Freewing Mirage 2000C V2 “Tiger Meet” 80mm EDF - Official Thread

[SanExup]

Yeah, I would worry about drag too but those drop tanks are huge. And the weight of the floats probably isn't all that different from the tanks. And without the gear, it's probably all up lighter.

We get into a cycle of new snow and then cold temperatures here that most of the winter its light density and then light density with crust on top. I think I'll need to find a hard pack road to fly from. I'm eager to hear how it goes!

[xviper]

Thanks for the pics! Do you feel like its balanced correctly to keep the nose off of the snow? I think I'm pretty much going to copy what you've done, once I get done with the repaint.

Hard to say since it never got off the ground. Based on the times it was sliding on flat bits of snow/ice, it "taxied" really well. I also balanced it with the floats at the same CG as suggested by the manual. The only thing to witness is whether or not the slightly bigger floats will cause any aerodynamic weirdness more so than the stock tanks do. I've only ever flown the Mirage (V1) with and without tanks. It didn't seem to make any difference to the way it flew.

[SanExup]

Thanks for the pics! Do you feel like its balanced correctly to keep the nose off of the snow? I think I'm pretty much going to copy what you've done, once I get done with the repaint.

[xviper]

xviper Nice! Give us a flight report please! I'm repainting my Mirage now, its been snowing here and I would love to fly mine. I was thinking skis and having doubts about how well that would work. But floats, that will work!

Do you mind showing me how you're mounting them?

I'll include 2 photos below. The first shows the stock wing tank. I cut out a section that included the slot, with the magnets at the bottom. Then, after determining where the floats would balance the same as where the tank balances, I cut out the same size hunk of foam from the float. Then I grafted the tank piece into the float space using a combination of expoxy, FoamTac and hot glue to fill in the spaces. On the plane's wing pylons, after the floats were installed, I used some clear hockey tape to hold the floats firm so they wouldn't come loose when bouncing on the snow. The 2nd photo shows a float installed on the pylon with the hockey tape as reinforcement. You can see the hump where the stock tank piece is grafted onto the top of the float. When I tried to take off, the drifts and ridges were so severe, that the plane just went up one side of a ridge and down the other side. The last one was so fast that the nose cone and tip of one float just embedded themselves into the front of the next ridge. However, it did prove to me that on a smoother snow/ice surface (like on our field with the runway), it'll have plenty of juice to get up to take off speed very quickly. It slides over ice much easier than it does rolling on its wheels on dry ground. I turned the "Tiger" into the "Blue footed Boobie".
Our closed field should open about the middle of January (pandemic lock down).
Next spring, the floats come off, the retracts go back on and I'll fly it (assuming I don't crash the heck out of it) the way it's supposed to be flown.

[SanExup]

xviper Nice! Give us a flight report please! I'm repainting my Mirage now, its been snowing here and I would love to fly mine. I was thinking skis and having doubts about how well that would work. But floats, that will work!

Do you mind showing me how you're mounting them?

[Evan D]

That’s cool!

[xviper]

Not much action here for a while, so ...............................

I needed a winter jet. Modified some floats from a HobbyKing Tundra. These floats are just a bit bigger than the stock Mirage wing tanks, so I thought it might be able to carry the floats OK. I even installed the wing tank's rear fins on the floats. I picked the Mirage purely because it had those giant wing tanks to begin with. Tried to fly it a few days ago but the snow was drifted badly and the poor Mirage was bouncing all over the "dunes" and couldn't get a long enough flat stretch to take off. Will wait for another day when the field with the runway opens again. It doesn't drift nearly as bad, so I should have better luck getting it off the ground.
Also, removed all retracts to lessen weight.

[TangoVector]

Well, this was uncalled for!


.

I fixed it long ago, but the nose cone was a little crooked. Ordered a new one from RC-Castle since it was on backorder at Motion. It arrived a while ago and it fits perfect!

