Patrick O

HI all - still here - How do I bend the tail rod? It's too thick and too damn strong! Trouble is, it's already inserted and against the tail fin - I can't pull it out to bend it because once I've bent it, I wouldn't be able to insert it back in so I have to bend it when it's through the tail fuse.

Thanks. I'll leave it be and will finish installing it this week (I'll file a flat on the steering wheel rod for the collar to grab onto. I'm currently soaking my engine in old fuel to release it from the gunk (It was installed in my thunder tiger trainer a couple of years ago and on my maiden, the landing did not go well - was too tail heavy but I flew it anyway. and I stored it without fixing the damage so old fuel dried up I guess) My engine is only a Thunder Tiger .42 - will this be enough or should I go for a new engine? I'd like an evolution engine but I can't find any sellers here in the UK. I'd like to reuse my engine (it's only flown once) if it's enough but not too sure of the .42 rating? Will it be too weak?

Thanks David - I understand now. I can't bend the tailwheel arm to shorten it - it's too thick for me to try to shorten it... so should I just: A: Leave it alone or B: Bend the arm (between the coil and the wheel) to achieve a lower stance?

Hi David - thanks. 2 things: What do you mean by tail wheel arm needs to be shorter? What's an arm?   Low tailwheel - did you mean high? Because the way I see it, a low tailwheel should give more angle of attack as the tail will be lower to the ground thus tilting the nose higher for a higher attack angle? EDIT: Oh hang on - I think I know what you mean now - a tailwheel config will limit the angle of attack attained during take off compared to a tricycle because of the presence of the tailwheel itself. I should have ignored myself and gone for a tricycle config right from the beginning, I would have finished and flown this plane already! ;o) But because I made a mistake when I cut the covering underneath for the undercarriage (I accidentally cut the slots for the tail dragger) and I didn't want to recut and make the underside look ugly, I stuck with the taildragger config - even tho I do prefer the look of the taildragger... but this has given me lots of problems which is not good for a first time plane build like myself Edited By Patrick O on 02/02/2015 14:24:44

UPDATE: Well, I've only just managed to make a wood wedge and straighten the rod and install it over the weekend (yeah I know - the plane should have taken just a couple of hours but it's taking me months! ) I think I'm gonna stick to helis after this! I still need to bend the top part to go into the rudder. I also still need to drill holes on the tail fin and rudder for the Robart pin hinges to go in. I'll do that next weekend or something. NEXT QUESTION: How high should the tail wheel be? Or how low should it be? I think mine is a bit high when in place and I might need to bend the rod back a bit?   Edited By Patrick O on 02/02/2015 09:41:48

I was going to cut new slots for ca hinge but I was told there is no room for new slots and the best way is to use pin hinges so model shop gave me Robarts.. but I think they are too big for my rudder?

This is the tailwheel rod held against the tail to show you guys that the rod looks perfect... so I'm thinking I need to follow the manual and do that bend on top for the rudder and it will work as expected?!

Posted by GrahamWh on 13/01/2015 19:59:23: Patrick you will need to straighten out the wire where the odd bend is just above the mount, then make a wedge of balsa to go between the plastic mount and the bottom of the fuselage so the mount can sit with the bit of wire that goes through it exactly in line with the hinge line of the rudder. The wheel unit is probably a standard item supplied with many different kits. They need modifying to fit sometimes. Also have the bend in the wire that takes the wire horizontally to the wheel rubbing against the mount - that way the weight of the back of the plane will be on the mount (could put a washer in to help) and not on the rudder hinges. Like this, though the example is a Black Horse Renegade: (my wedge had to be on the front end of the mount, yours will be on the back) Thanks - I did think about wedging the plastic mount and straightening the rod.. I'll have a think and if I can't do anything, then I'll do as you've suggested.. I need to go back to the model shop to get a few more items before I can work on this.. mainly the drill jig for the pin hinge

Posted by Dave Hopkin on 13/01/2015 19:32:08: What happens if you turn the control horn upside down so it angles away from the Fus? Hi - I can't.. because it's only the flat bit of the mount (I'm guessing you're talking about the white plastic?) that has the holes for the screw.

Here is the video

Also the modelshop sold me these 1/8" Robart Hinge pins to fix the rudder.. but I don't know if the pins are too big for the width of my rudder? I would have wanted CA hinges again but they're right - I have nowhere to cut slots in as the old slots are filled with ca and the remaining ca hinge.   And this is the plane:     Edited By Patrick O on 13/01/2015 13:50:11 Edited By Patrick O on 13/01/2015 13:50:38

Thanks Ross... I'll put a better photo/video tonight. The rod is quite long so I don't know if the problem will go away once I bend the top of the rod to go inside the rudder bit... but I don't want to bend the rod yet in case I make a mistake. I should find a cheap thin wire and test my theory out first. I got this plane on Boxing day and I'm nowhere near finishing it!! Planes are definitely harder to build than helis! I fly helis mainly.

I need to ask - has anyone built this plane as a tail dragger recently using the included taildragger conversion parts? The tailwheel steerable rod has a bend on it.. and I need to know if this affects the whole thing as when I'm test fitting mine, it does not look like it will work (mind you, I have not bend the upper part yet that goes into the rudder so maybe I need to do that?) The problem that I can see is... one I have the tailwheel rod thru the hole of the plane and against the vertical fin, and once it's aligned, if I turn the wheel left, making sure the long rod is aligned still with the vertical fin, the plastic mount on the bottom gets pulled from the bottom of the plane.. because of the bend on the bottom of the rod. top left of this photo (below the spinner) shows the tail wheel rod with the bend: Apologies I don't have a photo or video of what I mean. I just decided to post this now before I forget. I'll do a video tonight when I'm home

^^Nice - so how do you find out where to screw that hook to begin with? Do you just follow the manual's recommendation?

Selling my priced possession: Large RC Scale Westland Lysander 85" wingspan - too big for me to keep and my fiancee wants me to get rid of most of my models **LINK** Finishes on the 14th of April.   Edited By Patrick O on 08/04/2013 08:45:23 Edited By Chris Bott - Moderator on 28/04/2013 16:36:50