XK A160 J3 Skylark Cub 3D/6G 650mm Wingspan RC Airplane RTF - Review Part 2 - Flights & Conclusion!

[@rolandsaffy7719]

I'm a little late to the game with my comments, but I got the XK A160 yesterday, put it together with the setup you describe in this video and it flew like a dream today! Only tried low rates in beginner mode for the maiden flight, but it flew outstanding. Never made a turn at less than 50% and had no issues. Thank you so much for the advice! Much appreciated!!

[@GroundControlRC]

That's awesome Roland! I know it has been a problem for a lot of people with the stock setup so I'm glad that info helped. It's a great looking plane with a lot of detail. Much fun ;-) See you in the Air!

[@angelvalle6515]

I Painted my engines and under grates she looks even better now. Several flights without incident but I did move my antenna out of the plane and trim the rudder before my first takeoff.

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Angel! Nice looking plane. I'm glad you trimmed out that rudder before flight as that rudder is a Tip Stall Machine ;-) See you in the Air!

[@bertogle4955]

I have learned more from you on the 2 planes that I have than everybody else put togather THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you so much Bert for the kind words. That's awesome and much appreciated. Blue Skies and Calm Winds and I'll see you in the Air!

[@uziroz]

Helpful, Detailed Comprehensive explanations and teaching all the secrets of the plane just before the flight. Thanks for the Preflight lesson.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@mecy57]

I recently purchased one of these one night after watching your video but after watching this second one I was quick enough to cancel my order, but I think you are very knowledgeable and might be able to recommend something similarly and not as troublesome for a beginner..

[@GroundControlRC]

I'm glad you had time to cancel the order ;-) I think the best brushless beginner plane I've flown is the Arrows Pioneer. Fantastic plane and extremely stable. It also comes with the best RTF Transmitter I've seen. www.hobbyzone.com/products/pioneer-620mm-rtf

[@nielsungermannpoulsen8756]

From Niels, Denmark: Thank-you Ground Control, for your very good advice. I followed Your advice, moved the gravity point, adjusted the rudder, put on weight at the noose, 10 gram, kept the speed, and it flies wonderfully. It turns nicely, and it is not difficult to land. I have had no tip-stalls. So thank-You. With kind regards Niels U. Poulsen, Denmark

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Niels! Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad those adjustments worked out for you. See you in the Air!

[@SunriseRCAviator]

Thanks for sharing your extensive testing. I've flown so many planes these last months and I realized that some are great flyers from the beginning and some are just not worth bothering with as they come short in many aspects. To me at least the A160 has many negative things going so it's not worth it. Especially as there are so many other great planes that fly perfectly balanced out of the box. A high winged plane should fly gentle even with zero throttle going down with a nice descending path. That's always a good test to kill the throttle and watch how it behaves because anything can fly with enough speed.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thanks! Yes, I've found that most of the Factory Planes I've flown, need a bit of adjustment or modification. It's very hard to tell the balance though without a full Manual Mode as the Gyro is always providing input. Sometimes the gyro, not the plane, is the issue. I may, if time permits, replace the gyro on this plane with a standard receiver and see how it performs. See you in the Air!

[@paraglidingpassion338]

Yes spot on with the review on this kit. I have seen so many on this kit and yours is the one for just to thanks for sharing this. 👍Just waiting for mind to come. 🛩️🛩️🛩️🛩️🛩️

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much! See you in the Air!

[@Jack-gy7cs]

Thank you for your very honest and detailed assessment of the plane. Any plane with that much needed adjustment right out of the box I wouldn't recommend to any of my friends ( beginner or not) as there are a lot of better choices available at this time in the RC world.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you for the kind words Jack! I have to call them as I see them ;-) This one did need some work ;-) See you in the Air!

[@SDiYchannel01]

Great with flight control and scale style. I used to own xk600. Really well

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much! It's a very fun plane with a lot of detail. I'm getting ready to perform some test flights with the RadioMaster TX16S. That should make it even better ;-) See you in the Air!

