Eflite Cherokee

[727 Dude]

Cold and windy here too. Sounds like we have chewed the same dirt through flight training and instruction. I know we visit Prescott for a few events and you would be welcome in N. Phoenix anytime. See ya ‘round the patch.

Thank you for the invite sir! I look forward to meeting you sometime either here or there! :Cool:

[F106DeltaDart]

Hey F106! A fellow Eagle! I went to Riddle too. Graduated in '86. Air Sci. I was flying over at Casa de Aero, but I need to re-up my membership. Thinking of joining the club over in Chino Valley. Paved strip! Niiiice! I live alot closer to Riddle, but that paved strip in Chino......tempting! :Cool:

Nice! I graduated in 2016, Aerospace Engineering. The Chino club is awesome, excellent group and a fantastic field! The slope can make stopping interesting for downhill landings though.

[F22trainer]

Nice! I graduated in 2016, Aerospace Engineering. The Chino club is awesome, excellent group and a fantastic field! The slope can make stopping interesting for downhill landings though.

My neighbor asked me about aviation programs for his grandson and I recommend Embry-Riddle, and even brought him over to ask me questions.
That was 3 years ago and reports indicate ‘he’s no longer that lost teenager’ and will graduate next year. While not a grad, I knew what came from those halls. I took the high road - school of hard knocks you might say. Hope to meet more ER’s - client last week was also a professional pilot and ER grad and we had a great week together getting him through his Initial Training for the M600.

[727 Dude]

Got Callie working on graphics for my Cherokee. Even though she was an Archer, I think this will look great in the paint job she wore. I am having Callie make up a faux rear window graphic to simulate the rear window on the Archer. The Archer actually had a 5" extension to the fuselage over the 140, but I don't think it will be all that noticeable. Red, White and Blue buddy! 'Murica!! Yeah!! N32258. I'll never forget that call sign. I found a picture of another Archer with the same paint pattern, but with different colors so I butchered it up with microsoft paint to get the idea across:

[wvrailfan]

Picked up one of these. Looks like a nice plane to have when you just want to toss something in the car and head to the field. The lights are nice, should make those sunset flights more fun.

I used some vinyl film I had left over from other projects to modify the paint scheme a little. I also added a Flytron white strobe to the belly of the plane.

Now if the weather would just cut us a break!

[727 Dude]

wvrailfan- Very nice! Cold, windy and forecast for 10-12" snow tonight here. :( I feel your pain. I just wanna go fly.

[wvrailfan]

Finally got to fly mine. It was chilly and dreary, but at least it wasn't pouring rain and the wind wasn't blowing at 20mph. Maiden +2 went well, it is a nice flying little plane. It wants to float on final, went right past the runway;-) Reduced throttle much earlier on second try and managed a nice soft touchdown.

[F22trainer]

Finally got to fly mine. It was chilly and dreary, but at least it wasn't pouring rain and the wind wasn't blowing at 20mph. Maiden +2 went well, it is a nice flying little plane. It wants to float on final, went right past the runway;-) Reduced throttle much earlier on second try and managed a nice soft touchdown.

Congrats on successful maiden and you did a real nice job on the color scheme. I got mine trimmed out to do a nearly hands off approach and land, when the AS3X is turned SAFE Mode. Still tweaking the rudder and nose gear center. Low rates give me pretty much the same feel on the controls as the SAFE mode. Most of the time I only use it with the dreaded crosswinds from behind me, but I have to switch it off quickly after TD or I don’t have enough ruder to avoid the fence on rollout.

[Bellairvideo]

A great 2nd flight at a nearby beach in Australia....

https://youtu.be/siER8_SbiZk

[Bellairvideo]

A great 2nd flight at a nearby beach in Australia....

https://youtu.be/siER8_SbiZk

[Hoomi]

I saw on the MRC website that the Cherokee is listed as "Discontinued." Has e Flite stopped production of this model already? Or is it just discontinued in Motion's inventory?

If the former, then I'd better order a few replacement parts while they're still available.

[xviper]

I saw on the MRC website that the Cherokee is listed as "Discontinued." Has e Flite stopped production of this model already? Or is it just discontinued in Motion's inventory?

If the former, then I'd better order a few replacement parts while they're still available.

