I do not usually use extentions, I solder new wire directly to the servos and terminate them at the receiver, so it's all just a matter of measuring the distance, add a couple of inches and that's your length!
No, I use the usual HD servo cables, but I keep them far away from the ECU and as far away from the turbine as possible. For this purpose, I also made a 1/2 bypass (bottow only) from carbon fibre, so the cables are shielded from the turbin by the carbon. I now have approx 40 flights on my F-16, and apart from one occurance of flutter on the rudder caused by a faulty set screw, every flight so far has been perfect without as much as a glitch. This could also be tributed to my Weatronic receiver and the dual receiver/dual antenna setup. It is still my all-time favorite jet!!
For the F-16 I am using 6mm all the way to the fuel pump where I have to go down to 4 mm. I have also dropped the rubber tank stoppers and epoxied brass tubes with clunks directly into the tanks. The brass tubes that come with the plane are too small inner diameter.
Posts: 151
Joined: 2/16/2003 From: sydney, , AUSTRALIA Status: offline
hello guys, had another great weekend of flying the big f16 (at least paul did, i can't see it because the paint job is so scale!) had a main landing gear hang up due to air leaking past the plunger in one of the mains, minimal damage though and it was flying again next day. i've posted here today because i've started on making the elevators removeable, they're almost 1 metre across and a pain for me to transport, i can see them shake and vibrate in the rear vision mirror and am petrified that the servo gear train is being damaged with all the travelling i seem to do with the model. will obtain new batteries for the camera and post some pics tomorrow if anyone is interested, its a lot of work actually, new elevators need to be cut and glassed + all the blah blah blah, plus i'm going to do a new colour scheme i can see
Posts: 90
Joined: 4/13/2007 From: Scappoose, OR, USA Status: offline
Hi blackcat, First option would be to make a device that supports the elevators during transport and when it is not being used. Full scale airplanes have gust locks that either block the controls or on older aircraft they locked the control surfaces to avoid damage from gusts. They would serve you the same purpose except that your problem comes from unbalanced control surfaces. Gust locks usually support the moving surfaces against solid parts of the aircraft. If you are going through all the effort in making new elevators, consider balancing them weight wise. That will give you two really good advantages. First it will take off the stress that any kind of acceleration will put on your elevator along the vertical axis. In addition it will also decrease the load of the servos in flight, as CG of the elevator and the aerodynamic forces are closer together. Third - it will prevent flutter. Technically you can design them in a way that with a little weight in the front area you can counteract the weight of the rear part. If your weight and balance does not allow for that, you could create a linkage that allows you to add a bob weight inside the fuselage to use a larger moment arm with less weight on it to counteract the weight of the heavier rear panel of the elevator.
Blackcat - my F16 is way too long to be transported in a standard way in a Norwegian truck - we have these silly rules that make us have a metal mesh behind the seats if you want a work car without back seats - this saves a lot of money (my Chevrolet Tahoe costs approx US$100.000 instead of almost $200.000!!) - however, I had a jet friend make an opening where I can put the nose of the F-16 through - it sticks out almost 25 inches between the front seats, and even then, the fin is 5 mm away from the rear window! The turbine intake lip rests on a styrofoam tube between the seats, and the main wheels are placed in a soft foam "cradle" with openings that exactly matches the wheels. I can run over gravel and pretty lousy roads (of which we have a LOT in Norway) - still, I have never seen the elevators shake! You must be travelling over some pretty tough Australian outback roads to see the elevators shake!!
Also, the 25 kg servos and the solid links make it virtually impossible for the elevators to shake during transport - but apart from that, it would be interesting to see how you could make them removable!
Tor
PS - my elevators are not balanced, and after 45 flights, all is still good and the links as solid as ever..
Posts: 151
Joined: 2/16/2003 From: sydney, , AUSTRALIA Status: offline
g'day tor, my elevators shake, i promise!! heres a few photos, a lot of work to do it, but it will be worth the effort. whenever i get into this sort of work, i'm reminded of how much i like arf's!!! i also do not mass balance, i have done in the past, mainly when servos were 4kg, not 25kg, i don't notice any difference, maybe there is but it doesn't worry me too much. if you look at most fullsize all flying stabs they almost all droop to the rear when powered down, i hope this doesn't start a tirade about balance! the bracket is, dare i say it, jetlegend, and the pivot is titanium, nice little set. a 9mm outside and 8mm inside dia brass tube is placed in the existing (copper!) bush and helps with alignment, servo position needs to change to align with torque arm. its all pretty straight-forward, if a little time consuming. will update as progress continues, over and out
So you actually made new elevators from foam and balsa - I'm impressed!! Personally, I can hardly wait for the day when all great jets like this are almost RTF - just put your turbine in and fly! Tanks, cables, air, retracts and doors should all be in place, and you should be able to tell the factory which servos you want!
That looks like a nice setup - and very useful if I should ever travel with my F-16, as it would be impossible to make a crate that was as wide as the elevators and as tall as the fin...
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RE: s/m 1/6 f16 in my hot little hands! - 
