I just got mine today . i just glanced trough it. no manual here. i saw where the wing joins. not too bad but i will re-engineer. ive used the same type control horns before they did fine.I still might change it though. the rest is not bad at all.I will have to get to work and see what she will do in the air.

Well, okay, re-engineer is a little harsh. However, I am new back to this sport from 20 years ago when ARFs didn't exist. The other planes I have build thus far in recent history have all been very precise about providing robust construction and well defined places to install the hardware. Maybe I am just spoiled with the Hanger 9 ARFs, it's all there and sweet.

There are no provisions for tank installation, you will have to "engineer" that part. Same with the Flight Battery and Receiver pack. There is a little cavity next to the throttle servo pocket, I suppose it could go there but the cutout looks a little small.

I talked to the LHS about the thin plywood wing spar that I am most concerned about. They agree, it is sub-standard, and have persuaded me to glass the wing joint (Top and Bottom) rather than tear the wing apart to install a better spar. I'll buy that, way less work.

The hardware isn't all that bad, but it's not as nice as Dubro stuff. I hate the plastic linkages... but they all come with those. I would upgrade those parts regardless.

Notes for those waiting to take delivery...

a. The tailwheel appears to not have a sterable connection.

b. All the wheels are REALLY bad, cheesy and seriously out-of-round. You'll see... most of you will toss them in the trash.

c. The fuel tank is way small (9 oz I think)... plan on buying a bigger one.

d. You'll need a 2-1/2" spinner. Not supplied.

Well ive had a chance to look mine over thoroughly. and i see no problem with the 14 inch wing spar that is 1/4 inch thick heavy ply wood. the plane itself was built very very strong. for ARF it is a 10 on a scale from 1 to 10 to me. you do have a choice of putting all your gear in the fuse or mounting the elevator servos in the aft part of the fuse. i did notice the cutouts in the aft part seem a little long for my servos but i will have to wait to see if that is a problem. i am going to put it together and then see where i have to put my gear to make it balence (wherever the CG is).If you have big confedence in H9 stuff this one should blow you away. I personally think their stuff is below marginal. I know ill catch flak for that but i tell it like i see it. If this plane flys as good as it is constructed it will be one of my favorite models.I was studying the glue joints and construction of this plane and they actually used wood glue for most of it. all of the gaps ar very tight exept a little gap in the landing gear block. my wing spar was really tight and i have allready put enough pressure on it trying to slide it in the wing to completely destroy my F90. it looks like i will have to sand it a little to make it slide better for epoxing. I also didnt see a problem with the tank. My u-can do 90 with an O.S. 91 4 stoke will fly 20 min with a 420 cc tank. this one is in the 320 range ( i dont recall the exact number) so for my use i wil try it..with a 2 stroke motor i would suggest a larger tank. All the rest of the assembelly looks starght foreward as ARFS do

T,
Just got mine in the mail too. Started working on putting this plane together.
The tank is 320cc which comes out to 10.88 ounces. I may put in a 12 oz sullivan tank but have not decided if that is the course that I want to go or not.
There is a support that comes with the airplane it is a piece of wood that is shaped like the tank this would be epoxied or glued into place in the tank area.
I'm think if it possible to attach this plate with bolts and blind nuts it depends on which tank I go with and how far back the tank sets in the fuselage wether I will
have access to the bolts if I need to remove them to gain acces to that area.
The issue with the reciever and battery pack is really not an issue since when it comes time to balance it alot of times the position of the battery can help in offseting
the CG so that Lead would be added at a minumum.
I kinda of agree with the Spar but most of the ARF's that I have built, limited number since I'm relative new to the hobby. You have to epoxy three pieces of wood together
I can see where this adds strength to the spar but I would not consider this spar as not being sufficent in strength to hold it but for an added strength I will be doing what
you are doing and glass the wing but I have done that on most of my airplanes. There is only one that I did not do that on and that was the razzle, it's surface area is really
huge at the center that I do not feel that it would be needed.
One thing that could also be done is put a small tube or something round into the holes that are made for the access of the servo wires between the wing halves and epoxy it
into the both holes that would add a extra area of sterength into that area too.
I'm also looking at using carbon fiber rods for my control surface's rods instead of what came with the airplane. The control horns are not that bad and I might end up using something different than those but agian I really have not decided on it.
The instructions are need for aligning the engine mount since no holes were drilled for it but agian that is not that big of an issue it just delays the time that the airplane will be competed. I also went out and got some small silicon grommets to put into the holes for the cowling so that the cowling will not split out from the screws/bolts that are installed.
I did like the fact that blind nuts were located on the airplace for the cowling.