[@patmurphy3410]

On assembly I discovered the CG problem and did the same as you, added nose weight and changed the rudder linkage. I haven't flown it yet because the rudder servo is bad. Very slow and doesn't center consistently. I emailed Motion RC and am awaiting a response.

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Pat! Sorry to hear about the bad servo. Hopefully Motion RC will address the issue. Yes, this plane was pretty tail heavy and with so much rudder mixed in it was bound to have tip stall issues. I got it flying pretty well but it took some work. See you in the Air!

[@gabriel-bl4ckh4wk-6]

I'm wanting to order one, can you tell us how much weight you increased in the nose? (battery + any extra = ?)

[@GroundControlRC]

Hum....it's been so long since I had this plane I can't remember all the MODs I performed on it but I know it was a lot of work. Here is the playlist as everything I did will have been mentioned in the videos. I hope that helps. kzbin.info/aero/PL_YiEhY7O1WZhJkrStCNlHmtImYBMckfX

[@kipwhite]

Hi and thanks for your advice. I’m going to try it out. I have another question and hope you can help me out. I have the same model as you and the controller got broken. I purchased a new controller of the same exact model. There must be some procedure to pair the aircraft with the controller. Can you maybe give me some tips on how to accomplish this? Many thanks.

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Kip! Usually these planes will power up in bind mode so if you power on the TX first then the plane it should bind. If that doesn't happen, look for a small button on the plane receiver board that will put the receiver into bind mod. My old XK Edge plane had a button separate from the board inside the battery bay.

[@kipwhite]

@@GroundControlRC Thanks a lot! I’ll give it a try tomorrow. I’ll let you know if it works out okay.

[@stuhall2689]

So using the Radiomaster TX16S with this plane would it be a good idea to set an alarm at 50% throttle to give you warning when reducing power not to go below 40% and avoid those tip stalls. Enjoyed the video very much thank you for your great information.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much Stu! I've never thought of setting up an alarm for the throttle level. That's a great idea! It would be similar to a Stall Warning on a real Plane ;-) Very inventive ;-) See you in the Air!

[@crotaflyingsolo4759]

It's an Intermittent Gyro problem! Causing it to give a full left lock on the rudder. I've been able to recreate it on the workbench!

[@GroundControlRC]

Well, that's no good! I hope you can get a new board from the vendor.

[@jonoedwards4195]

AHAHAHAA!! So good it's not just Me,,ahahaha! You need to leave a link for parts beyond the prop an its shaft, haha,, ha. I put coke can inboard flaps an leading edge flaps that extend beyond the end of the downward foiled wingtips an it flew a treat. Mine has taken the most brutal dive damage an one time I asked My nine year old Daughter after repairing it will it fly and she stated, I don't thinks so, it's to heavy? Every flight I say to Myself just keep up Your speed an turn only with rudder. Great review an show thanks GCRC.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much! Unfortunately, they don't have many parts available. It's that way with nearly all new planes. Hopefully soon, they will have more parts available. EPP Foam is the most durable foam I've seen ;-) Nice to know yours is still flying ;-) See you in the Air!

[@BillKisel]

Thanks! I really learned a lot from your analysis and review.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you for the kind words Bill as it is much appreciated! See you in the Air!

[@Doggeslife]

Nice to see you got one of these. I have been told by one RCgroups.com member that the 1A BEC on the stock ESC may not be delivering enough current to power the receiver and all the servos. Several owners have reported the rudder/ailerons physically going hard-over with no control input. That doesn't seem to be the case with your craft. Those were definitely classic tip stalls. Perhaps you can induce some washout. Said forum member reported that swapping in a different ESC with a 2A BEC fixed the problem with his bird. I do not own one of these models and cannot verify that statement. As far as the C/G recommendation goes, could it be they were measuring from the trailing edge for the 55mm-65mm spec? Very odd. I will mention that point at the forum. Thanks. Happy flying!

