GoldwingRc 91" Slick540 60cc Observations

[Adrian Smith 1]

I vaguely remember hearing the Foxy name,John. A long while ago when I first started on petrol engines. These are Czech under the Pelikan Brand. To be honest it was all about price. The Menz props which I have used is £40 at MorrisMotors while this one was £30 at Leeds Model Shop. Time will tell if that was an error, but I will report back after the maiden. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

One for you, Jon to clear up the rudder hinge question. The answer is there is no makers mark on them sadly.

 

While on the rudder I decided to glue one side of the rudder hinges and attach the connecting rod to make sure they are aligned. Put that aside to dry.

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Next rudder servo installed on a c/f plate attached to the ply former. I normally use Model Fixing servo screws but the ones I have were slightly too big for the metal mounting sleeve. I use the supplied servo screws although I find that the posidrive head easily gets distorted presumably due to soft metal. 

 

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Now a job which I always find challenging! Fitting elevator servos that are hidden in the wing.

 

 

I don't have a suitable screwdriver to fit into the gap so I went on the hunt for some other servo screws with a hex head which would allow me to use my hex driver. 

 

Bit of a pig to fit due to fat fingers .....

 

 

Managed to get the screws in the mount using my magnetic thingy that looks like a car radio aerial before screwing them in. Getting the servo in was a bit tricky, but very few expletives were required.

 

All done and added some wire protector. Don't ask me why I do that!!

[Adrian Smith 1]

Now the comparatively simple job of fitting the aileron servos. Helpfully, there are in wing strings that can be used to pull the servo wire through. In this case I added a 12" extension lead.

 

 

The next job is to glue in the elevator and aileron hinge pins with Gorilla glue. That's for the next visit.

[Adrian Smith 1]

On to hinging the elevators and ailerons. First job to oil the hinge prior to gluing. (gorilla glue).

 

Because of the wing tube in the tail plane, two of the hinges are shortened.

straightforward enough  with the hinges glued to the elevators first and then into the tail surfaces.

 

Same methodology for the ailerons. Each aileron has 7 hinging points which seems quite secure.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Next to tackle the rudder. Should be straightforward. Nah ....!

I put a sliver of scrap wood taped to the fin top so that it will make it easier to line up the rudder when fitting.

 

The idea is to glue the opposite hinges on the rudder and to the fin and rethread the joining rod. 

Easier said than done. Just would not thread all the way. The approach I made after a bit of cursing was to take out one set of hinges while the glue was still wet,  thread the rod though both hinges and then re-glue both sides of the hinge into the rudder and fin.

 

 

At last!

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

Just had time to give some thought to cooling . Helpfully the kit comes with a couple of optional pre-prepared grille plates.

 

They are ostensibly for fitting under the exhaust pipe for petrol applications, but the larger one is perfect for electric motor airflow. Just needed to cut out the slots and fit.

 

Looks fine. when the glue on the working surfaces dries I will then fit the push rods, tail wheel assembly and pull/pull rudder cables.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Nice shiny 3.5" rudder servo turned up today. Not bad for a tenner. I had intended to fly this morning but I was thwarted by misty conditions nearly up to 1pm. Back into the work shop then instead.

[Adrian Smith 1]

I thought I would fit the tail wheel assembly next. Well the manual says the bits are factory installed. I have news - they aren't! I was confronted by a bag of bits.

 

After a bit of puzzling I think I have got it sorted.

 

 

After that it was a simple job to fit to the plane's underside using blue thread lock on all bolts and grub screws.

 

I did snip the end off the hinge rod after putting a L shaped bend at the top to stop it falling out.

[Adrian Smith 1]

In my spares box I have some alloy aileron and elevator servo arms that fit 25T spline servos.

 

 

 

The ailerons were loose fitted to gauge the rough length of the pushrod. The geometry will be sorted out later when the servos are truly centred. I personally think the pushrods are a tad too long because there is not much horn thread to play with when finally adjusting.

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Same loose fit for the elevator servos with geometry to be sorted out later.

 

Just had to make sure my extension leads are long enough to fit through the fuselage. Helpfully there is a clear plastic tube internally that will allow for the leads to be threaded easily to where the RX will be.

[Peter Jenkins]

Nice work Adrian.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Bit of thinking and preparation time for the power train. The connectors that come with the motor are not my favourite for soldering due to their "open" nature.

 

Changed them for these.

