Mike Robey

Hi Guys, I found moving the CG 1cm forward helped a lot. I also moved the undercarriage forward to avoid the nose over issues. I started with zero degrees down and right thrust and got the swing on takeoff plus climbing when power was added. I followed Lindsay's advice and added down and right thrust. Unfortunately now I cannot remember how much but I don't get any swing on take off. It sounds like you have that part sorted now. As far as the rudder is concerned, considering its small size(the rudder not the plane) I am amazed at how effective it is. When you apply rudder you will find the nose pitches down. All models do but the Zulu does this quite strongly. I also found the ailerons to be really sensitive. This seems to be in contrast with your experience. I did find that applying the rudder caused a strong roll (because of the dihedral). In flight this isn't an issue but it can get interesting when she lifts off just as you have input a dab of rudder to keep her straight. If I was building another one I would not build in the dihedral. That would stop the rolling motion when applying rudder. I have often pondered the idea of mixing opposite aileron with the rudder to cancel out the rolling effect but never got around to trying. I agree its no trainer. Its a very agile plane and I found it flies a lot like a warbird. It is tough as nails though. I bounced a landing quite badly and I did not realise the firewall had come loose. This became painfully obvious on the next flight when the poor thing became totally uncontrollable from the moment of lift off. My Zulu slammed into the ground so hard the aluminium undercarriage was bent straight! What totally amazed everyone who saw it was there was no other damage! I really thought it was a goner but all I had to do was bend the undercarriage back and replace the prop (and make sure the firewall was not going to ever come loose again!!). Dave W the business of it suddenly straightening itself sounds strange. See if you can get someone to video your plane in flight or at least watch it and observe the control surface movements when this happens. I put a camera on my Funcub one day and noticed when watching the footage that my ailerons were constantly twitching. I had found it a little difficult to keep level that day but just thought it was me. Anyway the culprit was a dirty pot in my transmitter. Fixed that and the probelm vanished. At any rate I hope both of you get your Zulu's sorted. Edited By Mike Robey on 17/05/2013 16:57:20

I now have a Spektrum module and have used the 9XR for about 10 flights. The sticking elevator stick problem seemed to go away by itself. The Spektrum module case required a bit of surgery to clear the back of the 9XR case when you plug it in but its in fine now. The plus button is a bit of a pain but, other than that, for $50.00 its not too bad. I have also ordered a FlySky module off eBay and am going to try that when it arrives. The big plus is the open source software. I agree with Tony, if you dug into the programming there probably is a way of reversing it. I do intend to look at that, just no time now. If I had never seen or used the 9X I probably would not have been so disappointed initially. The orange module issue is a different matter. They never should have put them on the market. However that is a different issue to the 9XR.

I like the ergl software but frankly as a radio, I think the 9x is better than the 9xr. I love my 9x and run it with the ergle software. I just found out about the spektrum modules, I didn't know abotu them until today. Regarding the orange dsm2 module, I think its going in the bin. Its not worth the risk. I am considering a spektrum module.

Hi All, I just received my 9XR yesterday and mine is as described by Simon. Actually for $50.00 I can almost accept all of that but I also ordered the orange dsm2 module and have since discovered postings on rcgroups where people are saying its possible for the module to use the same id as another transmitter. They don't say whether this is just another orange module or also an actual Spektrum radio. The instructions tell you in very poor English that you can change the id which implies the concerns are valid. To me this makes the module pretty much useless. Yes i can push the little button and change the ID but that is cold comfort if I have already shot down someone else's model. I am hoping I have things wrong and have posted queries both on rcgroups and turnigy9xr.com but so far nobody has replied on the9xr forum and the only reply on rcgroups was basically saying yes, we would all like to know the answer to that. I would LOVE to be told I have nothing to worry about. I fly mode 3 (yes I know but that is what I was taught on so its too late to change). My purpose was to have a Spektrum compatible radio that I could set to mode 3. I am thinking that I need to save my pennies and buy a dx7s instead. If someone replies on either forum I will repeat their response here. if anyone here knows the reality I'd love them to post here and let me know. Edited By Mike Robey on 20/02/2013 05:07:16

Thanks Terry, I found your build thread. I find the pictures help a lot (both yours and Tim's). I'll let you know by posting here if I get stuck again. I'll post some pictures as I get further into the build.

Hi Tim, Thanks that clears it up for me. Time to finish cutting the nribs and start putting the wing together.

Thanks Tim, I appreciate the info about the ribs when you have time to check the plans. Building the wings in three parts will make it way easier for me from the perspective of space and not annoying the rest of my family. I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything by going that way. I take your point about the spars lining up, I'll be careful and hopefully they will line up nicely anyway. I also take your point about video. I sometimes think its harder to video a model in flight than fly the damn thing! My hope was that, going by the forum participants, there must be at least 3 or 4 couriers out there by now so maybe someone got some video.

