(If you like hearing the song in the soundtrack, then you'll love seeing it:    • Video  )

I received my new A160 with full knowledge of the spinin issues owners were encountering. Everything points to an electronics/gyro issue and the airframe itself seems fine to me. SO I acquired one to install a DSMX receiver in place of the stock one.

Once in hand I was quite shocked to see the receiver with it's accelerometer sensor mounted way back in the tail cone of the airframe instead of up front near the center of gravity and center of rotation of the plane. Every other "gyroassisted" aircraft I know of has the sensor(s) near there C/G of the aircraft for proper operation.

The sensors detect rotation on the 3 axis's AND lateral/ vertical motion in all three X,Y and Z directions (hence "6G"). Mounted in the back, the sensors will also detect vertical motion with foreaft pitch changes and lateral motion with yaw motions along with the rotation motion it should only sense. In the proper mounting location near the C/G it would only detect the rotation and respond as programmed.

I strongly suspect this remote location for the RX is why these plane flipout on occasion once enough error is accumulated. Looks like the only reason the designer moved it back there was to allow the plane to have a detailed cabin. If it were a standard receiver with no gyro then it would be no problem mounting the RX anywhere. With gyro, location is significant.


AND SO....

I pulled the RX from it's rear location, but rather than relocate it I chose to swap it for DSMX 2S receiver with AS3X for use on turbulent days and to allow use of my Spektrum transmitters. The stock TX is a sad little P.O.S. and had to go. I used an AS6410NBL 7.4v receiver that offers AS3X antigust stability as an option (off/on via the channel 5 GEAR switch on my DX6i).

An Emax 1407 2800Kv replaces the 1206 2400Kv motor (which tests very weak in thrust for it's size) and stashed away the stock 6A ESC for a 10A version. I will be going up from the stock 5030 prop to a 6" 6030 which will draw more amps from the increased workload. That and the hotter motor call for more current headroom.

Props are carbonfiber/nylon rather than plain nylon. The former break blades easier than plain nylon, but are stiffer and lose less pitch via flexing and blade flattening under the load of full throttle and produce more thrust in turn.

I used a pair of Emax 9251 II 2.3g microservos for the tail feathers and mount them in the nowempty tail cone bay. A piece of 1/8" hobby ply was shaped into a 2piece servo tray to hold them in place. The stock 1mm thick wire pushrods were used, but flex a lot. I will replace them eventually with stiffer rods.

A little foam removed from behind the firewall made room for the ESC and battery well forward to help deal with a rumored tailheavy condition. Several owners/YouTube reviewers have mentioned this. In truth I never checked C/G before starting the project. I know where it is SUPPOSE to be, so where it was is moot now.

A new plywood firewall replaced the postmount plastic stock one. A test fit demonstrated that the motor needed to come slightly more forward, so a second layer of plywood was sandwiched on with superglue.

The prop slips on the motor shaft and is difficult to tight on. Odd that these drone motors with 5mm threaded shafts have no toothed pressure plate to grip the prop hub as so many other motors do. So I slid a stif faucet washed on the shaft first to give more bite and to extend the prop a bit further forward and ou5t of the cowling. I trimmed the cowl opening to allow the washer/spacer to fit partway through. It came out nicer than hoped. A drop of blue Loctite thread locker will eliminate and worry of the prop nut coming loose. I use the stuff on the hardware of my highvibrationprone RC boats with excellent results.

All looks good. I need to address the wing now. It's VERY weak and flexible. The flimsy plastic wing struts are all that keep the wings from breaking off.

That's fine for basic flight where the struts will only be under tension (pulling forces), but I have more power now and wish to try some inverted negativeG maneuvers that would collapse the struts under compression forces. I may look into stiffer carbon fiber struts, but I have to think through the mounting method first.


This video also demonstrates how I make many of my plywood parts for motor and servo mounts. The craftgrade plywood I use is not suited for structural airframe parts but is perfect for my needs. You can do a lot with a hand drill, a tabletop disc sander, a finetooth hacksaw blade and a Dremel rotary tool.

Happy flying