Some Bixler mods

[Rumblecloud]

As good as the Bix is, there are some things you can do to it to make it better - at least that's what I told myself.

Let's start with the cockpit area. The motor wires are kinda short and make it hard to plug into the ESC. So you may want to solder on some extra length. They want you to put everything in the cockpit: the ESC, RX, the battery. All those wires make it extremely messy and crowded. I don't care how much velcro, hot glue or sticky tape you use, one nose landing and all that stuff will end up in the nose along with the battery protruding out thru the front of the nose cone. That's one reason for the nose cone protection and the piece of sponge you can see sticking out in this image. It is cut to accept the shape of a 2200 3S lipo. When you're done with a couple of the mods, it will look like this:


To make it look like that, you start here:

Cut a hole in the side of the fuse and pull all the wiring connections for the Ailerons, rudder, elevator and throttle along with the RX back to the middle under the wing. It's a lot easier to get at and you can really stick everything down.

You could stop there, but I didn't:

I ditched the cheapo servos and side mounted control wires in favor of these stronger more direct control rods and Dubro horns with some similar cheap SG90 servos. I have some MG90s on the way. Another reason for this is that with the standard control wires running along the sides of the fuse, you will notice that the entire tail section flexes from side-to-side whenever you use the rudder or the elevator - it's only slight, but nevertheless. This set-up eliminates all that.

To add more strength to the tail section, I added a carbon fiber rod to either side:

I did this because after cutting the two holes for the servos I was worried that I weakened the structure. The rods fit right into the channels where the control wires once were. I used hot glue and duct tape. I wanted red duct tape but that will come later.

This is just a shot of the DuBro control horn:

You can see how much stronger they are than the stock ones.

This particular model has gone thru about three tree landings and numerous cartwheels and nose ins. The Gator tape on the belly and leading edges of the wings helps a lot.

[Sobodad]

Hmm .. Interesting at least .. 

However, I think I will just fly mine as it came and see what happens before I butcher it and start turning it into a Frankenstein creation ..

[Rumblecloud]

  and

 

You don't possibly think that I butchered it right out of the box do you?

I waited until it was good and f'd up before I knifed her. Remember this is my fourth one (I lost count)

Seriously, I have a problem remembering it is a glider with a motor, not a FunJet. That said, there are (were and still are) times in the learning experience where you have to pull hard out of a dive or risk the alternative. The mods I have shown will help your "FunJet" withstand most of those "have to's."
It is really a fun and forgiving plane and when flown as intended - not like I do - you'll have a great time with it.

Right now, Bathsheba is downstairs having her nails cured. The Gorilla Glue should be done sometime tomorrow and if it sets straight she'll be flyable for this weekend.

I drilled a Norfolk Pine and split the fuse in two spots. Coming out of a high level CW turn I forgot just how tall that tree was. I pulled up hard and the wing actually bent longwise along the channel where the carbon fiber reinforcement rod goes into the wings. That's another mod I didn't tell ya about. Hehehe

I talk too much.

[Diggiz]

You answered my Post from the other thread RC (Its a glider with a motor) 

Is that the v2 or v1 It is the 1 i think?
Doesnt matter how it looks after a few crashes its how it flies and so long as it Does do just that

[Rumblecloud]

This one is a V1 with all the problems - supposedly fixed in V2, but we'll see.