trojan man

Pete have you been able to have your Maiden flight...curious of your thoughts after flying

rcpete347

My Feedback: (251)

HI, no maiden, will not be flying this model.
Rcpete

trojan man

Oh ok, take care, your missing out though she is a really sweet flyer, I get what everyone is saying, but since I have mine already im making the most of it

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

there seams to be a large difference in attitude between people who have build models all their life and those that just buy and fly. I seem to see that buy and fly boys expect it all to be done for them. well that's not the way it is! I'm amazed that they hold FMS models up as a icon to aspire too. I bough two the FW190 and ME109 and they spend most of the summer in a corner of my work room waiting for maintenance (loose firewalls, lg that loose a screw, lg set screw backs out, tears in hinges, plastic bits falling off, foam that warps in sun, motors failing, ESC w BEC right at limits out of the box, etc., etc.) my FMS's were my first electric LG and they taught me that you can not trust their draw, combine drawing 4.9amps leaving .1 amps for the radio.

as I rc it the T-28 is a step above! while it has problems, every time you do something new you have problems. like my FMS FW190 needed a new motor and retracts out of the box, the resident FMS expert says they will replace them but if you want to fly it this summer go here and buy the parts you need. then he says the FMS ESC is marginal (draw is to close to rating) so get an ESC too. while the t-28 has problems it is way ahead of my FMS's at this point!

as for the retracts, i have installed a backup battery and a fused lead to each retract. while my nose gear was failing it blew a 2amp then a 3amp fuse. when the new gear gets here I will try a 5amp fuse on the bad gear and see what I get. then the next step is to make 3amp circuit breaker leads.

Give E-flite a break they did a great job, and support it.

Joe

Jetdktr

My Feedback: (21)

paladin:
Are you going back with same gear, (what came with the plane), or are you going change to the EFlight gear or an aftermarket gear?

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

I'll stay with the E-flite gear as long as its free. once that is not the case I will probably fit one of the many air systems I have on the shelf.

this weekend was not a good flying weekend so I replaced the stock prop with a 15x6-10 zinger. also replaced the flap pushrods and clevises with 2-56. the new nose gear came on Saturday so I put that in as well. trying to get the retaining ring off the old cam was nearly impossible without the special tool, so I swopped the cam, strut asm. with the old gear. works great I only folded it once.


my blendurum will be here some time this week and that will complete my doto's for this plane. hopefully for a while.


so the modes I have made are as follows:
- made fused extension leads to take the small car 3 amp fuses. one for each retract.
- added a 4.8-5.2 volt NiCad RX pack as a back up for the BEC.
- replaced A, E, R, F, pushrods and clevises with 2-56
- blendurum the flap living hinge. with packing tap on the ends.


repairs:
- replaced the nose gear.



Joe

ihasaradio

Got one of these recently. Haven't flown it yet. A more experienced rc pilot will maiden it. He installed a bec with my ah8000 receiver, plus he fixed the flap servo issue and reinforced the flap hinges. I'll report back.

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

Good luck!

look at those clevises very critically. I replaced my A, E, R before the maiden but left the flaps just to see how long they would go. I broke the pin off one of the flaps while checking out the flap living hinge after others reported it tearing (3 flights that pin lasted).

Joe

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Good to see that some are taking the precautions and making the changes to safely fly the plane.
My point has been all along that this is supposed to be an E-flite product and these changes were never required on their past products.

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

but those clevises and pushrods were good enough for their previous products because of the size (I have no experience w carbon z cub). I also have been in discussions with vendors where I say and make sure that area is adequate for its function and then when the part arrives realized we had different ideas of adequate. I'm sure they are keeping track and the next offering will be much better in those areas.


Joe

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

The compassion of hardware and electronics is between the CZ T28 and the CZ Cub. The other plane that has hinge problems is the Pulse 15

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

So the cub came with good hardwear?

Joe

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Ball links versus cheap plastic clevis,,,,yes

ihasaradio

Had a few successful flights and now I'm looking to replace the clevises. Any recommendations?

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

I had 6 uneventful flights on mine. While getting ready for another flight, when I plugged in the onboard battery, my left flap servo started making all kinds of screechy noises and made the flap jitter. Worked the flap switch a few times and the right flap operated normally but the left would not deflect at all (still making all kinds of noise). Horizon is sending a replacement.

Now that I know about the gear fail issues, I will be installing a Castle Heavy Duty Bec I have left from a helicopter.

As others have said, the linkages and clevises are clearly not suitable for this large a plane. They are the same size as those on the little T-28. I do not know what they were thinking using the same on this plane.

