Weston UK Capiche 50cc Revisited

[Ron Gray]

I do remember George (4-Max) stating that he has had cable lengths far in excess of that being discussed with no detrimental effects!

[Peter Jenkins]

53 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

I do remember George (4-Max) stating that he has had cable lengths far in excess of that being discussed with no detrimental effects!

Interesting.  I've always heard dire warnings about making the battery leads too long.  Something about needing additional capacitors in the system to protect the existing ones.  Perhaps the ESC designers have made some changes and the issue has gone away.

I shall know for the next time I'm faced with a similar issue.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Hi GBG, I am dubious about historical theories, proven or not,  about this subject as I think modern equipment and allied technology with ESCs may have overcome this, although I have no evidence for this. Indeed I have used wires in excess of 200 mm regularly with my electrics and have not notice anything detrimental. 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

I think, Peter, you won't have a problem if my experience is anything to go by.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Having finished my decorating chores I had time to do a bit more on the Capiche. Fitted the ESC to the motor box. I had to make sure it sits on the fuselage centre line as opposed to on offset line to the motor. This will keep the weight evenly distributed.  I had to add a ply plate, glued with epoxy resin, as the cut outs in the motor box were where I wanted to put the screws. I added some rubber grommets under the ESC where the screws are located to add a bit of vibration protection.

 

 

It was a simple job to feed the cabling into the fuselage.

 

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[Adrian Smith 1]

I just had time to add part of the tail wheel assembly. The control of the tail wheel is effected by a double springed crank which I will fit next. I will just have make sure the tension on both sides of the springs is similar. More on that at the next work shop visit.

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Now on to complete the tail wheel assembly. The manual suggests attaching the springs with the T-bar loose and not attached first. I think it is is easier to get the both springs the same length this way too. I clipped the rudder into neutral position using a couple of scrap pieces of balsa and a large bulldog clip. This should make getting the tensioning right easier.

 

The spring end wires were bent to shape and some ferrules used to secure the set up after squeezing them tight. I just laid the assembly on the rudder just to make sure the lengths of the springs looked about even.

 

Next I drew a straight line along the rudder base prior to fitting the T-bar.

 

I introduced some tension into the springs to mark and screw in the T-bar to the rudder. It is difficult to know what is too little or too much so it's just guess work.

 

All done and I used gorilla glue on the screws to ensured a secure finish.

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

At the front end now. I re-fixed the motor to the motor wall and blue thread locked all bolts then tightening.

I refitted the cowl to make sure I was still happy with the position. Some rubber backed washers and provided with 15 mm cowl bolts to alleviate vibration. Although in practise I notice that with all my electric motors there is little or no vibration no matter the size of them. Not like a petrol IC setup. Testament to that is I rarely have to tighten bolts after flights using electric motors.

 

 

 

Up until now I have been impressed with the fitting a tolerance of this kit, but now I have hit a slight concern.

 

When re fitting the hatch with the cowl on,  the fit is somewhat tight under the cowl edge. If fact I had difficulty fitting the hatch because of this:- 

 

 

I did think I would open up the hatch lug slots slightly to allow for them to drop into the slot earlier thereby make the fitting easier. In the end I discounted that idea purely because of the angled slope at the rear of the hatch would still cause a problem.

 

In the end I used firm but gentle pressure on the instrumentation panel to push the hatch in. I am concerned about that, what with the balsa and ply nature of the hatch and dangers involved of repeated pressure.

Anyway finally in.

 

I am not happy about that though given this will have to be done repeatedly at the field and once the canopy is glued on this pressure won't be able to be applied and another method needs to be devised!! 

This a real problem that I am grappling with and I am not sure what to do.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Can't see any downside to relieving the slot a little, I would do that and hopefully jobs sorted.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Thanks, John. I think I may try that and as you say no harm should be done. I did speak to James at Weston UK about it and suggested may be take away a bit of the underside material on the cowl  rear to make some more room. For me that's really the last resort to start messing around with the cowl thickness. So option one it will be and I will report back here. 👍

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Don't know how much of the canopy front is hidden under the cowl, that seems a logical place if a need arises.