Hi All, This will be my third balsa scratch build (Funterceptor, Zulu ET and now the Courier). I love the planes you select to model Tim, they are always a bit quirky and unusual. I chose the Courier because I think its not too complicated for me (I hope!) and looks cool (very 30's art deco) plus the retracts add an extra bit of fun. I have just started cutting the wing ribs for the courier and I have a two questions and a request: 1. Is there any reason why the wing can't be built in three parts rather than built as one part and cut into three? Space is an issue and it would be easier for me to build it in three parts. 2. Ribs 4 and 5 have a lite ply section that re-enforces the balsa rib. Is the balsa rib cut as one complete rib or in two parts (front and rear)? The plans show them in two parts but on the photos it looks like they could be one balsa rib with the lite ply glued to the front of the rib. 3. Finally the request: Does anyone have any video of a courier in flight? Nothing like a bit of video to up the motivation.   Edited By Mike Robey on 17/12/2012 03:05:41 Edited By Mike Robey on 17/12/2012 03:06:07

Hi All, I have done some youtube videos on the Zulu ET: Intro and scary maiden flight: Build video: Flying video after everything sorted: Enjoy.

Hi All, Well I thought I'd let you all know what happened to my Zulu ET. I took Lindsay's advice and moved the cg 1 cm forward, added down and right thrust. As shown in my previous posting I also found a slight twist in the right wing and removed it. Finally I moved the undercarriage about 1 inch forward and swapped the two inch wheels I had on it for some 2.5 inch ones which were a much more appropriate size. I spent the week in trepidation of what was going to happen and so when Sunday came around I was rather nervous. The forecast light easterlies turned out to be gusty 10 to 15 knot easterlies which didn't help. I had decided it was too windy but when the wind seemed to die down a bit I thought "Don't think about it just go for it!" so I powered up and headed for the flight line. I took off (a very slight swing to the left) without touching the rudder and climbed up 3 mistakes high and then the moment to try the rudder had arrived. With baited breath I fed in left rudder and... well the rudder behaved like a rudder! No violent flick/spins. From then on I threw her around like a mad thing. What a brilliant plane! Think Funcub but more sensitive ailerons and less sensitive elevator. Rolls are amazingly axial for a tubby looking high winger. Landing is pretty easy. You do have to keep a little power one because she is a bit draggy but otherwise is a real fine plane. Thanks Lindsay for your advice and also for all those build photos in this thread. They were invaluable. Oh and also thanks for designing such a great plane. Below are two photos: the first is her after all the mods had been completed and the second is a frame lifted from some video of her first flight. I will be getting some better flight video later. Charlie if you haven't done your maiden yet, check your wings are straight and move the CG a tad forward.   Edited By Mike Robey on 30/09/2012 15:25:34

Hi Lindsay, I will do as you suggest but after what yopu said about washin/washout, I thought I needed a better way of checking if the wings were twisted. What I did was sticky tape four satay sticks (do people ever actually use these things for satay??) inboard and outboard of each wing. I reasoned that if the wing is straight then they should all be parallel. If not then the wing isn't straight. As you can see from the photos below the right wing had a very slight twist which, when I printed the photo and used a protractor to measure the angle, meant the wing tip was approx. 1.5 degrees higher angle of attack then inboard. I then used a heat gun and twisted the wing until the satay sticks line up parallel. Hopefully that sorts it out. The only thing that confuses me is wouldn't this cause a tip stall in the right wing? but it was the left wing that dropped. Either way still wrong so better fixed than not.

I just had my first flight with the Zulu and I would absolutely put in some down and right thrust. The swing to the left was not strong but it was there and mine wanted to climb everytime I put on power. Good news is ailerons very responsive, elevator less so but still plenty there. In fact if you are used to more docile planes I would dial the ailerons down a bit. I like the response rate myself so its just what you are used to. Bad news: I found mine want to tip on its nose on take off so I am moving my undercarriage forward. Mine also has another problem. I have seen Lindsay's videos of both of his and they don't do what mine does so I have done something wrong in the build. What does it do? Well if you apply any amount of left rudder, my Zulu flicks over into a spin. Afterwards someone asked me if the same thing happened with right rudder and I honestly don't remember if I used right rudder. When it happened the first time it surprised me so I did another circuit and tried again just to be sure it was just the rudder input causing it. Did exactly the same thing. I got her down okay by simply not touching the rudder and flying her bank and yank. What I intend to do is to add the right and down thrust, move the cg further forward and see if that helps. I intend to wait for a still day where I can take off without using the rudder until she is 3 mistakes high and then see what happens. I am worried I have screwed up the wings somehow. Can't see anything out of wack via eyeball. Some builders in my club think that sorting out the thrust angle and moving the CG forward will fix the problem but I am not so sure. I really hope I can fix it because, for a tubby high winger, she is pretty agile and potentially a lot of fun. Any thoughts or opinions appreciated Edited By Mike Robey on 24/09/2012 05:07:58