jafo9

i am a relative newbie when it comes to planes. i have been doing cars/trucks for several years and tried to branch out with an aerobird challenger. my 7 or so outings have been fairly disastrous. only one or two yielded good flights and there have been lots of crashes and packing tape repairs. i am on my second tail wing and third main wing. my problem now is an absolute lack of lift even under full throttle. the tail boom was loose and i tried to shore it up with the tape. my first guess is that the angle is all wrong. i have cranked down on the first tail screw to help with lift and i even dialed in 3-4 mm of elevation in the v-tail lifters. my guess is that i have to buy a new body/tail?

is it worth 50 bucks or am i throwing good money after bad? so far including 4 wings and the drop module that is already broken i'm in for about 250 bucks. for that i could have addeded another car to my collection or gotten a nice brushless motor. anyway, any opinions or advice would be appreciated.

airroy

My Feedback: (7)

if its been windy when uve been flying try one of these it might help [link=http://h1070635.hobbyshopnow.com/products/description.asp?prod=HBZ2009
Copy and paste it to ur url bar, its a wing shim to increse the attack angle.



k,that shouls work

airroy

My Feedback: (7)

sry never mind the wing shim will decrease the attack angle so dont get it!!!!
But it might com in handy when its really windy, to tak some of the climb out of the plane, when its turned into the wind.

sry.

mgenung

Sounds like the tail boom has popped out of its fitting in fuse. Open canopy and inspect interior boom connection. Pop it back in and then cut slots for a tie wrap to hold boom in place. This is a common repair, and frankly should be done to all ABC/ABX prior to maiden flights. The are several threads w/pictures here in this forum that describe this repair.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

jafo9

i found a thread with pictures on how to repair the motor mount but i couldn't find pics of the tail boom repair tho i found some describing it. if you have these handy i'd appreciate a link. i have taped the boom and after looking at some of the other threads, i think my problem may be the angle that my motor has settled into. i guess it is pusing the plane down tho it is only off by about 5 degree or less. is this enough to cause very poor to no lift? thanks.

mgenung

Attached is photo of bottom of an ABC w/boom tie repair. You have two options. One is to place the tie about where this one is. This allows you to use the pop joint for other Hobby Zone add ons (drop module, sonic combat, etc). I don't use the add ons and I cut my slots to take advantage of the available joint.

Regarding the motor. It should be centered in a thin metal frame popped into the back of the fuse. You will have to carefully push it back into place and then cut two holes for the tie wrap strenghtening of the motor. Ensure you cut holes so that the tie wrap is flush w/forward end of motor but does not interfere w/the electronic interfence connections on forward end of motor.

I hope this helps.

Have Fun and Good Luck

BobbyGee

My Feedback: (3)

Looks like you forgt to attach the photo .....

BobbyG

mgenung

Try try again......

mgenung

My bust, first time putting a photo on this forum......

flyerdude

ummmmm you should check your dihedral of ur taail you might need a new tail section for $10.

jafo9

tail and wing are new. so many crashes that motor mounts are hosed. i will perform the tail boom zip tie secure and then try the motor zip tie secure and see what happens. its amazing to go from too much lift when new to zero lift now.

kevjud

My Aerobird did the same thing. The tail boom popped out. I snapped it back into place, did the zip tie mod, and it has been fine ever since.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I have an Aerobird with over 150 flights. I have taught several people to fly
their Aerobirds. Here is the procedure I tell people to follow to get the
plane to fly properly. I can't be sure how much damage you have done to the
plane due to crashes, so let me just offer this as a starter.

Unless you have removed the white foam that sits between the battery and the
electronics, ignore CG for the moment. Do all of your flight testing with the
6 cell battery. The 7 cell makes it nose heavy and will change the way it
flies. When we are trying to fix it, I would use the 6 cell only.

1) With your transmitter on and all trims centered, and your battery connected
in the plane, but with the motor off, look at the control surfaces on the tail
from the back. Are the movable parts exactly even with the fixed parts? If
not then you are going into a turn the moment you launch assuming the motor is
straight and the tail is straight. More on that later. Normally, these
surfaces have to be
perfectly aligned.

2) The boom between the pod an the tail - is it solidly anchored or can you
move it around inside the plane. If it moves, it has broken lose. This must be
fixed. It will either sag causing the nose to go down or it is twisted causing
the plane to turn right or left.

3) Check the tail, especially by the rigid plastic near the boom. Are there
any creases? I had a problem with my Aerobird that caused it to turn to the
right so badly that it crashed because it would go into a spiral. I tried
everything. Turned out there was a crease in the tail that caused the tail to
flex under pressure. On launch, this could take you into the ground.

4) It is possible for the tail to shift from a severe nose crash. There are
trim instructions in the owner's manual. AFTER you have checked the other
items and
fixed or found them to be OK, try trimming the tail for more up or down force.


Other points to be aware of:

When the motor is running, more air moves across the tail so that you get a
faster response for turns. The slower the motor is running, the slower the
plane will respond. When gliding, response can be very soft.

Make sure you are launching into the wind - directly into the wind, or the
plane will be turned by the wind when you launch. Same for landing.

Let us know how it goes.

If this doesn't help, I invite you to post photos.

These are what I would
want to see: All shots are with battery in and transmitter on, motor off.
All trims to center and not touching the stick unless I tell you to. All
tests are in Sport mode.

view from nose to tail - level with the top of the plane - to check allignmets
view from tail to nose - same reason

Remove the wing, lay the plane on a table on its side with the tail hanging
off the end. Place a ruler or a suitable straight edge under the body
extending to the tail. I want to see if the boom
is straight

surface allignment - battery connected, transmitter on - make sure your trims
are centered

For the shots from tail, I want you to center the motor in the frame so that
you are shooting STRAIGHT down the shaft.

view from the tail at tail height - full left command
view from the tail at tail height - full right
same - full up
same - full down
sticks centered and hands off shot.
Finally view from under the tail.

jatoo

Does the proble occur during a glide? If it does not then this is a strong indication that the angle (or possibly the postion) of the motor is wrong.

jafo9

thanks for the great responses.

it happens all the time. i think my motor is out of alignment and i think my initial packing tape repair to the tail boom was inadequate. i will do the zip tie to the boom and motor and see what happens. all the trims appear to be working fine and can be set to dead center with the battery in and have good range with stick excursion.

thanks again.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

If the boom came out and you reset it, you could have gotten a tiny big or rotatoin in it. which would make it turn one way orh the other or might just turn it into tht ground.

Or the body could be bent where the boom sets so that the tail "droops" slightly which would be like giving it down elevator all the time.

If all that checks out, try putting a shim under the back of the tail to lift it slightly. a couple of pieces of folder paper perhaps. That will give you more "up" effect. I have had to do the same but the other way where I had to shim the front of the tail because the plane was stalling all the time.

Good luck!