Air Hogs Aero Ace

[meegosh]

Has anyone tried one of these little wonders? I have been reading about them over on RCU and it is getting great reviews. Also, there is already quite a list of modifications to be done to them. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with these Air Hogs Aero Ace from Toys R Us. They sell for $29.99 and I saw two of them at the TRU 2 miles from my house. I hid them behind some crappy toys so that I can be sure to get them next time I stop in. Hopefully that will be today!

Any comments about these? Thanks in advance.

[spark]

There's another thread over at RCG about it too. What they're saying is true! Just for kicks I picked one up the other day, and right out of the box after a battery charge, it flew perfectly. I didn't have any problems getting used to its flying abilities and it truely is the first plane that I can fly in my own back yard. I was easily making left and right turns and fig 8s for about 5 minutes till I finally hit a branch. I lowered throttle and it just flopped on the ground, no damage. I've tried other slow flyers in the yard without much success, but this little plane is a really kick in a small space and flies really well. I may get another just to mod. It's worth the 30 bux.

[Mike Freas]

My son got a 25 dollar gift certificate for Toys R Us for his b-day. Last Friday I took him down there and we start looking around. Because I'm so into R/C he wanted a small plane to fly. I have had several AirHog products and been happy with all the air powered ones but the electric non R/C birds sucked. They had it advertised for 15.98 and it's his money so I got that and a 12 pack of AA's. We got up to the counter and it rang up as 39.99 and I raised the BS flag. The manager took my wife back to where it was and sure enough the sign was there so the manager gave it to us for 16 bucks! I still thought that it was going to be a round file addition after the first flight but the built in lipo gave me hope. We took it out the next morning and the thing flies great! At full power it tends to porpus a bit so throttle management is a must to gain altitude. It doesn't really like the wind to much but does just fine for it's size. The thing that really surprised me was the my son (6) can fly the thing with NO problems at all. He has lots of G3 time which helps but he LOVES this little bird as do I. It's been a few days now and every evening I take the thing out front for a flight. I have yet to run the battery all the way down but 10 min flights are very easy with throttle management. I would really like to get another one to have for myself.

I would also like to put a plug in for the Estest's air powered rocket ( 15 bucks at Wal-Mart). I also got this for my son and it's another great toy for the kids that doesn't require stock in any battery company. We had the rockets up at around the 200' mark in front of the house for a few hours stright. The only down side is the air pump can be broken when several kids try to pump at once. I think Santa will bring another one for him.

[meegosh]

That's exactly what everyone is saying about this little plane. I'm not sure why they haven't caught on more since you can fly it almost anywhere. I think my buddies an I are going to get a few and do some late night flying in an empty parking lot since we all have day jobs.

Should be a blast. I am also considering adding the lights to it so you can see it better at night.

Got a link to the thread on RCG?

[spark]

Kind of long thread.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=401484

There are only 3 different frequencies on 27mhz, A, B, and C.
Don't remember if the box is marked with freq. or not. Back of Tx has a sticker on it.

[meegosh]

Yeah, people over at RCU told me there is markings on the front of the box and the frequency that is inside the box is checked. So hopefully they will have a couple different frequencies there so that I can pick up a few for my friends and I to mess with. I might aswell get the $5 insurance on it because I know that I am bound to fly it straight into a tree at some point.

Thanks for the replies guys and hopefully I will have some pictures of it today. I will try a video but it may be hard if I am flying by myself...

P.S. I see you did the radio mod (removing throttle spring)... how easy was it to do? Any tips before I tear it apart?

[Mike Freas]

What insurance are you talking about? I would not worry to much about running into things with it. I have hit just about everything in my front yard with no damage what so ever. Most of the time it will hit and keep on flying if your high enough off the ground. I have clipped tree limbs and sent the bird into a flat spin for a few feet and it simply recovers. The biggest danger is kids chasing it around and trying to be the first one to get to it when it lands.

[spark]

Originally Posted by meegosh

I might aswell get the $5 insurance on it because I know that I am bound to fly it straight into a tree at some point.

P.S. I see you did the radio mod (removing throttle spring)... how easy was it to do? Any tips before I tear it apart?

Like Mike said, flying it straight into a tree probably won't hurt it any. They are very light for the type of foam that's used, so damage will be minimal.

For the Tx mod, take the 7 screws out of the back and remove the FCC sticker on the top, and unscrew and remove the antenna, and just carefully, since there are wires connecting the two, pull the front and back apart. Just loosen the screw holding the spring on the throttle stick and push the spring out of the way and retighten the screw and put it back together. Pretty easy.