[@GroundControlRC]

Yes, I don't seem to have any power issues on this one. Some twist in the wing would have definitely prevented these death spirals and the wing does not appear to have any twist to it at all. At least I think having some washout would definitely made the stalls much less dramatic and would prevent them once the proper CG was established. You got me curious regarding the CG so I went back to the manual and all it stated was 55-65mm from the wing. They didn't specify LE or TE. You would think it they were deviating how to locate the CG they would have specified but then again I've seen some pretty bad documentation ;-) I'll have to see if there's an easy way to induce washout in the wing. See you in the Air

[@jonjepson3650]

How can XK justify making such a bad plane. The Cub in any other form is a pleasure to fly. To any begginer reading this and thinking of buying this plane I would say do not buy it. Your first plane needs to fly without problems so that you will get confidence in your flying and progress in this fantastic hobby. Buy the volantex sport cub 500 or the E Flite UMX Cub. Thanks for the review and your efforts to sort out the problems with the plane. 👍

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Jon! I think some Manufacturers are just putting in a Gyro and not even testing the balance of the plane. I don't see how they could have tested the balance of this plane being as tail heavy as it was. I just converted this plane to manual mode and you would not believe how tail heavy this plane is. Add in too much rudder mix and spiral of death. Sometimes the balance of the plane can be so bad the gyro can't even correct the issue ;-) If they would do away with this 3D Mode, terrible IMO, and replace it with a Manual Mode, the issues could be identified quite easily. Yeah, this plane takes some definite work to get flying like it should. For Beginners, you named my favorite Plane, the Volantex Sport Cub 500. I love that Plane ;-) See you in the Air!

[@jonjepson3650]

@@GroundControlRC the XK is only $67 US from bangood here in Australia. It's a pile of junk they must be having a hard time trying to sell them.

[@GroundControlRC]

@@jonjepson3650 , hehehe....I actually got it flying very well with the stock components but it did take some work to get it there. I just performed a conversion on this plane using a standard 6CH receiver and replaced the stock motor with a 1407 3500kv spinning a 6x3 prop. More power and I think with a couple of adjustments I'm going to have a very good aerobatic bush plane. I only have time to do a couple of conversions a year and with so much detail on this one plus the fact that it's made from EPP foam I couldn't resist ;-) I'll be posting my 1st flight session with that setup tomorrow or Tuesday. I'll have to see if the additional adjustments I need to make get it where I want it. See you in the Air!

[@MonstroLab]

Are you going to try FPV this one like you did with the XK DHC2 Beaver? I bet the cam would fit behind that very scale windshield and maybe lighten up the tail. Thanks for another awesome review im still enjoying my XK DHC2 beaver even though it needs repair every flight lol

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you for the kind words ;-) I haven't performed an FPV Flight in over a year because my Line-of-Sight skills were so poor I've been trying to improve those skills. Maybe it's time to get back into FPV again ;-) A camera behind that Windshield would be pretty cool! That's the only problem with the Beaver, the foam is pretty fragile. If you're still flying it you're doing very well. See you in the Air!

[@jos7709]

Nice landing! Good video! Is battery OK? The product specs said its flight time is about 6 minutes, so I worried about how it could fly 10 minutes. But actually , in this video you showed over 8 minutes flight. (even with low throttle, it looks fine) Thank you!

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much! Yes, even with my smaller 2S 450mah 30C LIPO I should get 9-10 minutes of flying easy circuits leaving 7.0 volts in the pack. Pretty good flight time ;-) See you in the Air!

[@emmettrowe5164]

Hello my good friend have been watching your reviews especially this one because I was interested in purchasing this Cub and I have a question with this Rudder what would happen if I just disconnected the rudder altogether and just taped it so that it would be straight how do you think it would fly then..and just use the Ailarons for turning..with out that rudder mixed in..????or is adjusting the rudder as you did..for tighter turns..which is truly what this beginner would like..???

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Emmett! I found that mine required some rudder in turns otherwise it was a bit clumsy in the turns. I did move the rudder linkage to the outside hole of the rudder control horn as they had way too much rudder mixed in with the ailerons. It was also quite tail heavy which add to the instability. Once I dialed down the rudder and added some nose weight it flew fairly well.

