G'day all.

Well as the title says, i just got my 1st plane,
it's an Electrafun XP RTF by Awesome RC Products, distributed here in Australia by Model Engines. I'm not sure if it's available in the US, as i can't find it on Tower.
Anyway, heres the rundown:
Wingspan 1030mm ( 41'')
Length 750mm (30")
380 motor
3ch FM radio
12v charger
2x600mah ni-cad batt packs (8.4v)
Spare wing, prop, tailplane, prop and rudder.

Inaugural flight was yesterday, what a blast! Loads of fun, if not a tad hard to control. I know you all recommend a flying lessons but i live too far away from the nearest club 2 make that practical. So i'm teaching myself, and heres what i've learnt so far:
take-off and landings into the wind,
altitude is my friend,
wind is not.

The Electrafun seems to be quite a tough unit, i've had a few nasty spills now and the only hassle i've had is a broken prop (Has anyone managed to successfully glue a prop back together? If so, what sort of glue? I was thinking super strength araldite maybe), and the connectors between the esc and motor coming apart.
Does anyone else out there have or had one of these planes?
Interested to hear other peoples opinions on it.

Also, my plane seems to want to pull left quite a bit. Is the rudder supposed to sit flush with the rest of the tail when no stick is applied? I have to use full right trim to achieve this, and the plane still pulls left. Any help/tips would be appreciated.

Cheers, see you in the sky!

Under no circumstances should you EVER glue or attempt to repair a prop. It WILL fly apart and cause more damage. The props are relativly cheap and and it is not worth the damage to repair..buy some new ones.

PS. Welcome to RC Hangout!

Hi Maxx,

I have just purchased my son an Electrafun XP RTF for his birthday, we have flown it 6 times, landed 3 and crashed 3, 2 ground take offs, which I think isn't to bad for beginners. The first couple of crashes only damaged the back of the wing when the prop hit it on impact, the last crash damaged the rudder servo, unfortunately the gears were stripped and no spare parts are available for them. I have spent the last 2 hours making minor modifications and fitting the new servo(Hitec HS-55, $45). All is now well and we hope to fly again tomorrow afternoon.

I have the same problem as you in not being able to trim correctly, the guy at the hobby shop(Penrith, NSW) said I could align the rudder by moving the servo lever a couple of notches either way. I have done this and it now has more even trim.

There is a similar model to the Electrafun XP in the USA, Vortex Extreme. Check it out. http://www.rctoys.com

Regards,

Chuck

Cheers for the replies. Chuck i done rudder servo too, stripped gears and burnt out the servo motor. Chap at hobby garage gave me a gws NARO BB at half price to replace it, good value when full price is $34, i picked up another one as a spare. Damn fiddly to install aren't they?
Had a big stack today, busted my esc and both servos!
Oh well, off to the hobby shop i guess. thanks for the tip on rudder adjustment, the problem disappeared when i changed to the spare rudder. go figure.

Cya in the sky!

Hi Maxx,

Not good to hear about your crash. When I was checking up on servos, I found that spare gears are available for some models. Visit this site, http://www.aeromicro.com/Catalog/gws_naro_gear_set_1318025.htm you may be able to buy the gears locally. Hopefully we will fly our plane next weekend.

Cheers,

Chuck

Try kellets at liverpool they are the importer for the gears and stuff if not give model engines a ring they also import the stuff.

Thanks vm1w,

It's been a steep learning curve since I walked into the local hobby last week, the forums have been a good source of information for me.

Regards,

Chuck

Maxx and Chuck

Try www.hstore.com.au (http://www.hstore.com.au)

They have servo gears for the Electrafun XP for $4.82

They are Sydney based but do mail order

Regards
Inverted

If you want an interesting site try the following.
https://www.electrafun.co.uk

alas i too have destroyed a servo. and 2 wings. and 2 tail assemblies. and 1 prop. but it was all worth it. i can now do loops, 3 and a half with a barrel roll out of the half, stall turns. and just generally throw it around the sky. i too have found that altitude is my friend, and due to earlier crashes i cant bring myself to fly low with the motor running so that rules out touch and go's
i graduated to my electrafun after my kittyhawk died, i was impressed with the ease of control and the 3 holes in the control horns let me advance at my own leasure.. i had a problem with my trims too. i just bent the control rods to shorten/lenghten them.. it was easier than gettin that damn servo tray out.
has anyone had problems with faulty battery leads.. 1 of mine is on the way out.. but is does make it exciting when it goes "dead stick" then comes back just in time, but not so when it costs $15 for a new wing cause it felt like sleeping!.. neway this is long enough
happy flying
mathiacus the mad crasher

