FMS Fox 3000 Motor Glider with AS3X+

First a shout out to Jon at Two Brothers RC and Adam at ModelAV8R channel for their review of this model and Callie at Callie Graphics for the Red Baron RB-51 racer graphics. Her products and customer care are consistently excellent. The large 3m Fox from FMS has been around for awhile. I started RC slope soaring in the way back time and always liked large gliders, but hesitated getting this one because the idea of hefting one of these to hand launch made my shoulder sore just thinking about it. I saw a video of one being launched from a dolly, so I decided to give it a go. Never having built or flown from a launch dolly made the project even more appealing. A search of "YouTube University" video files and I found a design I could build from scrap wood and 2" ridged wheel casters. It works surprisingly well and is a very easy launch. I usually let the dolly get near the end of the paved runway before lifting off, so it would be out of the way for others to land. Otherwise the Fox lifts off quickly and cleanly in a short distance at full throttle. I took the program mix setting from Jon at Two Brothers RC which I applied to my Eflite Conscendo and copied that to the Fox. I am using a Spektrum 8 channel receiver with AS3X+ in order to have full span AILERONS and mixed FLAPS / ELEVATOR. The FLAPS are gyro stabilized with the AILERONS so everything works in unison. The Fox is very large and has great presence in the air and is surprisingly agile with the enhanced control surfaces. The Fox does not carry momentum very long in a power off glide, but the big folding fan up front works well to keep things going to complete a maneuver. Using RUDDER control really gets this model turned around in a quick hurry if you like tight turns. The Fox does monster large scale glider aerobatics, but will also do the forward Waterfall pushover maneuver as Jon demonstrates in his video. I balanced mine slightly behind the recommended Center of Gravity to attain a neutral balance. Inverted flights require very light forward stick pressure and is very stable. Servos are 23 gram metal gear type which seem to take the maximum control surface deflections without straining. I scuffed the pushrod ends a little to give the grub nuts a better bite and used thread lock on all the grub nuts holding the pushrods. Doing the work up for tumbling aerobatic maneuvers for another video if successful. Keep being safe and keep sharing the fun.