Pandora

[Dewey H Lee]

Man that is a slowwwwwwwww plane or a biggggggggg field. Which is it Dan.
Thanks Pauly I'm so glad I didn't have a maiden 2 like maiden 1. I believe is had to bought out the beer store. She promises to be a good plane though. After I get Ferouis Frankie taken care of I'll definitely upgrade the Pandora. But believe me she still hung from the prop for a good 10 seconds on the first maiden. Don't know why she wanted to go talk to the flag pole though. Anyhow she was stopped and told not to talk to strangers. Now she behaves like a good girl.

[Grossman56]

Hey Dewey, they're built that way, there's some form of magnetic attraction between the motor and anything solid within a 1/4 mile radius such that if they're going to go anywhere, its toward said solid object.

Grossman56

[Dewey H Lee]

It sure flies sweet now though. And when I turn on the gyro it's locked in even better. Even though I checked and checked and checked the control surfaces when I set up the gyro I was still nervous as all get out when I flipped it on. Especially after the way the plane done on the first maiden with it off.

[Grossman56]

Good to hear! As a general rule, I leave the gyro off on a first flight, get her to altitude, then briefly switch in on and off. In that time, if nothing strange happened, I'll switch on again and it should be good. If something is not set up right, you'll notice it immediately, so its a good way to try it at first.
Great to hear its flying well for you, it's like a faithful ol' dog after you get used to it! I love to get mine running down the runway with the tail up and just hold her on the ground letting the speed build up, you get bold with them after awhile....
Grossman56

[boomer108]

Good to hear! As a general rule, I leave the gyro off on a first flight, get her to altitude, then briefly switch in on and off. In that time, if nothing strange happened, I'll switch on again and it should be good. If something is not set up right, you'll notice it immediately, so its a good way to try it at first.
Great to hear its flying well for you, it's like a faithful ol' dog after you get used to it! I love to get mine running down the runway with the tail up and just hold her on the ground letting the speed build up, you get bold with them after awhile....
Grossman56

I do the same with mine. It just looks beautiful.

[WintrSol]

There seems to be a growing demand for the big wheel main gear, used with the tail-dragger configuration, and spares seem to have dried up. Has Freewing stopped making them available?

[Flygirl]

Just a tip since WintrSol was asking about the tail dragger wheels. Having cracked (not all the way broken) the pant on the landing gear I wrapped it in white electrical tape which has worked really really well. I probably should have done that from the get go.

[Pauly]

Man that is a slowwwwwwwww plane or a biggggggggg field. Which is it Dan.
Thanks Pauly I'm so glad I didn't have a maiden 2 like maiden 1. I believe is had to bought out the beer store. She promises to be a good plane though. After I get Ferouis Frankie taken care of I'll definitely upgrade the Pandora. But believe me she still hung from the prop for a good 10 seconds on the first maiden. Don't know why she wanted to go talk to the flag pole though. Anyhow she was stopped and told not to talk to strangers. Now she behaves like a good girl.

Hey Dewey, I got a couple of flights yesterday and today on my Pandora. All awesome of course. It couldn't be other wise with Pandora. The only problem is that its so dang hot out. You can only stand it for a few minutes. A couple of batteries is always good. I did make another cooling hole and a exit hole at the back of the plane. I really never thought about until I saw some of the guys talk about it and hero Bryan was asking me if we put one on it when we built it. I did check it after all flights and never really noticed being that hot after all flights. I don't run a gyro on my other planes other than the one that came on the Apprentice. So happy fling and glad to hear that you love the Pandora.

[Grossman56]

Just a tip since WintrSol was asking about the tail dragger wheels. Having cracked (not all the way broken) the pant on the landing gear I wrapped it in white electrical tape which has worked really really well. I probably should have done that from the get go.

Yeah, I caught on to that pretty quickly as well. By the way, anyone wanting some of the stock foam taildragger sets of wheels, let me know, I have a few sets around and I'll never use them as I put Dave Browns on both of mine.

