Banche

I got a Funtana 90 and have built the entire thing and am ready to fly. In the manual it says to seal the hinges and is that absolutely necessary. I have no space between the ruder and elevator controle surfaces but the ailerons are slightly warped and do not match up perfectly to the wing. not a huge difference but whats the risk if you dont seal the hinges. I'm 15 and the only other aerobatic plane I got is a ultra stick 40, hangar 9, and am not real experienced in sealing hinge gaps .... I dont have an iron to do that but of course I could just use my moms. for cloths of course.


Have any of you got a Funtana 90 and what did you do and how does it fly

in need of advice

If I hear from some of you I will tell you how my flight goes this saterday

Kyle300S

I would seal them.. The risk if you dont is getting air through the gaps, causing turbulance around the surface, causing flutter. Flutter could cause loss of a part of the plane you dont want to lose. It's worth the extra time..

I personally have not sealed my gaps, but I'm going to very soon. (tonight)

Hope that helps. and Good luck on the first flight.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

Seal the gaps! Clear boxing tape works OK, that Dubor hinge tape for slow flyers works good, as it is very easy to avoid wrinkles, and actual monokote works very good, but is not as easy to install. Kyle has just been lucky up til now, but he knows how to fly and setup for proper mechanical advantage, I'm sure, which helps to prevent flutter. But sealing the gaps is 30 minutes of time well spent setting up any plane!

ten pillows

Definitely seal the gaps Banche. I use monocoat, clear, and it takes only 3 minutes maybe per gap and is a good investment in preserving your plane. It will track better and help prevent flutter too. It is a simple 7 step process:

1. Cut about a 2 & 1/2" strip of monocoat.
2. Lay it over the gap. (It should overlap the top and bottom of gap)
3. Iron the top portion, above the gap.
4. Now place a strip of cardboard in the center of the gap. ( I just cut a box side and push it down into the gap.)
5. Iron on the side of gap closest to the top you just ironed.
6. Iron the other side of the gap.
7. Now finish the bottom side overlapping the gap.

I find it is easiest to do this before you mount your control arms onto the surfaces. Once you get the hang of it you'll find it doesn't take long and you'll have the peace of mind knowing you have taken an important step to preserving your plane.

ten pillows

lynnpreston

If I want to use clear packing tape, I assume I approach it in much the same was as using packing tape to actually attatch the control surfaces on my Shockie? You deflect the surface in the opposite direction (if I'm sealing the top of the elevator, I would put full "down" into it) and I basically just put a strip of tape down the gap? Is it as simple as that? And then when you deflect the surface in the other direction (up for the elevator example), the tape will just wrinkle up? That seems sloppy. Maybe I'm missing something.

georgec

You need to get the tape to lay inside the bevel so when you move your aileron the other way it should not wrinkle up it should just stay inside the gap. Monokote is a lot easier to work with than tape. I would think never used tape for this myself.

Also don't forget to fly this plane slow it is not made to fly fast. It is built for 3D not speed.

I really like mine you will have a blast with it.

George E.

My Feedback: (16)

If the gaps are small (1/16th or less) don't bother. Sealing is a hassle and you have to make sure the tape isn't restricting the surface's movement. I've sealed some 3D planes and not sealed others and I can't tell the difference. I've never had a plane flutter either way.

If it makes you feel more secure go for it, otherwise just fly.

Banche

thanks for all that great insight!!!!! I really think that I sould seal the ailerons ....... but the elevator and the ruder are soo close together that it may even be hard to get monokote between the surfaces

my plane set up:

saito 100

xp6102 radio

r770 reciever

hitec digitals with about 100 oz at 6v pro 15mah 6v battery

STG

My Feedback: (26)

This may not look the best on the Funtana 90, but I use this stuff on the bottom of the ailerons and elevator on all my planes. Easy to put on.

Not24

My Feedback: (1)

I have sealed the ailerons on my F90 with yellow monokote, only on the upper surface. I left the tail alone, as I saw no need to frustrate myself with a job that I feel would add nothing to the airplane. The way I did it took only 10 minutes. Cut a strip of monokote 3/4" wide, and a little longer than the aileron. Carefully fold the piece in half lengthwise, and crease it as sharp as you can. Remove the backing. Lay it in the gap (which should be wide open, because the linkage is disconnected), and iron in place. It took longer to type this than it did to do the job.

Word of caution on your first flight. Make sure your cg is ahead of the recommended 7 1/8". I would suggest 6 7/8 for the first few flights, and move it back as you get used to it.

georgec

You might want to get you some 30% heli fuel for that 100 that is what I have to run in mine. The 100 is border line power for the Funtana 90. But it dose pretty good with the 30%.

jb86

My Feedback: (8)

i took my funtana 90 for it's maiden flight 2 days ago. some on this site recommended 6 3/4" cg, so i set mine. flew rock solid. with a new aircraft, i'm always a little concerned about enter it's first spin, will it come out? i've been flying a twist, i give it full up, full rudder and aileron. i center the sticks, it comes out. haven't tried a flat spin. my understanding to recover, is to roll into the spin (w/ailer), then recover. a friend lost a GP sportster ep this week, didn't recover. he set it up as manufacturer reccomended cg. i heard once, a guy put an oversized engine into an aircraft, had to add tail weight to balance, figured it created to much pendulum effect. before it would spin and recover, with new set up, it corkscrewd in. any thoughts?