 

 

Due to my being ham fisted I find them easier to solder.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Time to lay out the power train.

 

The wires from the Hobbywing Opto ESC are 8AWG. To be consistent I need to use the same size silicone wire which I had to order from my usual supplier as I didn't have enough. I use anti-spark connecters to separate the ESC and the Lipos. 

 

To complete the job will now have to waiting a few days.

[Adrian Smith 1]

The ESC comes with a mini fan that can be fixed to the ESC casing for cooling purposes. Apart from being noisy when activated I am not sure if it's a gimmick or not.

 

 

I will see.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Turned up the heater in the work shop and knuckled down to do some soldering. First job is the power train start at the business end on the motor. Soldered the connecters to the motor first after removing it from the stand offs.

 

There is no pattern to the heat shrink colours just what's handy.

On to the ESC.

 

The connections will be covered with a further piece of heat shrink when I have established the motor works as it should.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Next to the connections the other side of the ESC. Fortunately the ESC red & black wires need no extending as the location of the esc under the motor wall box allows for the ESC to be bolted far enough back to allow the wires to feed into the fuselage. As a matter of course I use HV anti-spark connectors and the end point being a series plug adaptor.

That's the power train finished. As I am using an OPTO ESC the RX power setup is completely separate from the ESC apart from the throttle lead. I will be using at 2S RX lipo which the HV Futaba RX is well able to cope with. I am using an HV on/off GT switch supplied by 4-Max which I have used in all my aircraft that have OPTO ESCs.

Edited December 12, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

Time to have a look at the rudder mechanism.

 

All the bits required for my chosen pull/pull method are supplied. There is the option of a pushrod method with the servo at the back of the plane. First job in readiness is to peg the rudder to give me a fighting chance of getting reasonable tension in the cables as a starter. The rudder servo has been centred. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

I had a job finding the pre-cut slots in the fuselage sides for the cable exits due to the covering. Anyway eventually ......

 

I attached a rudder coupler to the horn and threaded the wire through after have to file the hole out slightly due to the thickness of the cable. The cable was threaded through the ferrule with the latter compressed with pliers and thin cyano  dripped through it. I used heat shrink to finish it off for security.

 

Excuse the poor photo.

[Adrian Smith 1]

The cable was threaded through the fuselage using a piece of fine carbon rod and a retractable claw tool I sourced from an auto  supplies shop.

 

 

I used the "crossover" method for the wire within the fuselage to prevent the wire fouling on the fuselage sides.

 

 

Lastly the wire was connected to the rudder servo arms using the couplers provided and finished off the same way as the rudder end.

 

Everything ready for the fining tuning with TX at a later session. I just felt too cold to dwell any longer in the work shop, but at least I was satisfied with what I achieved. Next visit will be to fit the power train and ESC to the fuselage.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Working well Adrian, we getting near a bench fly ?

[Adrian Smith 1]

Yes John, I think you are right. Before I can start on the last leg I need to connect everything up and test the motor (without propellor of course) . Then I can get on with the final jobs that need doing. I dug out a head and shoulders pilot from my crashed Extreme Flight 60 cc Extra who will go into the Slick. Hopefully he has recovered from his injuries and leant all the lessons!! Anyway still lots to do which I will detail here. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Time to fit the ESC to the motor box and test the motor.

 

I use M3 screws a extra rubber grommets to combat vibration. The throttle wire and lipo wires were given plastic shrouds to protect them and all wires fed through the fuz floor.

 

 

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Next I tested the motor and set the throttle range on the ESC. Right direction for the motor but the pickup wasn't until near half way through the throttle range. Hmmmmm .... 

Best I get the HobbyWing programming box out and check the settings. Well it turns out the default settings are for a helicopter. Simple job to alter them to fixed wing.

 

 

I set the motor timing to 15 degrees initially. The higher the timing setting the more power is delivered, but the battery drains quicker. There is also a tendency at higher timing settings for the motor to give off a distinctive and intermittent "wine" heard from the ground when the throttle is fully open. Therefore to start off with a mid-range timing is selected. The rate of motor pickup from start can be set and the rate of deceleration. At this stage all the settings I have used are experimental and only actually flying will tell me if I have them right. 

 

I tidied up the cables to the motor ready for final fitting of the cowl.

 

 

Next I will probably fit the U/C wheel/spats and give some thought to the internal layout before doing the final working surfaces EPA.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1