[@jimmydai8917]

You have also flown the XK A600. I would like to ask you the difference in the feel of the two flying, especially the A600 seems to be lighter. In addition, in 3D mode, is the degree of intervention of the gyroscope the same as the A600? There is still progress, thank you...

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Jimmy! Yes, I have put a good many flights on the XK A600 Beaver. It's a great flying plane and is lighter than this one and has better slow flight capability, however, it will tip stall as well if you fly it too slow. Most planes will tip stall if flown to slowly even with a gyro. I absolutely hate the XK 3D Mode on all of their Planes ;-) The A600 is just as hard for me to hold onto in 3D Mode as this one. I wish they would replace the 3D Mode with a Full Manual Mode like most other Gyro Planes I've flown. The problem with the XK A600 is it's make of EPS Foam. EPS Foam is like Styrofoam and is very brittle and easy to break. I always look for Planes make of either EPP or EPO Foam as both of those are extremely durable. See you in the Air!

[@jimmydai8917]

@@GroundControlRC Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I wish you a happy flight. Maybe I will change to an A600 receiver. If I have an A160, the S-FHSS system seems to be more trustworthy. Thanks again, I wish you a happy flight.

[@Aztom40]

Thanks for the valuable tips. I'm a 45+ year pilot of all sorts of planes but have really enjoyed the Eflite UMX series planes. This plane caught my eye because I'm really into scale flight although this one is hard pressed to fly slow. Should spin great! I will incorporate the tips you came up with and will use the Venom 300 MAH batteries I use in the UMX Timbers. Should save a few grams more than your 450 MAH battery and facilitate a 5 minute flight. My other "added difficulty" is I live at 5200+ feet. Get my Cub Friday and weather permitting, will try to fly it soon.

[@Aztom40]

Oh, it was good to see a review from an experienced pilot. Thanks again.

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you for the kind words ;-) Yep, this Plane is Fat! If I would have had all the micro components on hand I think I could have gotten the weight down around 170-175g. I think if I MOD the Landing Gear that would also save some weight. I haven't flown the Eflite Series of Planes but they appear to be very well made and fly extremely well. I'm at high altitude also at 5600'. I forget how that effects lift. Good luck on your Maiden Flight! See you in the Air!

[@Aztom40]

@@GroundControlRC don't miss out on the Eflite UMX series planes, they are very well designed. I have 3 of the Pitts (discontinued), 1 I bought and the others either someone crashed or didn't want and 3 of the Timbers, one on floats for our local lakes. With full flaps and high rates, I fly one in a school gym for our club's indoor flying. They are a hoot!

[@GroundControlRC]

@@Aztom40 I've seen the Timbers. Awesome Planes. I haven't seen many micro Planes that come with flaps ready to go. The larger Bush Planes seem to have plenty of power and that's one thing that's missing on many Factory Planes. I'll have to put one on my wishlist.

[@Aztom40]

The latest version of the Timber is the Turbo Timber. Has plenty of power to do 100 foot loops and the Eflite stabilization system, AS3X, is magic. I don't use the "Safe" mode, its for beginners and won't let the plane bank or pitch too much. The plane is "great out of the box".

[@argemiropereira817]

Eu tenho um modelo desse, e por causa do quinto canal chamado de giroscópio, não tive coragem de voar o mesmo pois sem que eu realize quaisquer comando, ele se fica com os comandos se mexendo a todo momento: por favor me diga como posso eliminar esse tal giroscópio!??

[@GroundControlRC]

These XK gyros typically do not have a full manual mode, just 6G and 3D. You may get less movement from the gyro in 3D Mode than in 6G Mode. To completely disable the gyro you would have to replace the receiver / gyro board.

[@argemiropereira817]

@@GroundControlRC Thank you

[@Jamaicarasramarc]

I love your plans bro Keep it up

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much Marc! I can't wait to take this one back out for more testing but I have 5 inches of snow on the ground here ;-) Hopefully you have some better conditions where you are. See you in the Air!