Grossman56

[Dewey H Lee]

I did notice after each flight that the battery was pretty warm(although I didn't check it with my infrared thermometer). I think that the cooling hole will be a good idea. BTW Dan. I noticed on the a3l that I put in Pandora is sending my rates to 100%. I haven't noticed this this before. Is this happening with yours also??? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[Grossman56]

I did notice after each flight that the battery was pretty warm(although I didn't check it with my infrared thermometer). I think that the cooling hole will be a good idea. BTW Dan. I noticed on the a3l that I put in Pandora is sending my rates to 100%. I haven't noticed this this before. Is this happening with yours also??? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Yep, the instructions warn that it looks like the controls are over reacting, don't worry about it.

Grossman56

[Dewey H Lee]

No not over reacting. They are actually going to 100% throws. Happens every time I turn it on in flight or on the ground. You can have the plane in low rates and hold your say for instance aierlon on the ground and flip it on and it goes to 100%. Same happens on all control surfaces. It really noticeable in flight. Plane really becomes touchy. I've changed the throws to almost nothing and turn it on and 100%. Don't see that in the 636.

[Dewey H Lee]

The gain is only set to about 40 percent. Even tried lowering that. Same thing.

[Dewey H Lee]

Hey Dan when you switched out to the 850 FMs motor in Pandora did you have to change the motor mount also. I think I'm going to switch out the motor and esc because it is a little of a slug in the stock configuration. Thanks for any information on your MOD.

[Grossman56]

It just bolted right in Dewey. Actually, I removed the motor from my RocHobby Waco, which was the upgraded motor you would go to.
It mounted right to the stock motor mount. I upgraded the ESC as well, with a 50A FMS. It's occurred to me that you could run 4s with this setup, I think, though I haven't tried it or ran the numbers. But even with 3s, it gives is a bit more kick and, at least to me, it flies more like what I would expect it to. This is not to say that all of a sudden she's going to be a fire breathing dragon, it just gives it a modest boost.
As I thought the 30A ESC was cutting it pretty close in the first place, the first thing I did was upgrade that, so the motor was not a big cost factor. I just went to the Rochobby Waco spare parts page and ordered the motor and to:

https://www.motionrc.com/products/fms-50a-esc

For the FMS ESC with longer leads.

Both Pandoras are outfitted with this combination and I did order another motor for the WACO!
Give it a try!!

Grossman56

[Dewey H Lee]

Thanks Dan I appreciate the information
I'll definitely hey that ordered with the order I have already. With the price increases on FMs stuff I try to compile orders together. I'm not looking for a fire breathing dragon but my Pandora just seems like its dragging the tail like a trailer. It just doesn't seem to have any authority if you know what I mean. Maybe I'm just missing something.

[Grossman56]

Hmm, interesting. I'm thinking of getting some carbon fiber rods to run out to the tail and elevator as there can be a bit of binding/bending there.
Same with BBD or any plane with long push rods.
Let me know how it works for you!

Grossman56

[WintrSol]

Hmm, interesting. I'm thinking of getting some carbon fiber rods to run out to the tail and elevator as there can be a bit of binding/bending there.
Same with BBD or any plane with long push rods.
Let me know how it works for you!

Grossman56

The only issue I've had with the long push rods on mine is that the tube for the rudder isn't glued at the ends, allowing it to flex; that causes some interesting ground handling issues, like abrupt 180 turns. I pulled the empennage and put glue in there, which took care of most of it. Since I still had it jump around occasionally, I glued the front of that tube through the air vent I cut behind the cockpit. So far, so good. I've never had a problem (that I've noticed) with the elevator, but, now you mention it, may just add some glue to its tube.

[Grossman56]

There's a good thought. I also replaced the clevis that attaches to the rear wheel with a ball link type. Got tired of replacing the clevis, I works great now.

Grossman56