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FMS Pa 18 1700mm Super Cub


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The latest aquisition for the fleet of quick to assemble fly and go alternatives.

 

Reviews looked pretty good and a nice big wingspan for easier recognition / orientation in the air.

 

I'll post up some images whenever I assemble as usual.

 

Cheers

 

Toto

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I have the 1700mm version.

Super easy to fly with no vices and looks good in the air. My only gripe is with the wheels and the landing gear itself.

 

The wheels are too big, too hard and too heavy - I swapped them for some 5" dubros which work and look a lot better. The gear is way too stiff and offers no give whatsoever. I removed the springs completely which allowed the gear to flex a little. I made up a more scale like spring set up which still allowed the gear to flex upon landing.

 

The flaps are very effective and help to make long, slow passes over the strip. The model is mildly aerobatic if that floats your boat but, I think it looks best being flown in a scale like manner. Also great for touch and goes. Very relaxing to fly.

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Thanks Chaps, all comments appreciated.

 

one gripe I heard about the 1300mm version ( on the back of watching a Utube review of the 1700mm version ) was the cable management. Apparently there was little room for the amount of cables ( servo's etc ) but apart from that ..... every bit as good as the 1700mm version ... so ... good to go for.

 

I should be assembling it soon. I want to leave my Tasman set up in the shed for the moment to take some readings with my Watt meter and hopefully get one of the members from my club to do a maiden with it. Once I can disassemble the Tasman, I'll have better room in the shed to assemble and test the Super Cub. ..... or so the theory goes. 😄

 

cheers for now 

 

toto 

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Hi Steve,

 

I'm sure I will.

 

Like yourself, I'll swap out the wheels for Dubro wheels. I have done that on a couple of models. I'll wait until I experience the springs before deciding on that. It will just be sedate flying for me I'm sure so no heroics :classic_biggrin: ..... for the forseeable future.

 

As I mentioned earlier, the cub and my Tasman will play second fiddle to the Domino that I am currently training with to at least get me to solo standard. Now we are in a new year and the festive period is over, I hope to get back into regular flying sessions again. Here's hoping.

 

Toto

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I bought Dubro 6"/150mm wheels for the Draco to replace the OEM cheapo foam jobbies. So so heavy, almost needed a forklift to move them so sold them on and bought some Kavan 150mm inflatables with bearings from a model shop in Poland (Modelemax) (price, divide X 5 for £, wheels are now £27!) no holes to drill like the overpriced Dubro offerings, fraction of the weight and no clearance issues.

I also have a pair of the 130mm inflatables from the Xfly Tasman also very nice and light. The rubber is a little thin but i understand they have recently addressed this and they are a little thicker. Destined for the P18 1.3m

 

The Tasman is a great model to train on, one of the "lads" at my club has one it fly beautifully

s-l1600 (1).jpg

Edited by Frank Day
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  • 5 weeks later...

OK,

 

decided to start the assembly of this puppy...... so here come some initial images. Hope they are clear enough.

 

here is what we are assembling ......

 

P1120532.thumb.JPG.b5356cc5e3e468b753cdf14095bd2e9e.JPG

 

first up ..... the destructions .....

 

P1120545.thumb.JPG.7f7899710d3176bdba7a37a925fdda4d.JPG

 

some of the accessory bits and bobs ......

 

P1120540.thumb.JPG.e8ae5cd172dc2dac056aacfbd437d9bd.JPG

 

wing rods and elevator joining rods ...

 

P1120541.thumb.JPG.742fc79b7e6777ad8bb66670a409b9e2.JPG

 

The propeller  ..... which according to the writing on it ... is a 12 x 7.5mm.

 

P1120542.thumb.JPG.e0f282d455ebacff5ebcd27fd0659c38.JPG

 

a bag with the spinner, screws and landing gear springs etc.

 

P1120543.thumb.JPG.c978991bf441d1ad7fae3bcfb1ca3d36.JPG

 

an electric lead of some sort ..... that will become clearer later ... I hope.

 

P1120533.thumb.JPG.d6800baa23ca2ecc2360c9efdad09b11.JPG

 

and here it is as you open the box. as usual very cleverly packed and supported.