There was a post a short time ago that talked about how MRC was going to stop selling many, if not all, of the Horizon products. Horizon still sells the Cherokee. It's not discontinued and if you have a local hobby shop close by, they can likely bring you whatever Horizon sells at more or less the same price that you see on the Horizon site. With my LHS, they don't charge me extra for shipping since that's worked into their wholesale cost.

[Hoomi]

Okay; good to know. I still need to work on repairing mine, and seeing which parts are going to be salvageable, and which will need to be replaced. I know of at least a couple that are beyond repair, so I should go ahead and order the ones that Motion has, while they still have them.

As far as local shops, all we have left here in Tucson is a hobby section attached to one of the local Ace Hardware stores. Our local Hobbytown closed down a few months ago. I'm not sure if they weren't doing enough business, or if the owners wanted to retire and just couldn't find anyone to take over the shop. Either way, the nearest dedicated hobby shops are now in Phoenix, around 125 miles/200Km away.

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

I maidened my Cherokee a couple evenings ago. I fly alone as there are few fliers in my rural location. Finding a place to fly is tough. I have some friends that fly ultra-lights and I used their field. The ruts and high grass busted the collar loose on the front gear. It was the upper most collar that broke and I'm a little puzzled if I should repair/replace collar or just try to deal with it. I'd ask HH for help but my blood pressure is lower than normal so I I'm asking you all if your collar broke, where to get a "servo saver" and if it isn't too late for that.?....:Confused:

[Hoomi]

The steering linkage for the Cherokee is notoriously weak. When I busted mine, I ordered two replacements, just so I would have one on hand for when it broke again. This should be the link, though it might be worth contacting Horizon first and making sure before you order:

https://www.horizonhobby.com/steering-mount%3A-cherokee-13m-p-efl5463

You can get the servo saver from Horizon as well. I put one on both my Cherokee and my Sensei.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/control-over-ride-servo-saver-dub120

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

Hey thanks a million for the links! When I bought my Roc Hobby Cobra 2 I bought two extra front gear sets and a set of rears just to be sure I could fly it if I wanted to. I've had that plane for 2 years and haven't flown it yet. She runs hot, a pnp, and I'm not all that steady on my feet yet. I do love this Cherokee though.

[BRGT350]

That is the same servo saver I have on both of my Cherokees.

I worked with Callie Graphics to make a nomenclature and vent decal sheet for the Cherokee. I hope to get some pictures shortly. I was hoping for this weekend, but yesterday was raining with 40+mph winds, so not the best for pictures outside.

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

That is the same servo saver I have on both of my Cherokees.

I worked with Callie Graphics to make a nomenclature and vent decal sheet for the Cherokee. I hope to get some pictures shortly. I was hoping for this weekend, but yesterday was raining with 40+mph winds, so not the best for pictures outside.

Hey I'd love to see those when you get them. Any chance you'll post pics?

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

(Sometimes I really need to read THE WHOLE post) Cant wait for the pics.....:Ligthbulb::Loser:

[xviper]

I maidened my Cherokee a couple evenings ago. I fly alone as there are few fliers in my rural location. Finding a place to fly is tough. I have some friends that fly ultra-lights and I used their field. The ruts and high grass busted the collar loose on the front gear. It was the upper most collar that broke and I'm a little puzzled if I should repair/replace collar or just try to deal with it. I'd ask HH for help but my blood pressure is lower than normal so I I'm asking you all if your collar broke, where to get a "servo saver" and if it isn't too late for that.?....:Confused:

I had the Eflite Cirrus, not quite the same as your Cherokee, but I also flew it off very rough, mowed prairie grass with lots of gopher holes and gopher mounds. A good flying buddy had the Cirrus as well. His nose gear slammed hard into a hole and tore up all kinds of things in the mounting area, including what happened to yours. He fixed it with great effort, only to do the same thing again. The design of the front gear mounting and steering on both of these planes is similar and tend to be very susceptible to rough ground. Seeing what happened to his, I reinforced that area around the upper collar where the leverage of the tire hitting a hole or bump can put the greatest stress on the upper mount. I epoxied balsa plywood plates that formed around that collar area to give it some support but still allowed the steering to work. This helped greatly for all those nasty lumps and bumps.
Both these planes could have benefited from some sort of suspension (trailing link perhaps) at the expense of "scaleness".