I'm a beginning RC flyer. Am not part of a club or anything so I'm pretty much on my own with it.
Flew a Yard Stick 3-ch park flyer for awhile then moved to an AXN thanks to the RCMR and Xjet videos which I consider a great find.
The RCMR videos were *very* helpful in sorting out AXN details. Assembled my AXN as per suggested practice. All the advice on ESC's, batteries, and the like, were very good. With a 2200mAh 3s in the nose my AXN balances very well.
To build my confidence I did dozens of hours with the Hobby King FMS simulator. I found online some plane sim profiles (.par) somewhat close to AXN: "Hawk Sky", "Graupners Tipsy", and "EasyStar". No problem.
BTW, Anyone have a link to an AXN.par that will run on FMS?
Before I knew it I was flying loops, doing Immelmann turns, and actually landing where I wanted to land. I must have done 200 touch and go's, flew every plane sim I could get my hands on. FMS is great fun, especially for $15.00US!
Anyway after a week I thought I had made all the stupid beginner's mistakes flying FMS. I was especially wary of being overpowered with the AXN as I watched you folks flying them like jet fighters but I thought I was ready at last!
After a very short flight I crashed hard, stalling due to the battery shifting aft suddenly. Crunched the nose and cracked the fuse aft of the prop. Battery also took out the rudder servo arm.
Felt pretty wretched for a day looking at the limp crash victim on my dining room table.
Then, surprisingly, the crash actually cheered me up as if I had passed some kind of rite of passage. We can rebuild and make it better...
So I'm hoping you experts will give me some advice:
1. What's your advice on securing the 2200mAh LiPo? That's the main problem I think. There must be more G force on it than I expected. I had carefully cut just enough foam so the battery would just slide in with the aft edge flush to the end of the foam. Also I CA'ed a 1" velcro "belt" into the cockpit to strap the battery in putting about an inch of fuzzy on the top of the battery so it wouldn't slide. I'm really surprised it could move at all but it did. It felt pretty tight in there. There must be a better way to secure it.
2. Also can you recommend how to fix the split in the fuse behind the prop... in that skinny little winestem? In the RCMR videos Bruce talks about hot gluing the foam. Is hot glue gun glue better for repairs than the Chinese foam glue that came with the kit? Seems to me the fuse now needs some kind of reinforcement. It is cracked almost through back there.
3. The nose is pushed back a bit and split along the top. Should be able to glue it together. Any suggestions about stiffening it, making it stronger? Coat it with epoxy perhaps?
I bought two AXNs in my original order so I have a backup when I have beat this one to death... but I'm sure there's quite a bit of life left in her yet!
Really it is a wonderful plane and I am delighted with the whole project in spite of the present difficulty.
Thanks in advance for your help!
mikem
Mike McDade
Bangor, Maine US
maturin@roadrunner.com