[Mike Freas]

I have yet to see any damage on mine and I have flown into the side of my house, trees, street signs, my car and a few death spirals from about 10 ft. The only thing I have had to do was add some hot glue in a few spots where the wing joints and struts lost their stickyness (sp)

[spark]

Here is another thread about them started back in June by a guy in the Netherlands. Has some more useful info.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=382167

[NitroCharged]

I'm busy playing with mods to the rxer at the moment.

[savydad]

I've really enjoyed mine, which I've had over a month now. I took out the spring in the throttle stick, and adjusted the cg with a small washer in the nose. Recently I took off the bottom wings and it flies faster and more stable, with longer flights from lower drag. Excellent plane for $30 imho

Todd

[hoppy]

ON SALE BLACK FRIDAY
SKYWINDER STUNT PLANE

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=glance&s=toys

Got me the AeroAce today and was surprised at how small it is. Really neat little package and the 10min (advertised) flying time is a big +. Did the throttle control mod which can be done by just slightly opening the throttle side of the case. Can't wait to chase the cat!

[Mike Freas]

I went out to the local dirt lot on Sunday and everyone was asking questions about this little thing. I think the local Toys-r-Us is going to be sold out soon! One technicial note. I did manage to loose control attempting a high altitude flight. I'd bet I was close to the 300' mark when it happened.

[Mike Freas]

Well my Ace seems to be dead. I had it packed in a case for the long Thanksgiving trip and it got slightly smashed on the way. I figured it would be no big deal but it will not fly anymore. I have tried everything I can think of but it turns hard left and goes into a spiral every time you launch it. I pulled the bottom wings. No effect. I taped the bottom wings on the top wings like some folks from RCU. No effect. I'm at a loss now. The only time you can get it to fly is with full right stick and it still goes left. It sounds like both motors are turning at the same RPM. Anyone have any ideas?

[NitroCharged]

in what direction are the motors pointing?
Has one gone out of whack and is pointing funny?
I got mine to turn tight circles by trimming down the rudder and turning both motors inward towards the fuse so the blades were just missing the rear of the wing.
While I was trying to get it right I had the problem you had and it wasnt easy to tell that the motor wasnt positioned properly.

[Larry Marshall]

Originally Posted by Mike Freas

now. The only time you can get it to fly is with full right stick and it still goes left. It sounds like both motors are turning at the same RPM. Anyone have any ideas?

Sure sounds to me like one or more of the control surfaces have gotten out of alignment. My guess would be either a warp in one wing panel or the rudder. What happens if you just try to glide it?

[NitroCharged]

good question

[Mike Freas]

Forgot that I posted that question here also. I had a wing warp problem that I solved by bending the wing and test gliding it. I really don't like the way it flies without the bottom wing as it's to fast to fly in front of the house.

[hoppy]

AeroAce - All are NOT created equal
Aeroace (AA) #1.
A blue, channel A model that had the following flight characteristics-
Left turns caused the plane to dive strongly. Usually into the ground.
Right turns only banked slightly.
Porpoised strongly at all flight speeds.
Adding nose weight to the point the plane never would fly (rise) still didn't solve the porpoising problem. Neither did elevator adjustments. It either porpoised or dove into the ground.
Nothing in the alignment of the parts looked wrong. Oh, by the way, I also tried the no lower wing mod and the cut off the lower wing at the struts mod. Neither helped.
After reading all the reports about how well these planes were flying I decided mine had a serious problem so I returned it for a replacement.



AeroAce #2
A yellow, channel B model that flew pretty good right out of the box. Easy to fly in a small space. No serious porpoising, no left turn dives. It was easy to put it in a harrier position.
Now we're walking the walk!!!
Lesson learned - if it doesn't fly right, take it back..... it's that specific plane that has a problem.

I noticed that the "good flyer" has it's right wings 1/4" higher than the corresponding left wings...definitely asymmetrical.

[hoppy]

Pictures- How does yours look?

Gosh!

That left top wing panel looks awfully warped and bent, not to mention the way the struts are missaligned.

Do all of them look this bad? I was going to trek to TRUs tomorrow to get me one of them. I think I'll still go, but I'll do so just to see what these things look like up close.

[spark]

Pretty symmetrical here....it's a channel C.

[hoppy]

So much for that theory...... I think qban is right, the left wing is warped down. The strut positions just look out of line - optical illusion in the photo.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by start

Pretty symmetrical here....it's a channel C.

You need a better paint job - take it back