[@andybladen9284]

Great review I’ve had mixed success with this the transmitter only comes as mode2 I fly mode 1 but I did have some success with the original transmitter it just felt a bit weird but with the gyro on it behaved most of the time I swapped out the receiver for an Eflite brick so I could use my transmitter and it fly’s pretty good although it does the death spiral quite often if you fly it too slow keep the speed up in turns that’s been pointed out it’s a little heavy for a foam plane but i think it looks really good. On display I have to hand launch no runway but give it a good push because mine would stall every time if I didn’t

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much Andy! Yeah, this plane is fairly tail heavy which contributes to the tip stalls. You're right, this plane does have fairly heavy wing loading IMO. I fly Mode 2 and I'm sure I would have a very difficult time trying to fly Mode 1 ;-) I just recently converted this plane to full manual and replaced the motor as well. You would not believe how tail heavy this plane is until you get it into manual mode ;-) I had it balanced the same and it would stall on launch because it wanted to nose up significantly. I'll be posting a couple of test flights in manual mode soon ;-) I thinks it's going to be a nice flying, aerobatic bush plane once adjustments are complete ;-) See you in the Air!

[@andybladen9284]

@@GroundControlRC that’s awesome it’s a handful with out the gyro so many times mine would go into the death spiral and not recover my cg is probably out too as You’ve mentioned the mods you have done are great I’m glad i wasn’t the only one experiencing the stall issues It’s a great little aeroplane mine thou look forward to video on the new set up !

[@GroundControlRC]

@@andybladen9284 , thank you much! Yeah, like most factory planes I've flown, it needs a bit of work to get it flying just right. I think it will be a great flying little bush plane ;-)

[@andybladen9284]

@@GroundControlRC definitely ! I flew mine earlier today in windy conditions needs full power or penetrate the wind less than ideal conditions !

[@GroundControlRC]

@@andybladen9284 , I'll bet! I think they should have put a 6 inch prop on that plane instead of a 5 inch prop. That would provide a bit more power.

[@associatedblacksheepandmisfits]

Hi guy , question, When on the bench and armed , when the throttle is advanced does the elevator lift ?have found that on a few of these types of birds... Greetings again from Islay.

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi John! While this one is on the Bench and the Throttle is initiated the Elevator will move in a Downward Position to try and lift the Tail to Level Flight. You're right, in a lot of these Planes the Gyro is not Active until Throttle is Initiated. I like that they do that as it gives me a chance to make some Mechanical Trim Adjustments without the Gyro messing me up ;-) See you in the Air!

[@associatedblacksheepandmisfits]

@@GroundControlRC down ? The ones i noticed went up so they auto-climb...different ! Slainte.

[@GroundControlRC]

@@associatedblacksheepandmisfits , When I hand launched this one it seemed hold it's altitude whether in Low-Rate or High-Rate. They're doing some strange things with the gyros in some of these planes ;-) Slainte!

[@associatedblacksheepandmisfits]

@@GroundControlRC yr not wrong !

[@Flybrei]

Nice J3👍

[@GroundControlRC]

Thank you much Martin! It's a fun little Plane and has a lot of detail ;-) See you in the Air!

[@ナオミ100ワッツ]

The actual J3 Cub has a high lift, but this model moves very quickly.

[@GroundControlRC]

Yes, I think this one has pretty high wing loading for it's size so it doesn't have the slow flight capability you would expect.

[@angelvalle6515]

This was my first plane my call sign is gung-ho lol

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Angel! I'm glad you got your 1st Plane. The Best Hobby in the World IMO. Nice call sign! Mine should probably be "Crash Override" ;-) See you in the Air!

[@angelvalle6515]

@@GroundControlRC nice lol

[@carlosjuarez7449]

Wow! That background looks familiar.

[@GroundControlRC]

It's the Desert and Mountains of Northern New Mexico ;-)

[@carlosjuarez7449]

@@GroundControlRC ok. A little like nevada also. Looks like plenty of room!

