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Post by sgmason on Jan 22, 2013 0:48:13 GMT -4
Got the retract video loaded, but I am fighting to get the repair pictures to up load. I have tried 3 times now and it keeps failing. I think the problem is at my end, my internet is dragging butt tonight Here is the retracts vid in full 1080HD for now. I will try uploading the repair pictures after I reboot
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Post by sgmason on Jan 22, 2013 1:08:58 GMT -4
The reboot worked, so here are some pictures of the repair. The better of the two wings The wing the was broken off completely And the cowl the pictures of the repaired cowl don't really show how bad it is. There is a layer of hot glue holding everything in place and the two pictures of the screws show how I used hot glue to fill in the spaces that the pieces were too small to put back in. It isn't going to last long, one bad landing or takeoff is my guess. I would have bought a new one today, but they didn't have any in stock. I will be ordering one online tomorrow and possibly the flap servos at the same time to make shipping worth while.
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Post by Valkman on Jan 22, 2013 8:58:07 GMT -4
There is glue you can get for foam that would not melt the foam. I don't know if it would make any difference to the hot glue method.
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Post by rcdude07 on Jan 22, 2013 14:07:22 GMT -4
There is glue you can get for foam that would not melt the foam. I don't know if it would make any difference to the hot glue method. Foam Safe CA, but if you use any accelerator (Kicker) that may melt the foam too. Your CG should be checked with gear up since you will fly mostly with gear up. Not sure about the little foamies, but on the Top Flite 60 size kits, there's a slight difference in nose attitude with gear up vs down. And trim the plane with gear up, if you ever feel you need to get her down in a hurry, or the landing approached is botched without enough to go around again, leave the gear up to avoid damage to the gear.
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Post by sgmason on Jan 22, 2013 14:16:12 GMT -4
With the gear down and the ESC moved all the way forward the CG is dead on. I haven't checked it with the gear up yet, but I will. When i was installing them it looked like the gear was right on the CG point, but I never thought about there being a possible difference between up and down, thanks again for another fine pointer. Its amazing how easy it is to over look the obvious when you are new to something I have lots of time to go over everything 3 or 5 times more thanks to the weatherman. He is calling for cold temps and either wind,snow or a combination of all three for the next week . Its OK I could use the down time to as I mentioned double and triple check everything, and work on a couple knives I need to get finished
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Post by rcdude07 on Jan 23, 2013 14:57:32 GMT -4
YW sgmason. I'd rather see someone try and succeed than crash and leave the hobby.
If the gear is directly in line with the CG, it probably wouldn't be an issue. I know on some of the larger birds we tend to angle the gear out towards the LE of the wing some to help prevent the dreaded warbird tip over, so with the wheels being more forward for that reason, it creates a small amount of CG discomfort.
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Post by sgmason on Jan 23, 2013 20:49:20 GMT -4
I checked the CG with the gear up and it became tail heavy, extending the gear it went back to perfect. I ended up adding 1/4 oz to the firewall so it sits level with the gear up.
The weather is still looking crappy for the next 6 days so I most likely wont get a chance to try it out till I get the parts in that I ordered today. I a;m adding flaps to it and have a new cowl coming. I will have to play with the CG again once i get those parts. Flap servos mount behind the CG point a.d the new cowl wont have the extra weight of all the glue
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Post by osidak on Jan 23, 2013 21:25:48 GMT -4
In all the years I flew my nitro's I can honestly say I never spent as much time as you have/are on CG of my planes. I picked them up either at the spar or where the plans called for and either added a bit of weight to the nose or the tail. Never spent more than 5 minutes. Unless I had some major repairs I never checked it again. Only once did I get bitten and that is when a small scratch built plane I flew came up really tail heavy (checked CG with a full tank) as the tank burned off. Got really pitch sensitive. Got her down but barely.
