RE: Laddie M's Arrow - 2nd Attempt
Couple more items to add to the Arrow knowledge list:
1. I guess if you mess around with swept leading edge aircraft long enough, sooner or later you're going to run into Dutch roll. In the electric Arrow, it exhibited itself as a reluctance to "groove"- the bird kept wanting to drop one wing or the other, and any correction I made was too much, it wanted to roll over to the other side. It would not fly hands off with and stay level in roll. Didn't notice any nose wagging, but I've read that goes along with it. This is probably what made me think the original elevon servos were no good.
The cure was simple: move the CG up to 15" forward of the elevon hinge line, about a quarter inch further than it was previously. Just as stable as the glow Arrow, now. It would always drop a wing during landing flare before, and that's gone, too.
2. Cooling air for the ESC and seaplanes just don't mix. (At least ones where the ESC has to be way down in the hull and the motor's a long way away.) Made a bad TO yesterday, and the intake scoop let in enough water to flood the ESC and ruin it. Fortunately I had another on hand, and after repairs, rebalancing, and removing the scoops/inlets, I could go fly again. I used to always find a little water in the bottom of the servo bay after each flight. No more. The scoops were the problem. The Turnigy Trust 55 only gets warm to the touch, now, so I'm not worried about that.
A bit of knowledge gained on electric applications: a "knock-knock-knock" noise coming out of the motor at low speeds is a bad connection in the motor wiring somewhere.
This has been a good learning week. [:-]