Clifton Park

Thanks for the link iawnski,  confirms what other people are saying about FRSKY Brian

Malcolm Last year I had a problem with an IC model which seemed to be  random glitching  during flight, which I could not reproduce on the ground. After one of the many gear removals and re-installations I re-routed the RX aerial from along the axis of the fuselage and hooked it to the tip of the tailplane so that it was about 40 degs to the fuselage. Problem solved!   Might be worth trying this on your model, doesn't cost anything or require much effort. I have found in the past that a model on the ground or being held can produce different RX performance than that occurring in flight. Looking forward to the solution of your problem. Brian    

Thank you all for your replies, they confirm my hopes that FRSKY was an affordable way into 2.4ghz. Brian

Has anyone had first hand experience of the FRSKY 2.4 Futaba conversion for the  9C. They are available from Greatcod for £40 Module and RX which is a lot cheaper than other conversion kits. The reviews on the sellers website http://www.giantcod.co.uk/  are all positive and might be biased.  Brian  

Tony Thank you very much, very helpful indeed.  toolman59 

Tony Could you give some more details on the gyro you used and how did you switch it off and on in flight ?   Toolman59

Timbo In the same spirit as your reply was meant, I think our hobby today is OTT, when I look back at the amount satisfaction I had from a 10 shilling KK free flight kit and compare it to the present state of the art, the 10 shilling kit wins hands over.  Taking your point regarding  "a bit of expo"  it was not long ago servo reversing and end point setting was OTT.  As far as my present problem is concerned,  I just have one grumpy ground handing model. My Acrowot,  Wot 4 and Extra all behave reasonablely well off tarmac having made use of some of the multitude of programming facilities to tame thier various quirks. As I see it, one gyro in the scheme of things is pretty small beer, and could well be useful in future, which I must admit, goes against my inclination towards simplicity.  toolman59

Followiing up on Mick's suggestion to use a gyro, I have looked around for a suitable A/C gyro but most seem to be Heli types. I have no experience with model gyros, so I really am a bit at  a loss as to what type of gyro would be suitable for controlling the rudder during take off and then being able to switch it off once airborne.  The gyros I have seen are mostly pizo with heading lock or rate settings, the cheaper ones seem to be in series between the RX and servo with an extra lead for a gain channel.  Any suggestions would be welcome, as it would be an interesting exercise providing it can be done at reasonable cost.  I am using a Futaba FF9 C Tx with an eight channel DC Rx    toolman59

The gyro sounds a good idea if all else fails. toolman59

Hello everyone Thank you all for your advice.  Now that  you have got me thinking along a different track, I can see why my Extra behaves so much better, it has a longer moment arm and sits quite hard on the  tail wheel and needs a fair bit of speed to lift the tail, it will then run straight and true for as long as I want it to before pulling in up to rotate.  The Wots Wot has a shorter moment arm and does not sit so heavily on the tail wheel. By changeing technique  for the Wots Wot might well solve my problem since I was treating both models in much the same way.  Thanks again everyone.  toolman59

Hello Chaps Regarding the take off, I open the throttle slowly, this starts a left turn, blip of right to correct  (I have a low setting on rudder with expo for take off) this will produce a right veer, once the tail lifts it stays straight and all is ok. With the landing, touch down is ok until the tailwheel takes effect then it will veer right or left.  Roll it along the ground power off it will run straight then veer left or right. Adjusting the tail wheel will not produce a straight run, it will veer left or right. Taxying always requires right or left  rudder  depending how close I can adjust the tail wheel to give  a straight run. We don't have grass strip to try it on. This weekend I will double check the U/C location and try to set some toe in.It is something to do with this model, my Extra 300 tracks really well only requiring a little rudder correction. Thank you all for your advice, I will make a few notes and try your suggestions regarding technique next time out. toolman59    

Ken I have programmed in a small amount of right rudder controlled  by the throttle, this is switched off once airborne, I have varied this setting without any really good results.Landings are also a problem, it will run straight for a time and will veer off in either direction, it's just not consistent on the ground. toolman59 

Phil  Thank you, with a fibreglass U/C I can not bend in any toe in, I might try making some tapered shims to see if that improves matters. toolman59 

What are the main factors that cause tail draggers to ground loop even when everything is correctly aligned, CG as specified, and wheels rotating smoothly? I have a Chris Foss Wots Wot that simply will not taxi in straight line on a tarmac surface, the CG is in the correct place, the F/Glass U/C is in the specified position, the wheels are set staight but do have some camber due to the shape of the U/C, the tail wheel is directly coupled to the rudder rather than via rubber bands. Getting rid of the rubber band coupling did help a little. No matter how I adjust the tail wheel it wiil veer to the left or right.   Toolman59