Baron Baz

Posted by James B on 22/06/2012 14:16:06: ... I need about 3/4 down elevator to keep it level... Ouch! Point most definately taken. I had no idea it was that bad. Thanks for the heads up as I'll have to be very careful not to destroy mine on its maiden. Is your CoG good? Like Tim I've had to set my Rx very far back in the fuz to reduce the nose heaviness, although I don't plan on adding tail weight. I shall keep it slightly nose heavy to begin & adjust as required. Edited By Baron Baz on 22/06/2012 14:23:04

I may well be wrong but... The motor is used to increase lift and raise the 'craft to a suitable height from which to glide. When the motor is off, the controls should be set up for a good glide angle. Therefore I would have thought that the thrust line for the motor should be set to climb whilst under power. This being my first foray into gliders with power, and not having flown this model yet, I have yet to experience the issue, but my ASW28 also climbs when under power and is very neutral when gliding.

Excellent stuff Tim, many thanks. Masking tape is a simple stroke of genius, which explains why I didn't think of it. I'm also surprised that the tail tape is strong enough for the job! I'll put away my drawer full of epoxies and take it for a spin (not literally hopefully) as & when & if it stops raining. On another note, I maidened my ST Model ASW28 last night - 2 flights of about 15 minutes & I love it. It's a very calm flyer, not at all stressy like my IC 'planes, although a bit slow. I dove from height under full power until the wings began fluttering alarmingly. On landing I noticed that the wings had pulled out from the spar by about 5mm, even though they were screwed on!

Does anyone still fly one of these? Mine has just arrived & I'm concerned about the attachment of the wings - a simple push fit into the fuz is all that's suggested, onto the wire wing spar (which fits loose into a tube in the wing). The fit is not very firm and, holding the 'plane by the wings mid-way along the leading edge, a slight jiggle is enough to loosen one wing from the fuz. I'm sure that more force will be applied to the wings in flight & I don't want to lose a wing on it's maiden. Unfortunately I'd rather not glue the wings to the fuselage if I can avoid it, mainly for transport & storage reasons. I've considered pushing long panel pins through the fuselage & wing at the root, fore & aft, then taping over the pins for added security, but I'd appreciate some comments from other pilots of this otherwise great looking & feeling 'plane. Thanks in advance, Baz

If the sim cable is plugged in to JR units it goes into the DSC socket (Direct Servo Control) which turns on the controller without powering the transmitter element. The socket allows testing of servos without RF output. It has no facility to charge the battery. I can use my JR controllers for upwards of 30 hours on the sim as the controller alone draws just a few mA from the 8 cell 9.6V battery pack. If the power switch is turned on the DSC socket is isolated and the simulator will not see the controller.

Cheers Andy. Job done now and everything moves freely. After putting in the kinks to the wires I had absolutely no spare wire but the rod fitted perfectly as can be seen in the photo. Yes, both your elevator and rudder servos are back to front compared to the instructions but no matter. It would mean fitting the rudder wires would be easier. I also used a spare set of clevises on the rudder servo to improve the range of adjustment when fitting. It's the first time I've used a closed loop system and found it a real pain (lots of cursing, swearing and spitting out of the dummy while trying to make silly little adjustments). Now its all together it works great but I can't help think there must be a better way. I saw a photo on here from a guy who left the wire in one piece and simply threaded it through the control arms - maybe try that next time.

Thanks very much for that Andy. I'm assuming the exit slot is on the left (right of the photos). That's the plan I'm taking but I didn't realise there would be enough spare wire to make a right-angled z-bend. I've mowed the servo wire through 180 degrees so forward clearance will be no issue now with a slightly more oblique z-bend.

Posted by Codename-John on 22/05/2012 16:08:51: Your choice, if you can't use a scalpel to cut a little slot, in my opinion 30x5 mm piece of blended in solar film at the bottom rear of the fuz over the wrong hole is hardly going to make a model look second hand, unless you pointed it out to people they'd probly never even know Thanks for that. I'm perfectly capable of using a scalpel, I just don't see the point of cutting into the fuselage when there's already a slot specifically for the job. I also don't want to spend money on white solarfilm then wait four days for it to arrive. Adapting the dowel has been far simpler, quicker and has not affected the model's appearance in any way. Job done.

