the new Flyzone Seawind - what's included?

[Cav44]

I really want to order this, but...  does this include a receiver or not???

The description (for the $229 Rx-R) says "This version requires receiver, battery and charger. Includes motor, ESC and servos", but then also says you need an AnyLink2 adapter unless your Tx is SLT compatible.  I do use a Spektrum DX6i, so I need to use either a compatible rx, or the AnyLink.

So the description implies that my Spektrum will require an AnyLink because of Tactic equipment in the plane, while also stating that the airplane has no receiver in it.  What am I missing?

It sure looks like there are at least a couple of new owners out there.

Thanks!

[jobinseattle]

RE: the new Flyzone Seawind - what's included?

I would call whoever you plan on buying this plane from and verify. Usually Tx-R is the version where you need a SLT compatible transmitter. I use Tactic receivers in most of my planes and I use a DX6 transmitter with AnyLink2 and have bought several Tx-R planes.

[chevstar]

RE: the new Flyzone Seawind - what's included?

Hey Cav44     Just wanted to clarify your issue. All  flyzone airplanes that are transmitter  ready have a SLT receiver installed in the airplane and if your using a Spektrum transmitter you will need the anylink to use the installed receiver.  I have the anylink and it works without any issues plus it works on eveerything out there.  Enjoy and welcome to the forum  

[Loneflier]

RE: the new Flyzone Seawind - what's included?

I really want to order this, but...  does this include a receiver or not???

The description (for the $229 Rx-R) says "This version requires receiver, battery and charger. Includes motor, ESC and servos", but then also says you need an AnyLink2 adapter unless your Tx is SLT compatible.  I do use a Spektrum DX6i, so I need to use either a compatible rx, or the AnyLink.

So the description implies that my Spektrum will require an AnyLink because of Tactic equipment in the plane, while also stating that the airplane has no receiver in it.  What am I missing?

It sure looks like there are at least a couple of new owners out there.

Thanks!

Hi Cav44,


If the package is labeled as Rx-R, it is receiver ready, meaning you will need to supply your own receiver. If you want to use a Spektrum radio, I would suggest buying a spectrum receiver to go with the plane. Anylink will work fine if you already have Tactic receivers, I just prefer to not have to use the anylink device on my transmitters.


Flyzone used to offer a TX-R package that was for Transmitter ready, and that package did include a Tactic receiver already mounted. They may still offer that, but I haven't seen it in a while.

Hope this helps clarify.

[doctormike]

RE: the new Flyzone Seawind - what's included?

Forget the Anylink!!!! Expensive and not worth the trouble!!! Full range?... Forget it! Buy a spektrum reciever. I have an Anylink gathering dust on a shelf... you can have it. All my Flyzone planes now have spektrum receivers. Doc

[Dewey H Lee]

RE: the new Flyzone Seawind - what's included?

Amen Doc.

[xviper]

I maidened my Flyzone Seawind this week. The plane flew near perfectly right after lift off. The first flight was with belly take off and belly landing. Having just come from the Dynam Seawind flying with a 3-blade prop and 4s battery, I found this bigger Seawind to be somewhat sluggish in all areas. If you are flying it just for relaxation and just for the fun of it, it's more than adequate. For me, I like a bit of power on reserve for a bit more speed and carefree loops.
I captured 2 flights yesterday. Both were with a 11x8x3 MAS prop and using the gear down for take off and landing. I fly off a very bumpy frozen grass surface and the gear seem to be able to handle it. After the first flight, the nose gear servo came loose (one screw fell out) and caused the gear to collapse with the plane's weight. After gluing the screw in and hot gluing the servo solidly in place, all is well.
Take offs were with 1/2 flaps. Landings with full flaps.
This first video is flying with 2200mah, 3s battery:
(Try full screen for a bigger view.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRos...ature=youtu.be
Note the flight characteristics in terms of speed and vertical manouvers. You can see the plane almost falls out at the top of the loops. The 3-blade prop on 3s is slightly better performance but still marginal.


