I was at the LHS Friday and he advised me that there have been quite a few UCD3Ds snap off horizontal stab halves. I added wire supports on the top and bottom last night just to be sure.

Can you post a closeup of the wire reinforcement?

ok guys wana here a story

the plane took off
alirons backwards
reverced 1 servo
know have flaps and spoliers
try to get alirons again
we reverse the elevader
it turns up on a knife edge
goes inbetwqeen 2 trees that are 3 feet apart
disapears
landed in talll grass and all it did was broke the cowl and prop
i was living right that day
so ill keep u posted on the 1.08
after the second maden flight
i do know it climbs up uith athority at 1/2 throtle
philip

I wanted to chime in here a lil' on my awesome dealings with my UCANDO so far...I now have close to 30 flights on mine now in just 2 weekends..I LOVE IT!!vcan't get enuff of mine.My plane flys so great and has such authority with this setup that 3 other guys at my field have bought one with the same exact setup..The saito 100 is a brut of a motor(Idle & throttle transition are superior) I bought another one last weekend for my new Yellow Aircraft suhkoi

My UCANDO setup consist of Saito 100,started out with a 14x8 -tached at 8600 then went 15x6 pro zinger which brought it up to consistent 9400 using cool power 15% heli

This plane not only has the best slow speed traits of any bird i have owned to date and I have had close to 35 planes(now down to 16 plus 3 jets) but knife edges are acomplished with hardly any input,hovering with this setup is nothing short of easy& with little effort applied,torgue rolls are awesome- up vertical with ease.This plane is sure to be a longtime winner for GP,I have since bought the GP Patty Wagstaff 300 1/4 scale with Moki 210 which also is a work of art( a beauty)which gets its maiden flight next weekend ,i'll post those results in the thread started for this bird.These 2 new birds will earn GP some gracious attention & big sales in the upcoming months

Steve

I finally got mine out to the field for a bit today, winds were nasty (20-25mph and gusty) but I couldn't wait any more.

I noticed a very strong pitch coupling with rudder input, toward the belly with either right or left rudder. Anyone else getting this, and what did you do to fix it?

Anyone not getting this couple, could you tell me your CG and throws?

Thanks in advance,

David

I was breaking in my engine today on my UCD (OS91FS) and noticed that at low throttle (idle) it seems to shake the rear feathers quite a bit - is this normal? I wonder if this has anything to do with the stab breaking off on some people? Could the shaking be due to the long moment? Is it something to worry about?

Thx

Do you elevators have on-center slop due to linkage slop? servo gear slop?

The rudder will vibrate a lot simply because the yawing vibration of the plane will cause movement in the tail wheel, thus translating to rudder deflection vibration. Spring loaded tail wheel might reduce this. See if the rudder vibrates as much if you hold up the tail while idling.

nope no slop in the elevator or rudder - it seemed it was the whole stab that was shaking - mind you I had the plane in a stand so the tailwheel was not touching the ground, maybe this accounts for the shaking..

Davey_flyer,

First I would check the plane while it is on the ground. That will probably help some. Also your engine is new. When I was breaking in my 91FX it shoke quite a bit on my Ultra stick 60. It still shoke after break in but not as bad. A big thing that causes shaking is prop balancing. Be sure that your prop is perfect. I was breaking in my BME 44 with a 20 X 8 which I thought was balanced perfect. Well I was getting a lot of shaking. I went back and rebalanced the prop. It helped a lot.

Chris

I haven't flown my UCD since last week. But I wasn't happy w/ the vertical pull the saito 91 w/ bryon15/16, APC 15x4W. Peaks at 9,200. I have it set at 8,800. I don't know what RPMS is suppose to be getting. This isn't my motor. I borrowed it from my brother. So I am going to check my valves tonight. I also bought me some more props to start play with.

14x4W APC
14x6 Pro Zinger
14x7 Master Airscrew.

Hopefully I can solve my hover pull out problems. If not I will be looking for another motor for this plane.

It's quite normal for a new engine to vibrate more but after you run 1-2 gallons through it, it should stabilize, especially for OS which typically does not need so much run-in. Alternatively you could use an engine stand first for break-in, then transfer it to the plane when things are smoother. Good luck..............

