Transmitter controls

[Tim Yates]

OK

So i have my RC Plane master sim thingy and i couldn't get the plane to take off, on a closer look i reckon the handset isn't set up correctly! Can you help me on this???? Below is how i think it should be??

Transmitter:

Left stick up and down is throttle?

Left Stick side to side ailerons?

Right stick side to side is rudder?

Right stick up and down is elevators?

Then the controller had a switch on the top left, whats this? and a know that goes round on top right, whats this?

(trims i understand)

Thanks in advance coz it's doing my nut in!

[Tim Mackey]

you should read this Tim.

[Tim Yates]

Wow! Thanks Timbo, didn't know there would be so that many options, i just thought there would be a right and wrong.... ok so my above axplanation is mode 4.

If you were teaching somebody in the field what would you start them on 1 or 2? I ask as when i go to the field for lessons i don't want to have been practicing on mode 4 if most instructors use 1 or 2 and then they find it difficult to adjust to mode 4 to teach me.

Oh and the spring and ratcher on the sticks...... do you change that depending on mode?

[Garry Pollard]

Hi Tim,

Not sure what you are doing wrong, but will try and give you a few pointers.

1 You have to calibrate the TX to the system, to do that follow instructions to the letter.

It does not matter what function is on what stick as you put the functions in yourself on set up.

If you use the TX as you stated in the post you will run into problems later on if you go to 2.4 computer Tx as you will not be able to use several functions. Believe me I know as I fly throttle and ailerons on the left stick and have done for 20yrs

If you are just starting out I suggest you fly throttle and rudder left stick, aileron elevator right stick. The saying fly what ever way is comfortable for you is ok up to a point but if you join a club and need to be taught by an instrctor you will find 9 times out of 10 he will be flying rudder/ throttle left stick, and if you are set up aileron /throttle left stick he may refuse to help you as he will be afraid of crashing your model, and rightly so

Dont forget also that you could have the throttle reversd on the set up

A bit long winded but hope it helps

Garry

[Tim Mackey]

Tim Yates wrote (see)

Wow! Thanks Timbo, didn't know there would be so that many options, i just thought there would be a right and wrong.... ok so my above axplanation is mode 4.

If you were teaching somebody in the field what would you start them on 1 or 2? I ask as when i go to the field for lessons i don't want to have been practicing on mode 4 if most instructors use 1 or 2 and then they find it difficult to adjust to mode 4 to teach me.

Oh and the spring and ratcher on the sticks...... do you change that depending on mode?

Well thats a bit academic really, as the mode I use is 1 but, the mode that the person who may end up teaching you could be anything! Most popular is either mode 2 or 1, and there is no real adavantage in either...its just what you get taught. having said that, these days, with buddy leads and computer Tx units, a mode 1 flier could use his Tx as master, and buddy up to the trainee on mode 2 for instance....so it doesnt really matter too much - as long as the instructor and trainee both use the same MAKE of tx.

[Tim Yates]

Thanks Gary, i have just set it up to mode 2 as you suggest.

As you mention and it has just occurred to me... throttle, is this normally set as power = push forward or power = pull back. My guess is power = pull back as that will make the plane go up, same principle as elevators.... pull back = nose of plane rises.

 The directional controls are self explanatory (luckily!).

[Garry Pollard]

Hi Tim

Throttle is push stick towards top of TX full power, pull back low power

Ie oposite to what you have written

Garry

[Tim Yates]

Thanks Garry, after a little playing around with controls i am now staying airborne (on the sim), have managed one or two landings, seem to come unstuck when i use the rudder and then crash! Ailerons and elevator controls allow me to fly the plane... Haven't managed to pop any of the balloons yet - i guess thats what they're there for (or maybe just poisition markers.

Going to practice on the sim before i even think of going to the model shop (was going to go and get the kit this weekend)....

Any tips on rudder and why i'm finding that tricky are welcome

[Gemma Jane]

The balloons do pop but it isn't easy to get at them! Good for learning the controls though. Can you explain more what is going wrong when you use the rudder such as which model and what you are trying to achieve when it goes wrong and what happens?

