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Unless I can add a battery backup or reduntant battery system that will take over in the case of a failure, then I dont see a need for it. You can add batteries all you want, but if there is still only ONE battery running a critical circuit, then you are 100% dependant on it. Now two batteries running into one receiver is still not going to guarentee no loss of power. If they are not isolated, then if one shorts out or has a cell failure, then the whole system can go down.
Preventive maintance and keeping an eye out for problems has prevented me from ever having lost a radio in flight. Using a 6.6V system is a little more forgiving in the case of a brown out. Since the receiver and servos can operate at 4.8V, it would have to be a very strong brown out to drop this Life battery from 6.6 to under 4V. So I am confidant of not having problems, but that doesnt mean I wont test the current drain and monitor useage.
In the long run, everyone brings their ideas to the table as food for thought. And that is a good thing.

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

Cut the tube to about 1 inch. chuck them up in a drill and turn them ticking a sharp X-acto in the end opening it up polish it while you are turning it, turn it around and do the other end. doll all . clip then thru the pre drilled hole. Use a needle and set the tube with a drop of thin hened that side at the fuse as stated in the book. I used heat shrink over that fitting. Than fold that tube toward the fuse. Now pull the tube as tight as you feel you want , fold opposite side of the fin toward the next hole in the stab, thread it down thru the tube fold top stab tube. Pull wire very tight fold the bottom tube last toward the fuse attachment. Finish it off. Just make sure you thread the tube before you bend it or it won't go later, but it will slide thru after but they are tight. I used K&S aluminum tube. It is so soft you have to be careful with it. once in place it will bent with your fingers.

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

I just installed the main gear. I bought Du-Bro treaded wheels. I also changed out the Collar set screws to 6/32 socket head cap. They work.

Flyboywbl

I've been doing RC Heli's, airplanes, boats and cars since 1995 and I have never had a battery failure. Nock on wood. Many dumb thumb incidents. But I understand when you have a lot of money in the air, you want to take out cheap insurance. Me personally, a thorough preflight, battery checks and yearly cycling and you will be fine. I have a trainer that has not flown for 7 years that I plan on recycling the old Rx pack and putting in a new battery.

I have been shot in the foot by buying second hand stuff on eBay before. Sure I saved 40 bucks upfront but lost a whole model. But
new vs used is a whole different ball game.

I would like to look into redundant receivers/packs if I ever get a jet into the air...

-Matt

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My Feedback: (2)

Now that you bring up the wheel collars, I changed mine out also. But only because I could not find an allen wrench to fit the set screw. And that also brings me to the spinner bolt. It should be a 10x32 thread, but it isnt. Not the one I have. It is very close but will not go more that half a turn. And when compared side by side, very close. So they must have been made on a metric machine or something. I had to replace it and could not get it to go into ANY threaded bolt that I have. I also had one of the blind nuts for the struts pop out. It was half a hole out of place and I could not make it work.
The wing dowls had to be cut 1/4 inch, no big deal really. Not really many wrong things for a first batch run.

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I just got off the phone with RAM nav lights. On the RAM 125 each light uses 30ma, so the 4 light system uses 120ma or 120mah. Not much of a consideration when using a battery with 3200ma capacity.

dasintex

My Feedback: (10)

The Tail Feather Flying Wires are more for scale appearance versus structural integrity?

I'm thinking I may not bother with them if they truly aren't needed other than for show!

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

Plane jaw
I hear you regarding the redundant systems, my Gee Bee is set up just like that, dual 2000 NI-MH bats, dual switches with a batt shear like electronic gadget, 2000 NI-MH batt for the ingnition with an RCexl kill switch and a manual kill switch and trottle kill via a switch on the radio and throttle fail safe activaded to close and kill the engine in case of a signal lost.

But decided to go the KISS way on this build just because I know how I mantain my equipment, I'm one of those that checks the receiver batt before every flight and cycles the batts every few months and keeps track of the mah useage per flight and slow charges my batts for logetivity and changes the receiver batts every two to three years.

I thank you for your curiosity on the subject, please keep the questions coming.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

I now have about a half dozen 10- minute flights on my Citabria. DLE 30 for power. About 15 lbs without fuel. Ok, here is what I have experienced so far. Excellent balance as built per the instructions. 2-3200 Mah LiFe batteries. Pretty fast landing speed without flaps. Full flaps really slows her down. But if even if you grease the landings, the landing gear bends outward. Lots of bouncing when landing on grass, and I make fairly smooth landings even with limited flights on this ship. Hard to bend gear without hearing creaky plywood underneath. I'm just a little less than impressed right now.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

Double posting, this tablet really xucks

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

Thank you for the info on your flights, question, have you try flying her upside down? Where is your CG and how is the gliding at that position?

Sounds like a landing gear up grade will be needed here.

Thanks for the info.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

inverted with a fairly full tank of fuel showed her a little nose heavy. needed a little up trim with a full tank of fuel. Didn't experiment with a power off, no flap, glide.