If you want something to put your battery or receiver in besides just wrapping it up in foam there are other options out there.
JTec makes what they call a pillow pack for both the recievers and batterys. They are pretty nice easy to use. They can be glued or epoxied to the fuselage.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXUT59&P=0
Great Planes makes a wooden box for recievers.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJ779&P=0
These things allow you to put these devices anyware on the airplane without worry about how to secure them.
I have both a reciever and battery pillow pack installed in my razzle and they are CAed onto the top of the fuselage and have not come loose in any of the flights that I have
put on the airplane. Reciever is very sucure and the battry pack I just pulled out of the airplane and will end up replaceing it as I damaged it on a stupid mistake the other day.

Hopefully they will have the Instructions online this week and I hope that as a customer service jesture they send out the instructions to all those that have bought the airplane .

The tail wheel from what I gatherd is steerable because the arm that hooks to the wheel wire is screwed into the rudder so that when you turn the rudder you turn the wheel.
I'm trying to figure what to do with the wheel wire becuse it is so long going up the rudder. Does it go up the outside of the rudder between the fuselage and rudder or does it
go inside the rudder by drilling a hole up the front section of the rudder. Another place the instructions would be handy.

I'm debating wether I want to install the servo's in the middle of the fuselage or inside of the fuselage. The way that they built the servo holes will allow those that want to install the servo's into the fuselage to actually close out the servo holes with ease by cutting a bulsa patch and covering it with white covering. You could install the patch with screws so that you can change it if you want. you coule also put control rod holes into these patches so that it will look cleaner than say the modifications that some have done on the Chip Hyde CapX.

Did you have any problems or issues with the two little pieces that go on the tail structure. The one on the left side of the airplane does not seem to fit properly and causes a gap
when it is installed on the airplane. The other one does not have such a gap. It almost seems to me the fuselage structure of the airplane at this point is not shaped properly.

I'm looking forward to getting this airplane up in the air as it looks like it will be a fun airplane to fly.
John

shouldnt have to add lead to the plane to get it to balence. move the radio gear around to obtain proper CG. The object is to keep it light as possible. no dead weight. . did your center wing spar have 3 pieces of ply? mine has 1 that looks 1/4 in thick.
The carbon tube wouldnt do much beefing tin the servo wire hole unless you stripped the covering and center sheeting and braced the ribs there. The wing is built very strong. Glass clothed center would be about the best bet here. and the good thing is when your dont the belly pan covers all of it

Drum,
You are right in that you should not have to add any lead on an airplane but sometimes you cannot help it.
I have faith that the center brace will hold the wing but I will be adding the glass cloth to the center section which should be down on most airplanes.
John

yes the cloth should prove sufficent. As for the lead I hope its not one of those. I will keep my fingers crossed.

It most likley will not be one but I have not finished with putting it together, just waiting on the manual to make sure everything is done properly.
It is setting on my dining room floor peiced together but no glue on it yet.
My engine of choice will be the Saito 100 which is currently on my razzle and I will put the Magnum 91 on the razzle and break that engine in and see how it flies on
that airplane.
John

Thanks for the tips John. It's nice to have people contribute in a constructive way to help novice builders like us. Attached is the first build step for us, the wing assembly. Using the instructions from our previous experiences, we did the following...

a. Chamfer the hole in the wing and fuse bulkhead for the wing pins to leave room for a nice residual epoxy bead and still allow flush mounting. Epoxy the wing pins with 5 minute, sticking out 1/2" from the wing face. This is enough to completely penetrate the bulkead.

b. Strip the coating from the glue surfaces on the wing. This is a challenge. I have no idea what that stuff is, but it's not Monocoat or UltraCoat. The colored backing stays on the surface.

c. Strip the coating from the plywood bolting strap that goes on the wing bottom.

