Exploring the Explorer

daxian

Elite member
wife's 65th ...mines december....spit maiden was aborted as it was heading towards traffic at speed ,why i was saying uh ohhhhhh!!
yes this one flew well ...quite pleased with it !! few tweaks of trim it will be even better...thanks for watching !!
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
I haven’t read this all this thread, but I thought I might bring up an issue I had with the explorer while scratch building it. On the plans, the thrust angle for the ft elements simple firewall must be wrong. I have built that thing time after time but until I gave it a significant amount of up thrust, it wouldn’t fly at all - even on a c pack with 3s. Anybody else have this issue or experienced something like it?
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
I haven’t read this all this thread, but I thought I might bring up an issue I had with the explorer while scratch building it. On the plans, the thrust angle for the ft elements simple firewall must be wrong. I have built that thing time after time but until I gave it a significant amount of up thrust, it wouldn’t fly at all - even on a c pack with 3s. Anybody else have this issue or experienced something like it?
Any pusher which has the top mount for the motor will have some down thrust pointing at the center of the wing for the most part. On lauch they will dive for the ground until the wing produces sufficiant lift. The C pack worked great on the explorer and the bronco. Might just be the prop...
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
Any pusher which has the top mount for the motor will have some down thrust pointing at the center of the wing for the most part. On lauch they will dive for the ground until the wing produces sufficiant lift. The C pack worked great on the explorer and the bronco. Might just be the prop...
I tried it many times, and it did fly - at full throttle with the c pack on 3s but it was so bad I could hardly keep it in the air. Any time I tried to get it to gain altitude, it would just stall. I then took my scout powerpod and skewered it on with a 10 inch prop with a bit of up thrust, and she flew like a dream!
 

daxian

Elite member
hi all ...i was surprised at my build of the bronco (see maiden above) i used a shortened standard pod with no upthrust on the motor ,i did have to add a few clicks of up elevator at 2/3 throttle to compensate the nose dipping...other than that it flew well...will try upthrust on next time out to see what affect it has...!!!
 

Headbang

Master member
So I have a new student and decided to get a new explorer together. In order to save time @Photo001 came over with his partially built explorer last week and we pretty much finished it and built a new trainer wing. While waiting for paint and glue to dry on that one I started building 2 more (mostly using white gorilla glue). So that is 3 all at the same time. Maidened the trainer today, flies ok for a trainer in wierd gusty winds.
So of the other 2, one will be mine and identical to the one that started this thread (paint and all). I am making sure the boom can be extended for when I put on the 72" wing (lazy powered glider days), and moved in for the sport wing.
There is something to be said for the explorer, just a nice flying plane. I doubt I will fly mine all that much, I have my timber X on floats and 2 new seaducks under construction. Who knows, maybe I give it away to another newcomer again!
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
So I have a new student and decided to get a new explorer together. In order to save time @Photo001 came over with his partially built explorer last week and we pretty much finished it and built a new trainer wing. While waiting for paint and glue to dry on that one I started building 2 more (mostly using white gorilla glue). So that is 3 all at the same time. Maidened the trainer today, flies ok for a trainer in wierd gusty winds.
So of the other 2, one will be mine and identical to the one that started this thread (paint and all). I am making sure the boom can be extended for when I put on the 72" wing (lazy powered glider days), and moved in for the sport wing.
There is something to be said for the explorer, just a nice flying plane. I doubt I will fly mine all that much, I have my timber X on floats and 2 new seaducks under construction. Who knows, maybe I give it away to another newcomer again!
That's awesome man, I did enjoy the Explorer you graciously donated to me, it started a whole new chapter of pushers for me which will be revisited at some point in time. I will take a Sea Duck if you are looking to donate those as well... JK

I have the Sportster on floats and haven't flown it in that configuration yet, still waiting on the prop in the mail. How does the Timber do on the floats in the snow?
 

Headbang

Master member
That's awesome man, I did enjoy the Explorer you graciously donated to me, it started a whole new chapter of pushers for me which will be revisited at some point in time. I will take a Sea Duck if you are looking to donate those as well... JK

I have the Sportster on floats and haven't flown it in that configuration yet, still waiting on the prop in the mail. How does the Timber do on the floats in the snow?
The timber does amazing! It does change a few things, like inverted flat spins are a real effort. Landing and take off is way better then a plane on ski's, more surface area, none of that evil of a ski digging in. Of course it is a timber X, so it still has a take off of about 6" and short landings when you want.
 

keepitup

Active member
The original Explorer I got from Headbang, I think he used a 3000 mah 3s, which placed right to the front of the battery tray balanced perfect. I have 2200 mah 3s which I had to add nose weight, a 3/8 bolt with 4 nuts screwed on glued to the bottom of the battery tray. A 5000 mah 3s would be more then enough and give you like 20 minutes of flight time.
I bought the speed build kit for the Explorer and the second flight at sunset last night was the best flight I have ever had. The thing is on rails when It's calm, what a joy. Odd thing, I fly with a 2200 3s and it is as far forward as the nose allows but the cg is spot on, just a titch nose down like Mr.Bixler suggests. It's my 3rd FT swappable along with Simple Cub and Fiesler Storch. Just ordered the the Old Speedster and a b power pack and 5 pack of power pods and firewalls. Bronco coming next payday. Already fixing the Storch...HEH . What the pods are for, totalled the original and 15 props coming from China. Am I ever glad my o'l lady is a cool chick. =) 001.jpg
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
I bought the speed build kit for the Explorer and the second flight at sunset last night was the best flight I have ever had. The thing is on rails when It's calm, what a joy. Odd thing, I fly with a 2200 3s and it is as far forward as the nose allows but the cg is spot on, just a titch nose down like Mr.Bixler suggests. It's my 3rd FT swappable along with Simple Cub and Fiesler Storch. Just ordered the the Old Speedster and a b power pack and 5 pack of power pods and firewalls. Bronco coming next payday. Already fixing the Storch...HEH . What the pods are for, totalled the original and 15 props coming from China. Am I ever glad my o'l lady is a cool chick. =) View attachment 149400
Cool. You will like the old speedster - it’s a fun plane!
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
I bought the speed build kit for the Explorer and the second flight at sunset last night was the best flight I have ever had. The thing is on rails when It's calm, what a joy. Odd thing, I fly with a 2200 3s and it is as far forward as the nose allows but the cg is spot on, just a titch nose down like Mr.Bixler suggests. It's my 3rd FT swappable along with Simple Cub and Fiesler Storch. Just ordered the the Old Speedster and a b power pack and 5 pack of power pods and firewalls. Bronco coming next payday. Already fixing the Storch...HEH . What the pods are for, totalled the original and 15 props coming from China. Am I ever glad my o'l lady is a cool chick. =) View attachment 149400
Nice Storch! If you're landing gear starts popping out, glue in some paint stirrers or such over where the wires meet the fuse. It's served me well, so far.

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/building-the-storch.60015/

I haven't built the Explorer yet. I've read both good and bad about it. It sounds like you wholly recommend it. I'll be considering adding it to my build list. :)
 

keepitup

Active member
Nice Storch! If you're landing gear starts popping out, glue in some paint stirrers or such over where the wires meet the fuse. It's served me well, so far.

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/building-the-storch.60015/

I haven't built the Explorer yet. I've read both good and bad about it. It sounds like you wholly recommend it. I'll be considering adding it to my build list. :)
If you are fairly new at flying and not over confident yet you can not go wrong with the Explorer. IMHO it is way better than the AXN floater, have gone through 2. Used the parts for the Explorer. Flies like a dream and has another wing for ailerons. Cant go wrong.