Model review: AXN - CLOUD FLY 1280mm glider

About

I've met an old R/C member last month after years away from our club due to his family and work.  We had memorable chat about nostalgic stuff we did about R/C flying how fun it was to air race above rough seas, flying along the city drainage system, local parks and even see who can fly high punching the clouds  first as we fly within visually line of sight (L.O.S).  We have on thing in common, we all flew the "AXN CLOUD FLY" glider.  That was 13 years ago yet everyday we fond thinking about it and smile nostalgically how much fun we had because back then almost 95% of our R/C flying club member had the same glider and we would socially fly, glide, race together and compete among each other in the air every evening after working hours just to get the thrills before heading home for the day....everyday!

The "AXN CLOUD FLY" is a 1280mm wingspan glider but also known as a "floater jet" in HobbyKing.com online stores due to its fast flying like a jet capability on a pusher propeller configuration .  It was introduced to me in 2009 along with other member of R/C flying club because it was extremely cheap for an RTF and kit package.  For a kit it priced approximately USD$35 which is cheap for all can do plane.  It's a glider, floats like a kite and flies very fast for a small amount of power at the trottle.  At that time most of us are heavily into flying 450 size electric helicopter running on 3s 2200mah Li-po battery, since we planning to use back existing battery to fly a basher plane the AXN Cloud Fly was a perfect model that can runs optimal on this battery size thus save us money from spending buying new battery size for planes.  At the end of the day i've ended up with 4x units of Cloud Fly gilders with different custom colors livery.  Its 'all-can-do' plane beyond just being a glider.  We would high speed racing with other plane including tailgating behind electric jets, race towards the clouds tops, between trees, drifting along the beach cliff side and even doing awkward high speed flyby along narrow city drainages, lol!  Cheap plane, pure fun and most importantly everyone in our circle was jumping the band wagon too.  With Cloud Fly our everyday flying activities looks like a big 'festive' event even curious crowds/audience flocks to see what's shrieking up in the air.  Oh yes, this fast glider is audibly loud around the neighborhood, that's normal for a pusher prop configuration.   Thus the AXN CLOUD FLY signifies my fun youthful days with the clubs before my empires of scale planes took AXN Cloud Fly to the backstage in years to come.

 
Specification (as describe by vendor/manufacturer)

Brand name: AXN (AOXING)/HOBBY KING (re-branded from original AOXING brand)
Model name: CLOUD FLY
Release date: Approximately early 2009

Quality and builds

The AXN CLOUD FLY comes in two packages; Plug-N-Fly (PNF), Ready To Fly (RTF) or bare kit without electronics. For PNF just add radio unit and battery and a kit only (without electronics) where you add you own hand picked hardware such as servos, motor, ESC, radio unit and battery...this is my favorite package to pick.  You can't go wrong picking either both package offer good solution to start flying, RTF package have decent enough electronics to get you start flying and glide with the wind, however if you're into speeding and race against your friend a kit will be ideal for you as you can put more powerful ESC going 40A an above and also your own powerful motor for maximum high throttle performance.  Regardless both in kit, RTF or PNF packages in a box the AXN CLOUD FLY is extremely easy to assemble even without manual book/sheet because visually straight forward you know which parts goes to where since shaped as conventional place; attached both main wings, rear elevator, control rods, propellers, hook the electronics and that's it!  Next you'll have to do maiden flight making some trims on your basic 4CH radio stick.  The center gravity (CG) is somewhere at 51.5 mm from the leading edge of the wing preferred point where the wing spare is else ranged around 49mm till 56 mm depending the 3S battery weight on front.  By default i'm using 3s 2200mah between 30~40C rating li-po battery which i've been used on my 450 size helicopters.   On physical appearance this glider looks very slender and most notable more aerodynamic than any glider that exist on the market on 2009.  Its aero looks proven to be fast in the air with little effort to move forward yet still able to float and glide naturally like a kite. 

Throughout fuselage and wings material build its fully made from resilient EPO foam (Expanded Polyolefin) which is good when handling moderate impact when landing hard on the ground or when wings gets caught by tree branches and if trees 'jumping' in front of you, lol! Any hard knock or dents on any surfaces on the wings or fuselage  can be easily fixed with hot boiling water to straighten up the surfaces.  If the foam breaks into pieces a quick 1 minute hot glue fix can fix it back together and you'll be flying in no time.  Should this glider breaks like an ice cube or torn apart it can be easily fixed using hot glue or reconstructed its missing pieces using block of random foam then shaved or sculpted to actual shape. Such resilient EPO foam characteristic on this plane made it a good choice for everyday air basher and also beginners alike...crash, fix and fly then repeat!  As an extra note the elasticity of EPO material  characteristic are actually the same as the one i flew a lot on the mini WING WING Z-84 which builds as UAV flight, now you know how robust this material can be after smashing repeatedly on hard ground during landing for half decades of flight.  The only hardest solid part of the glider is the front black plastic canopy lid which helps to cover the battery compartment yet also the weakest part of the fuselage which easily ejected while in the air.  The plastic canopy cover is secured using magnetic latch but i prefer mods using R/C car bodyshell pins to secure the lid tightly to avoid blew away when doing high speed flying in the air...essential this is the must do mods for first time owner but you can also used rubber band over the  lid to secure it in place.