d. Mount it all up (without glue), and open the holes as necessary in the wing for the bolts to allow a relaxed screw alignment. They did not line up well at all, and the solid balsa trailing edge in this area had torn holes in the wrong place. Not a big deal. To get proper position, measure diagonal wingtip-to-tail on both sides and adjust till they measure exactly the same.

e. Using 30 minute epoxy, spatuala a generous amount into the spar slots and spread as well as possible. Then, paint the wing rib faces on both sides with a nice thick layer and then paint 1/2 of the spar with epoxy. Slide the painted end of the spar into one wing spar slot up to the stop, then paint the other half that sticks out and remove any excess epoxy. Push the other wing half in until the two halves meet. Work the two halves against each other with pressure to squeeze out excess epoxy and seat the assembly.

f. Paint the underside of the bolt doubler strap with epoxy.

g. Before set begins, bolt it up on the fuse, recheck the tip-to-tail measurements and adjust the bolt strap so the wingbolts are comfortably aligned in the holes. Snug the bolts just to the point the lock washers are compressed.

h. Fill any voids in the joint with epoxy and scrape off any excess glue.

i. Let it set...

Next... the horizontal stab...

T,
Looking good so far. Hopefully I will get the chance this week to start working on the airplane been very busy so far.

John

same here

Great write up, TM.

The build continues (slowly).

With the wing still bolted in the perfect position, we go to the horizontal stabilizer. We'll go back to glass and finish the wing joint later. Here is what we did...

a. Slide the stab into the slot, and center left-to-right at the front edge measuring from the fuse to the tips.

b. The slot on our plane was VERY loose, so we put in a long pin to stake the front end thru the top of the fuse to immobilize it.

c. Measure from the trailing tip of each wing to the trailing tip of the stab adjusting until it is exactly the same measurement. This squares it to the fuse nicely.

d. Plunge a pin in the rear to hold it in place.

e. With a water-based fine tip pen, mark the lines of the fuse onto the stab top and bottom on both sides.

f. Remove the stab, and use a straight edge to blade cut thru the covering about 1/16" inside the lines, then connect the surface cuts with cuts at the front and rear edges. These cut lines will be at an angle due to the taper of the fuse at the top.

g. Peel the covering all around and clean off the ink lines.

h. Re-install the stab, and put the pins in carefully hitting the same holes you made the first time. Re-check your tip-to-tip measurements to be sure it's right.

i. Get behind the plane and eyeball for a perfectly parallel line of the stab to the wing. Ours was VERY far off. There is ample gap to shim, so push in balsa wedge shavings top and bottom on opposite sides until it stays aligned.

j. Triple check the tip-to-tip measurements one more time.

k. Wick in liberal amounts of thin CA, then follow with gap filling CA.

l. There was a big gap left over on the top-right and bottom-left from shimming. We filled that with a fine fillet of white RTV silicone to dress up the joint . That looks nice and protects from fuel soaking in the joint. (not shown in photo)

Note: After the stab was in, we test fit the elevator fillers that go either side of the fuse behind the stab. With some careful trimming on the facet at the front, they seat nicely against the verical stab. However, there is a huge tapering gap opening to the rear between those fillers and the elevator. I think we will re-make those fillers. The gap is hideous. That will come later...

Also, we just noticed a big gap on one side where the leading edge of the wing is notched along the front of the fuse. The gap on the other side is reasonable. Nothing we can do about that, the location of the wing pins determines the position. We are getting a little disappointed with the lack of precision on parts fitting together neatly. We'll make her sweet, but it will take a little more work.

Looks like its going together real well.. just a couple of questions. you mention a gap after shimming. Is that gap where the fuse is supposed to touch the stab or am i reading it wrong.how bad was it off and how much shim did you have to use?
I notice you refer to we alot. is there a group of people or you and your son?

I mention three gaps... the ones I think you are questioning are the gaps that are created in the horiz stab slot top-right and bottom-left. They were probably over 1/16" wide, and yes, due to the shimming necessary to get the stab parallel to the main wing. They were way too big to bridge with the thick CA. I wanted to epoxy it in, but there is no way to get that goo in there without messing up the finish. We made small 1/4" wide tapered shims going in the front and rear, top and bottom to balance the offset. In retrospect, some carefully carved shims that extended the entire length of the gap would be better to fill the gap. I wasn't that patient. But, there would still be a visible stipe without covering. I pushed the shims in until they were forcing the parallel condition, then shaved off the excess flush to the fuse. It turned out pretty good. I pulled and jerked on the stab, it's definitly there for good.

