Finished my Dominator, but it's HEAVY
04-07-2009, 08:59 PM
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Finished my Dominator, but it's HEAVY
As the title says I just built a Lanier Dominator that I've had in various states of completion for about 2 years now. It came out extremely tail heavy and even after switching out the standard tail servos for HS85mgs it still needed 1.4 ounces of weight on the nose to balance at the recommended 2.75 inches back from the wing. Also my plane weighs 4 pounds 2 ounces. I keep reading that they should weight about 3.5 pounds. On the other hand it seems to fly fine and since this is my first Q500 type plane I can't compare it with anything. Seemed a tad sluggish on the controls but showed no bad habits. Landing is as hard as I've been reading about, it just wants to float forever. I'm guessing the weight is from the rock hard, dense balsa that comes in the kit. The wing was bagged with gorilla glue so there's barely any unnessary weight there and the rest of the plane was built to plans. I used a conventional tail. I'm running a TTpro 46 with a 9x7 prop. It's a fun plane, I just wish it came out lighter.
Mike
Mike
04-08-2009, 12:04 AM
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RE: Finished my Dominator, but it's HEAVY
Whoa, check out the finish, thanks for making me look like a putz. Well okay, I did that myself, but my self-esteem bubble just detonated. [&o]
It looks great! Yes, it is surprising how light balsa can be, but it can also surprise you just how dense it can get. And even more surprising is that it gets cut and kitted as often as it does.. but of course selectivity drives cost. Some of the hardest balsa wood I have ever touched came in a Phaeton 40 kit. I have no idea what the AUW would be, I disemboweled the kit for materials and parts after the weight of the fuselage got so high at some point during construction it began to frighten me.
MJD
It looks great! Yes, it is surprising how light balsa can be, but it can also surprise you just how dense it can get. And even more surprising is that it gets cut and kitted as often as it does.. but of course selectivity drives cost. Some of the hardest balsa wood I have ever touched came in a Phaeton 40 kit. I have no idea what the AUW would be, I disemboweled the kit for materials and parts after the weight of the fuselage got so high at some point during construction it began to frighten me.
MJD