Guess what I am trying to say is do a good job on the setup but don't overthink it and it doesn't have to be perfect. A little nose heavy is fine
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Post by rcdude07 on Jan 24, 2013 7:24:56 GMT -4
Yes, you want to the nose to be slightly down (3-5*) when checking the CG. At least that's how we've always built our balsa planes and how I balanced my ultra micro Sukhoi SU-26M (the original white one).
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Post by sgmason on Jan 24, 2013 10:35:31 GMT -4
In all the years I flew my nitro's I can honestly say I never spent as much time as you have/are on CG of my planes. I picked them up either at the spar or where the plans called for and either added a bit of weight to the nose or the tail. Never spent more than 5 minutes. Unless I had some major repairs I never checked it again. Only once did I get bitten and that is when a small scratch built plane I flew came up really tail heavy (checked CG with a full tank) as the tank burned off. Got really pitch sensitive. Got her down but barely. Guess what I am trying to say is do a good job on the setup but don't overthink it and it doesn't have to be perfect. A little nose heavy is fine Well when I first set the CG I wasn't sure if I had measured from the right spot, because it seemed a bit pitchy to me, so I remeasured and that lead to the crash that broke off the one wing and destroyed the cowl This time it was after the repair and adding retracts. The retracts are considerably heavier than the stock gear, and there is a fair amount of hot glue holding the cowl together, so it needed to be checked again just in case I get a chance to fly. When the new cowl and the servos for the flaps come in I will be shifting a bit of weight around again so I will have to check it one more time. The actual time I have spent working on the CG might be 20 minutes each time, but that includes building a CG stand for the first time, and pulling off a very fragile cowl the other two times Am I spending a lot of time on it? Not really. Over thinking it? Probably, but I have too much time on my hands
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Post by sgmason on Jan 24, 2013 10:42:33 GMT -4
Yes, you want to the nose to be slightly down (3-5*) when checking the CG. At least that's how we've always built our balsa planes and how I balanced my ultra micro Sukhoi SU-26M (the original white one). Hmm, I must have misunderstood all the information I have found, or it was the wrong information because I have been going for level, but if I error I error towards nose heavy. 2°-5° nose down, I will have to try that when I get the new parts. I am thinking about making a mold from the new nose so I can just make lexan cowls. The factory cowl is just plastic and doesn't like cold weather impacts
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Post by rcdude07 on Jan 25, 2013 8:23:37 GMT -4
Yes, you want to the nose to be slightly down (3-5*) when checking the CG. At least that's how we've always built our balsa planes and how I balanced my ultra micro Sukhoi SU-26M (the original white one). Hmm, I must have misunderstood all the information I have found, or it was the wrong information because I have been going for level, but if I error I error towards nose heavy. 2°-5° nose down, I will have to try that when I get the new parts. I am thinking about making a mold from the new nose so I can just make lexan cowls. The factory cowl is just plastic and doesn't like cold weather impacts I've never heard of balancing level. But it could be a new 3D preferred setup. You shouldn't need to measure the degrees of nose down attitude, just eyeball it. Make the plane level, then remove a smidgen of added weight. Should be enough. If it was a balsa plane, I'd say get a fiberglass cowl. I used the stock plastic cowl in my Great Planes .60 Extra 300 until it cracked under wear and tear, then got a fiberglass one. It's held up nicely.
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Post by rcdude07 on Jan 25, 2013 8:26:09 GMT -4
Am I spending a lot of time on it? Not really. Over thinking it? Probably, but I have too much time on my hands If you get the plane flying exactly how you want, then you haven't spent too much time.
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Post by sgmason on Jan 25, 2013 19:51:14 GMT -4
I should have went flying today the temps were reasonable for January and next to no wind. I was doing drywall all day and didn't think of it till it was too late. I need to check the forecast for tomorrow, if it is good I will charge my battery tonight.
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Post by sgmason on Jan 26, 2013 11:20:56 GMT -4
I just realized that I have a pair of HH gyros kicking around doing nothing, I wonder id throwing one on the rudder or elevator and the other on the ailerons might help me with the learning curve
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