"We"... I am doing most of the build, but this plane belongs to my father-in-law. We are working on it together. It's a family obsession.

The photo here shows the big tapering gaps with the elevator and fillers. They are big, and uneven... I don't know about you guys, but I want the filler to elevator gaps parallel and uniform. I doubt it would hurt the plane's performance to leave it, but not much pride there. You can see the silicone sealing of the stab joint here too. Turned out pretty good. I filled the pin holes with the silicone too, they disappear!

Ahh i see. Well i might have a chance between dinners this long weekend to get started on mine since its been rainning all week and it isnt supposed to stop untill monday. Thanks for the heads up there. What i used to do on kits although its not pretty on ARFs because they are covered allready is take some of the softest balsa scraps that i could find in my scrap pile and wedge it in the crack squishing the balsa for a tight fit and then do as you were saying trim it along the fuse and then thin CA it. but on a kit i could also sand it because the thin gets messy wicking it sometimes. But the good news is the stab is on and its straight There isnt really much of a stab anyway .. i can see she will have some control[8D] I was looking at mine. hope that is some hard wood in there because that big elevator only has that to hold on too. I believe you could play baseball with the fuse though. very tough

OH i also wondered where those fillets went when i saw them that are in the stab.That was one of my what the H$#$ parts

The manual is now online at

http://www.bmeaircraft.com/html/manuals.html

If it was there, it's not there now...

Continued...

Here is the glass job on the wing top. We fab'ed a ply plate to double up on the wing mount screw area for good measure (we actually made one for the bottom before we discovered there was one made already with coating on it, so we used it)

It was and is there... your cache is showing older files from your local hard drive... Settings within explorer (and other browsers) tell it to use files from cache within a certain amount of time from last visit...

Visit the page and if it isn't there... hit F5 to refresh the view...

Sure seems like there are quite a few issues with this top dollar ARF airplane.... I would like to think that for the money, the quality would be second to none. I am a huge CAP fan, but I think I am going to have to wait for the final review before I give to much thought about buying this one.

I have a question that is not in the manual and you guys havent mentioned.. Where do the servo leads for the ailerons exit from the wing.

Lee... there are two holes in the top of the wing next to the centerline. They line up with holes in the ribs from the servo locations.

So, we just discovered a new challenge... The wing cover plate doesn't fit... by a longshot. If you place it properly, it doesn't touch the bottom of the wing (where you glue it) for about 40% of the length at the rear. If you were to trim the front edge to move it forward so it can sit down on the wing surface, then you get a big step at the transition from the rear surface of the plate to the fuse. (see photos)

We are debating the options... make fillers to provide glue surfaces for attachement, and then fill with white silicone seems to be the simple approach. Living with the step is unacceptable to us. We may do the fillers and recover the part to make it right. This will take hours to make it right... ugh!

Another strike against BME. What next?

Thanks i found them.... Also when i looked up in the hole on my wing that is parallel to the hole the srvo lead comes out I noticed the 3dr rib was cracked down the center. so i decided to look down the second it was shattered....

Put some cap strips like on ribs 1/16 X 3/16 and let the extra overhang inward so it is not seen and then trim them accordingly.. I had to do that on my U-Can Do belly pan.. then i painted the wood where you see it white. that would be the same in this case. If you have to keep stacking them and then sand untill they mate with the wing properly.

The build continues...

Here is the filler job on the belly pan before re-covering. Then the finished installation. The fillers were 1/8 x 1/4 laying flat, then trimmed and sanded until we got a good fit. We used white Ultracoat to cover, and a white silicone fillet to finish. The pan was too wide at the front too, by almost 1/8", and the edge radius didn't match the fuse. We made it all right. Looks sweet now. We used thin CA to install, as the glass job on the wing joint made it so the belly pan does not need to be a structural member. We wicked in thin CA in the center 80%, and finished the ends after wing removal to avoid gluing the wing into the fuse.