Originally posted by MRMcFarlandM
While I think the UCD is a terrific plane I have noticed the rudder seems to couple badly to both elev. and the ail. with 45 deg. of rudder it takes about 3/4 inch. of up elev. and 1/2 inch of ail. at the fuse to keep the plane stable. Don't think I am to tail heavy, the plane does not flat spin well and requires quite a bit of throttle to harrier nose hi. Is it just this one or do they all act this way.
mike,
For all the fun things this airplane can do, the rudder has to be the only frustration I have with mine - note: this is my first "made for 3d" airplane. The roll coupling has to be the worst I've ever had on any airplane, its simply amazing how much aileron has to be mixed to the rudder, I too have about 3/4 inch mixed - is this normal for 3D aircraft? on the bright side, I was able to mix out all the roll coupling. Pitch coupling on the other hand is driving me nuts - at low rate rudder 1.5 inch of travel, I can <almost> mix it out, and its flyable. Once I get out of low rates, and go to medium setting of 2.5 inches or the 3D rates 4 inches, it seems as though it goes from pitching to the gear to pitching toward the canopy! Its so awkward, I gave up on trying to use the mixes and just hand fly it. It is fun as heck tho, with a little practice, you can snap from knife edge right into a hover just like from upright flight lol. It would be nice to be able to mix out the coupling... could do some really silly knife edge stuff then.... I have the CG at 5" back from leading edge of wing (seems to be a good balance point for inverted flight requires little to no elevator)- will it help the coupling to move it? Has anyone played with the stab incidence yet (mine is 0e-0w-0s)?
For Smartwork: I have the Saito 100 on mine - you have no worries about power. Still quite rich, I'm running 8900 rpm on a APC 16x4W (peaks at 9250) on 15% nitro/20% oil heli fuel approx 600ft PA- hovering at about half stick, it doesnt rocket out of a hover, but it does pull out with authority. I havent tried a 15x6 yet, I suspect as many have already stated that would be the right prop for this combo - I have yet to use full throttle for anything other than pulling out of a hover or bailing out of high alpha stuff. Also, while you dont absolutely have to have it, consider a cline regulator if you invert the engine, its just makes life easier when it comes to setting the low needle - I can idle at 1000 rpm all day without loading up, and the transition is very nice.