[Tim Yates]

Hi Gemma

I'm using the '4 channel trainer', i have tried all of the others and love the way the spitfire handles...... already got my heart set on that for when i'm competent enough in the field!! The 2 electic prop planes are useless.

 Anyway, i have found that on the 4 channel trainer i should just use the rudder for little corrective tweeks but not for mass change in direction as that is best done with the ailerons. I am now able to land withotu crashing too.

[Garry Pollard]

Hi Tim

try the magic butterfly no I am not daft,.Put it up go to half throttle a touch of up elevator and it will teach you to position the model. Within an evening you will be flying through the goal posts one after another in complete control and that is the secret CONTROL. Its ok tearing round the sky like a bat out of hell, but you would not be very popular with other club members at the field. You will fly a spitfire one day believe me but not just yet. The reason Tiger Woods is such a good golfer is that he has mastered control, you must do the same

The sim is a super tool but it will never take the place of controling your own model at the field. Make haste slowley

I think you rudder problem is you are using full stick, try it with less movement and remember if the model has low forward speed it will stall and maybe that is the cause of the crashing

Hope that helps

Garry

[Gemma Jane]

Hi Tim,

Seems like you have it worked out now.

[Tim Yates]

Garry Pollard wrote (see)

try the magic butterfly no I am not daft,.Put it up go to half throttle a touch of up elevator and it will teach you to position the model. Within an evening you will be flying through the goal posts one after another in complete control and that is the secret CONTROL. Its ok tearing round the sky like a bat out of hell, but you would not be very popular with other club members at the field. You will fly a spitfire one day believe me but not just yet.

Thanks Garry but i really can't get on with the magic butterfly, it's so slow and unresponsive. The 4 channel trainer seems to be a perfect compromise for me and as my first plane will be a leccy hobby zone cub i think it's probably the closest the sim will get to it. I think i was expecting to much from the rudder, the ailerons are doing the bulk of the work and the rudder just for fine tuning of direction... I'm only using it half throttle and purposely flying low and inbetween trees etc so that i become acustomed to the controls in situation rather than just moint and aim. I'll probably get slated for saying it but it'd really know different to using a PS2 or xbox, the controls are the same (obvious this does need a practical understanding).

[Gemma Jane]

Hi Tim,

I don't want to get too technical about it all but some models are steered with the rudder and um, some are not.

Your hobby zone cub will not have ailerons only rudder. It will steer just fine on the rudder, it is designed to be like that and it works just fine.

When you are flying a model with ailerons (like in the sim), they are better steered (or rather banked) with ailerons, that is how they are designed and the rudder is used more like you have found to correct yaw, yaw is the side to side movement of the nose.

Don't worry about it too much, the rudder on the HZ Cub is controlled by the same hand you are using for ailerons in the sim, the sim is still helping you and it will feel natural enough to fly the HZ Cub afterwards because it will turn in very much the same way just using its rudder as the models in the sim are doing just using the ailerons. It will be less manoeuvrable which is a very good thing when starting out! (I love the HZ Cub btw!)

So you could for now not worry too much about rudder control with your left hand in the sim, I barely used it at all whilst starting out and your transmitter for the cub will only have a slider for the throttle on the left rather than a stick, so you will replicate flying the cub better if you just use the left stick for throttle on your sim and steer the aeroplane about with your right  hand.

Hope that helps I know it a can all get confusing

[Garry Pollard]

Hi Tim

Horses for courses I think. If you are happy with the 4 channel trainer stick with it, it is obviously the right one for you

Keep you eyes on that spitfire you will get there

Garry

[Andy Anscombe]

sorry if I have missed some thing but when you use ailrons you need to pull the plane round with elervater or it will lose hieght

ndy

[Gemma Jane]

Don't think you have missed anything Andy. In a shallow turn elevator is used to prevent height loss due to the reduced lift of the banked wing, as the turn steepens the elevator can be used to increase the rate of turn very effectively.

