Keeping the Prop On

Wattage Micro Flyer Webpage

Dedicated to the sharing of ideas for the Wattage Micro Flyer radio controlled model airplane.

Video Clips

Micro Flyer Flying Close - 2.42 mb Mpeg - Micro Flyer in Right Spiral Dive - 1.31 mb Mpeg

Introduction or Why I Created this Webpage

In my opinion, the Wattage Micro Flyer is the most fun for the dollar of any RC airplane. Yet there can be small problems that can really frustrate the beginner, it is my hope that this webpage will be a method of sharing information to help every Micro Flyer pilot. Please feel free to email suggestions, and I will post the suggestions without your email address.

Keeping the Prop On

The most common problem with the Micro Flyer is that the prop comes loose very easily. This can be on the first little bump or it can take several good bumps, but eventually the prop will come loose. My best solution so far has been to place plastic over the front end of plane and epoxy the propeller back on. Also, I sanded the shaft with course sandpaper before gluing.

Plane Flies to Left - Side Thrust

Another common problem appears to be that the front-end assembly is not glued with a couple of degrees of right thrust. My solution has been to remove the adhesive around the outside of the front housing and re-glue with epoxy with the right-thrust.

Battery

Lithium-poly battery powers the Micro Flyer for flights of at least five minutes.

Contacts on battery must have good contact with contacts coming out of receiver. In some cases you might need to bend receiver contacts forward to get a good connection.

Range - Control Problems

Range of the Micro Flyer is somewhat limited, but in most cases should be adequate. If you try to fly in an area high in interference, effective range could be less. For sure, you do not want to point the antenna at the plane. Some people have added two more cells to the transmitter and it seems to improve the range. Problem is, you do not want to charge from the transmitter with extra voltage.

Actuator Problems

Some people have reported the rudder on their plane would not move at all. In many cases the problem has been traced to broken actuator lead wires. The wires are very fine, but people have been able to sand off some of the insulation and solder the wires back together.

Email Submitted by A.J.

Another microflyer enthusiast! My name is AJ & I just so happen to be a
Microflyer junky! Can't get enough of it. During the past two years I've
owned close to a dozen of them. I keep having to buy new ones because I will
fly it until turns into mulch. Light wind, HEAVY winds, in the fog & rain,
daytime or nighttime. I'm quite abusive for something I enjoy playing with
so much. I have a box filled with remotes from old micros who have passed
on.., many of which supplied me with replacement parts for the newer ones. I
use my old remotes now to charge up the 12 batteries I use. Depending on the
space & weather I'll sometime use batteries that are a little worn out
because they fly lower & slower which is great when I'm in a park where
there's lots of trees or in a place where space is limited & need to keep
the plane closer to me.

I have three main flyers, each of which has a specific purpose. One of them
I sprayed with a thin coat of hairspray because when the hairspray dries it
forms a thin protective layer over the foam which keeps the foam from
absorbing moisture when flying in the rain or over a wet surfaces. Then I
have one that's been thrashed, broken in pieces, cut open & repaired so many
times that its body & wings contain more tape & glue than the foam it was
made of. Even the antenna's been yanked out (from standing on it while trying
to pick the plane up from the ground). I soldered it back together & then
wrapped it up with 2 inches of electrical tape then stuffed back inside the
plane before sealing it back up. Would you believe that after all that
repair work & added weight the little bugger still flies. It's a bit slower
due to all the added materials but it also makes it easier to fly on windy
days. And then there's my newest model which you already know enough about
being that you've flown new ones too.

Have you tried the "Rookie" flyer? It¹s pretty awesome too. Best advantage
that it has over the Microflyer is that it's prop & motor are on the back
vs. the front like the micros which makes it much more resistant to motor
damage or jamming the prop after nosedives.

Lastly.., WARNING! There are two imposters on the loose. They are almost
identical in their appearance & could easily be mistaken for the original
Wattage Microflyer & Rookie planes. The one that looks like the Microflyer
is actually called "Minitype" & the one that looks like the Rookie is called
the "Aircraft Micro Mini". These are cheap copies made with cheap parts and
the manufacture is out to swindle because no product could ever perform so
badly & the maker not be aware of the fact. They sell for less & you get
what you pay for.

Anyways..., I can go on & on about my love for my wattage planes so I¹ll
conclude here. It's just great to know that someone enjoys this plane so
much that they dedicated a webpage to it.

HAPPY FLYING!

