aseaholm

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I test flew my new Predator this morning and must say I'm very impressed. It's been about 5 years since I've flown a Q-500 and I forget how sweet and smooth they fly. Even with the inexpensive TT Pro .40 this design flew on rails.

Anyway, if your one of those silent majority out there reading this thread and have been considering getting into racing, I would DEFINITELY recommend the Lanier Predator. It's very inexpensive, well built, and with a few minor mods seems to be very durable, I'll get to that later. Why should you listen to me, no good reason really. I raced in the past and can definitely say it has never been a better time to get into the sport, or back into the sport for that matter.

One of the great benefits of these forums is the information transfer. So here goes with the changes I made, most of these were taken from Darrol Cady's website, [link=http://www.darrolcady.com]www.darrolcady.com [/link]: Thanks Darrol

1) Used the pizza cutter wheels from Darrol.
----Why? They look cool and many here have mentioned they are far more durable

2) Tetra tank
----Why? I'd soon like to get back into 428 Q500 and Q40. These tanks are SOP and I thought this would be a good way to learn how to use them. Totally necessary for these engines? - probably not.

3) Carbon fiber pushrods
----Why? Another teaser on Darrol's site I had to give a try. Worked great.

4) Elevon pushrod holes under stabs
----Why? Seemed like a simple upgrade and cleaned up the tail of the plane. Not necessary but not much tougher to do. If this were my first Q500 I would have set it up per the plans. Pull on a control surface is better if everything isn't just right. I did not use the ball links because I couldn’t find any at my LHS that would fit the 4-40 all thread. The set up I used is similar to an aileron connection.

5) Added reinforcement: Added epoxy and cabosil to beef up the landing gear block and the firewall. Years ago we found milled fibers made into a fillet was the best method for adding strength to these joints. Glass just tears at the corner due to the stress concentration from the 90 degree angle. I couldn't find any milled fibers but had some cabosil so that's what I used. I also added the tri-stock under the wind hold downs.
----Why? Nothing is more frustrating to have a day ruined by puking a firewall out on the runway or ripping the gear off after a botched landing.

6) Used G10 for the throttle and switch mount as well as the servo spacer for the elevon servos.
----Why? I had some scrap G10 laying around from my RC Combat design and it has been a wonderful material for combat. It worked good here to…

7) Re-tapped the wing hold threads for 1/4-20 bolts.
----Why? It was recommended and what we used in the past.

Here’s what I’m going to do different on my second Predator.

1) Extend the elevon attachment points further from the control surface. More leverage will put less stress on the servo. I lost a servo on my 6th flight today. It was a servo that has seen a lot of action in combat but may have gone south due to the short control arm length. Bought a fresh Hs-225 today and we'll see if another goes bad. I broght it back fine with one, but was lucky I had extra in my dual rates. I banged it a little hard but held up just fine.

2) Check the tail incidence and work to get it closer to zero. I made the mistake of measuring the sides and neglected that the front of stab sits lower. After reading Duane's (DHG) post (nice job with the AMA pylon column by the way) in another thread, I realized I screwed up. It ended up with 2 degrees negative and carried about a 1/16” of down trim. Not a huge deal but shouldn’t be to tough to shim the front of the stab before it’s glued in on the next one...

Well I hope this has been informative. My first race is next weekend in Omaha and I'm pumped. Need to get down to the shop and finish up number 2 and get some more practice laps in tomorrow, after I mow the yard first that is... [:'(] The joys of home ownership.

Here are some pictures. Notice Barley the Combat Beagle, we saw some retired greyhounds today at Petco that might be better pylon mascots...

PS - I set the CG at 2-3/4"

A.J. Seaholm
[email protected]
TEAMseaholm

aseaholm

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More shots.

aseaholm

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Here's a picture of a Predator kit that showed up this week. The wing hold down set-up has been changed, the firewall is glassed on the outside as well as the inside, and wing appears to have more clothe on the center section...

Haven't checked the tail incidence...

aseaholm

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I put 6 more flights on my Predator Sunday morning before the Chiefs game. It flew great again.

I did notice on occasion it will do a little tail wiggle down the straights. It was a gusty day and the field I was at has some terrain that has been known to throw up some rollers. Is the tail walk a common v-tail characteristic or do I have another problem I should be concerned about?

The latest kit I received had -2 degrees incidence in the tail relative to the wing and thrustline...

leeul

I have had a bad servo in the tail (jittery) give me this problem before check them out.

Lee Ulinger

aseaholm

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Lee,

I believe the tail walk was just wind and turbulence being thrown up from the trees and lay of the land. I flew it again on a calmer day and it grooved without the wobble.

I got back in the saddle for the first time today and had a blast. There was a race in Omaha and we flew 6 rounds of 424. The conditions weren’t all that favorable with a 20+ mph tailwind blowing from 2/3 to scatter. We toughed it out and flew a bunch of laps. There were only 4 pilots in 424 and not enough helpers for timers so I have no idea if I was going very fast. I did manage to win all the heats including the final with a MVVS powered ship thrown in the mix due to attrition in that class.

The second Predator I built flies even better then the first.

Where’s Performance Specialties phone number…

Here are pics of my Predators that made it through the gusty take offs and landings. I have to give most of the credit to my brother for his Hercules style launches to get me air born. He’s on the left in pic 2.

I appreciate all the pointers gentlemen. Can't wait to do it again.

leeul

Hi Tick Glad to here you had fun racing. We have monthly club races some times with small turn outs but it's low key'd, good practice and a lot of fun.

Lee

Performance Specialties
P.O. Box 3146
Gardnerville, NV 89410
Phone: 775-265-7523