Posted by Codename-John on 22/05/2012 10:45:13: Wouldnt it be a lot easier just to cut a slot on the other side insted of messing with the pushrod guessing bends and having to re-jig the piano wires, measure where it should be from the other side and 2 mins with a scalpel, job done It might be easier, but I think it would be a poor option. If I don't need to start cutting the fuselage, why should I? 2 minutes with a scalpel would be a botch job, then I'd have to, at the very least, cover the original hole with solarfilm, even if I don't make a fillet to glue in place. If I'm going to have to adapt I'd much rather make the changes to an easily replaceable wodden dowel which will be inside the aircraft. If the 'plane was an old hack then maybe what you suggest would be ok, but I don't want it to look second hand before I maiden it.

Much appreciated Andy. If you can take a shot of the servo tray showing the orientation of the rod and dowel too that would be brilliant.

Ooops, clicked on 4-7 but then started counting... I have 8 fixed wing and 3 helis: Firebird STII V-tail Kyosho Calmato 40 Trainer c/w Kyosho .46 IC Thunder Tiger Cessna 182 lektrik park flyer Max Thrust J3 Cub lektrik Dynham Sbach 342 lektrik WOT4 Foam-E lektrik Art-Tech Mig 15 EDF lektrik WOT4 Mk2 c/w SC.46 IC   Raptor 30 V2 Century GL450 Century Spirit CX   So that makes 11 With the exception of the IC WOT4, they are all ready and capable of flight.  I, however, am not! Edited By Baron Baz on 22/05/2012 00:19:06

Turbycat (Andy) - Cheers for that. I love a simple solution and that sounds just like what I need - I must be simple for not thinking of it - or maybe just too overcome by solvents. I may give it a try but I suspect that my control rod may have been built for a right side exit and so the dowel will be upside down in orientation, ie: hanging down from the servo wire, rather than being above the wire as shown above. Can you remember the locations of the exit slot and servo for the elevator on your model - right or left? Edited By Baron Baz on 22/05/2012 00:05:21 Edited By Baron Baz on 22/05/2012 00:05:38

Cheers Robin & Dean (& Rusty of course!). There is most definitely no slot in the right side of the fuselage for the elevator, only on the left. I assume that these chinese ARTF models are jobbed out to whichever factory can do them at any one time. Mine was obviously made in a factory where left was right and vise-versa! It looks like I'll have to dismantle the supplied control rod & rebuild it with one of the wires mounted at 180 degrees to it's current position (If you look down the length of the dowel from the servo end, with the servo wire at the 6 o'clock position, the clevis wire is currently at 9 o'clock).  The photo below shows me holding the servo end, with the clevis attached at the other end. I apologise for the lack of focus but I've been fuel proofing in a closed environment! Hopefully, if I remount either the clevis wire at the 3 o'clock position (or servo wire at 12) then it will not bind against the internal frames (formers). The magic of photoshop! Edited By Baron Baz on 21/05/2012 23:52:19 Edited By Baron Baz on 22/05/2012 00:04:26

Rusty - I can't understand how you can have two arms to the elevator - surely that's highly unusual. If that is the case, what is the control rod visible in your photos used for? It's much more common for a closed loop system to be used for the rudder. Do you have two slots on one side of the fuselage exclusively for upper/lower elevator control respectively, plus upper & lower control horns on the elevator? I'd be surprised if there was that much variation in design between IC & electric. Mine is the IC version by the way Codename-John - I'm absolutely certain and checked this as an option before posting, but thanks for the suggestion. I could cut a new hole but would prefer to find a less damaging solution.

I'm not sure I can describe it any better, but here are a few photos The control rod... servo end on left. Wires are mounted to the dowel with a 90 degree offset The rod exit hole, shown on lower left (left fuselage) The servo tray. The upper servo (right side) is for the elevator. The instructions state that the elevator servo should be on the left side (in the gap below), but as mentioned this causes the control rod to jam against an internal frame of the fuselage, so I have mounted it here to "mirror image" the instructions I note that your WOT4 is electric and is therefore of different design (no throttle servo) but your photo shows the control rod.  However, it is not connected to either servo.    Edited By Baron Baz on 21/05/2012 21:26:17 Edited By Baron Baz on 21/05/2012 21:31:19