8KCABrett

My Feedback: (1)

Most 3D set up aircraft (ie way too big of a motor out front) can simply fly out of a flat spin if you let go of the controls and blast some power on, and these planes are usualy WAY aft of the suggested CG range.

Proper recovery from and upright conventional spin is best done with the following steps in the following order:

Power-Idle
Ailerons-Neutral
Rudder-Full opposite the direction of yaw
Elevator through neutral

Leaving power in can take a spin flat and recovery inputs may only accelerate the spin or even produce a cross-over spin, you want to ensure the power is at or near idle for a conventional recovery. Aileron in the direction of the roll component of the spin is OK, but shouldn't be required, and can cause some problems, I wouldn't use any short of a little for cheating the recovery a bit to get the spin stopped on the desired rotation.

Order is important becasue if you move the elevator forward and then kick opposite rudder you can get a crossover spin which is the transitions from an upright to an inverted spin, and this can be confusing enough to get yourself thumb-tied even if your comfortable with spins.

Now, in most small RC aircraft letting the sticks go is often enough, if you see a unrecoverable spin chances are are good that the pilot was holding something in that shouldn't have been, or they left power in. . . so while the above PARE steps are probably not really needed in 90% of the spins I have done with RC planes, it's not a bad checklist to run though really quickly in your mind if things get strange though. There is also the chance that the Super Sportster you mentioned had enough surface travel to fly OK, and enough to enter the spin, but not enough to recover. . . in particualr if power was up. . . this is probably not a factor for most funtana pilots with our barn door 3D surfaces.

As far as the particulars for accelerated or flat spins, use the same method, if it doesn't seem to work as quick as youd like prep each recovery by quickly moving the sticks to convert whatever spin your in to a conventional spin just before inputting the recovery inputs. In my full scale flying that is what I do when I am in a new aircraft that I don't yet know too well. . . with practice your fingers will be able to do this so fast that it won't be obvious to anyone other than yourself that your doing it.

I am making this a bit too convoluted though, since most probably all you really need is to let go of everything, power at idle, and kick some opposite rudder.

Zagiflyer576

i hope you not useing a 15mAh battery!! im just pullin you leg im sure you meant 1500....

jb86

My Feedback: (8)

thank you for your reply. i'm in the east phoenix area till early april (to get some r/c flying in). lot's of real good pilots here. i've been asking lot's of questions. what you said is re affirming to what i've been hearing. i recently spun my goldberg clipped wing cub and my small electric full length cub (added too much rudder), i held my breath for a moment, it sure is nice to see it recover. i'm practicing entering and recovery of spins w/my hangar 9 twist (it comes out of ANY spin!), to prepare myself for the time i really need to be on my toes.
thanks again for your explaination.
jon b

George E.

My Feedback: (16)

I finally got a couple of short maiden flights that all ended in deadstick landings. I gave up on the GMS 1.20 since I couldn't get it to run well, and replaced it with a lighter weber 1.20 (waiting for better weather to try it out.

back to sealing hinges:

I didn't seal any hinge lines and I'm using standard 3004's on the elevator and hitec 475's on the ailerons, no flutter at any speed. I did use the stock hardware but I put the ball links on the servo arms and the clevis on the control horn, as it should be

The F90 works fine without sealing.

Not24

My Feedback: (1)

I re-did my connections the right way also, after realizing that the instructions were wrong or the guy writing it was a bozo. I still can't get enough aileron throw, but the tail has plenty. There is no need to go more than 45 on the elevator. Sorry about the GMS. Hope you have better luck with the new engine.

George E.

My Feedback: (16)

I never had an engine I couldn't figure out but I gave up on the GMS and sent it back to Tower. A guy at my field sold me a slightly used Webra 1.20 which is 3.5oz less than the GMS but I'm getting 400 more rpms with the 17x6 prop (9,400). I think this combo will be a winner. Runs well on the ground but too much snow on the field to fly it [&o]

From the few short flights I had, I think the F90 will be a winner.

Banche

good heavens 3004's on the f90 that just doesnt sound right

get some more torqueier servos!

it will fly better!

George E.

My Feedback: (16)

I run the 3004's on 6V which gives a total of about 110 in*oz for the elevator which is enough. The plane does a wall and parachute fine and doesn't have any flutter. I wanted to run a cheap setup so I don't become too emotionally attached to the plane, if you get my drift

I did use 475's on the ailerons (76inoz each) and a 5645 (180 inoz) on the rudder.