Air Swimmers Knockoff Mod

“I use my trusty Spektrum DX6i. I Love the 2.4gHz Air Swimmers Knockoff Mod!! Anyway, you get the feel pretty quickly. Light fluttery movements of the tail fin look real. Long, bold tail fin swipes side to side really get the speed up, and turns are, as expected, much easier when you have some headway.

Using the Air Swimmers Knockoff Mod, I can fly in my living room, it’s SO relaxing! I spend 45 minutes flying around, then out to the dining room, and back.

A my learning curve improves, so do my flying skills. You want to have just SLIGHTLY negative buoyancy with this Air Swimmers Knockoff Mod, IMHO, so as to allow the fish the ability to sink. Ignore this suggestion at your peril;then try to get your fish off a high ceiling. I had wanted a “recovery mini engine” for just this purpose, but couldn’t do it and keep within my weight limitations.

Stop moving the fin, and she s-l-o-w-y sinks. I can control height by powering that big tail, and just slightly adjusting the COG servo. I have my COG servo control on my throttle (left thumb), held closed with a rubber band. Push ‘er forward, couple of swishes with that powerful tail, and she rises! The rubber band holds the throttle in the closed position to prevent “runaways”-when the darn thing just rises and rises. You can’t prevent that if she goes, shes a goner if you have real high ceilings.

Turns are easy, just hold the fin to whatever side you want to turn. The turning radius on your fish is 4 feet, a few more or less, I suppose, based on your setup and flight skills.
I found that if I quickly “flick” my tail then e-a-s-e it back, it will “kick” the stern (that’s the back for you non-sky-sailors) around without too much headway. Almost let’s you turn on it’s axis. Well, OK, not really, but…

Turns as you “flutter” the tail fin look very pretty and will wow your guests. Remember, turns are much easier if you have established some headway first.

Someone asked if I had reverse. YES I do!! It is a bit unconventional, perhaps, but you can do it. Guys, this thing will bounce off all your wife’s lamps and knickknacks, it won’t really knock ’em over (at least the ones in my house). USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! I have found that by going “full speed ahead” into a tight situation then powering off JUST at the right moment will cause your fish to hit and BOUNCE backwards, allowing you to flutter and flit your way OUT of 90% of your situations. I have already learned to get out of some pretty tight corners!

Dry fit, looks promising. Oh, I even lub’ed the hinges with a light machine oil. Go figure

First you need to modify the servo arm;I just mounted the old arm to the top of the existing arm on the new servo.

A little Dremel work

A little filing, and some CA and a little piece of shrink fit and

bada bing! I placed the servo on a mount made from 1/2″ foam. I glued mine with 30 minute epoxy, strength and light weight.

Mounting bracket. I got rid of the plastic tabs-they wouldn’t stay on and they were just extra weight anyway! BTW, hinge tape makes a GREAT adhesive for these little mounts

In situ, under Marlins chin. Those $6 Orange Receivers DMS2/Spektrum compatible from HK are hard to beat folks!

My little COG weight. I used some fishing sinkers, then use plasticine clay (non hardening) in varying amounts to get the ballast “just right”. Perfect, because it is so easy to put on and remove.

Here are my batteries. The first is just a 200ma/Hr cell I built from HobbyKing 1s cell, the second is a 500ma/Hr from Elite. Both are 3.7V. I can’t tell you how long they last because I haven’t found out myself yet, but each one lasts at LEAST 30-45 minutes

A closer view of the weight wrapped in clay. I used a fine wire, and the servo always seems to be “fighting” a bit (It is always on unless I am going up), but so what?

Now go and fly a fish!!!”