This second video is flying with 2200mah, 4s battery, no other changes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EciV...ature=youtu.be
Note the more spirited speed and effortless loops and near vertical climbs. The ESC got a bit on the hot side with 4s but quite frankly, I didn't check it after the 3s flight. I'll give the ESC area more ventilation and if necessary, I'll put in a bigger ESC just to play it safe. The Dynam plane didn't need any upgrades to fly on 4s.

This is a perfect all season, all terrain RC plane. It can take off and land on its belly from any surface (except maybe pavement) and when the conditions permit, the landing gear is very handy.

[Bajora]

Been flying ours off the gear at the club field, off the belly on the grass at the club field and off the water. Enjoyable plane to fly, easy takeoffs and landings, could use a tiny bit more oomph tho I agree!

[Starck Mad]

I have a good customer and buddy that has one of these. Looking forward to testing it for him.

One thing I will say though...the main retract servo...pray yours doesn't go out. Gordon's did on the bench as I was assembling his for him. As I bound it you could immediately hear the servo binding so I very quickly unplugged it and got to the servo adjustment screen on his transmitter and plugged her back up. Dialed the servo travel in so she didn't bind anymore and went through the usual checks. The retracts worked at first, but sporadically. Sometimes they'd work...sometimes not. I bypassed the board the two plug into and used a y harness and they worked fine three times...and then everything went out...I had nothing. Went through the usual trouble shooting checks and when I unplugged the retract servo everything came back. Turns out the servo burned out right on the bench and was shorting the whole system. Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, but with this plane its a major deal...there is no way to replace that servo via normal techniques. No way. One could be fooled into thinking that the little round plastic window is a way to get it out. No. You can't get to two of the four screws, and its siliconed in place very well also...and if you could get it free...there is not enough room to free it and get it out of there.

I had to cut a 6 inch by 5 inch piece out of the top of the plane...which given the construction of it all came off in about 6 pieces. (I had to experiment to see what needed to be removed to get at it all and actually change the servo.) You have to cut away all the silicone and I even had to cut the top off of the wood tray because there isn't enough room to maneuver the servo out of the tray when you get it loose due to a carbon tube reinforcing the boom. Major pain in the neck. This assembly is obviously put in the fuse servo and all and then the fuselage halves are glued together after. Horrible design from a maintenance standpoint. Got a high torque metal gear Futaba in place with a double du bro arm long enough to make adjusting the endpoints easier, glued in and reinforced the top of the servo tray, put all the other bits back in place, glued the pieces back in place on the top of the fuse, sanded, filled, re sanded and then covered my work with a piece of white trim sheet...looks almost like it came that way.

The Flyzone stuff as a whole...don't get me wrong...I like them and they fly really good, but the engineering I've seen in the warbirds and the Beaver and this one...just seems to be stuck in 2004. In my humble opinion they need to start using single servos per control surface - the warbirds have a single aileron servo with linkage running concealed through the wing...which sounds nice and scale, but the down side is that there is limited mechanical adjustment, differential is not possible, if you have an issue with the linkage inside the wing you have to cut the wing apart to get to it (sound familiar), and if you lose that servo...you crash the plane. Separate servos per surface with individual linkage makes mechanical adjustment as well as transmitter adjustment more versatile, upkeep and maintenance much easier, and you can lose one aileron servo and still land your plane safely.

Electric retracts, single servos per control surface with individual linkage you can actually get to, and easy access to all servos and components is something that...well...everybody else is and has been doing. In my opinion Flyzone needs to join the fray. It's 2016.

Adam

[xviper]

This harkens back to what Adam just said about "easy to access" components.
I'm about to do a little modding of the control rods for the AIL. At 4s speeds, those rods bend and what aileron simply can't combat the wind resistance and AIL authority is very minimal till the plane slows down. I'm going to open it up and see if it's possible to glue a small CF rod along the existing metal rod to stiffen it up along the middle section. If not, then I'll see about externalizing the rod, adding a control horn on the surface of the AIL and adding a longer servo horn. I like the way it's hidden right now but having poor AIL authority at speed just won't do. The ELE and RUDD rods are inside a plastic sheath and bending is not a problem.

