Tim Mackey Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Is it me, or does this seem a bit OTT and drastic for the "problem" in hand.I respectfully suggest you need to practice more the ground runs - after all, if a Giro is going to be able to input sufficient and speedy commands to make her handle, then so should you. maybe your rudder needs reducing / increasing in throw, or a bit of expoNot being curt I hope, but just my opinion. Practice sir ! Edited By Timbo - Administrator on 11/11/2009 19:39:27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifton Park Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 Timbo In the same spirit as your reply was meant, I think our hobby today is OTT, when I look back at the amount satisfaction I had from a 10 shilling KK free flight kit and compare it to the present state of the art, the 10 shilling kit wins hands over. Taking your point regarding "a bit of expo" it was not long ago servo reversing and end point setting was OTT. As far as my present problem is concerned, I just have one grumpy ground handing model. My Acrowot, Wot 4 and Extra all behave reasonablely well off tarmac having made use of some of the multitude of programming facilities to tame thier various quirks. As I see it, one gyro in the scheme of things is pretty small beer, and could well be useful in future, which I must admit, goes against my inclination towards simplicity. toolman59 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Thats fair enough Clifton, and as I say, I didnt mean to sound curt. Obviously from the experience you have of the other models, this does seem a one off - I wonder if fitting a wider rear wheel may help - or even dispensing with it all together and fitting a skid?Thats simple..which you like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith England 1 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Guys, Your focussing in the wrong place with this, the reason one taildragger will tend to ground loop and another won't (and also why nosewheel jobs don't do it at all) is mostly down to how far behind the wheels the C of G is. See my club newsletter article http://www.edmfc.org.uk/sept04/Sept2004newsletter.htm The Wots Wot has a high U/c and its well forward of the C of G both will make it prone to ground looping easily. Getting the wheels back a bit will tame it most. As several have suggested using elevator to hold the tailwheel down will help increase its authority and drag and so will getting the tail up as soon as possible so it is in the airflow and can control the plane - if it is difficult to control when the tail is up then you do need expo or reduced rates. Learning to get the tail up and keep it up until the plane is too slow for it to stay there is one of the lessons of good tailwheel control - watch a full size Spit -it doesn't run along the ground with its tail down on the take off run! once the tail is down full up will help the wheel steer. I'd agree that a giro is overkill however, any Heli giro will work on a plane - I use one on a twin to give me a fighting chance if an engine fails and others are flying so I can't hear it. Generally a plane turns so much slower than a heli that you can use full gain but I'd start at about 50% and work up. A switchable Giro like the Futaba 401 can be used with the gain control on the gear channel - I use a 3 position switch so I have heading hold one way zero giro in the middle and rate mode the other way - the end points for the channel control the gain. Heading hold will be brilliant for take off and landing as the rudder will literally hold whatever heading you are on - but if you are not good at using a rudder it will get you into all sorts of trouble in flight. Rate mode - and you can get some cheap rate giros will just damp sudden swings and it wouldn't do any real harm in flight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Richards Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Hello Kieth, looks like your first post so here's the standard welcome post.........you may already know a lot of the stuff but have a look anyway. They're a great crowd in here and you'll find help with just about anything. Can I ask that you have a look through these?.......Mostly about how to use the forum and general useful information. Please read these. And here And another BMFA clubs Apart from that, just jump in and have fun. Bruce P.S. looks like some good info on ground looping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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