The AXN Cloud Fly have the most simple basic flight control which any pilot can easily managed even for beginners.  It runs with independent controlled ailerons, elevator, rudder and throttle all on 4 channel requirement on the radio....cheap affordable electronic setup. All flight control surface are operated through 4x affordable mini 9 gram servos.  On stock PNF/RTF package comes with 20A ESC ideal for cruise and gliding but most of us club  flyer added 30A~40A ESC for extra high speed performance especially if we need to compete each other racing tandem in circuit. With 3s lipo battery it could provide almost 1kg of thrust.  This glider doesn't come with any wheeled landing gear, its not able to coast about on the ground.  Take-off can be both hand launched or just friction slide on the ground with full throttle and landing is usually via 'belly landing'.  So every time when i worked on new Cloud Fly kit i always did a DIY mods to a custom wheeled landing gear under the front fuselage where the battery weight located with wheels (2x) protruded on each side wall and 1x smaller ones at the tail (static non-steerable) so i could easily take off on the grounds and land. 

The electronics component its uses are generic commonly use on any R/C models which abundant on any R/C online market such as mini 9 grams servo, 30A ESC, 4 channel radio combos, brushless outrunner motor and 5x5 size pusher props. No matter how hard ones crashed or break this gliders into pieces like an ice cube it can be easily rebuild 100% of the time thanks to its elastic and easy to glue EPO foam material and still able to fly and retain its original flight characteristic as it its new out of the box.  Some pilots in our club just took few seconds of work 'duct tape' a totally smashed Cloud Fly and still able to fly and win the air race like a champ.  That's how formidable this glider can be.  Because of all its fun flying characteristic, usability and affordability i ended up owned about 4x units of AXN CLOUD FLY glider in my personal hangar and give it a personal customization with different fuselage spray color livery just to spice up the appearance and uniqueness among fleet of our club member's Cloud Flyer.  Every evening after work we would zipped away across the blue sky horizon with our flying skills.

Flight performance

On the first day of maiden via hand launched it flew off without a hitch into the head wind with just 30~40% throttle; nicely leveled with the horizon and a good amount of elevator pull to keep it climbing at ease.  It takes around 3~6 click of elevator trims (depending on the frontal weight CG weight applied) and 2 click of trimming on the ailerons.  Thanks to its handful amount of dihedral shape on it main wing tips the glider stabilized itself very well in turbulent air which makes a suitable flying platform for beginners to handle a plane for first timer. I flew the AXN CLOUD FLY a lot along the beach side where there always have huge amount of updraft wind to keep the glider float all day like a kite.  The flight characteristic can be both a relaxing slope soarer and a racer depending how much throttle you would like to apply on this plane, yes it can handle any speed without breaking a part through high cornering G-forces.   Due to having a dihedral wing tip which give a good lock on stabilization however it limits is agility to perform common aerobatic moves.  The only safe aerobatic moves it can do is a 'big loop' where you have to apply full elevator up and at the same time max full throttle to make the plane do a complete big radius back flip/giant loop then level back to the ground....make sure you do it at higher altitude before executing the maneuver.   I can do the inverted flight but only after going half way through the loop though big elevator pull until the plane almost at inverted level but again to exit the inverted flight i'll have to push elevator again to reposition the plane in vertical movement.  There's no way you could exit any maneuver using aileron roll because the dihedral wing tips limits its movement.  The only way to unlock its aerobatic to make the aileron roll more responsive is by cutting the dihedral wing tips to make the main wing looks straight, then it could roll easily but only worked in the hands of skilled R/C pilot...not recommended for beginners.

As for the radio stick controller setting this is my personal setup (other people setup may varies depending on CG, weight/ thrust power and servo responses):

1. EXPO
   • Throttle:    0%
   • Aileron:    45%
   • Elevator:   45%
   • Rudder:    100%
     
     
2. EPA
   • Throttle:    100%
   • Aileron:    100%
   • Elevator:   100%
   • Rudder:    100%
     
     
3. TRIM
   • Throttle:    0
   • Aileron:    +2
   • Elevator:   +3
   • Rudder:    0

Running on recommended 3s 2200mah 30~40C lipo battery it has an extremely long flight time depending on what type of flying executed in the air.  Below are types of run time i achieved through various type of flight assume pilot's running on stock setup on their planes.

