RE: Long-EZ 46 Conversion to Electric
The yellow Long EZ 46 I ordered through Nitro Models parent company Raidentech (Raidentech.com) and it is without a doubt made in China by fly-models.com
The little electric Long EZ 380 is a Richmodel plane. It's a fun little plane, but compared to the 46 size ones it has some nasty habits in the "stall department".......flying along at say 70% power or less if you make too tight of a turn---probably 30 degrees and higher---the little plane goes through an oscillation of intermittent stalls....in other words the front end starts bobbing up and down rapidly as the canard stalls and then once again starts flying. Not so much of a problem in normal flight, but landing that little dude is NOT easy when it starts the bobbing stuff near the ground! The yellow Long EZ 46 exhibits NONE of that nasty behavior.
As for the sloppy clevis/horn----I remember now that I drilled another hole in the metal horn and used a nylon clevis as mine also had too big of a hole in the horn. I also cut out a slot in the canard rearward of the clevis to give it more "motion" in that direction (although that is "down" elevator i.e. the elevator deflects upwards).
My maiden flight didn't go so swell as once I had ground speed up and rotated I was heading towards some BIG oak trees.....so I got out of the power and came down rather hard on the front right corner of the canard. The plane did a spin on the ground, bent the main landing gear up under the plane (the aluminum landing gear is very very easy to rebend in a vise and/or hammer out straight!) and broke the canard right at the point where it meets the right side of the fuselage. I can tell you that the canard, although you might think it is a single piece of balsa--it's not. It's a built up and sheeted construction. So we fixed that---and along with the constant rough landings of the little Long EZ, let me suggest this:
When you glue the canard in the plane, use a thick CA and just tack it at the 4 corners on the top of the canard and the 4 corners on the bottom of the canard. That way if (and you probably will!) have a ground strike with the canard it will simply break loose and not break it in half! Best way to avoid a canard ground strike on landing is too immediately get out of the elevator once you touch down. Otherwise rest assured the plane will start flying again!
There is a good thread in the RCU archives that can be found by searching "Long EZ engine placement" or the sorts. Thats where I picked up a bunch of tips before attempting to fly my plane. Check it out.