Lately I've been looking at small electric planes, trying to figure out which one I wanted.  Every time I saw a new one it looked like exactly what I want.  I wanted something very light weight that can do some amazing 3D maneuvers.  I don't care about indoor flight, I want to fly outside when the wind is down.  I don't know much about electrics at this point, since I've always been using glow fuel.  I have an electric MS Hornet, but it's actually pretty pathetic.  The plane that caught my eye was the Reflection.  When I talked to my friend Mark about it and found out he's looking at the same plane, I knew I was on the right track.  That's because Mark has a lot of electric plane experience.  We both decided to get the same plane, which should be fun.

04/16/2006 - Parts ordered
After a nice Easter Sunday with extended family, I came home and placed my order on Towerhobbies.com.  I ordered the plane, a RimFire motor, Phoenix 25 ESC, 2 Cell Pro 640mAh 3S batteries, a pack of 6 propellers and a bunch of miscellaneous building materials.

04/17/2006 - More orders
I realized this morning that I forgot to order DuraTrax Powerpole connectors.  I called Tower to see if I could add to the order and they said, "no".  I placed a new order and paid another $4 for shipping. ARG!

I also ordered my Cell Pro 4S cell balancing charger from FMA Direct.  It's on backorder, but there's a chance it'll be here before the plane is ready to fly.

04/18/2006 - Parts arrived, started construction
The main package arrived today with the plane, the batteries, ESC, etc.  I started building the plane and got quite a bit done.  The servos aren't here yet, so construction is on hold until Friday. Build notes

04/19/2006 - More construction
Mostly what I did today was learn about charging Li-Po batteries.  I did get some construction done though.  The motor is on, the ESC is mounted and the battery is mounted.  I soldered my connectors on the motor, ESC and one of the batteries.  I had a 50% chance that I wired the motor to run in the right direction, no luck.  After bench testing, I switched two of the wires and had it spinning correctly.

04/20/2006 - Charge station
I made my charge station today.  I converted an ATX PC power supply to provide the 12VDC.  I installed a cigarette lighter plug into the case and hung it on the wall.  Next to it is my ammo box working as a battery bunker.  On top of that is the Triton charger (CellPro 4S is on backorder).

04/22/2006 - Finished building, first flight
UPS lost my Futaba S3110 servos in Vernon, CA so I bought 3 Hitec HS-55 servos at a local hobby shop.  The Futaba's should be here early next week.  After finishing the build, I decided to fly it in front of the house.  At first, when I throttled up, I noticed the rudder shift over.  Turns out I had programmed a helicopter mode on my 8UAPS and didn't realize it.  I switched it to ACRO and reset the dual rates.  I took off and the CG seemed to me to be too far back.  I also noticed that the ailerons don't return to center completely.  If I bank right, then let go, it's still just a touch to the right.  Same happens when I go left.  I think the control horn doesn't fit on the servo as well as it should.  Anyways, I flew 2 patterns around the cul-de-sac and missed the light pole by inches.  After landing I shifted the battery forward a bit and flew one more pattern around the cul-de-sac.  The wind was just too gusty and unpredictable for a maiden flight. 

Check out the video added to the Reflection index page.

04/23/06 - More flights
I flew two flights this morning.  The plane is much more docile since I moved the battery down to the horizontal fuse.  I had the battery up under the top wing as I heard recommended in a review.  BTW, when I say "docile", it's a relative term.  This plane is still a handful to fly, but that's because it's incredibly capable.  I noticed on knife edge that it pushes the nose down fairly hard.  This is either because I've got my CG too far forward (learning to fly it), or because the battery is lower.  I'll live with that performance until I get more use to flying it.

One of the biggest differences between this and anything else I've ever flown is that this plane does not "slip" in turns.  Apparently I've always slipped my turns on fixed wing aircraft.  Now that I'm flying this plane, turning is different.  I already know how to coordinate turns (especially from flying helis), but I've just never bothered.  When I roll this plane over about 45 degrees, it just keeps flying straight ahead due to the vertical fuse sides.  Today I started using a lot more rudder in the turns and I'm able to keep the plane closer to me.

During my second flight today I was feeling much more comfortable and confident with the plane.  I walked over to the dirt field and flew around at a much slower speed.  I even hovered it at waist height for 20 seconds or so.  I took it up high and did a few tight rudder turns.  Even at the recommended low rates, it cranked around in a circle in about 10 feet.  During my first flight I cranked the elevator and pulled a fairly tight loop.  I decided to try high rates.  When I cranked the elevator, the motor quit.  I chopped the throttle and brought it back up.  Since the throttle came back I figured I was low on battery power.

04/25/06 - Battery connectors
The Powerpole connectors looked kinda funny on the tiny battery wires.  Today I switched all connections over to Micro Deans instead.  The new connectors will require two hands to disconnect them, but they're sized more appropriately and they weigh about half the Powerpoles.

04/26/06 - Charger
I learned today that the 640mAh 3S batteries I've bought can be charged at 3C instead of 1C.  I had on order an FMA Direct CellPro 4S charger, but it's backordered until at least the end of the month.  The BalancePro 6S charger will charge at a 3C rate, so I ordered it from Tower.  I won't be able to charge with it right away though because the BalancePro-to-CellPro adaptor is also on backorder. 

04/29/06 - Flights
Flew a few flights this morning.

04/30/06 - More flights
Flew about 7 flights today.  During one flight the o-ring that holds the propeller broke and I made a quick landing.  That flight made me want to disable low-rates.  If I wasn't in hi-rates I would have nosed in hard.  On a few other flights I had this weird rudder flutter problem.  I was hovering, then I'd throttle up hard and nose over a tight outside loop/flip back into hover.  On a few occasions this caused the rudder to flutter and bring the plane down.  I was able to control it enough that the landing didn't damage anything.  One time I took it up real high and made it flutter again.  On the decent I worked the rudder, elevator and throttle to try to get it to stop but nothing worked.  Then, I couldn't get it to flutter anymore.