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Mine is ready! But I want to take some time to go over it and doubble check everything out.
i am concerned about the bending out of the LG after several smooth landings. I can only think that they did not temper the metal. But I never use the hard foam wheels they provide, I always get the Dubro low bounce tires, they really work by absorbing the landing energy. They make your landings stick!

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

That is a good one regarding the Dubro low bounce tires,.

I'm finally able to put in some time building the Citabria, so far I have installed the servos on the wings, I know, you probably asking, what have you been doing all this time? I'm not a fast builders as I used to be.

I will continue building all day to day and will report later tonight ( picuters added ) I'm building per the instruction manual and trying not to deviate from it, so far the only change I have made is on one of the flaps servo covers because I have a reversed analog servo, they are going to face opposite to each other, if I get digital servoes in the future then I will just reverse one of them.


One more thing, I ordered an IBEC from THEC-AERO, it should be here by the end of next week, if so, then I may be able to give it a maident flight by next weekend.

Planeclothes

My Feedback: (1)

What kind/size of prop are you using?

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My Feedback: (2)

With the VVRC40 twin stuffed into the cowl I had no choice but to cut both sides of the cowl for plugs and wires. Also the cowl ring is not used because it would make it impossible to slide the ring over the two cylinders. So as you can see, there are two screws on either side of the cowl and one at the bottom. The two pipes just clear the bottom of the cowl. For all the things that could have gone wrong, it does work out very well. I had to go with the 19x10 prop than the 20 inch because there is just too little clearance for that. I should be able to get very good vertical performance with this setup. I am also using low bounce tires as I do with all my aircraft, they really do work.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

What is the fuel Burn on the VVRC-40? and how big is your fuel tank?

Thanks.

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My Feedback: (2)

I have a 500ml tank, good for 15 or 20 min depending on power usage. I don't use the supplied tank, they are impossible to see inside, often split on impact, and are heavier than the water bottle type tank.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

Thank you for the reply gutzmer.

I continued working on the Citabria 'till a few minute ago, so far I am content with the kit, I got all the wing servoes installed and the control horns installed, all went as expected then the dowels, I made a mark to see how far to push them in, one of the dowels was a little hard to push in but it went in nicely at the end, the line up dowel for the two half was glued in and left out one third of it as a guide, when the two half wings came together the line up dowel mated with the opposite hole right on ( really nice )

I fited the wing to the fuse, not a problem there, but when I try to screw the nylon crews in I just couldn't, they wouldn't go in with the wing on or off, I end up grinding down the tip of it to create a small taper angle on the tip of the screws, that helped big time, then in order to screw them in with the wing on I had to push them slightly to the center of the wing as I screw them in, doing it that way I could get them in easily every time.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

I'm using a Xoar 18X8.

drdoom

My Feedback: (9)

Mine is ready to go. Im going over the radio making sure everything is correct.

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My Feedback: (2)

Has anyone else had a problem with their supplied spinner bolt? The replacement im using is a 10x32x21/4". The supplied is 2" long only just makes a few turns, if it were the correct thread. Now the VVRC40 twin has the same thread as the DLE 30, (bolt pattern same as a DLE 55) and all my 10x32 bolts do work with it. The 19x10 should be the same thickness as a 19x8 or even 18x8 prop. So im just wondering if they gave me a different spinner bolt than everyone else.
So when I do get home Friday I will have little time to do the final check. Because I do intend on first flight on Saturday unless it is storming.

Planeclothes

My Feedback: (1)

I know DLEs use metric bolts and would assume VVRCs do too. Could that be the issue? Anyway, I just started "building" my Citabria and found the left wing's flap servo cover had the wrong side covered, had to remove the black Monokote and re-cover the back side. Also I am not too happy having to solder push rods and clevises, not my cup of tea. Other than that I like the overall quality of the plane.

dasintex

My Feedback: (10)

Don't take this the wrong way, not questioning what you know or not know, not sure if you have put together a plane with Flaps or not; you mentioned that the left Flap Servo Cover had the wrong side Covered? was that because it would make that servo not face the same way as the Aileron Servo? in flaps, both Flap Servos need to face or be orientated the same way; for example, Aileron Servo on Left Wing Half may be orientated so the servo arm faces outward or towards the Wingtip, therefore the Right wing half Aileron Servo arm would also face toward the Wingtip, this would allow the Ailerons to deflect opposite to each other when operated, ie; Left would go Up and the Right would go Down and vise/versa. With Flaps, you want both Servos to operate or go in the same direction at the same time when operated. Therefore one Flap servo would have the Servo arm face the Fuselage while the other one would face the Wing Tip and this would allow both Flaps to deflect the same direction; if both Servos have their arms facing either the Fuselage or Wing tip, then you would have to reverse the Servo Rotation Direction on one of the Servos to make both Flaps deflect the same direction at the same time; otherwise one Flap would deflect Down, while the other one would deflect Up.