Is smaller better?

[Gabe]

Surprisingly well. They are just foam. Also, I'm really careful to bring her in slow and flare the landing so she basically just plops down softly. I used low temp hot glue on them. 6 flights or so and they're just fine.

[19000rpm]

That's the trick: You can get it to land slow enough and with the low weight there's not too much energy transfer when you plop it in the grass.

[akent]

Humm....Sounding better all the time...

[19000rpm]

I was looking at it again yesterday and all of a sudden I notice an AMX in a 64mm with thrust vectoring for 99. Yikes! now I've got 4 EDF's I'm looking at an I've limited myself to just one more for this season before winter hits. ;D

[Gabe]

I saw that that too after I ordered.

[Gabe]

So I spent a few hours gluing an extra 2 servos on and figuring out the mix on the mini amx in an attempt to give her some true ailerons and ditch the delta setup.

The first launch she was too nose heavy to get speed or altitude and cruised about ten feet off the ground just avoiding a stall. I moved the battery back to the actual COG location so she really wasn't nose heavy at all. I tossed her again and the roll rate surprised me and she toppled over into the grass.

So I added a little expo and tried again. Made it a little further this time but she refused to build speed and I gave her a little aileron, she rolled to the side hard and ate grass again.

2 things come to mind. Either the servo placement at the base of the wing where it connects to the fuse is too much for the small wing loading of the plane and overrides the ailerons...

OR

The plane simply needs a delta setup to add the extra lift and stability. I will glue the wings back on today and try again with a delta setup. I'm keeping the 4 servos in an attempt to get more reliable throw than the crappy linkage mess that comes with it.

[19000rpm]

I've read a few forum comments on adding ailerons and most have not been successful in stock form. The Delta setup seems to be the best for the little 50mm's. You might also benefit from going 4S and getting a balance on the fan from Don's RC. There's like a 50% increase in power.

[Gabe]

I have an old 64mm edf I was thinking about throwing in there too >

[19000rpm]

That would be an interesting mod. It would really wake it up. I seem to recall there is plenty of room for a larger battery.

Maybe you can bend some better control rods. That ought to help.

I'd highly recommend the F-16 if you're wanting to add another mini.

[Gabe]

I'm definitely interested in the F-16. It needs to be really maneuverable to fly in my area though. I'm gonna see how this one plays out.

Does anyone know if the real AMX was a delta setup or if it's just for our little hobby.

[19000rpm]

The F-16 seems plenty maneuverable to me considering there is no yaw control. It likes tight stall turns.

The full sized AMX has conventional wings. The only fullsized jets I know of that employ a delta set up have no horizontal tail surface as with the Avro Vulcan bomber. Now that's one sweet aircraft. www.google.com/search?q=amx+aircraft&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=685&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=LKWtTrrqF4qzsALvoMGFDw&sqi=2&ved=0CD8QsAQ#hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=avro+vulcan+bomber&oq=Avro+V&aq=2&aqi=g10&aql=1&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=1102320l1110285l0l1115635l6l6l0l0l0l0l272l1265l0.2.4l6l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=4592b4a481d84575&biw=1366&bih=685

The AMX model is set up delta to save servo weight and cost.

I like delta for a lot of the smaller jets. It's not always scale like, but with the compromise, you can really crank both the roll and pitch axis since you're greatly increasing the amount of control surface applied in a maneuver. Plus, the lighter weight, less the extra servos, really helps the wing loading and performance.

[Gabe]

Epic fail with the delta setup and the extra servos. Unbelievable - it was much more controllable, but she wouldn't get more than 6' in altitude

I'm gonna throw the 64mm in there and go to town. Why not!? I'm just gonna scrap it if it doesn't work.

[19000rpm]

I hope that 64mm fan works out. It'll definitely produce a lot more thrust.

Here's what a lot of pilots are doing as an alternative: 4S with 1000-1300mAh pack gives a lot more power than stock with less weight than the 64mm fan and the bigger ESC and battery you'll need for reasonable flight times. You don't even need to change out the stock ESC as amps go down when voltage goes up. The only issue would be if the stock fan is fairly well balanced. Higher rpm than stock could blow an unbalanced stock fan. That has happened to a lot of guys.

Either way, I you'll get it flying Gabe.

[Gabe]

64mm fan = no good. Didn't even get lift for some reason. Oh well. Into the trash it goes.

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[19000rpm]

That's a shame. If there's a bright side; there's room in the hangar for a new plane. Maybe an F-16?