 

P1120534.thumb.JPG.a995704baf2174690bbb5bb82ce29c99.JPG

 

first out is the wings ..... nice finish complete with moulded vortex generators.

 

P1120535.thumb.JPG.9f90058064fbe9e2c75c3b41123dd43c.JPG

 

The wing supports are already semi fixed to the outer end of the wing with the loose end to be screwed onto the main fuselage. the wiring for the flap and aileron servos is partly visable and could do with some white tape to cover them . a point for later on.

 

P1120536.thumb.JPG.3af30a144284d221fc44942ed4fed95e.JPG

 

and the horisontal stabilisors ......

 

P1120544.thumb.JPG.d6828bee279268144b241dbac2246ccc.JPG

 

we also have LED lights ... one either end of the wings.....

 

P1120537.thumb.JPG.e8efd027c10b672891032aff1cc1b76b.JPG

 

the included floats which I will not be using but will store .... somewhere .... just in case either I change my mind or someone else is looking for some ( not decided yet )

 

P1120538.thumb.JPG.e070c1e21cee5312960953b6116e5727.JPG

 

both the float and the main landing gear axles.

 

P1120539.thumb.JPG.c89a54dcd24d6da8118afd8b2a4d59bc.JPG

 

talking of which ..... the landing gear .... I believe are 6.5 inch wheels. they are quite hard with only a little bit of give. these could be getting changed out quite quickly.

 

 

P1120546.thumb.JPG.9091894eb6f7a1e89d166655efed7a17.JPG

 

The fuselage ...... in all its glory. I quite like the colour scheme for this. A bit different.

 

P1120547.thumb.JPG.2d3d9fbdda077bbc5a6916ca805fc449.JPG

 

The hatch to the fuselage battery bay is via a sprung clip type affair and fits well. All the surface control cables are well labelled and there is plenty of room inside to fold them away out of harms way once connected up.

 

P1120548.thumb.JPG.ef2e56476df2107c9d0cd48247d4bf92.JPG

 

here is a clearer picture of the various cables etc.

 

P1120549.thumb.JPG.66633d0f67b6f27433e535e8ff30d8f6.JPG

 

a picture looking forward to the inside front of the battery hatch .... again .... plenty of room in there.

 

P1120550.thumb.JPG.0b82e1c4c5018af16d6609cecba2cdac.JPG

 

and towards the rear of the fuselage via the battery hatch.

 

The esc is located below the plywood hatch in the fusealge ..... and has an XT 60 connector plug for the battery. 

 

P1120552.thumb.JPG.f6e42d4c5a7ba1e82bb3ac7eb701c4fe.JPG

 

Next up is the included Reflex V2 module. 

 

P1120551.thumb.JPG.63e65db2b64385ec3392ebeb758692e7.JPG

 

so there we have it. I have a Spektrum AR 620 but this already has stabilisation built in so I may need to use of of my lemon RX's for the first time.

 

We shall see when it comes to firing her up.

 

cheers for now

 

toto

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by toto
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Hi,

 

no worries ..... I'm just looking at the packet here and it says DSM2  DSMX ...... not the same thing ....apologies.

 

So ...... started with the landing gear .....

 

P1120553.thumb.JPG.d58c49598a982d208db7cb26778b811e.JPG

 

and here is where it goes ......

 

P1120554.thumb.JPG.6949ef8691b7544e785cc54187c056c0.JPG

 

sort of like that .....

 

P1120556.thumb.JPG.72dbf3866310522e7ff44dc24f2a30f4.JPG

 

and again ....

 

P1120557.thumb.JPG.6be494cdef532549f2639f051e3454df.JPG

 

with the little springy hanger onner thing ..... and the little saddles holding it all in place via eight hold down screws ....

 

P1120558.thumb.JPG.96e450a1c99bc53f317810b1b24bb03f.JPG

 

then the springs ......

 

P1120559.thumb.JPG.74d21bad37006350ffd3a13bee856be6.JPG

 

and another view .... just for the hell of it .....

 

P1120560.thumb.JPG.01efbbf15e5689bab53d2977e4adb15d.JPG

 

horisontal stabilisor in place ........ forgot to picture the carbon rod that goes through the middle to hold it all together .....