Article Submitted by A. A. Lidberg about Conversion of Micro Flyer equipment to Trenton Terror
Visit his website at: www.aalmps.com - A. A. Lidberg Model Plan Service

Flew the stock Wattage Micro RC on Friday morning and it worked OK. Spent much of the day working out just how to use the bits inside.

Part of the problem is that the actuator wires from the coil are about .001" dia and run from the rudder to the receiver. There are 2 kinds of glue holding the micro together: some permanently sticky stuff inside that probably holds wires in place for assembly and thermo/craft glue holding motor, body sides and wing. It took a long time to get things separated. Those skinny wires soldered OK tho - just sanded them lightly and spliced the extra needed length with thin, insulated wires from a dead mouse. Oh yes - used the fin TE and rudder from Wattage, stuck on back of the TT with 5 min epoxy - just couldn't bring myself to tear into that fairly delicate coil/magnet setup.

Here's the plane that I used - the Trenton Terror, which had been a Telco CO2 powered FF. It has easily twice the wing area. Began at 1 ounce stock for the Wattage plane- total, finished weight of TT was 1.25 oz. and the lipo
battery, in its foam 'box' from Wattage, had to hang outside - kind of bulky for a small model.

Flew it at 7am today - wow! It needed nose weight or less incidence, but it really flew well, with extra weight not at all a problem. Brought it home and had breakfast while it charged again, and went back with shims under the TE of
the wing. On that new charge, it was stalling more, but really getting up and flying. By now, there was enough wind to see the tree leaves fluttering. On the last climb, the plane drifted downwind and tangled with a light pole above
the soccer field - so now, it's stuck up there on wires leading to the light fixture. I'm hoping for the wind to pick up more!! Didn't think much about it, but the name sticker on the model has my address [in the same town] from 10
years ago and no phone number, so probably can't count on anyone working hard [like, maybe looking in the phone book] to return it when it blows down. The park is across the street, so I can go by there when I'm out & about.

Anyhow, interesting project!"

At 6pm of the same day, I went back over to the park. The wind had never gotten very strong, so I figured the plane was still there - no! There were about 300 people playing/watching a soccer game, so I figured the plane had come
loose and been picked up. It has not, however, come home, nor has it been returned to the old address.

I'm not sure I want to pursue this project any more. Sorry I didn't get conversion photos. One key point - when you put the coil and magnets at the back end of a 'real' plane, things get tail heavy. It also takes a fairly bulky body
to enclose the battery with remnants of the foam box. If I did this again, I'd make shim brass clips to slide over the battery terminals.

My Experience With the Micro Flyer

Advertised as the World’s Smallest Ready-to-Fly radio-controlled airplane, the Micro Flyer by Wattage was instantly interesting to me when the ads first appeared. For no good reason, I did not order one until this summer at the low price of $39.95. Normally you pay a premium price for tiny RC equipment, but here was an entire airplane with equipment for under $40. Granted this was not proportional control and the transmitter was more toy-like than more conventional equipment but everything you really need to fly was included.

My first Micro Flyer was pretty much in trim from the start. Controlling non-proportional flight was easy for me because I had done this many years ago and got the hang of giving many quick jabs to the controls for a gradual turn. Flying rudder only was also something I had done in the past and had experience controlling altitude by the turn radius.

When our local RC club had a meeting, I brought the Micro Flyer along and flew it over a large parking lot after the meeting. People were impressed. I left the plane in my car and flew it many places I would not fly a larger plane. The only problem I had was the prop came loose after hitting a power line and crashing to the ground. Tight right turns usually end in a spiral dive, but you learn to avoid or recover from this.

After a couple of weeks of fun with the Micro Flyer, what did I notice, but the price had come down by one third, now it was only $29.95. I immediately ordered five more. I mentioned this to a few people, and two of them purchased two of the planes. When one of the new planes was to be flown, it appeared to be DOA, so I gave the guy another plane and tried to help him fly the plane. This plane had a bad left turn, a common problem I had read about with Micro Flyers because of not enough right thrust. So, I gave him my original plane and the prop came loose again after a slightly hard landing. We tried the left-flying plane again and darn if the prop did not come loose on that one.

By now I was realizing that there could be some issues with these planes. The plane that was dead, was fixed by bending the battery contacts outward. For the left-turning plane I scrapped the adhesive around the front housing and re-glued with a couple of degrees of right thrust. Loose propellers were epoxied back on.

It was at this point that I thought a website might be in order to help new owners of the Micro Flyer work through common issues.

Bill Kuhl

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