ramius

NitroStaff, or someone 'In The Know':

The FMS Sky Trainer I just received appears to be really nice airplane.
The Instructions indicate gluing the Tail Stabilizers (this is expected), but not the Main Wing.
The Main Wing is actually 2-pieces joined with an internal Carbon Fiber Spar and a couple of screws at the Fuselage.
Should the Internal Spar be glued to the inside of each Main Wing Half? The the Wing-Halves Glued Together?
Or is this 'un-glued' design strong enough by itself?

Advice, comments Welcome...

Thanks,

~Ramius~

blvdbuzzard

No glue required for the wing. I put mine together 3 days ago. You slide the carbon spar into one wing half, slide the other wing half onto the spar. Put the wing in place, tighten the two screws in the trailing edge.

Seems to work pretty well.

I did strip out the set screw that holds the steering arm onto the nose wheel strut. I ended up slotting it and putting in a hex nut. Now it holds very well. I will end up making a new arm out of brass.

The glue that comes with the ARF works pretty well. I used it for the tail parts.


Dru.

ramius

I know the Instructions do not call for any special treatments to the Main Spar,,,,,, And I realize this isn't designed to be a Hi-G Stunt Plane either,, buuuuut....
Maybe I just tend to over-build; after all, it does have a very large wingspan,,,,, ya'know?

And Yeah, I see exactly what you mentioned with the Nose-Wheel Steering Attachment. The whole plane is very nicely engineered and crafted, except this one single element.
There is No Way you can expect 'Soft Nylon-Plastic' to hold Fine-Threaded Set Screws; No Way. This one piece is the only design weakness I've seen on this plane.
They need to replace that plastic pivot arm with a metal one; especially since it controls a high-torque+vibration element like a nose-wheel.

Maybe they'll fix this with their next shipment.

~Ramius~

elec1066

As this is my first post here Iam sure where the best place to post such a request/commentary is. Ijust recieved and assembled my FMS182 trainer, and yes, Itoo stripped the plastic threads for the nose wheel set screw, but not by screwing it in. Irotated the nosewheel to see how much play it had andapparently applying this small amount of rotationalforce caused it to strip. There is way to much play in the shaft in the lower bearing. There is no way this will hold up under repeated landings as the force will cause the nosewheel to wobble and rotate, eventually strip the setscrew, cause the wheel to go sideways, andthe plane to possibly nose over and break the prop. This is a very poor element on an otherwise excellent design. It appears this new nosewheel design is a step backwards from the previous which had breakage problems too. There is an interesting youtube video showing a "maiden flight" made 12/4 from sv2115 where the nosewheel collapses - admittedly it is a hard landing but Ianticipate a similar failure after a few 'normal' landings. Iimaginedthis exact type of failure mode when Iassembled mine - this was before Isaw the video. Also, does anyone with this new design agree this nosewheelassemblyis too short? The nose of the plane is way low and the tail too high when assembled - it looks like it is already collapsed! Iam hoping nitroplanes will provide an update kit to provide a more rugged crank and a better fitting shaft, and at a proper height.

TM

ramius

Elec1066:

blvdbuzzard

I will be making a new strut for mine. I will re-size the mounting bracket with brass tube and using a longer wire. I will also make a new steering arm out of brass flat stock then use some brass washers to build up the thickness to fit.

I may have to re-use the lower part of the nose wheel strut, due to it being threaded.

What I found were the push rods are to long by about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. I will cut off the "Z" bends and use Dubro micro EZ connectors on the servos. This is with the elevator and rudder push rods.

All in all a great plane with 2 very small short coming. They are easy to fix and do not cost much. I am very happy with mine.


Dru.

ramius

Dru:

jcraighook

YES the nose strut is too SHORT.  I am thinking of making a few if anyone is interested.

BUT, the wing strut plastic connection at the fuse pulled out while flying this weekend. (OK it was an outside loop),,, but when I checked, it appeared it was never glued in at the factory.  A slight tug on the other side pulled loose as well.  Anyway a little 15min epoxy is all is well now.

Craig

ramius

Thanks Craig for the Tip on the Strut; Sounz like We'd do ourselves a real service by giving ours a close 'eyeball' as well.

elec1066

Iwonder how hard it would be to adapt the FlyZone Cessna 182 Skylane select scale spring loaded steerable nose gear. It sells as a replacement for 12.99. The scale is a bit different but it may be close enough. Any thoughts?

jcraighook

I looked at Tower but not sure of the size overall, going to take the nose gear off my 182 later today and take pix, measure and post here. the other thought I had was to cut the strut just a fraction above the spring and silver solder on about an inch of brass tubing to get the length right.

My real issue is how easy the firewall / bottom struck bracket broke. The plastic is really thin at that point. I repaired mine by fabricating a small strap from strux plastic and repairing with screws / 15 min epoxy. Have not flown that repair yet, but if that fails, then I plan to dremel the upper and lower bracket outand replace with a Dubro or similar system.

Nose gear is always a weak point on RC craft, and I land rather soft, but my local flying field is gravel, not exactly smooth. But this plane should be able to take it.

