SparkyVTFlyer

Hi everyone,

This is actually my first post, even though I've been a member for quite some time. My brother and I bought the Parkzone P51D Ultra Micro RTF from the local hobby shop today and had some trouble at the field with it. This is our first time using the DSM (Spektrum) technology and we were wondering if anyone has had similar problems. We experienced several crashes due to a stuck aileron. We're both seasoned Nitro flyers, so we were quite unnerved when the plane spiraled out of control into the ground. We were also shocked at this plane's resiliency, having little to no damage after each crash. After several attempts, were we able to reproduce the problem on the ground. It was very odd to see the sticks at neutral, and the ailerons at full deflection. In this condition we were able to successfully move all other control surfaces, while the ailerons were stuck at full bank. After cycling power on the radio, it went back to neutral. We checked all physical connections and linkages to ensure it wasn't binding - and indeed the servo was holding at full throw.

After a while, we started to figure out that its less likely to happen when the throttle settings aren't moved too much, and it's more likely to happen at full throttle - but not guaranteed to happen at full throttle. Either way, we had several good flights once we figured out the "envelope" and were amazed at the flight time of those little LiPo batteries.

We checked several posts and did the usual Google search, but couldn't find anything specific. Has anyone heard of this, or experienced it while flying one of these? Is this a common problem with the DSM technology - or could this be a case of a bad servo? I'd appreciate any help.

Sparky

Real Gambler

They are really resilient for sure! Did you had to trim the aileron a lot???? I would definitively suspect the servo. It's quite likely going too far. Check also the position of the little nut holding the worm screw in place and make sure it doesn't get stuck on the side of the servo. Sadly, you'll have to crack the Mustang open. Just add a little bit of scotch tape near the nose, and two little pieces on the back (top and side) to close it.

Most important if you had a lot of trimming on the aileron: If that's the case, set your Tx back to NO trim (longer beep tone indicate the middle or no trim), then once you open your Mustang, adjust the linkage (strech or squeeze the U bend), until you don't need more than 1 or 2 click of trim on the aileron. Trust me, if you had more than 4 click of trims on the ailerons, you'll fix your problem. The servo get too far, and sometime get stuck. So basically, make sure it can fly straight with VERY little trim.

Now, just make sure the spinner is not rubbing on the fuselage. After a few crashes, sometime it does, and you'll get much shorter flight...

SparkyVTFlyer

Thanks for the reply. We did not have to adjust the aileron trim at all before flying. We'll definitely check the servo before flying again and make sure the nut is correctly placed. If it continues to be a problem then we might see if we can get a new servo under warranty or something. Thanks for the tip on the spinner - I suspected that we'd get a lot less on the flight time when it rubs the fuselage. We'll repost if we have more problems, but other than the aileron glitch we were quite pleased with the performance and flight time.

Sparky

Aircraftfreak15

i had the same problem with my frist one i had i sent that one in to horizon and got a brand new one back from horizon within 2 weeks there is no way to fix this proble i know of its just a bad servo needlees to say my second one that the sen me flys great with no problems at all.

Sinai

That happened to me too. It was on High rate, full throttle, full aileron, and just got stuck. Looked cool, but sucked to get a few unwanted wrinkles from no fault of my own.

I just avoid maximum aileron input now when on high rates. Lucky for me too, i was also flying over grass. Good luck !

mad web tv scientist

Sparky, I had the same problem and also bought an extra servo. It turns out that in most cases like ours is that these little servos are prone to getting dust particles that can lock them up. I also made the mistake of adding carbon fiber to only the leading edges of the wings that allowed them to flex abnormally, (blush) - see the story in the link below.

Enjoy.

FABULOUS FRONT YARD FIGHTER FLYING FUN REPORT
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_91...tm.htm#9282912


madwebtvscientist [sm=lol.gif]
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SparkyVTFlyer

Thanks for the replies. We checked the nut position and it was "ok" from what we could tell. We also spent about 5-7 min just working the aileron servo back and forth, back and forth, and eventually the "sticking" went away. Not sure what the fault was for this, but we haven't seen the problem since. I wish we would have known about it prior to flying - it would have saved us several hours and some damage to the fuselage - but it flies great now. Its amazing that with two batteries, recharging between flights, that you could quite literally fly indefinitely on this little plane. Its nimble and stable (but not self-correcting) and just fun to fly. Very little worry about doing major damage on a less-than-perfect landing. Thanks for the help and I hope others might find this thread useful.

Sparky

rcdude-K

As to the nose cone rubbing against the fuselage. Pull the nose cone off and sand about 1/8 of an inch off of it and then glue it back on. You'll never have thae nose rubbing the fuse again.

cjg

Don't get too much of a gap between the nose cone and the nose. The nose cone serves as a cushion to absorb impact and protect the motor/transmission.

I had many front end crashes without harming the gearbox until after I rebuilt the front end. I mounted the gear box 1mm too far foward, leaving a bit more gap between the nose cone and front end. After that, every time I nosed in, I destroyed the gear box.

After installing a new fuselage with the correct mount, and gap, no more gearbox problems.