....except that the magnets are mounted wrong way, so it goes PHUMP and ejects itself as soon as i let go

[Mizer67]

Winter plans are taking shape and they look like this:




Yes, it's a 2000D and not a C, but I like the color scheme

There is one "C" painted in desert camo like that:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/uprise-ur7266-mirage-2000c-desert-storm-and90-ans--1303413

I've been wanting to do a re-paint like this as well.

[TangoVector]

Winter plans are taking shape and they look like this:




Yes, it's a 2000D and not a C, but I like the color scheme

[John Bergsmith]

Put the first six flights on my new Mirage HP this afternoon. What a thrill! With the new 9b inrunner set up it has tons of power and more than enough speed to make it exciting. Use a 4000mah and got over 4 minutes with no problem. Control throws were out of the book with the exception of the ailerons which I reduced. I started out with the CG at 520mm and moved it back slightly with each flight. Landings are a lot of fun. My approach was typical delta, slightly higher and I just brought the nose up and adjusted the throttle to control the sink rate. I landed with almost full up elevator, kept the nose high until it slowed down. Glad I ordered the 3D printed nozzle. It not only looks great, but it’s durable because I dragged it on the runway several times.

Things you must do:
1. High rate rolls, the Mirage looks like a drill bit. It’s fun! Reminds me of the Diamond Dusts a bunch of us flew in the 90’s.
2. High Alpha slow speed, it slows to a craw.
3. High speed low passes, it zips. Not to mention it sounds like Airwolf going by. It had the people at the field talking.

The Mirage is simple, easy to transport in one piece, and Motion offers it at a very reasonable price. Hard to beat!

[TangoVector]

I had my first unsuccessful grass takeoff last weekend. The grass was a little long and the morning dew had not dried up. On normal days it is not an issue. The Mirage flies at a much lower speed than the elevator needs to overcome the nose down force from the grass. So if you have someone else to throw it for you the first time you try, then underhand launches are very easy. The important thing is to have a steep angle and around 45-60 deg worked fine for me, I'm very happy to have this takeoff method available if the grass is not cooperating.
The other problem is that the cheater hole really sucks up ALL mown grass at the field, which both pluggs the cheater hole and get stuck on the stator vanes behind the fan. Both things seriously lowers the performance of the fan. I use a carbon rod to poke away any grass stuck to the vanes and some compressed air if available. It seems to suck less grass if I feed in throttle enough to get it moving and then once it picked up some speed goes to full power. I never taxi it on grass, that is asking for bad performance.
If I was to modify, I would make a block for the gear servo with a small wedge shape tilting backwards so the gear fits when retracted.

[Tyler Durden]

Hi guys,
Do you have method or tricks to improve grass take off with FW Mirage ?
Tried this afternoon, not easy.

[TangoVector]

Yesterday the field was wet and the grass was long, tried taking off with 0 success. So I just made a underhand toss at maybe 60 deg with gear up and it flew happily away. Landed later with gear extended, all is well. Great to be back in the air with my favourite RC airplane!

[Mizer67]

Yeah, well the Mirage needs a rearward cg (more than the book CG) that may be hard to get. The more you put aft the better. What weight batteries are you using 67?

I use from 603 grams up to 663 grams at the moment. I've shaved the interior of the intakes a touch to get far enough back with those that weigh more, as they're also a touch wider.

I'm at about 20.5" gear down with the heavy packs; it flies great there. Much further and I can't get the battery strap to hold the front of the battery. I can get a tad more rearward with narrower batteries, but it gets a little touchy in pitch.

I do have gyro on this plane, which rides in front of the battery, which made the location of the receiver a little harder to manage and drove the need to put it up front.

[Evan D]

Yeah, well the Mirage needs a rearward cg (more than the book CG) that may be hard to get. The more you put aft the better. What weight batteries are you using 67?

[Mizer67]

I put mine way up front with servo extensions and run them along the channel in the side of the fuse. Couple of ways to skin that cat.

[Evan D]

At the back...

[flep]

Hello,

I'm new in this Forum and I've got myself a Mirage now.
I was wondering where you guys put your receivers on the Plane, in back below the Battery or in the Front?

Thanks.

Phil

[Evan D]

You are misreading it. There were two versions, a 4 and a 6. They came with different fans and motors.