[xviper]

Took off the servo cover today and cut a small trench where the rod runs. The picture below shows what it looks like inside. The 2 bends in the wire is what causes it to not actuate the AIL effectively when at speed. The rod twists instead of pushing directly on the horn. I took out the bends and glued (FoamTac and foamsafe CA) a small diameter CF rod along the wire. Then I shoved heat shrink tubing over all of it and shrunk it down. It makes a fairly solid connection now. Let's see how it performs next time out.

[Starck Mad]

It really is a shame you have to go to so much trouble to fix what should be a simple, easy to rectify issue. Hope it works well for you man...

Adam

[xviper]

It really is a shame you have to go to so much trouble to fix what should be a simple, easy to rectify issue. Hope it works well for you man...

Adam

I really can't blame Flyzone for this. It was my decision to go 4s. On stock 3s, the plane is more than adequate. With every model I've "hopped up", something else seems to give. That's the joys of this hobby. ;)

[Starck Mad]

Well...yes and no. I'll give you that you're pushing it harder than intended, but you still shouldn't have to go to those lengths just to get to the hardware/linkage. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Flyzone so much as I'm trying to constructively criticize them...I figure they won't get with the program and update their way of doing things unless we are honest about them. I'm a fan of Tower Hobbies and I want them to succeed as well as all of the companies...gives guys like us more options, and Flyzone is the brand of theirs that focuses on the best selling part of the RC Airplane market - the PNP/BNF Foamies. The competition is just too good and I'm afraid that if they don't get with it...they make put themselves in real trouble. For instance...at the LHS I work at we sell 40 or 50 planes in that category from Horizon for every 1 we sell from flyzone (no joke)...they are getting smashed sales wise.

[fhhuber]

The bent rods are intended to help limit water traveling up the push-rods.

Its an old RC seaplane trick.

[xviper]

You've hit the nail right on the head what you said about the competition. Eflite, Parkzone, Multiplex, FMS, Freewing and even some of the HobbyKing stuff are so good and have come such a long way, that I look at some of the design features of planes like this Flyzone and the word "odd or goofy" comes to mind. With almost any plane, the day eventually comes when components need to be changed out. Getting at these servos and the associated linkages will not be an easy matter. The flap linkage system is very different and was installed at the time of wing construction. When it becomes necessary to replace or fix that, it might be just simpler to buy a set of wings.

[Konrad]

Hobbico came to the game rather late. I think they greatly miss judged the electric market. Now this may have been do to the distraction of the ESOP (2005).

http://www.hobbico.com/who.php

Now that having been said their Calypso is so much more than what the competition offers in the way of the Multiplex Easy Glider Pro
http://www.motionrc.com/flyzone-caly...-wingspan-rxr/
http://hitecrcd.com/products/airplan...er-pro/product

Now both are a distant second to the Horizon product the Radian (Ok, it's a 2 meter glider but still much better)
http://www.motionrc.com/parkzone-rad...-wingspan-pnp/
http://www.motionrc.com/e-flite-radi...-wingspan-bnf/

[xviper]

The bent rods are intended to help limit water traveling up the push-rods.

Its an old RC seaplane trick.

Interesting. I guess at one time, it was considered a bad thing for water to get into the servo area. I've seen modern day servos actually work underwater. I look at MotionRC's seaplane page and all their seaplanes, with the exception of the Flyzone ones, have their servo rods, arms and horns externalized for easy access (adjustment, maintenance, replacement).
I've never really ranked Flyzone very high in the desirability category but this Seawind was just nice enough in many other ways to get my money. I've always wanted my old Dynam Seawind to have the features this one has (larger size, flaps, retracts). I was also interested in their Beaver but after reading the manual and seeing how complicated the linkages were (for water rudder and wing control surfaces) and the multiple attachment points for the floats, I opted against it.

[Konrad]

The bent rods are intended to help limit water traveling up the push-rods.

Its an old RC seaplane trick.

How does that work, surface tension?

Lost,

Konrad

[Konrad]

Interesting. I guess at one time, it was considered a bad thing for water to get into the servo area. I've seen modern day servos actually work underwater. ...

It still is a bad thing. That is why most high end servo OEMs offer water-proof servos. Then there is the issue with the ESC and RX.