• 8-10 minutes = High speed air racing. (90~100% full throttle)
• 12~25 minutes = Normal cruise flight/fun fly. (50~80% throttle)
• 45 minutes = Gliding against the wind at low altitude along the beach or above the ocean. (40% throttle)
• 50~60 minutes= High altitude gliding, slope soaring along windy hill side or surf on thermal.  (15~30% throttle)

Back in the early days before radio have telemetry unit build in; to keep aware how much battery i have left while floating in the air far away i've used QUANUM TELEMETRY V2 unit that hooked a modular battery sensor transmitter plugged to the li-po battery balanced plug and then transmitted radio signal back to the ground on my QUANUM receiver LCD monitor that shows how much battery i have left per-cell.  This allows me to glide at high altitude within visual line of sight (LOS) without need to land to check how much battery power i have left or needed to listen audible battery alarm as it flew passes by.  When its time to land the plane the CLOUD FLY can float down gently by putting slightly nose down from 15 to 30 degree angle without needing to put much throttle power then flare it seconds before it hits the ground landing nicely on its belly.  Even first timer/beginner R/C pilot i've seen able to do it without trashing or nick the plane....that's how docile this glider is.   From aggressive to relaxing flight this glider does it all.   I don't need big space to take off and land this plane, as long you know how to catch the wind it can just bellly flop landing at short distance or you can just catch it by hand while it was hovering slowly like a kite. 

Fun factor

Although AXN CLOUD FLY as glider have its limitation being less agile in its roll (aileron) axis unlike the capability seen in aerobatic planes, its fun factor comes in many ways for being extremely stable and able to float effortlessly in windy condition without having to struggle or chaotic on the control stick as shown some points below. 

• Kite
  You can float all day just soaring catching the wind without much throttle, takes lots of skills to surf the wind.  You can just operate with a single thumb stick to balance the hovering on aileron and elevator and keep the throttle at fixed range thus relaxing your other hands free. (On 'Mode 2' radio).
  
  
• Racer
  Being able to go fast and add more powerful combo unit of ESC and motors this glider can go fast without tearing itself a part.  Its beefy wing chord and wing spar able to handle the stress of high speed flight and cornerings.
  
  
• FPV (First Person View)
  Most ideal stable platform for performance FPV flight both long distance, height and even dog fighting.  On the last phase of its life i've manage to build an FPV system on this plane and did some immersive dog fighter and chaser platform.  Was fun!  Here is the page link of my AXN Cloud Fly FPV build (Click).
  
  
• Customization
  You can put almost anything on this glider. Adding "Flaps", cool livery paintings, stickers, cut off the wing tip for aerobatic agility, towing other planes, adding trails of strips on its wing tips, putting wheeled landing gear and so on. 
  
  
• Night light
  I've manage added strips of lightweight LED's around the fuselage and lit the dark night sky bright during flight.  Its an eye catching and mesmerizing view for audience on the ground.  *Pro tips:  Don't add too much LED's, if its too bright you'll ended up looking at bright ball of star (strong light glare) and confused its fuselage orientation during line of sight flight.
  
  
• Everyone can fly!
  Due to its stable and tame nature in all weather condition this plane this glider can be flown by anyone at any flying skills from learner to professional pilot.  The glider behaves according to the pilot flying quirk so each AXN Cloud Fly can adapt to any pilots flying characteristic and quirks.

Good visibility & natural stabilization

The word 'Cloud Fly' has its valid merit to its name.  Our R/C flying club used to pushed beyond boundaries flying visual line of sight (L.O.S) how far and how high we can fly our glider and stay at certain altitude for a long time capture the winds like a kite.  We have two candidate glider for such task at that time; the HOBBY KING BIXLER aka SKY SURFER (1400mm) and AXN CLOUD FLY (1280mm). The BIXLER takes forever to gain much altitude, slow both speed and reaction time and quite heavy overall.  It consume so much battery power for amount of distance it travels. We called it 'the cow' but it never reached the cloud tops at our expectation. Can be a bit stubborn to gain speed against headwind when return back home to base due to heavy wind resistance all over its fuselage.  On the other hand the Cloud Fly obviously twice or triple faster due to less wind resistance on its aerodynamic fuselage design. When reaching at visible altitude behind the clouds took about less than 30 seconds tops to reach there, flies up like a rocket!.  We believed it has reached around 600m~700m of altitude flying behind the clouds and took about 2 spotter to see where it went among those white fluff.  The 1280mm wing size is enough to be able to spot visually by two person on the ground and would able to glide between 30~60 minutes on thermal or handful amounts of head winds.  Its easy to navigate the plane orientation due to being brightly white colored under its wings and fuselage  against the blue sky backdrops and still visible during dark stormy days.  Although extremely high the Cloud Fly easily leveled with orientation with the horizon without tipping too much into stall on its side thanks to its dihedral wing tips. If it lost for a few seconds behind thick clouds we would release our hands on the throttle (15%~30% thrust), aileron, elevator and rudder stick waited until it existed out from the clouds, it would leveled itself until we are able to visually spot the plane and control back momentarily.  100% it won't stray too much from our predicted deviation.  When we fly in such manner we always have handful of ground 'spotter' to aware of the glider position.  Overall it was fun to see how such a simple hand manual flying glider able to fly and float easily behind the clouds and race to the grounds like a champ.  This plane simply amaze us how much it can do for a small budget out from our pocket. 

