RC Model Reviews

Sorry for the late reply, missed this posting. I like XT60 better then the Deans because I managed several times to bent the flimsy spring part of the connector. Watch the soldering that you do not melt the plastic. I usually stick the contra in to supply cooling and to keep it in line in case.

I ordered the connectors from HK, both bare and wired. The wired types are difficult to unsolder if needed.

The dimples under the wing are of lesser concern. 2/3 of the lift is created by the top part of your wing so keep that clean. I "laminated" it with sticky tape, the leading edge with the re-enforced clear tape, the rest with the very smooth and cheap clear tape for packing boxes(?). For all the pressure- and stress points I used the strong tape.

Sid, what happened to your Phoenix? Would have been a nice setup as well for the FPV if you have tiny fingers to put all the stuff in.

Oops wrote:Sorry for the late reply, missed this posting. I like XT60 better then the Deans because I managed several times to bent the flimsy spring part of the connector. Watch the soldering that you do not melt the plastic. I usually stick the contra in to supply cooling and to keep it in line in case.

I ordered the connectors from HK, both bare and wired. The wired types are difficult to unsolder if needed.

The dimples under the wing are of lesser concern. 2/3 of the lift is created by the top part of your wing so keep that clean. I "laminated" it with sticky tape, the leading edge with the re-enforced clear tape, the rest with the very smooth and cheap clear tape for packing boxes(?). For all the pressure- and stress points I used the strong tape.

Sid, what happened to your Phoenix? Would have been a nice setup as well for the FPV if you have tiny fingers to put all the stuff in.

I've got some XT60 connectors now and have soldered one on a lead from my charger and also on my esc's. I too used the other half to act a heatsink so as not to deform the connector while soldering.

As for the axn, that's almost together, just have to cut the foam for the bigger battery and mount the Rx. I have strengthened the H stabiliser with a length of 4mm carbon rod and used fibreglass tape on the leading edge of the wing and underneath for landing protection.

I didn't use the stock prop and prop saver, but bought an APC 6*4E prop and a 3mm collet adaptor. Keeps the vibrations to a minimum and gives better performance than the standard prop.

Btw, there are two nice wikis on the asx here:

http://beta.ivc.no/wiki/index.php/AXN_Clouds_Fly

http://beta.ivc.no/wiki/index.php/AXN_Clouds_Fly_Setup

As for the phoenix, that's all ready to go, just waiting on my headless spinner and prop blades to show up and for the weather to clear. If the spinner doesn't show this week I'll drill out the original spinner collet to accept a 4mm shaft, cut the spinner's nose off for cooling and use that for now.

RCModelReviews wrote:I didn't use bullets on the ESC to motor connection -- I just soldered the wires together -- but don't shrink the heatshrink until you've tested it or Mr Murphy will make sure that the motor goes the wrong way and you have to re-solder two of the wires

a firend of mine came up with a ingenious solution for that one
what you do is you look at the motor wires and decide what you think is the correct way to solder them
and then solder them on the other way round

works every time

[As for the phoenix, that's all ready to go, just waiting on my headless spinner and prop blades to show up and for the weather
to clear. If the spinner doesn't show this week I'll drill out the original spinner collet to accept a 4mm shaft, cut the spinner's nose off for cooling and use that for now.[/quote]


Sid, I also opened up the front but have not drilled out the spinner. I had hoped that the spinner's rotation would suck air out the nose like a centrifugal fan.
I often land on the beach and don't want sand to enter the motor. In a few weeks the grass in the paddock will start to grow faster then the sheep and geese can eat which makes for smoother and less dirty landings (if we don't hit the sheep shit).

If it's rushing through the air, figure everything will try and go in at the front and come out through the back. Birds included.

As for beaches, sand and whatnot. What can an old guy say? Sand gets into everything...believe me.

On the subject of connectors -- when will they bring out a ribbed XT60 connector-pair?

Those things can be hell to pull apart. The best thing about the knock-off Deans plugs is that some have some nice ribs molded into them so that they're much easier to pull apart.

RCModelReviews wrote:On the subject of connectors -- when will they bring out a ribbed XT60 connector-pair?

Those things can be hell to pull apart. The best thing about the knock-off Deans plugs is that some have some nice ribs molded into them so that they're much easier to pull apart.

Tell me about it. They are a bitch to prise apart and that's outside of a model.

I guess though it means if your battery comes loose it will dangle by the leads rather than falling to the ground...which would make for a more photogenic video of the crash.

Pulling things appart or together is becoming more difficult at our age anyway! Trying to get the paper of the back of a sticker or double sticking tape, opening the bags of whatever, pushing the plugs into an already full receiver, pulling the servo extension loose only to discover that you pulled the wrong side appart, screwing an m2 gripscrew in a hole at the back of a motor which is hardly visible (only to loose the screw in the long carpet), ... It is not easy to be 80. And I have a long way to go before I get to that!

What about pulling the backing off covering film...? Anyone know the best way,,,? I scrape along the edge with a blade, but it takes forever sometimes... I find marking it with a black texture helps as you can see when the two pieces seperate...

Keith wrote:What about pulling the backing off covering film...? Anyone know the best way,,,? I scrape along the edge with a blade, but it takes forever sometimes... I find marking it with a black texture helps as you can see when the two pieces seperate...

Superglue your fingers to either side of it and pull?

Honestly, don't ask me. It takes me ten minutes to open one of those plastic bags on a roll at the supermarket, by which time I've forgotten what I wanted to put in it.