I have to aggree. I just broke in a new OS91 pumper and after 3 tank fulls, it already runs smoother and idles much better.

On another note, I just finished my UCD3D and had it out at the field today. Did the typical radio check and stuff and noticed quite a bit of jitter in all servos when only 6-7 feet with antenna down. Well,... I figured I'd taxi around a little and a minute into it, the plane went high throttle, full down elevator, pitching the prop into the ground! Well, low and behold, I noticed that I had mistakenly installed an older (but new looking) Futaba receiver that was in a wreck months ago. YIKES! Hope to get a flight in soon,... with the new receiver!

A Quick BEWARE (post # 1)

Just got back from the field...

I had been doing some pretty violent snaps and spins, etc with the U3D and then landed....

Almost "went again" but decided to call it a day...

Picked up the plane by the gear and the whole former came out with the gearplate and all...



Badly needs reinforced... you make up your own mind, but I'm glad I didn't "go again" cause it would have been the last of that plane and perhaps cost me a new Saito 100...

It wasn't landed hard or anything else other than flown hard that I can think of... Perhaps mine is just missing the tri-stock and others should be fine... but maybe you all might want to check just to be cautious...

See previous message regarding problem...

Anyone running their tank back at the CG instead of up at the firewall? If so, what tank are you using? The one that comes in the kit doesn't seem like it'll fit back near the CG at all.

Thanks,

David

As already mentioned on UCD posts on this website, many of us have the tank on the CG. For 3D, it is the only way, IMHO. It fits easily if you trim the former a little to make the space wider and deeper.

Rick

This is with the stock tank? Even if I trim the former it seems like my stock tank is just too big, like I'd have to cut the wing to get it to fit in there. Anyone got a picture of their tank installation?

Thanks

in response to post #367, i am currently repairing my landing gear block from my eariler inncident with the horizontal stab breaking off in flight. if i had taken a picture of my plane it would have looked identical to this one in every respect. i guess its good to know its not just my plane.
i used kevlar and tri-stock to beef up this area.
tony

I created another former (1/8" liteply) and placed it behing the first one... The hole in the middle of it was a bit smaller than the original so I felt like I was getting a bit more strength...

I replaced the gear block with 3/8" 7 layer aircraft ply laminated to 7 layer 1/8 "... then sanded to original size...

Also placed 1/4" stock all around as "tristock"...

If it knocks out again, it's gonna take something with it...

FWIW, it happened to me. ~30 flights on the airframe. I was doing stairsteps when the horizontal stabs, elevators, vertical stab, and rudder all departed, along with the entire block that the horizontal stab bolts to.

I'm guessing that the stab hold-down block wasn't properly glued in. There's no glue residue anywhere on what's left -- I wasn't able to find the departed tail surfaces. I believe the vertical stab went when the horizontal stab ejected through it.

In the plane's defense, I tailslid it into a hard belly flop about 5 flights ago after the engine died in a hover at about 8' up. Maybe something gave in the tail then... But I think the hold-down block wasn't glued in properly.

So much for an inexpensive plane. 30 flights and ~$280 in flight damage. $190 airframe, 1 DS368 departed with the stab, and there was some engine damage.

I don't plan to contact GP on this since I did smack it in and it might be my fault. But I'm also not planning to buy another.

Yes, the stock tank fits. You have to trim the sides of the former, and the bottom (if fuse up-side down).
I'll post a picture this weekend.

Rick

See photo, keep in mind to do this your motor has to have some sort of fuel pump system, otherwise you'll need to put it behind the firewall.

Photo #2, You need to cut out the cross member on the one former. the line on the tank is the CG of the tank, the lines on the fuse is the recomended CG for the plane. Just line them up and your good to go. I have foam on the wing that crimps the tank in place when I bolt the wing on. Very easy to get at the battery this way. The tank is snug between the formers so it won't fall out when transporting the plane.

Good luck!

...........Mark

What momo is in yours a YS? And if not what "pump system" are you using?

I'm using a YS91 so it already has a pumped system. I believe a lot of guys are using and have had success with the Cline <sp> pump.