Maybe FMS will thicken up the firewall area where the Nose strut attaches. Still a great easy to fly, FUN plane, and really looks good.

Craig

blvdbuzzard

I was thinking of just soldering a piece of brass tube to the strut and making it a little longer. Then drill the mounting bracket out to give a nice fit to the brass tube so it won't flop around. Trying to just keep it simple.


Dru.

jcraighook

This is just as valid a solution. BUT watch out drilling out the brackets and making them any thinner then they already are.

C.

blvdbuzzard

I have to look. I may be able to trim the stock ones off and make new ones that are about of more forgiving material. Then I can use some 4-40 nuts and screws. Just need the garage to warm up a bit. It was 22 degrees in there this morning. To cold for me to spend time out there.


Dru.

ramius

Dru,

blvdbuzzard

I was able3 to spend some time in the garage tonight. It was 38 degrees out there.

I was looking for a nose wheel block and stumbled on one of these:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDMG1&P=0

I had the thin it down a little. Took about 60 seconds with a dremel and a sanding wheel. It fits well. I had the plane sitting there and measured from the floor to the leading edge and then again to the trailing edge. Yes it is nose down by almost 3/8 of an inch. So I figure it will take about 1/4 inch longer strut. I looked through the pile of brass tube I have and I have every size but the one I need.

If I just solder the brass tube on, I will not have to make the holes much bigger to get it to fit. They are pretty big now. As I was messing with the nose wheel I notice the motor moving around. Looks like I will be using some foam safe ZAP around the firewall. It is loose on top. I may end up gluing a piece of 1/8 lite ply to the back side of the plastic to stiffen up the firewall. I am sure it works, I just fly from a rough field at one place and not sure it could handle it over and over.


Dru.

macwoz

I just received and built my 182 and I too have the same issues with the front wheel height ( I haven't stripped out the set screw yet).  Has anyone thought of just bending out  the rear gear to adj the height issue (good idea, bad idea?).

Steve

jcraighook

Well, interesting idea, but I like the main gear the way it is, not squatted out. Seems cutting out an inch of the main gear, sleeving with some tubing would work the same, BUT,,, gawd awful butt ugly !

Cessna would CRY.

Craig H.

ramius

Steve:

blvdbuzzard

I was able to be out there about 20 minutes before my fingers turned blue.

I have to pick up the brass tube to do the soldering. The arm I linked above needs the plastic side sanded down a hair but the length and size is a good fit. the nose wheel push rods fits in the center hole.

I have to look but maybe a larger wheel might work to raise the front? We need about 3/8 to 1/2 inch to be level. The leading edge of the wing should be a little lower then the trailing edge. It helps the ground roll. If the wing has any angle to it, it will left before it is ready to fly. So a slight nose down is good. They way it is setup now is a little much.

I should be able to pick up the brass tube tomorrow.

If the molded mounts for the nose wheel do not hold I have one of these I can mount to the firewall.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDMF9&P=0

That should be plenty strong.


Dru.

ramius

Well Dru, I won't EVEN venture out to the shop tonight over here. Talk about "Blue Fingers",,, ouch, it's bleed'n COLD here (Windy Teens).

I'm guessing you're prolly near Edwards, but I have no idea what your O-A-T is; prolly pretty cold by now.

Thanx for the links on those parts, cause I was definitely look'n.

Keep us updated.

~Ramius~

macwoz

Well thanks for the input guys.  I've got the rest of the winter to get this issue resolved and I'm still waiting for a new servo from Nitroplanes.  My kit came with a dud.

Steve

ramius

That'sa Bummer Steve.... Hope You get it resolved okay.

elec1066

Iam still here, but have not had time to work on this this week - maybe get to itthis weekend. Ihave been giving it some thought though as it sits on the bench sadly on its tail with the cowl off and nose wheel-less. (maybeshould beconverted to a tail-dragger) My current plan is to straighten out the loop and put a v bend as in the previous - that v bendis mostly for looks because the wire is too stiff for either the loop or the v bend to have any real shock absorbing ability. Iam hoping the wire can take this working without problems. This should give me enough length to make up for the currentlack of height and also get rid of the offset the loop introduces that looks kindaweird and likely adds to the wobble issues. Iwill turn some brass or aluminium into tube to shim the shaft in the existing plastic bearings and use a regular (small)machine screw in place of the set screw to provide more threads to hold in thecrank.Distributing the force over more of the plastic threads should help, if not Imay opt for the Goldberg variation. Anyway, this approach minimizes ordering and waiting for new parts. With that said, as soon as Iactually start i'm sure these plans willgo out the window.

Weather has been terrible - cold with winds to 50mph - and because it is hunting season flying is restricted to Sundays as the field is in a wildlife preserve.

When Ioriginally posted here Ialso posted to the replacement part forum, but have not heard from them. Iam new to nitroplanes support so don't know much about how things actually work. I am hoping they come up with an option soon.

Tom

ramius

My guess is Tom,,,,,, They may not have a ready-replacement for this new problem yet.