[@GroundControlRC]

@@carlosjuarez7449 , Miles and Miles ;-)

[@thetwogardens6048]

Where do you have the CG on this plane. If you dont mind me asking ??

[@GroundControlRC]

As soon as I have this Plane flying exactly as I want, I'll publish my setup. I currently have my CG at 32mm back from the Leading Edge of the Wing with the Plane Neutrally Balanced. That may change slightly after more adjustments but it seems to fly very well at that CG.

[@thetwogardens6048]

@@GroundControlRCI put bamboo skewers over those plastic struts to stiffen them up and added 10gm to the front nose. Seems to be balanced right to me. Nose is pointing slightly down. I will let you know how I go !

[@GroundControlRC]

@@thetwogardens6048 Excellent! That's a good idea ;-) Let me know how the flight goes with the Struts completely rigid and the Nose Weight. See you in the Air!

[@thetwogardens6048]

@@GroundControlRC Well , I made all the adjustments and took the plane out. Crashed 4 times and found the plane uncontrollable. Was scratching my head as to why it would fly a bit and then just lose it. Luckily I brought my XK800 and I thought. I will change the Transmitter because it uses the same one for the Skylark. The plane flew really good. So what I think has happened or could be happening to other people, is the Transmitter being at the bottom of the box is liable to damage in transit. And my box was beat up quite a bit on Delivery. Anyway, all turned out good.

[@GroundControlRC]

@@thetwogardens6048, that could absolutely be another issue going on with this plane or any plane. I think the transmitter is often overlooked as an issue. I was hoping the issue with the Eachine E130 Micro Heli was related to the transmitter, although, that turned out not to be the case. Good analysis and I'm glad the Skylark is flying well now ;-) See you in the Air!

[@cyclingstunts9887]

How big are the wheels and how wide

[@GroundControlRC]

The wheels are approx. 34mm x 12mm

[@phapnui]

UMX Turbo Timber and UMX Cub S2 flies slow with no problem out of the box with no trim or fooling around. My UMX PT-17 flies like this Skylark. Tail heavy and heads for the sky on 50% or more throttle. But make a turn and it spins to the ground. I moved battery far forward, cut some of the fuselage to do that. Still have to be on the controls at all time to control. Next step is to put weight on the nose. No reason they should sell such lousy fliers that you have to fool around with it. I like the Skylark but wouldn't waste my money on it.

[@GroundControlRC]

Hehehe...yeah, I usually have to tweak these factory planes to get them to fly the way I want. You're right, there's no excuse releasing a plane that is so far out of balance. That's one of the reasons I want Gyro's that have a Full Manual Mode, so you can test the balance of the plane. These Gyros hide a lot so I don't think most people realize how nose or tail heavy some of these planes can be.

[@mpn4514]

Amazing frang 👉peann man chaneel

[@GroundControlRC]

See you in the Air!

[@crotaflyingsolo4759]

I finally got it to Fly with its original Eqip. Not using the rudder (disconnected & Pinned) added 1/4oz in the front as your idea. This Video is the first of today's 3 successful (in my mind) flights. If you're interested my whole channel I started just because of this nightmare of a plane LOL studio.kzbin.infoBIGXXwrDjWc/edit

[@GroundControlRC]

Nice! That is flying very well. Good work as it's not easy to get this plane flying well ;-) See you in the Air!

[@Czechmagnum]

This is a flawed airplane. I always get a rudder stuck. Can not control at all :/

[@GroundControlRC]

Hi Tom! I agree, this plane has many issues ;-) I refer to it as a "Tinker Plane" as you have to perform a lot of "Tinkering" to get it to fly well. I didn't recommend this plane because of the many issues it has. Since you already have this plane, I did publish videos on what I did to get this plane flying well and that may help with your plane. See you in the Air!

[@Czechmagnum]

@@GroundControlRC thank you for your feedback! I will check what we can do. See you in the air 😃👌

[@GroundControlRC]

@@Czechmagnum You are most welcome Tom! I did finally get this plane flying pretty well but it took quite a bit of work. Good luck on your MODs and I'll see you in the Air!