[Adrian Smith 1]

In the final analysis I didn't have enlarge the slots to fit the canopy hatch. As long as the hatch is lined up correctly and just slightly tucked under the cowl I was able to push the hatch cover in place using gentle pressure on the canopy bolt lugs. The final mm or two was pushed using a thin piece of rod threaded through the bolt holes.

 

Once the  hatch is in place the rod can be reinserted to line up the bolt holes exactly to the fuselage side.

[Adrian Smith 1]

That established it was time to fit the canopy itself. The kit comes with a rather nice pilot for the office which I glued in place to start off with.

The states using either odourless cyano plus it is essential to use an appropriate kicker. It is also suggested canopy glue as an option. I chose the former as I also get in a mess with canopy glue 😖. I have never used the cyano route for this so it will be investing to see how this goes ......

 

 

 

 

I used tape in four places to secure the canopy's position before gluing.

 

 

 

I can report doing it this way is just as messy if only a bit quicker.

Using the belt and braces method I used some 10 mm servo screws with grommets attached to secure the canopy in place.

 

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

The last job was for a bit of canopy overlap to be sanded off flush to the hatch.

 

Re-fitted the whole assembly.

 

The front of the canopy looks a bit messy, but I am going to mask the front rim and paint the matching colour to tart the whole thing up to my satisfaction.

 

Next job will be on to the rudder cables and fitting.

[Adrian Smith 1]

On the rudder cables. The afternoon turned out to be quite frustrating - more on that later.

Threaded the couplers and made sure they are the same length. I tend to favour doing all the adjustment at the rudder end as I find it more accessible.

 

Threaded the cables through the pre-installed tubes, so far so good.

 

The distance between the couplers is 7.5 cms at the rudder end so I need to find a servo arm in my spares that has match holes of that distance.

Attached the couplers to the wire and crimped the cable and added heat shrink.

 

 Added the servo arm and guess what? The couplers foul on the former because of too little space.

 

 

What to do next to solve it?

 

Don't know how that link appeared below so ignore that!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

Back to square one. I thought about snipping the plastic tubes back, but there is no room to do that. I decided to remove the tubes completely! I also cut the film on the fuz behind the canopy so I can see what I am doing. I will replace it later.

 

I then pulled the cables through the fuselage to the servo using a fine carbon rod

 

Lining up the servo arm the slots are not in the right place and therefore I am going to have cut new ones on the pencil mark.

 

I am going to have to think about how to do that and it's impossible to get my Dremel in there. A small keyhole saw might work if I only had one!

I gonna sleep on that one.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Adrian Smith 1

[Peter Jenkins]

You can buy long drills (I have used 12 in long drills) to reach difficult locations.  Worth a try.

[Ron Gray]

Try saw blades for your scalpel like this.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Thanks, Peter. I will have to check if I can fit any drill into the fuselage as there are a lot of formers in the way.

That's interesting, Ron. I like the idea of that and will research it. Thanks.

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

In the end after looking at the available space to enlarge the rudder cable slots I decided to buy a scalpel saw set.

 

Hopefully it will be strong enough to do the job. Anyway watch this space and I will report back when I have done the job.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

They look an handy tool, never seen em before.

[GrumpyGnome]

They are very useful but the blades need treating carefully as they can be a bit...... bendy!

[Adrian Smith 1]

As my old woodwork teacher made clear on a number of occasions "keep your sawing are completely at right angles to the work"! 🙄

[GrumpyGnome]

indeed

[Adrian Smith 1]

Back to the work shop this morning. Firstly, I pegged the rudder on neutral with a bulldog clip.

 

I did try the saw scalpel to effect an enlarged cut out for the rudder cables. Not quite strong enough for the challenge. Pause for a bit of head scratching. The answer lay in my box of blades.

 

I found a slightly stronger saw blade that nicely fitted into a modelling knife handle.

First job is to remove the rudder servo and while I was at it I strengthened the screw holes with thin cyano and accelerator.

Then set about cutting the slots and finishing off with a file.

 

Back with the servo and arm and refitted the couplers.

 

Much better though I say it myself. The new slots now allow for full movement of the servo horn.

I decided, because of the limited space down the fuselage, to adopt crossed wire geometry for the rudder control. I know this method to be quite successful if my other models are anything to go by.