What Tim will have on the HZ Cub is rudder and elevator on the right stick, that is how the HZ Cub transmitter is. There are just no ailerons. The Cub makes up for this by having a lot of dihederal built into the wing meaning it can be quite effectively steered on just the rudder.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Tim Yates]

Thanks to all for your interesting comments

It's all going well........ (on the sim) the 4 channel trainer is now feeling responsive to my actions and controlable. I am landing well, turned the wind and gusts up, managing engine failures (turned to 90%)and landing the plane  when it happens.

I have a question on the HZ cub though.... it's a 4 channel. How can that be if it doesn't have ailerons? Rudder, speed controller, elevator - thats just 3 channels? Or does it make up for it by having a split elevator that works in opposing directions like ailerons?

I didn't pick up the HZ cub today, ended up speadning a fortune on my other main hobby - tropical fish keeping and breeding. If anyone thinks RC planes is an expensive hobby try getting in to fish keeping on some scale!! 

 Garry, as you said - my eyes are firmly on a spitfire and not a little one!!!! That's for the future anyway...

[Gemma Jane]

Hi Tim,

The Hobby Zone Super Cub has three channels used for controlling the model, elevator, rudder and throttle.

The 'fourth channel', isn't a control channel it is what HZ call an 'x-port' which is used for dropping things etc. Shame really because if it really was a spare fourth channel it would be much easier to convert the Cub to four channel with ailerons.

You think fish keeping is an expensive hobby? Try flying full size aircraft.

[Tim Yates]

Gemma Fairchild wrote (see)

Hi Tim,

The Hobby Zone Super Cub has three channels used for controlling the model, elevator, rudder and throttle.

The 'fourth channel', isn't a control channel it is what HZ call an 'x-port' which is used for dropping things etc. Shame really because if it really was a spare fourth channel it would be much easier to convert the Cub to four channel with ailerons.

You think fish keeping is an expensive hobby? Try flying full size aircraft.

Thanks Gemma. I saw that xport thing on the website and wondered if that was the case. Bit of a waste of a channel really, dropping stuff and other xport stuff just seems a kids 'gimmick'.

OK, so you have a full size aircraft?! How cool! I always wanted a microlite flexi wing. Dad does paragliding (not so expensive) but still cool! For me, motorbikes, fish and this year flying an RC plane and sailing.

We're all just big kids at heart....

[Gemma Jane]

I don't own a full size aircraft at the moment, only rent which costs enough, though with prices falling on full size that could all change this year. Looking back over the past year I have spent around the same on model flying as full size, which is a bit of a shock but what tends to happen is that if I have to cancel a flight which is often due to the weather I tend to comfort myself with another big box from the model shop! Though I did also buy a shed this year. Model flying could easily become a very expensive hobby it doesn't have to be but the more one gets drawn in, well the more one wants. I have a couple of foam models which have cost over £300 in all considering receiver, servos, motor and ESC etc so the costs soon start to mount and I would consider what I do as the budget end of the hobby.

[Tim Yates]

OK well i'm now flying all the planes on the sim! Turned engine failures up to 90% on them all, swinging through the hoops. I know the real McCoy isn't going to be that simnple but the sim is now frankly quite boring. Was flying the spitfire earlier....... GF insisted on messing about with the throttle and rudder lever whilst i was controlling the plane on the other lever, still didn't crash! Really feeling i've got the sim nailed and maybe not going to get much more from it!

Is there a 4 channel electric trainer plane available thats 'reasonable', quickly putting myself off the HZ cub as it's only a 3 channell really, on the sim the 3 channel planes are just a pain in the butt (borning) to fly - please tell me if i'm trying to run before walk...

[Gemma Jane]

I would say it is better to complete a few hunderd boring flights with a simple model than one and only one, very exciting flight with a more complex one

[Tim Yates]

Fair cop! Be handy for practicing my landings in reality too - thats one of the best bits for me.... 'flinging' the plane around in the sky and then bringing it to a graceful landing....

Is there anyway on the sim to get channels 5 and 6 working, for example for landing gear on the spitfire? Can't seem to fathem that out...