It seems that E-Flite/Horizon went to great lengths to produce a really very nice looking plane but my beef is WHY DO THEY PUT THE CHEESIEST LOOKING PILOTS THEY CAN FIND in such an otherwise nice plane? For chrissakes, it seems for over $500 you could at least get a nice looking pilot as well! At least with Hangar 9 the canopies are not glued on allowing you to put the pilot of your choice in them.

Having said all of this, I have to say that this has to be the finest flying plane I have ever flown in my 35 years of flying! Power seems to be just right as it comes stock. Not too fast but fast enough to be enjoyable. So far, I think the most fun is flying it really slow with full flaps. Amazing how slow it will fly. It doesn't exhibit any bad flight characteristics at all. And the full flap landings are really a thing of beauty.

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

+1

Joe

P.S. im pretty sure their junk hardwear is because they were concerned with other things (like flying well) and the vendor took advantage/cut corners on stuff that was not specified. I'm sure the next one will correct this

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

Here is something that is really sad: At the local hobby shop I was trying to determine the torque output of the flap servo that failed. Could not find the info online so the hobby shop called Horizon. I kid you not, Horizon themselves could not tell what the torque output of that servo is. Amazing!

I started making all of the upgrades that others have pointed out are needed. I notice that part of the pin on the clevis on the elevator had already sheared. I would have likely lost the plane on the next flight had I not been changing out the control rods and clevises. Do not trust the stock clevises!

I now have 2/56 pushrods and Sullivan golden (metal) clevises on all 6 servos. I found a Futaba servo that is the exact size of the stock ones so I replaced both flap servos. I may eventually replace all of the stock servos with these Futaba ones. (S9650 digitals if anyone is interested)

Working still on installing the Castle 20 Amp Heavy Duty BEC.

Granted, a lot of extra expense but, if you have flown one of these, then you know it is worth any effort to prevent failures.

ihasaradio

@steve
do you find that the 2/56 pushrods engage the stock servo arms without having to re drill them? I dont mind the stock pushrods but I can't find a direct replacement for the clevises that won't have the same problems with sheered pins. I'm not well versed on custom pushrods and clevises, so if you don't mind providing some more info to help me order the right thing from the right place, I'd really appreciate it.

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

I enlarged the holes in the stock control arms for these clevises:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXRU46

I used 2-56 threaded end rod from the hobby shop for the new rods. The clevis on the threaded end and these keepers on the other end at the servo:

http://shop.dubro.com/p/e-z-link-qty-pkg-4

I had to enlarge the hole on the servo horn as well since the 2/56 rod is thicker than the original.

I enlarged the hole by twisting an exacto blade in the hole in small increments so as not to get the holes too large. Baby steps on auguring out the holes to make sure the rod moves freely with no binding but also no slop caused by a hole that is too large.

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

I used EZ links:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/bulk-ez-...nap-ons-dub605

works on all the other foamies

Joe

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

On foamies around a pound yes but these style are not the best on larger planes. I've seen more planes crash because of these coming apart or breaking. I would never use them for elevator control.
If one feels the need to use them on larger planes then use this style:
http://www.horizonhobby.com/steel-pu...ctor-hd-sul550

paladin

My Feedback: (9)

To each their own. I'm a ME and i use them everyday and never see them come apart unless they are installed incorrectly or dammaged. wood and glass planes transmit vibration well which is why i don't use them there. but foam does not transmit vibration and I have FMS's that have 200+ flights with EZ and no problems there.

joe

ps the EZ you suggested has a threaded interface to the servo output arm/control horn. I would pertinently disrupt the threads once they are on. because both the servo and control horn require rotation to function.

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

I just installed an upgrade that will be very nice. This plane comes with small velcro ties that are not long enough to go around the required 6 cell battery so I ordered a set of Align T-rex 600E battery "D" ring tie downs. These allow you to really tighten the battery into place. You do not need velcro on the battery itself with these tiedown straps!

Silent-AV8R

I too removed the stock straps. I still have some Velcro on the pack to keep it from slipping, and I went to a single hold down. No issues at all. The wrap around holds it tight and the Velcro below keeps it in place.

ihasaradio

I got the the great planes 12 inch pushrods with metal clevises included and the ez links. An rc guru friend from my club helped install them. With these clevises, we did not need to enlarge the holes on the control horns, but we still had to enlarge the holes in the servo arms for the .072 2/56 pushrods. Clearance was tight on the aileron servos with the ez links, and we eventually decided not to replace the flap hardware because even a z bend would not clear the servo on those with the thicker rod. We had already routed a notch for clearance of the stock hardware on one of the flap servos. How did you deal with the clearance issues on the flap servos, Steve?

as far as the battery compartment straps go, I find them adequate for the mad dog 6S 30C 5000mah batteries, which are an inch or so longer and thus narrower than most others.