05/03/06 - Landing gear support
Last time I flew I added a rubber band to the landing gear so it wouldn't completely collapse on landing and nose over.  Today I exchanged the rubber band for a piece of carbon rod.  I used "Spider Wire" to hold everything together.  I also spider-wired the landing legs where to pass through the lower wing and through the center fuselage carbon rod.

06/02/06 - Lots of flights
I've flown almost every weekend over the last month.  Nothing really new except I'm getting smoother and smoother flying this little bugger.  I've finally got my BalancePro 6S charger up and running as well.  The other day I ordered a new Reflection kit because they are so cheap now.  It arrived yesterday and I'll build it sometime soon so it's ready to take over duties.

06/03/06 - A few flights
Flew a few batteries out this morning

06/04/06 - Prop problems
I flew a few batteries out today, but I started having the prop problem again.  The prop wobbles off the "prop saver" mount and I have to dead stick land.  I switched the dual little rubber bands I've been using for a fat o-ring.  At the end of the day I noticed that the o-ring had broken too.  I'll have to figure something else out.

06/13/06 - New transmitter
I configured the Reflection on the new Futaba 12ZH radio today.  I also removed the Phoenix-25 ESC.  Mark is going to use the 25 in his little 540 plane and he bought me a Thunderbird-9.  It's the least I could do since he gave me a ready to fly Shogun v2!

06/17/06 - One flight
I flew one flight today to verify the new 12Z radio and it's settings.  I didn't get the expo right because it was real touchy.  When I got home I checked the 8U radio and discovered I had -40% expo and I only setup -25% on the 12Z.  I like the way it flew on the 8U, so I'll match the old setting.  Everything else seemed to work great.

06/25/06 - Lots of flights
Mark and I flew the Reflections a bunch today.  We got out the chairs and sat and flew.  At one point we set out a 12oz water bottle and tried to knock it over with the rudder (while hanging from the prop).  I managed to knock it over and although I was trying on purpose, I knew I got lucky.  Then Mark got out the video camera and I had to work and work to hit it again.  But I managed to and Mark says he got it on video.  I'll get a video online when I can.

08/12/06 - Update
I've flown a lot over the past 6 weeks, but I actually have pictures from today's flights.

08/13/06 - Several flights, including a final flight
Mom and John came to visit this weekend.  We went out flying in the morning to the construction site near Mark's house.  I flew the Reflection quite a few times and had to make several repairs.  One time I tried to take off on the dirt and it ripped the rudder off the back of the plane.  I forgot that I don't have a wheel back there anymore.  After several more flights and more and more glue, I decided that I wasn't going to glue it anymore.  The leading edge carbon rod was hanging off, the landing gear cross support had split in half, one aileron was dangling from one hinge, but it still flew!  On the final flight I was bouncing the rudder off the dirt while hanging from the prop and the rudder fell off.  I flew around a little longer, laughing away.  I had no yaw control and it kept flying in about a 40 foot diameter circle.  I tried to lean the plane to the side to compensate, but this plane doesn't work that way with the vertical fuse.  I finally decided to line up my curved landing approach and actually landed the plane fairly gracefully.

The reason I didn't want to glue this plane anymore is because it's had several fractures and it's just not worth fixing anymore.  I have another Reflection kit sitting on the shelf, so it's time to start building it. 

07/10/07 - Summary
Over the past almost 1 year I flew the 2nd Reflection many, many, many times.  It met it's doom during a garage sale a couple month ago preparing for our move up North.  Lucas (my 2.5 year old son) was allowed to play in the Jeep.  Unfortunately the Reflection was sitting in the back seat at the time.  He saw fit to rip the poor plane to pieces.  I boxed up all the parts and worked on the move to Rocklin, CA instead.

A few weeks ago I ordered my 3rd Reflection and about a week ago I assembled it and flew it (while on a camping trip at Dinkey Creek, CA). 

03/16/08 - Another Summary
I've flown the 3rd Reflection several times over the past 8 months.  A rough tail-first landing in tall grass really did a number on the back of the plane.  I attempted to glue and tape it back together, but then realized that the rudder was glued straight ahead.  I started digging into that problem and broke all my repairs.  I opted instead to order a replacement plane.  After finding out that the Reflection is discontinued, I ordered the CAP580 instead.  It's a real shame that the Reflection is discontinued because I really like the plane.  As a matter of fact, after stripping the motor, speed control and receiver from the plane, I worked more carefully on the rudder and I think I have it in flyable shape.  I broke down and ordered another RimFire motor, Thunderbird-9 speed control and a Berg 4-channel receiver.

03/26/08 - New electronics installed
I received the new receiver, motor and speed control from Tower the other day.  I installed the motor and receiver.  I had ordered the bullet connectors for the speed control, but they sent the male connectors instead of the female.  I stopped at the local hobby shop on Monday and picked up the female connectors.  One of these days I'll wrap up the wiring on this plane and it'll be flyable again.

04/14/09 - Summary
I flew the Reflection quite a few more times after fixing the rudder.  I've been eying the GP Pluma though.  Since this 4th Reflection has gotten heavier and heavier, I figured it's days were numbered.  What better plane to fly inside a 50' x 32' building with a 15' ceiling.  That was a lot of fun, but it took it's toll.  I managed to find a guy in North Carolina that had a new Reflection kit though (and a reasonable price).  I ordered it up and someday I'll build it.  For now, the guts from the Reflection have gone to the Pluma.