GREAT PLANES UPGRADED SPAD
08-27-2009, 05:54 PM
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GREAT PLANES UPGRADED SPAD
[8D] GREAT PLANES UPGRADED SPAD
Weighing well within specifications near the lowest recommended weight, my newest carbon fiber reinforced upgraded SPAD is now fine tuned for fun aerobatics flying. Please see previous SPAD report on next url.
AMERICA'S ACE FLIES!
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8526754/tm.htm
The most important modification for pilots who don't crash is the use of 6-32 bolts for landing gear axles. After several flights including a number of hard landings the gear held up great except for the very last flight of the day that ended in an exceptionally hard "landing" (?). The right gear was easy to bend back into shape but my ego was left a little bruised. The moral of the story here is to not relax too much on the last planned flight.
Although I added enough carbon fiber to the wing structure to handle any conceivable aerodynamic stresses and some "minor" crashing, I plan to eventually buy a set of spare wings just in case. I think the carbon fiber reinforced fuselage and Spider wire reinforced tail feathers of this latest SPAD are virtually indestructible for my current purposes (famous last words).
I trimmed the CG slightly ahead of what is recommended in the instruction manual and adjusted in a few more degrees of control deflection angles. Stability is very good and maneuverability is adequate for any maneuvers I would ever want to perform.
Some interesting differences between this present SPAD and the first ARF version include the smaller amount of up aileron deflection angles needed to allow elevator and aileron only turns and rolls. Neutral aileron trim on the present plane is 1/8th inch up deflection on the left aileron and 5/32 inch up deflection on the right aileron. Neutral rudder is zero deflection for normal level flight and elevators are very slightly deflected down for very comfortable sustainable level flight at around half throttle stick settings. My favorite battery size is 3 cell 1250mAh Lipos, 13c-25c.
I had to add material to the outside back strut on the left wings to make the slight washout to come out right. The very slight amount of washout on the wings and very small lower incidence angle of the top wing with the ailerons seems to work very well. The first SPAD required equal but significantly greater up aileron deflection angles to perform turns with only ailerons and elevator. I need a lot of rudder practice to fly the turns correctly.
The SPAD is a great little teaching aid besides being fun to fly.
madwebtvscientist [sm=lol.gif]
[sm=cry_smile.gif]
____________________________________________
Modeling Promoting Bog:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/...g&memid=266748
Modeling's rendezvous with destiny will surely be unstoppable when something greater than the narcissistic pleasure of an esoteric chosen few is adopted in modeling.
Weighing well within specifications near the lowest recommended weight, my newest carbon fiber reinforced upgraded SPAD is now fine tuned for fun aerobatics flying. Please see previous SPAD report on next url.
AMERICA'S ACE FLIES!
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8526754/tm.htm
The most important modification for pilots who don't crash is the use of 6-32 bolts for landing gear axles. After several flights including a number of hard landings the gear held up great except for the very last flight of the day that ended in an exceptionally hard "landing" (?). The right gear was easy to bend back into shape but my ego was left a little bruised. The moral of the story here is to not relax too much on the last planned flight.
Although I added enough carbon fiber to the wing structure to handle any conceivable aerodynamic stresses and some "minor" crashing, I plan to eventually buy a set of spare wings just in case. I think the carbon fiber reinforced fuselage and Spider wire reinforced tail feathers of this latest SPAD are virtually indestructible for my current purposes (famous last words).
I trimmed the CG slightly ahead of what is recommended in the instruction manual and adjusted in a few more degrees of control deflection angles. Stability is very good and maneuverability is adequate for any maneuvers I would ever want to perform.
Some interesting differences between this present SPAD and the first ARF version include the smaller amount of up aileron deflection angles needed to allow elevator and aileron only turns and rolls. Neutral aileron trim on the present plane is 1/8th inch up deflection on the left aileron and 5/32 inch up deflection on the right aileron. Neutral rudder is zero deflection for normal level flight and elevators are very slightly deflected down for very comfortable sustainable level flight at around half throttle stick settings. My favorite battery size is 3 cell 1250mAh Lipos, 13c-25c.
I had to add material to the outside back strut on the left wings to make the slight washout to come out right. The very slight amount of washout on the wings and very small lower incidence angle of the top wing with the ailerons seems to work very well. The first SPAD required equal but significantly greater up aileron deflection angles to perform turns with only ailerons and elevator. I need a lot of rudder practice to fly the turns correctly.
The SPAD is a great little teaching aid besides being fun to fly.
madwebtvscientist [sm=lol.gif]
[sm=cry_smile.gif]
____________________________________________
Modeling Promoting Bog:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/...g&memid=266748
Modeling's rendezvous with destiny will surely be unstoppable when something greater than the narcissistic pleasure of an esoteric chosen few is adopted in modeling.
08-28-2009, 03:36 PM
#2
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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RE: GREAT PLANES UPGRADED SPAD
We are now able to enjoy the ultimate landing gear performance possible for WWI flying machines using our SPAD modifications. Another very useful modification includes the use of a 19 gage wire inside the tube that can connect the two axles together. This prevents landing stresses from snapping the weak plastic tube. I ended up actually using a longer plastic straw with a large enough diameter to comfortably fit over the 6-32 bolt axles, added a 1/16 inch diameter music wire inside the straw along with the 19 gage soft steel wire, and now enjoy a very structurally sound system.
The landing gear system was then fine tuned with "toe in," splayed, and widened to look a lot like Bf-109 MESSERSCHMITT landing gear. I never flipped over even once on landings or takeoffs the very first day I flew with this new gear. While driving around on the ground experimenting with ground handling I did succeed in flipping over a few times till I finally got the hang of it.
madwebtvscientist [sm=lol.gif]
[sm=cry_smile.gif]
____________________________________________
Modeling Promoting Bog:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/...g&memid=266748
Modeling's rendezvous with destiny will surely be unstoppable when something greater than the narcissistic pleasure of an esoteric chosen few is adopted in modeling.