 

P1120561.thumb.JPG.514d604c7bd5207f01335b43cc8e6a86.JPG

 

held in with four screws .... two each side .... all into brass fittings as they all are.

 

P1120562.thumb.JPG.72aaf6b556611cdc2ad2f17c8ad70079.JPG

 

the only push link you have to install ....... made easy with my ball joint pliers .... its a snip .... or is that a snap. the servo horn is aligned correctly as shown in the destructions.

 

P1120563.thumb.JPG.7b27d0aa6d22d7ea91c0f646982a9027.JPG

 

then we come on to the spinner ....

 

P1120564.thumb.JPG.987e82096de353794490943553f3f04d.JPG

 

which , along with the prop  goes on a treat.

 

P1120565.thumb.JPG.2498670930c7c8a10e7bd86ebbb1ab7b.JPG

 

the wings just slot on down onto two plastic bosses with brass screwed inserts 

 

P1120566.thumb.JPG.085a3b136cb4a46bd57f3bc3313acdc3.JPG

 

and then three screws, two to the wing join and one where the wing support meets the fuselage ...... pretty easy.

 

P1120567.thumb.JPG.ab9fea9d783f0e9fcbbc05091038cee7.JPG

 

and there we have it ...... as good as done apart from the electronics side of things .... which is for tomorrow night.

 

P1120568.thumb.JPG.048a291d20a515d40ca49506828d531d.JPG

 

I think it looks FAB. maybe with the exception of these wheels ..... but as I said, its more than likely that these will get swapped out for something a bit softer and more forgiving.

 

cheers for now.

 

toto

 

Edited by toto
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I've seen a few of these flying and they do look nice, especially with the floats fitted for waterplane operation.

 

They look like a trainer but they are not a beginner's model in my opinion as, like all Cubs, you need to be able to co-ordinate aileron and rudder in the turns, particularly at lower airspeeds.

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So .......

 

The basic assembly has been completed. Next up is the installation of the receiver and the setting up of all the control surface throw settings etc in the transmitter. That will include the buddying between my NX 8 master transmitter and my Nx 6 slave / student transmitter.

 

I should manage that comfortably in an evening in the shed. I'll test the Watt Meter over it to determine what is being generated. This should be good as all the electronics with the exception of the RX and battery have already been provided pre installed in the model.

 

More on that tomorrow hopefully.

 

Toto 

Edited by toto
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Definitely ditch the wheels - they are too heavy, too hard and too big! The springs are also very 'unspringy' and I removed them too.

 

I went for a different solution on mine and made up something more aesthetic - it's just a rod in a tube, the landing gear takes the strain, no additional springs are needed. I also swapped the wheels for a pair from the Avios Grand Tundra from Hobby King which are much more scale and lighter. I also use a pair of Kavan 5" wheels.

 

The model flies like a dream and has no bad vices and looks best when flown in a scale like manner in my opinion.

 

Pic 1. Modded LG with 5" Kavan wheels.     Pic 2. Avios Grand Tundra wheels.

 

 

60.jpg

65.jpg

Edited by Steve Colman
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Hi Caveman,

 

I'll take another look at the undercarriage. I did take a bit of time looking at the reference pictures whilst I did the install and questioned myself but could have sworn it looked right. .....I'll have a second glance.

 

Steve, I will be swapping out the wheels shortly as I agree with all your comments on them. They look a bit ridiculous and are a bit hard for my liking.

 

Cheers

 

Toto

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Hi chaps,

 

I'll jump on and change that over tonight. I will be looking at installing my Spektrum AR 620 and trying to hook up the Relex system as well to one of the 3 way switches. They do include the destructions for doing this but these things take a little bit of getting my head around to get right for the first time.

 

I'm sure that I'll get there in the end between the destructions and any available Internet videos.

 

Toto 

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Never made the shed tonight to progress the Super Cub. ..... waaayyyyy to cold. Its not looking much better over the next couple of days with snow forecast :classic_sad:.

 

Not sure if SWMBO would agree to me using the kitchen ..... I'll need to try and gauge her mood. The cold weather plays havoc with my Rheumatoid Arthritis. Mmmmmm ..... let's wait and see. If I have to wear any more layers of clothing, I'll end up resembling the Michelin man.

 

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

 

Toto

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