I did an upgrade to my electrafun and hee are the details. Replace the battery plug with a deans plug. I replaced the receiver with a single conversion 36MHz receiver ($35). Replaced the ESC with a 25 amp programmable ($52). Replaced the motor with a 400 cobalt motor ($24) [had to strenghten motor area with balsa and epoxy]. Added two extra ni-mh cells to ni-mh 1200mAH battery pack ( throw the nicads that came with it away. they last 50 charges). Installed high efficiency pusher prop (6 x 4). The aircraft now climbs to around 800' in 2 minutes. Next is a lithium polymer 3 cell 1200mAH battery. I'm told it will climb vertically. I buy all my gear from wingspan hobbies in Lilydale Victoria. Have had no problems getting parts

howdy trying to get a new motor for my electra fun going to use 11v lipo's to run it does any one know how many rpm the motor needs to be or any of that sort of stuff. cheers. what does the 400 power mean.

hi people....i also just bought a electra fun and would love to update it....but at the moment im tryin to get the thing back in the sky....can anyone tell me what the best and simple improvement is to the thing?

hi guys! i'm new to this site and i'm new to rc aeroplanes. in fact, apart from small toy cars, i'm new to rc's all together. i haven't yet flown my first plane, the electrafun xp (or "dog's breath"),but am going to do so tomorrow morning. the back wing though, is pointiong a little downwards and this is full trimming. any help? or should i seek advice from my local hobbyman?

regards, lord marzar

Dont know anything about the electrafun, but greetings and welcome to the Hangout. :D

Hi, Lord Marzar. I bought my first Electrafun 24-12-2006, and have had a few flights (and a few crashes). My plane kept flying down and to the right, I found the tail section wasn't aligned centrally, so wriggled it round a bit and no further problem.

Now if I can just stop cutting the motor every time I move the rudder. :(

The Electra Fun XP seems to be a very popular entry level plane. people I know with one say it's tricky, though I have yet to see it fly.

What amazes me though is how many Aussies there are here.

I welome all the new people to the hangout that are appearing in this thread. I am not familar with the electrafun but could you get to the rudder wire and put a kink in the control wire to make it the right length?

Had another go at flying the Electrafun this afternoon, it went quite well. However, I wish the pushrods' (wires') connections to the elevators and rudder were adjustable - it wouldn't take much more than a thread and a plastic nut to allow fine tuning. I am thinking about trying to create such a modification.

Until then, I suppose one could finetune the rudder and elevator connections using thin pliers to alter the bends in the pushrod. It's not a good solution, though.

I'd like to hear anyone else's ideas.

I broke the tailshaft today, on what I though was a simple minor crash.
Obviously it is very week where the cut out is for the elevators.
Has anyone else experienced this.
And do you think it is replaceable

Just recieved Electrafun XP.My brother and 2 friends have one as well and I have watched them fly and crash them lol.
These guys all had to fine tuned the rudder and elevator connections using pliers.So i shall build mine soon and do the same.
I have read a few posts about to learn how to get the feel of RC flying controls before i crash and burn :( or $$ to repair :eek: .So maybe noobs to RC like myself may like to do the same and d.l free flight sim FMS and get the feel of controls before maiden flight.
Flying Model Simulator
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html
How to mod there transmitter
http://www.users.bigpond.com/webspace/plms_spad&mugi/electrafun_mods.html
or Purchase RC Simulator transmitter USB
http://www.hstore.com.au/HomeSpecialRadios.asp?ProdID=RCSIMTRANSMITTER
Shall let you know how it all works out.
Regards Scotch

Just recieved Electrafun XP.My brother and 2 friends have one as well and I have watched them fly and crash them lol.
These guys all had to fine tuned the rudder and elevator connections using pliers.So i shall build mine soon and do the same.
I have read a few posts about to learn how to get the feel of RC flying controls before i crash and burn :( or $$ to repair :eek: .So maybe noobs to RC like myself may like to do the same and d.l free flight sim FMS and get the feel of controls before maiden flight.
Flying Model Simulator
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html
How to mod there transmitter
http://www.users.bigpond.com/webspace/plms_spad&mugi/electrafun_mods.html
or Purchase RC Simulator transmitter USB
http://www.hstore.com.au/HomeSpecialRadios.asp?ProdID=RCSIMTRANSMITTER
Shall let you know how it all works out.
Regards Scotch

I created an Electrafun for FMS simulator, by building on similar work done by others, and ading the familiar Electrafun colour scheme. You can download it from http://www.box.net/shared/0qlu3tgsgj Please message me on RCGroups.com to let me know you have tried it. My username on RCGroups is Pijuvwy.