Turbycat Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Had a close shave with my wot 4 xl a couple of days ago. On take off the plane rolled to one side and ended up cart wheeling. On inspecting the model one side of the elevator was not connected to the control rod. The pin part of the 3mm clevis was missing. Fortunately the damage was pretty minor. All I managed to do was break the engine mount. I know the elevator was connected when I started up as I perform a control check when I switch on. I guess I'll now do another just before commencing the take off roll. Should be back in the air this afternoon (as long as the boss will let me out to play for a couple of hours!) Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Hi Turbycat Same happened to me yesterday except no crash. After the first flight of the day with my WOT4 MK11 - the electric/ balsa version and thinking it was a bit "woolly" on direction I checked it prior to the second flight and found that the pin had disappeared from one of the clevises at the rudder end of the pull/pull links and there was no fully working rudder . Luckily Pete B had a better quality 2mm metal clevis (complete with pin!) and we were off again with much improved control!! Cheap fitting just aren't worth the risk are they. I will be replacing all of them. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 A clubmate pointed out to me that the supplied clevis on my Wot XL are the riveted type, where the cross pin is retained in the fork just by riveting the end over. He said he's seen a few of these fails and recommended swapping them for welded ones.I've had several ARTFs supplied with nylon clevis with riveted metal pins and usually replace them with metal jobs if they look at all cheap and nasty (CMPro?), but never thought to replace the all metal ones.I've got some 3mm clevis supplied by Pete Tindal, maybe I should swap out the ones on my XL using those - must check if they're riveted or welded first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbycat Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 Well I've swapped all mine out now. Just got to wait for the weather to get better now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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