Are your hinge gaps really large? You should consider sealing the gaps if you haven't already.
They're not huge, maybe 1/16" or less, but I've never liked them being there. I'll seal them up tonight and see what that does.
Do the pushrods flex? How about the servo arms? If you turn on the radio and then try to move the aileron yourself against the servo, does the aileron give? If you hold the aileron and move the sticks so the aileron works against your hand, can you eaisly prevent it from moving? It's possible that the surface appears to be fine on the ground but the flight loads are causing the ailerons to not deflect enough. This really isn't common on planes like the LT-40, as their slow speed keeps the flight loads low, and their size and design is such that the servo and control installations are pretty straight forward.
No, I've not tried that one so I'll give that a go tonight.
Oh, double check the servo mounting, make sure it can't move. If the servo or servo tray is moving on it's mounts it can show up as reduction in control authority.
That one's part of my pre-flight so I'm positive that all of the servo's and trays are solidly mounted right now. Good suggestion though!
The LT-40 can roll rather quickly, and is more than capible of low level, low airspeed rolls right over the runway. I've seen it done more than once. I wouldn't suggest you try that one right yet though.
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Hehe - might let the experts try that one before I do
I'll be happy enough if I get the roll-rate to where it's (apparently) meant to be.
I'm going to disagree a little with sigrun. It's amazing what can be done with a trainer like the LT-40 when you apply lots of power. I'm not saying it's a great idea, but it's doable. A guy in my club has an LT-40 he uses as a night flyer and has lots of power on it. He does all kinds of goofy things it wasn't meant to do. Including outside loops, knife edge, rolling circles, etc. But to get the nose up inverted and in knife edge, you need a lot of power. More than is needed for training by far. I don't know, but it's possible that this particular LT-40 has been reinforced in the nose area, but I don't think so.
Our club trainer was an LT40 with, I believe, a 60 sized Thunder Tiger engine on it. Our chief instructor would keep the engine at half throttle or below for training, but would then open it up during his 'fun time.' That plane used to do things that no LT-40 was ever meant to do
That said, I personally wouldn't bother changing engines from what you have.
That OS 61FX is now scheduled for installation into the Tiger 60 that I'll be flying next year
The lack of run time is odd. Have you double checked your tank to make sure you are acutally filling the whole thing? I've seen guys with cracks in the vent line, or a vent line that wasn't up against the top of the tank, and as a result they were only getting the tank half full or so. I've also seen problems with the clunk line that prevented the engine from pulling all the fuel from the tank, so the tank never got lower than about half empty. Try pumping in a full tank, then pump it back empty thought the carb line in to a some other catch container. Does it look like you get as much fuel out as you should have? If you can't get enough fuel in and back out though the carb line, then neither can the engine
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You know, I've not checked that the tank's being filled all the way to the top. I had the tank out yesterday and checked that the vent line was to the top of the 8oz tank, so that's OK. I also assume that the clunk's having an easy time draining the tank, 'cos it was entirely empty apart from a small splash of fuel. I'll fill the tank this evening with the hood off and make sure that it's reaching full capacity. Another good suggestion, that one!
The longer, flatter pitch props are most likely going to be your best choice. I only suggested the 10x7 as worth a try because sometimes props can surprise you. Depending on the air density, humidity, temperature, etc, different props work better.
I went out and got 11x5, 10x5 and 10x6 props last night in a few different makes (MAS, Zinger and TrueFlight.) Assuming the weather holds over the weekend I'll give them all a go and see what happens.
Yes, there can be a huge differnece between different brands in different sizes. And I wouldn't even say that the same brand is always better. On my Mag .15s, I use a MAS 7x4. I tried some APC props in varoius sizes, and none of them flew well. The best flying prop I've tried is the MAS 7x4. On the other hand, in the 10" size, I find the APCs pull better than the MAS props on my engines in my planes. YMMV, so don't be afraid to try a prop. After all, the worst that happens is the plane struggles from the ground, your instructor does a circuit, says it's not pulling worth a darn, and lands, and you change props. If the prop is a really bad match, you won't even get off the ground. Now, if I only had enough cash for 1 prop, then I'd go with an 11x5 APC, I think.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions Montague.
Cheers,
Neil.