NEW FliteTest Beaver!

Hondo76251

Legendary member
@jaysmc glad the pile of recievers I've sacrificed to Poseidon could be of use to you! :cool:

I buy mostly cheap amazon/ebay/banggood connectors, just be sure to triple check the orientation of the wires! I seldom seem to get wires that correctly correspond to what I'm wiring... most of them can be pulled from the plug with a fine exacto blade and put back in the correct order...
 

A300 Pilot

New member
Hey folks,
I’ve been off working for a week so no physical progress but my servos arrived (but not my adapters). I’m a noob with micros even though I’ve been flying R/C for over 40 years. Anywho, if you are like me and want to match the exact servos I found them online. Orlandoo-Hunter AS0022 are the servos in the Beaver. I bought mine from a US based chain with a website but they are all over the place. I’m using a 6100e receiver which has standard connectors so I’m still waiting on the adapters, they are somewhere in the USPS. I hope to have the Beaver ready to fly in the next week pending the parts arriving.

Fly safe!
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David S

New member
Sounds like you guys are having better luck than I am with my Beaver. It arrived with a bad elevator servo that was making terrible noise and then just died first thing on the bench. I replaced the servo with a higher quality one and that took care of that. The next problem is the motor became extremely hot within the first two minutes of running. You could smell it overheating. I immediately shut it down and I couldn’t even touch the spinner it became so hot. I don’t know it the prop is too big for it or if the cowl is the problem as it completely covers the motor and doesn’t let any air in. Once it cooled down the motor was froze. These planes look nice but I don’t think they were ready for release, too many quality issues. I have two UMX micros and they never miss a beat. I have been flying for 30 years and have had my share of cheap planes but never had one I regretted buying and couldn’t easily modify to get in the air. I searched their store and I cannot find any parts for these, in this case a motor. I even searched with the part number they list in the manual. It doesn’t appear they have part support for these at this point. I emailed and am waiting to see if/how I can get a replacement motor. The electronics appear to be no name cheapest of the cheap. I would definitely recommend something else like the UMX Timber, close in price, includes a receiver, and they actually work.
 

jaysmc

New member
@David S It's not necessarily a matter of better luck. For example, due to lack of adapters for my particular receiver, I haven't even had power to my servos or motor. So there could be similar quality problems with mine but I just don't know it yet! I noticed the same thing as you about the spare parts, they don't exist.

I contacted customer support about the adapters and they replied sending me a link to a Spektrum adapter that would work, but it would require the use two adapters between the servo and receiver, which is not the most reliable solution. So, I've ordered the proper connectors from amazon and will make my own. What was strange is that the link they sent me to purchase the adapters was from BH Photo and Video, and the price was $6.99 each (I would need 3). The exact same item from Horizon Hobby (who is one of FTs sponsors) is $4.99. Still far more expensive than what I can make myself.

Another thing that is odd is that even though replacement parts are not yet available, you would think that they would at least create the items in their store and show them on backorder until they are available. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when they have all these part numbers in their manual and they are no where to be found on the store.
 

David S

New member
@David S It's not necessarily a matter of better luck. For example, due to lack of adapters for my particular receiver, I haven't even had power to my servos or motor. So there could be similar quality problems with mine but I just don't know it yet! I noticed the same thing as you about the spare parts, they don't exist.

I contacted customer support about the adapters and they replied sending me a link to a Spektrum adapter that would work, but it would require the use two adapters between the servo and receiver, which is not the most reliable solution. So, I've ordered the proper connectors from amazon and will make my own. What was strange is that the link they sent me to purchase the adapters was from BH Photo and Video, and the price was $6.99 each (I would need 3). The exact same item from Horizon Hobby (who is one of FTs sponsors) is $4.99. Still far more expensive than what I can make myself.

Another thing that is odd is that even though replacement parts are not yet available, you would think that they would at least create the items in their store and show them on backorder until they are available. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when they have all these part numbers in their manual and they are no where to be found on the store.
I talked to someone today instead of waiting for an e-mail reply and they did say my motor would be covered under warranty BUT they don’t have spare parts at this point. I was told it would be a few weeks for spare parts and to call them back then 😕 I searched the net for an equivalent motor but can’t find one I feel is close enough in size so I will wait. Funny I had a cheap Nicesky micro Beaver that I bought years ago from Tower and that thing flew great, never a problem, until last month when I accidentally loaded a discharged battery In it and took off over the lake. It landed far away and the current took it out to sea, lol. I thought this would be a good replacement for it. I’m still hopeful if I can get a motor that doesn’t overheat. I wonder if the heat problem is from them using the wrong size prop or the cowl enclosing the motor, I could not hold onto the spinner and it seized up from heat.
 

Hondo76251

Legendary member
Shoot, sorry to hear you guys are having troubles! Mine has been issue free so far, save for user induced complications. I'm at close to 40 flights on mine, couple pretty good crashes, and all is working well for me. Nothing a little hot glue hasn't taken care of. I'm working on some footage, I've been flying my UMX timber along side the beaver to do some comparisons. Hope to have it up soon.

I haven't had any troubles but the best feature I see to the beaver so far is that it's an airframe that can be repaired and modified by the user. I've already got a power package that I'm going to bump up to, I can see some fun to he had in the FPV world with this plane with a touch more power...
 

K3V0

Elite member
Great video! I know you’ve been talking up the timber too so it was fun to see them fly together😁 Also, a nice thing to wake up to instead of the usual these days. I’ve been stuck at my in-laws, without planes or equipment for 18 days now. Seeing you fly like everything is normal helps to scratch that itch. Will you make your lights for the beaver or will you get a kit?
 

Hondo76251

Legendary member
@K3V0 I've got a stockpile of LED's (regular and infrared ;) ) I'm planning on doing it myself for a couple of these projects actually but I can see I've got some learnin to do! LED's are all new to me...
 

Hondo76251

Legendary member
Tried flying off the water... didn't work that well.

I had to go with a shorter prop to keep it out of the water and, even then, it would still hit once in a while. I dont have a large selection of props in that size range so I went with a couple different 3 blades, none worked great.

Main thing was I couldn't get up on plane very well and then I could only lift off with a fully charged battery and a little headwind.

I've been wanting to upgrade the motor in the beaver so I figured this is good a time as any!
 

Hondo76251

Legendary member
Decided if I was to keep taking baths with the beaver I should waterproof things a bit. All the servos held up well so I wont mess with them but I coated the new opto esc and separate BEC as well as my receiver and then re wrapped them all.
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A little clearancing and shes good to go!

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K3V0

Elite member
Ooof, getting crowded in there! 😆The FPV is sweet! New motor looks really nice though, looking forward to seeing lift everything off the water! Do you have to be careful not to get conformal coating on the connectors, or is it something you can just spray on entirely?
 

Aireal Anarchist

Elite member
Decided if I was to keep taking baths with the beaver I should waterproof things a bit. All the servos held up well so I wont mess with them but I coated the new opto esc and separate BEC as well as my receiver and then re wrapped them all.
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A little clearancing and shes good to go!

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I have the large flyzone beaver and I coated my "waterproof" servos that arent really waterproof with "Plastidip Liquid Tape" ( I also coat my servo connectors ESC parts etc etc with this ) ....works great but the gear shaft is still a way for water to get in but this did stop a lot of water/servo problems I was having with my race boats, I put my receivers in balloons then paint the balloon opening with the plastidip to seal off the balloon....this rubbery coating can be peeled off
 

Hondo76251

Legendary member
Well, here was the first attempt a float flying with the FT Beaver:


The video is still uploading, will probably take half the night. Should be done by morning, Been a long day, I'm calling it a night...