pilotarix

@superfli
Thanks for your input !

With the additional weight from the gasoline and the fuel tank as far forward as possible, the plane might be correct balanced when the tank is full, but what happen at the end of the flight ? Then it should be really tail-heavy!?!
What is your experience with that, no problem ?

Thanks,
Chris

superfli

My Feedback: (42)

Your going to have to get it balanced on a empty tank. Make sure the battery is as far forward as you can get it. A good place to add lead if necessary will be epoxied to the floor next to the firewall.

Superfli

pilotarix

Hi

@superfli balancing the plane with the empty tank not positioned in the CG, results in an imbalanced plane at the end of the flight or even sooner. Flies this airplane so rock stable that it doesn't matter ??? I can not imagine.

My little CG problem starts to be really annoying.
I pushed the empty tank as much forward as possible, in front of the tank is still the ignition and the two batteries. Guess what, like expected, it did not change a whole lot. I still have to add 12oz lead, to have the plane balanced a little nose heavy.
Therefore the tank remains in the CG.

But...what is not alright ! Do I have the right CG ? 3 3/4 inches (9,525 cm) ?
I wrote an e-mail to the manufacturer but did not get an answer yet.
The next step is to get new engine stand-offs to bring the engine more forward. My engine stand-offs are 11,2 inch (28,7 mm) maybe there is the difference.
Anyhow.... adding nearly 400 gr. of lead while other people simply move their batteries should not be alright.
Any other experience than mine or superflis out there ?

Thanks,

Chris

ec121

My Feedback: (2)

The CG should be 25-30% of the chord on a straight non-tapered wing.. Ignore the book and calculate the CG. Set it at 25% and move it back to suit your flying preference. Also you might set the motor out a little farther with washers instead of so much lead. You don't have to move 2+ lbs of weight very far to have a movement in the CG. TNT Landng Gear will bend any size you want. They have a sheet on their website that you fill out with the measurements you want. Then they will make it for you. Excellent quality aluminum. I have used them several times.

pilotarix

Hi all,

@ec121
the CG from the manual is nearly exact at 25% of the chord. I calculated the CG with the Aircraft Super Calculator from the Geistware page. The result was 33%. I will start with 28%, at that point I still need some weight. Using a bigger battery and both batteries direct behind the fire wall is resulting in a slightly nose heavy plane. So we will see.

@superfli
I have made your -landing gear experience- yesterday while taxiing along the field. I made some turns to find out how the plane reacts on the ground, and all of a sudden it twisted the right side of the landing gear completely.










This is crap !

And BTW... my impression was, that it is not easy to controll the plane on the ground. I think a part of that is the very small-sized tail wheel.

Anyhow...
I still had the landing gear from my crashed Seagull Yak 54, which fits perfectly to this plane. I also replaced the small tail wheel with a bigger one.





Hope I can do the maiden flight today without any further surprise.
The engine runs OK....

youtu.be/Dfu_jlNFfTw

Thanks,
Chris

pilotarix

Some news from the Mentor-G.
No luck with this plane guys.
Finaly I got the engine setup done, the transition was a real problem, the engine always quits from full power to idle. But like always, there was a reason and I was not able, to figure out what the reason was, before the desaster finaly happen.
Once the transition seems to work fine, I started the plane for its maiden flight.
Everything went reasonable well, the CG seems to be perfect, nearly no trim necessary for a stable flight. After the fourth round, the engine quit with a strange noise in the long final while the plane was still relativly high. Crap, to much hight to make it on the runway and the plane floats like there's no tomorrow. Finaly it hits a sewer cover in the high grass behind the runway. BTW the only real obstacle in that area. Fortunately it only ripped off the landing gear (which was an easy fix) without further damage according to the landing mishap. Unfortunately the engine was done, the bearing from the pushrod and crankshaft was running dry, that was it what actually killed the engine.






In the meanwhile there is a new engine installed, a DLE30.










runs OK, no probs with idle or transition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1oYhyaqPDw

pilotarix

The "second" maiden flight went well, the engine has plenty of power, maybe to much for this plane.

pcinc

My Feedback: (29)

I bought one of these combinations the end of last year and just got it finished 2 weeks ago. I maidened it last week and it all went well. It needed 3 or 4 clicks of down and it was level hands of at 1/2 throttle. The motor has been perfect out of the box and I haven't had to touch a needle yet. I have about 1 1/2 hours on it now between bench time and flights and it's spot on.I'm running a Zinger 17 X6 on it and so far get about 780 rpm at the top. The plane went together well with minor issues. I have a busy schedule t work is the reason the long build time. A couple of notes on the build. The landing gear is junk. I have already bent it a nd bent it back. I have another set that I had laying around ready to install. The wing bolts that came with it were too short. I picked up longer 4 mm screws at the local hardware store. I did end up with 14 oz of lead up in the nose to get the CG right. The recomended CG of 3 3/4 is good. It settles in very nice and flys inverted with slight down pressure on the elevator. The plane is solid in the air and flys like it's on rails.I dd end up using the high rate measurements for elevator and rudder because low rates there isn't much athourity on those surfaces. Over all, it's a winner and a real keeper.I spent the past summer as one of our clubs trainers and plan on using my Mentor for next season.

Peter

iqon

Just received mine, got the V3, well impressed with how it was packed, Undercarriage is the newer version and looks well strong, covering looks excellent , only criticism so far decals on wing are pre fitted and one side does not line up with the other side..........thats gonna annoy me.......

iqon

found something else to annoy me

iqon

Have been informed it`s a V3 rudder, with a V2 sticker.....V2 and V1 must have been small

iqon

V3 changes or not changed, wing bolts are do able, but would have preferred longer. wheel axle a joke, 1 bolt and 2 nuts may have been long enough on previous undercarriage but not this one. Next they have moved the servo holes at the rear, there are 2 on each side above and below the stab.

iqon

going together quite quickly,

Indiomike

My Feedback: (5)

Wow, that is terrible alignment and spacing of the name on top of the wing. I would certainly complain about that.

iqon

have just been recommended this on another forum - has anybody on here heard the same - [TABLE="class: StdText"]
[TR="class: RowStylePosting"]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: ForumPostingBox"]I recommend you add some strut braces between the lower fuz and the tips of the tail. This model was reviewed in another magazine and the tail fell to bits when recovering from a loop resulting in the loss of the model.
It might have been a one off, but its not worth taking the chance.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

iqon

All done ready for maiden flight, Plus points - Went together well, seams to be well thought out. Covering looks excellent, undercarriage looks strong, rudder bigger than previous versions..
Negative points - Fittings, had 1 broken clevis, so never trusted any of the remaining. Wheel axle short, wing bolts short, Decal lettering. not lined up and wrong version..

iqon

maiden done, no trimmimng needed. only had the one flight , engine problems.......

iqon

Anybody else got the V3 yet

cluzeauu

Hi there guys. Does any body have any pics of the tail dragger to tricycle mod on the Mentor G? thanks

cluzeauu

Hi there guys. Has anybody a mentor-g that its modified from tail dragger to tricycle? any pics? thanks