Videos/Medias
Here are sample of video of  i posted on my Youtube channel contain fun flying my AXN CLOUD FLY

• Product gallery (mixed with my other planes): HOBBY KING AXN Cloud Fly floater jet glider - 1290mm
   
  • Video: FPV Air Combat - AXN Cloud Fly EPO

Vendor/seller

Here are list of reputable vendor/seller which i bought from and also verified by community forum discussion groups. Also i've experienced buying from these places that have good support and services:

1. Seller HobbyKing.com:  AXN Floater-Jet Glider EPO 1280mm (PNF) *(discontinued production model)
2. Seller HobbyKing.com:  AXN Floater-Jet EPO 1280mm (ARF) *(discontinued production model)
3. Seller HobbyKing.com:  H-King AXN (PNF) Floater Jet 1280mm *(discontinued production model)

Support group/articles:
Places where you can find help and resources related to this product:

• RCgroups discussion group - AXN Floater-Jet (aka Cloud Fly) thread:  https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?972336
• My FPV build:  FPV AXN Floater jet - 1290mm
• AXN Cloud Fly setup wiki:  https://beta.ivc.no/wiki/index.php/AXN_Clouds_Fly_Setup
  
  

Summary

I really missed the days when things was very simple, cheap and fun to fly an R/C plane; AXN CLOUD FLY was the gem among member of R/C flyer.  We flew, racing, hit the clouds and float endlessly into the wind until dusk.  After that off we go together having nice dinner and drinks chatting all about our excitement of the day about the glider activity, we repeat the same routine activity again the next day.  Flying either solo or in groups the AXN CLOUD FLY in its simplicity form both physical and budget it a plane that bring huge amount of joy to fly with no worries nor frill.  Everyone of any ages and skills can easily fly this plane and also grow our hobby with just a single plane....it does everything what you want to fly and tag along with many type of flying discipline in any flying field. Everyone in my club have at least one Cloud Fly in their flying arsenal as staple plane to fly at our local field.

Although the production AXN CLOUD FLY glider have been discontinued from the market yet there are still few second hand unit on sale through community forum or within circles of R/C flying club especially from veteran members since its most common 'must have' glider for multi purpose flying popular among intermediate and professional R/C flyer...its an 'all can do' plane!  Even in its rough and bad shape it still flies like a gem as if its still new out of the box.

To this day i admit i've regret giving away all my AXN Cloud Fly glider decades ago thinking i've graduated fully into scaler foamies never to return to flying a simple model 'non-scaler' plane looks....i was serious into scale civilian planes, warbirds and jets - well i was 'in the' wrong.  As i get older into my 40's my passion for flying and adrenaline started to slow down i began to crave something more simple, relaxing and fun to fly. Now i like to fly my eagle glider, DIY profile F22, 3D profiles planes which is simple to mind about and something as slow as a BIXLER however nothing beat the fun and versatility of an AXN CLOUD FLY at more "simplified" factor.  Every now an then at random times i would always browse at Hobbyking.com website or other hobby shop that used to sell AOXING - AXN Cloud Fly hoping it would resurface again so i could put into the cart online for purchasing and get back enjoying it like the olds days. However the chances are slim just like the same trends how it happened to lines of limited production of DURAFLY and ART-TECH series of scale planes which i only manage to collect few in my hangar,

Now in year 2022 i don't fly much as i do back then nor shoping around for any R/C plane models because some of the models in the market is not as fun to fly as it used to be, plus the price inflation is soaring so high you'll have to pay 3x the price for a 800mm size scale PIPER CUB plane than what it was at merely USD$40 average more than 10 years ago.  Regardless manufacturer no longer to make a 'good' fun planes like it was in the past and AXN glider is one of them.  Hopefully one day we may able to see  'Cloud Fly' return back into scene if luck drops by.   For now i just enjoy what i have in my hangar but all of them have serious manual handling skills on the stick especially 'scaler' flight models.  Regardless, although lost in the past however gained many great fond memories flying this plane socially with friends and club members, till this day whenever i met old flying buddies with his families we would always chuckled and thrilled how much we enjoyed our nostalgic and fun moments with AXN CLOUD FLY at our R/C flying club.  Its the plane keeps us fun & happy together as a community whole.