane will be a less daunting task than your first. Now that you know how to fly and how you want your next plane to perform you can begin researching. For my third plane, I bought a "Extra Stiffy" by Copperhead Aviation fully loaded with Hitec 56-B servos and the recommended Hacker motor and Phoenix ESC. The reviews for this plane were great. I knew I would reuse my transmitter and a receiver.

As you can see the build for this plane is not too demanding. I bought my plane a friend are pre-built and flown. I don't recommend doing this unless you truly trust the person.

If you plan to buy a new radio and high performance plane, I highly recommend you purchase a 2.4 ghz 6-channel Spectrum radio. Read the reviews! For my fifth plane I will buy the Spectrum and go nitro powered.

If I was purchase my second plane all over again I would buy a Parkzone Typhoon RTF for $215 (watch for Black Friday sales . . . I have seen for $169 at www.nesail.com). Unfortunately, I can't find a photo of it that I can save and post on this site. The plane requires very little assembly and performs very well. Parts are readily available at your LHS (local hobby store). If you purchased a 2 or 3-channel beginner's plane without a reusable servos and receiver, the Parkzone Typhoon is probably the best bet. Spurge for the lipo battery too.

Visit www.youtube.com for videos of the Parkzone Typhoon.

Air Hogs: 2-Channel Heli

Though I am impressed with technology and the ability to produce such a tiny 2-channel EPP-durable helicopter for $29, I easily bore of anything that is 2-channel, whether car, plane, or helicopter.

A 2-channel helicopter can go up/down and spin counter/clockwise, but not fly forward. The Air Hogs Havoc has plenty of power and climbs nicely indoors or outdoors.

My recommendation, if you want an inexpensive indoor/micro helipoter is the Air Hogs Helix 6-channel helicopter for $79 at Target or Toys-R-Us. If you want an electric outdoor helicopter, visit www.hobby-lobby.com.