Bixler 1.1 - Experiences of an Air Noob

[Smoothybb]

Yeah I've been introducing my mate to flying with my bixler but don't have a buddy box. It's hard not to stand behind him with my arms round to grab the sticks just in case but it feels wrong........

 

He's like me, gets bored quickly of gentle circling and basic controls, thinks he can loop it and come in low but so far the bix has saved itself well enough.

 

Good luck choosing something, there's so much out there these days you could keep looking forever. You fancy another warbird then, don't fancy some speed with a jet?

[Zardoz]

I don't really fancy anything quicker just yet mate, and yeah I love my warbirds, modelled static kits since I was a nipper.

 

Glad to hear your mate is getting into it, I think my brother is about to convert too he was very impressed with how I've been getting on.

 

Was out last night with the Bix and the Mustang but the wind was stronger, had fun battling against it at times. Very nearly left the Ultra Micro Mustang in the car but wanted to show my brother

[Zardoz]

Really calm night so took the micro mustang out. Flies and looks much better without the wheels on. Really pleased with it, loops and rolls for fun.

[Zardoz]

Took the Skyraider out for it's maiden flight over the weekend.

 

A bitter sweet experience looking back, some of the mistakes I made were obvious to me now, excitement carried me away at the time though.

 

Did a range check and all looked good, set it down on the makeshift runway and eased the throttle up. It turned back on itself a few times even with the rudder right over (found out since other owners have had this due to left wheel not running freely, I didn't think to check though). So I retracted the undercarriage and decided to hand launch.

 

This model is much heftier than my bixler and micro mustang so my heart was in my mouth as I throttled up and hurled it! It dropped down to about 2ft off the deck before picking up into the skies. Adrenaline pumping now, I was amazed at how powerful this thing felt, pretty anxious too .

 

Blatted it around for a while, looped and rolled very nicely, and the **** eating grin only dropped from my face once I thought about bringing her down.

 

Totally forgot about lowering the flaps when I stared to reduce the throttle and for some reason I planned on dropping it onto the field rather than lowering the undercarriage and attempting a runway landing. As I brought it down, in slower and lower circuits I noticed a large area of very boggy ground that was in the area I was coming in over. In a bit of a panic I managed to pick her back up, too close to a hedge row for comfort and just get her over it. Ended up with a harsh belly flop landing that snapped 2 prop blades and snapped the hinges of the undercarriage doors  Thankfully no damage to the wings or fuselage.

 

Parts ordered and only

[Zardoz]

Fitted the undercarriage kit to my Bixler recently. Pretty good how it works as you trim and glue plastic slots into the fuselage so the wheels can slot in and out of them.

 

One thing I'd suggest to anyone thinking of fitting them is to glue in a polystyrene block inside the cockpit, butting up against the plastic slot. As before I did this I noticed the front wheels had a tendency to push backwards on some landings.