jbat66

I have been flying Balsa planes for about a year now. They have been ARF's.
This is my first "scratch" built plane. :-)

Here is my dilemma The plane flies great as a trainer for my son, but it is
not a hotrod, and it doesn't loop very well. I think it is because of the long
neck. I moved the batteries and radio up front, should I move my tail servos
more forward?? Should I change the length of the fuse? Oh, I have a larger rear
wheel because of my dirt runway, it is the size of a main gear wheel you would
use for a .25 size plane. It is smaller than my main gear.
I'm running an OS .40 with a 10X6

Someone commented that it looks like an AirForce Predator? hehehe :-)

This is my first tail dragger, and it was interesting getting it in the air.
After I learned I had to keep full up elevator to keep the tail down it helpped,
the only problem now, is the tail comes off the ground the same time the whole
plane comes off the ground and it acks like it wants to stall. I think I just
need to get more tail dragging practice. I was a little worried about the
landing, but I made the best dang looking landing I ever have done. (The plane
flies slowly as well.) Slow, then the front wheels touched, the plane rolled
out, tail down, and it slowed down in front of me, I goosed it turned it to us
and cut the engine as it stopped at our feet.

steener

do the plans instruct to put the engine so far out in front?

jbat66

The plans say get it togather and then put the wing at the CG, with the wheels on the leading edge. I did that and had the raido behind the wing like the plans, but it was worse than how you see it now. I moved the raido in front, and I added a bunch of nuts to the long rubberband tiedown bolts in the front of the plane as well. This added front needed weight, and keeps the rubber from rubbing on the threads of the bolts.

My other option is to use a smaller tail wheel, and/or move the servos forward, and/or smaller tail servos.

Woodsy

Put the batery under where the the tank is (up against he engine mount) and move the RX up to where the battery is, move the LG to about where the RX is now, move the 2 rear servoes as far forward as you can (use 1/4 hard wood dowl to extend the push rods) then re balance at about 28% MAC.

this will give you a longer tail moment and should help.

jbat66

Cool, that is one of those "damn why didn't I think of that" situations. I didn't think of putting the battery under the tank. That should work. I can move everything up that way. I have more push rod so i will just use that instead of the dowl.

I'm a load planner for full size Aircraft, and I have spreed sheet I made to plug in the weights and moments for the full sized planes. I may just try that out and see how much I can move the wing forward.

Thanks.

Mitty

Hi there.
I just flew my spad today.Well,I didn't get to-one of the pilots @ the club did.And i have the same 'weight' problem.So i made a 1400 ma/h batarey pack that i put behind an engine for a weight and after today's flight decided to make a couple of lead weights to bolt on the engine mount.
I also modifyed original buhor a little bit so now it's roughly 60 inches long(fuse) and wing is 84 in span.I power it by supertigre .61(ringed) and flying with t6xh.This airplane is so tailheavy but i hope lead will fix it.After i'll be through with this airplane i'll try to build a gasser out of 1in pipe or PVC guter but with the same wing.Anyways,this week i'll work on weights and landing gear,will be out flying again by the end of the week i hope.
Good luck.

jbat66

Well, I moved the battery and RX under the tank. I didn't gain as much moment at I thought I would. I haven't moved the tail servo's so that is next. More to follow.

Mitty

I had to put a flat 3/8 x3 inch stainless steel bar under my tank.And moved landing gear a little forward,infront of the wing.The dowels are right behind a landing gear on the pic..Check it out...

jbat66

I got everything moved and took it out. It flew good, not great. I think it is the design of the plane. It is a heavy plane for a .40 motor. It works great as a trainer tho. I let me son fly it with out using a buddy box this time, and he flew it well for a few minutes. He lost track if it was upside down or not. Nice unplaned upside down landing. Broke, fuse (fixable), prop, Horz. Stab, and motor mount. Not too bad to fix up and fly again.

ChrisSpad

anything over about 2 lbs is heavy for a 40 la. The wing is symmetrical, and its a large plane. its not going to be very aerobatic, especially with the motor. There's nothing wrong with the design, its just way underpowered.

Silly me

I also think the plane was design to fly slow, trainer like.