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Hobbyking Bixler 2


Nick Williams
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Just a note to you fellow Bixler 2 flyers. A few weeks back, my wings folded after a tight loop and nosed into the ground. After a bit of checking on the 'net it appears to be a common problem, with an easy fix. Many people, and now me, insert a 4mm carbon shaft inside the 6mm rod. Much more rigid, and it's now flying great. Mart

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Yes Mart

Good fix.

When I was first assembling the Bixler 2 out of the box, in September last year, I notice that the wall thicknes was not the same around the central bore.

I then did manage to fold the wings at some point.

The locally sourced replacement 6mm tube was far better looking and appeared to be a stiffer product. I had also ordered the 4mm tube to slide inside the 6mm tube. makes everything that much stiffer and continues to fly well.

Go With the Flow

Bruce

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Guys, I haven't visited this thread for a while, but just thought I'd share a great time a couple of days ago.

First though, the Bixler 2 is a really great and forgiving learner glider, IF you apply a couple of reinforcing mods. I'll sumarise these just now, but, let me tell you, I managed 1 hour and 10 minutes flying with an 1800 3C zippy!

It was a HOT afternoon with a 6mph breeze blowing the thermals toward me on a 45 degree slope, maybe 150 higher than the valley floor.

Until now I only suspected that I was maybe catching a thermal.

Well, I have, for a few flights now, been keeping a log of the charge state, size of Lipo and my real time start and finish, as well the transmitter time for throttle on, and the final charge state when I remove the lipo.

So I fit the 1800 Zippy, check the time launch into the breeze, full throttle, man did this thing climb! (Only using factory fitted stuff.)

Something unusual happening! It climbed faster than I have ever seen before, and eventually I closed the throttle. Bixler levelled out flew in a widish circle, but wait this thing is getting smaller. Hey this thing is really getting smaller.

Oh oh, this thing is just a spec. They say wiggle the wings. oh my that worked but now it's even higher. Don't blink, you'll lose it! Push the nose down see if you can follow it, oh seems to be going away, turn it and put the nose down! Ah seems to be getting slightly bigger, but what's this, it's getting smaller again!

Try nose down again, ah this is working, get back to a working altitude. Well i was able to catch thermal after thermal, with the occasional throttle open to climb, until the TX timer told me ten minutes up after 1 hour and 10 minutes. What exciting discoveries, with the thermal gliding.

Well not really my discoveries, i was just putting into practice all the great tips that you guys have shared through all the threads on this forum. A VERY BIG THANK YOU GUYS.

Now ,back to the Essential Mods (my opinion).

1 Push a full length 4mm tube inside the factory 6mm wing spar. this prevents the "folding wing" syndrome on these steep ground ward swoops! Definitely saved the plane the other day.

2 I have fixed the flaps permanently with a very slight camber bias (2mm max), and slid a 3mm carbon fibre rod through the fuse right across the full length of the trailing edge two flaps, ending just short of the ailerons.

This is an extra stiffener, and also stops the wings from being pushed backwards when landing in the "longer stuff" and bushes. I have damaged previous wings, until i came up with this one.

3 I found that the factory glued fuse behind the motor toward the tail, seemed to flex and the prop would sometimes score across the fuse. I checked this out and found poor glueing where the two fuse halves are joined. I took out the carbon spar from the underside, did a whole re glue of the two halves and fitted the carbon spar pack. the fuse is now rigid, and no more prop scoring!

4 I fitted stronger magnets for holding the canopy in place. (used to jump off in some of the rough landings.

5 I did fit Metal gear servos for the tail rudder and elevator, as the plastic gear ones seem to get damaged when landing in the longer grass which would hook on the control horns.

Replacement main wing for less than ten quid plus postage, what a bargain!

So for any newcomer to the hobby and looking for a forgiving semi glider the Bixler 2 is the BEST!

Go With the Flow

Bruce

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  • 3 years later...

I have a Bixler 2, with the stock motor, stock 7 x 5 prop (NOT 7 x 4 as above). On 3S, I measured it drawing 11.9 Amps, 125 Watts.

I replaced this with a 7 x 6 prop, which drew 15.1A, 171W. Even at that, at first I thought it was badly underpowered, but with experience I find it's plenty - it just requires smoother control work, particularly on take-off.

I don't know what mine weighs - never bothered - but my Radian , which I have only flown once to check it before painting etc, has about 260 Watts/Kg and felt rather more lively than the Bixler (the Radian has had all the "Paul Naton" mods). I also fly a little converted Miniprop Felix IQ XL chuck glider on 3S on rudder/elevator/flaperons.. It's a little rocket ship at 385 Watts/Kg and will climb vertically until I can't see it well enough to keep it in line and have to shut down the throttle.

The Bixler, I find, is a really nice plane to fly in a relaxed manner. I have absolutely NO complaints about it, but shudder at the thought of trying to fly inverted - it just doesn't seem right! A 7 x 6 prop seems the way to go.

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cheers john have a few different props to have a go at will try them later ,, the bixler I have is from new few years old now its one of the original ones,never had a prob before with it power wise but just changed the motor and as I said a lot under power so will mess around with a few props cheers bud

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Funnily enough, I weighed the Box half-houran-hour ago as your post had piqued my interest. 1006grams. I have made a few "improvements", which, as usual, add weight!
Do you HAVE a power meter? If not, I can recommend them, as they remove the guesswork from the equation. I use the HobbyKing HK-010 Power Analyser. it was surprisingly cheap and has power and Lipo balancing functions as well as the simple 1-6S state-of-charge indication.
I wouldn't like to fly the Box with much less power than the 170Watts - the 125Watts on the original 7x5 was marginal on take-off ( no flaps then installed).
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