Flex Innovations RV-8

[Grossman56]

I have a nice big aircraft stand the wife made me, got to thinking, if I inverted her and sat her on the stand, I can perform the finger method fairly easy, actually two fingers per side as I don't want to make any more dimples in the foam than necessary. Worked fine and its close enough for initial flights, she comes in slightly nose heavy, move 1/4" either way and she' either nose or tail heavy, so it should be good. Thanks for the guidance guys!!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

The sun came out and no wind so I got a chance to take her out on the back deck for her official coming out pictures, a tradition of mine for all new birds....


Of course the wings had to be removed but that proved to be a simple maybe two minute job...


Can't wait to see how she flies, a couple of months away, but maybe if the Spring weather starts early...……….

Grossman56

[Nike_Belli]

How its work?

[Grossman56]

Hi try here

https://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/rc-3d-aerobatic-planes/220674-flex-innovations-rv8-night-flight#post252785

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Had the RV-8 up again for a few flights today, what a great airplane!
I did run across something however and I'm at a loss. If I have no throttle (no prop movement) and hammer the throttle, it makes a weird grinding like sound and the motor loses power. Then the ESC starts beeping like its lost connection to the radio. To recover, I pull the throttle back to zero and it reengages. If I don't hammer the throttle, its fine, or if I go full power when at say half power, its fine. Anyone run across this ?? I'm wondering if it isn't some type of safety thing to stop too much amperage to be applied to the system at once. I have a phone call into Flex Innovations and I'm waiting to hear back. By using slightly less aggressive throttle application, everything is fine, she flew great other than that.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Got four flights in today on the RV-8, windy and crosswind landings were, to say the least, fun.
I had a plastic wheel hub break, so ordered so Dave Browns (3.5") for her. I was planning on doing that anyway as I like the feel of DB's as opposed to a very stiff tire like the stock ones.
If only the wind would let up! I'd land and take a short break and it would be calm, so I'd load another battery in and up would come the wind!
At any rate, she handles the wind fairly well and I got to experiment with different flaps for different landing conditions. With a good head wind, she doesn't really need landing flaps, and a crosswind seems to need half flaps at the most.

Grossman56

[Eddie P]

I’ve been wanting one of these Flex RV-8’s for a
long time! I’m glad they have something other than Green now. This is my full size RV-8 (they are awesome to fly but not near as cheap) :)

[Grantham Kid]

Lucky man. It's a beautiful plane.

[Grossman56]

Haven't posted in a while because I haven't flown in a while!! DANG WIND!
Today, however, the wind was down but not out so I FINALLY got airborne!
Man, the Dave Browns are sweet on this airplane, a huge improvement for anyone looking to upgrade.
I still have to watch it because of the trouble of applying throttle too aggressively from a stand still. If the prop is rotating its fine, but the receiver will loose contact with the radio if I apply too much throttle to quickly from zero throttle. I've tried contacting F.I. but they don't seem to have much interest in getting back to me. I got one phone call that the wife took while I was at work and the fellow recommended recalibrating the ESC. I had already done that but did it again, no joy. So he left me his e mail but I haven't heard back in over a month. Anyone else had this problem or at least knows what it could possibly be!?

Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

I normally get in contact with them via Facebook. Then you have direct contact. Search for the flex inovations owners club group.

[Grossman56]

Now there's a thought!

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Hey it worked!
If you check out the Flex Innovations owners Facebook page, you can see I got several responses including from Rocky who is the customer service guy who suggested sending him the motor.
One of the guys suggested checking out the Mamba 60 and the Cessna page as they had a comment regarding just this thing.
I sourced it out and here's what it says...

60+ SIZE MOTOR OPERATION SUGGESTIONS

To ensure smooth operation and avoid de-syncing of motor and ESC, we recommend the following:
If available in transmitter, use throttle slow feature. Throttle slow should be set to 0.5 seconds in both up and down direction.

I run a DX8 Version one, so I went to servo setup/changed Travel to Speed for the throttle and set it from normal to 0.5.
It worked!!!

One less thing!!

Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

See! Told ya, they will take care of ya. :) glad you found the solution

[Grossman56]

You were spot on RM, thanks! Note to self, go to the Facebook page in the future.

Grossman56

[rifleman_btx]

Now on to enjoying this awesome plane! I have so much fun with mine.

[mirion]

How is the battery placement for everyone in the FI RV8? With my heaviest battery, a 887 gram 5000mA 6S battery tight against the firewall the plane is still 1/4" tail heavy based on a Cg 285mm from trailing edge. With my 750 gram battery it is 5/8" tail heavy? I sure would hate to have to add any lead to a foamy. I was hoping for the "Sport Flying" Cg and not the "3D" Cg.

[rifleman_btx]

Go to post 6 on this thread. It flys perfectly for us with this placement.

[rifleman_btx]

Also you can see, with it there it will fly just fine running sport patterns as well as 3d. The arura is an amazing flight controller.

[mirion]

I believe you when you say it works for you with the battery as shown but that is your plane, there is something different about mine. Look at where my battery is and I am still 5/8" tail heavy and I can't get the battery back any further. It is also a pain to work with that last strap under the cowl, with that cavernous opening I am still fighting the front strap. Is it the spot light and LED's in the tail that make mine heavy, should I have used Thin CA instead of 30 minute epoxy on the tail. The manual goes to great lengths to warn of the importance of correct Cg, kind of a disclaimer I think so I am apprehensive about finding out if I am OK. I have been flying RC for 30 years including EDF but I am not an advanced 3D type flyer so I am being safe with my $600 foamy.

[rifleman_btx]

I dont think so, as I have the same night version. So all that is normal. Only thing I can think is, how much glue did you use when installing the vertical stab. I used very little on mine. Interesting situation indeed.

I did use CA on mine as well. So we may be on to something here.