Tony Read 2 Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 My lovely wife bought me the Silverlit Camel for Xmas. Yesterday was a cold sunny day with not a hint of a breeze, so I thought I would try the Camel outside. From a hand launch it did a loop over my head and came to rest on terra firma behind me with no damage thankfully. Now I realise I need to trim this little blighter but what to do? Me thinks either add a bit of nose weight or bend the 'elevators' to give a bit of down. What would be the best one to try first? You free flighters out there will no doubt know what to do (I'm amazed at how you get your models to fly so well without a 'pilot'), so I will bow to your advice. Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Muff Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 i got one ,and have been using it at work in the warehouse .when it comes to lauching it i more drop it than chuck it also tried it outside .also found it best to launch it at half power .will post the vid when i can find it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkman Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 haven't experience of the camel, but my nipper has one of the other rudder/throttle silverlit planes, and it is amazingly over-powered, throttle seems to be '4 stage' rather than fully proportional, and it launches and flies on the first stage above idle-you've got to be nifty with the rudder to turn at the top of the zoom, but flights of....oooh...20 seconds or so are possible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Elliott Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I had a silverlit and found it needed nose weight outside yet none indoor. Totally different flying out door mind the range though these are not very good rxs and the plane can easily fly away with a bit of a breeze. That said I di have fun with mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 hello tony...try some blue tack on the nose...bit at a time...should cure what you are describing...(nose of the model-not you). ken anderson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I've got one of these - subscription freeby! Once you get it trimmed it can actually be flown - honest. I've had mine flying left hand circuits round the leisure centre. Can't do right hand circuits like - but left hand ones are great! What everyone says is true - its hugely overpowered. First tendancy is full throttle and hand launch - big mistake! It'll shoot off like a scalded cat climbing like mad! As said above half or even quarter throttle is fine. Mine needed a bit of nose weight or, even on quarter throttle, it flew around like it was perminantly trying to prop-hang. But with half a paper clip attachted to the nose it was much better. It took me back to being 11 years old with my rubber powered Keil Kraft Hurricane (painted with Humbrol matt over tissue! - come on I was only 11!) - except the Camel flew better BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Read 2 Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Cheers all! I'll go for a smidgen of nose weight first. I have to admit I did give it full wellie on launch - big mistake! If I stick a load of blue tack on my shoes before drinking lots of beer will it stop me from falling over? Don't know how a first timer would ever get these to fly, a lot of them will be sold as flying toys for kids who have no knowledge about these things at all - the supplied instructions are poor on trimming. Anyone know what the 'trim' tab on the Tx does? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 As far as I can tell the answer is "very little" Tony! It puzzles me a bit cos the rudder is basically "bang-bang" and not proporional - so why we have a trim control I'm not sure! I agree with your point about inexperienced youngsters - they would struggle to get this flying. But for older hands it is quite fun once its trimmed out. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Muff Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Nice piccies Carl - I see yours flys nose up as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Read 2 Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 You got the same colour scheme as me Carl. Does look nice in the air, hope mine flies as well as yours. Your fin seems to be a 'bit on the hur' like mine - is this how they are supposed to be? I did try to make it a bit more vertical with a bit of bending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Muff Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 yeah thats how it was when it came out the box abit bent ,not sure if its meant to be like that but it flies ok .i.m just looking for some one with the other colour one so i can have a dogfight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 The standard way of trimming a free flight model was as follows. 1. Get the balance point, or centre of gravity right. 2. Test glide it into wind over long grass! If it climbs and stalls, it's over-elevated so pack up the leading edge of the tail or in the case of this Camel, introduce a bit of down elevator by bending the elevators downwards if you can. If it dives into the ground, introduce a bit of up elevator until it glides nicely. 3. Set you engine/ motor to half power and launch into wind. If it climbs like a homesick angel, apply down thrust to the engine. If it dives into the ground, (unlikely) apply up thrust. Sometimes right side-thrust is required. Applying extra weight to the nose of a balanced model will only cause it to dive into the ground once the power is reduced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 I took mine with me indoor flying on Saturday. It was going fine - well as fine as usual, great left hand circuits, right hand circuits a bit of a battle! Then it stopped.... not like it had run out of battery - it just stopped - dead. The engine wouldn't even turn over weakly - the rudder didn't respond - zlich. I turned it off, waited 5 secs then on again, and it was Ok again. So off we went, 30 secs later it stopped again. I mean this wasn't just low battery - it was completely dead. I rechearged it whilst playing with by other toys (a Kyosho Piper Cub and an MCX) and came back to it. Exactly the same...flew for a very short while, then stopped. I can't see anything obviously wrong - it was very cold (very cold!) maybe its batteries are even more sensitive to the cold than others? I'll have to try it again on a warmer day - hey ho! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryorbik Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I had one of these off my son for Christmas and finally got to try it ;last week at our clubs indoor meeting. As most have said before, left hand circuits were great but mine would not even fly straight with full right rudder applied!!, so clearly some 'engineering' was required. I noticed the bang-bang rudder would not go as far right asit did left because it fouled the tailplane, so out came the craft knife and some material was removed from the tail plane. Another flight and it would hold straight now on full right rudder but still no turn, so more work required. Both of the left wings have up ailerons moulded into them, so some thin wire (stripped from the black tie wrap used to hold the tx in the box)was inserted into the proposed aileron postions on the right wings and glued in with UHU por to allow the aileron positions to be adjusted. Finally two cuts were made in the inner ends of the new aileron positions to allow them to be moved. Result- it can now do slow lazy 8's with ease!! Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Strefford Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Had one of these when they first came out as did a number of friends at our indoor meetings flying properties seemed to vary from day to day and model to model. Last summer bit the bullet and took it apart fitted a DelTang receiver and use one falcon models servo and the original motor and prop now flies great left and right turns no problem. I left the rigging as original so tends to fly nose up even with a bit of blue tack on the nose but it keeps the speed down, might think about a second servo for elevator, but will increase weight so might not be worth it. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderstreak.keith Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 nice vid carl, what is it , a pylon racer? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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