trentmark did you place the dowels on the sides of the fues going into the firewall or install from the front of the firewall going in towards the fuse. I was wondering if the firewall is thick enough to be able to pin going in from the sides of the fuse ?? I always pinn my big gassers good suggestion to do on the smaller arfs.

Actually, by overpowering the UCD (or any plane at that), not only do you have to worry about the obvious issue of "airspeed" (i.e. flutter, hence the GP warning), you also have to worry about the issue of "over-torquing" a plane, particularly the firewall which was initially designed for a smaller torque load. Maybe Greatplanes should had added this to the warning rather than leaving it an implicit but obvious issue.

I sure as heck hope not. We already have warning labels up the wazoo everywhere we turn. We don't need anymore. What we need is some SIMPLE COMMON SENSE.

I think it's every RCer's god given right to go outside the manufacturer's recommendations. More power to you (literally) for having fun YOUR way. However, do expect possible failure and don't blame the manufacturer if it happens.

BTW, the X-1 with which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier was designed by the manufacturer, Bell, specifically to go beyond Mach 1. There was NO warning label on that aircraft for Chuck to go against.

By contrast, in 1963, Chuck Yeager crashed a Lockheed NF-104A Starfighter while trying to set a new altitude record. The aircraft exceeded the AOA limit of that jet at 104,000ft and fell in a flat spin to 11,000 feet. He badly burned his face, but AFAIK he did NOT go *****ing to Lockheed about not putting a warning label on the F-104's dash.

Chuck had common sense.

bingo!!!!

Others have posted , on other threads, (now that I have searched and read them all), of how the firewall fell off while bolting on the motor mount.

Even if you stay within the specs for this plane, I suggest at the very least, epoxy, or some form of glue, be added to the firewall.

I admit I have much to learn. This is my first glow plane, as I transiction from electric.

I'll be back in the air this weekend! :-)

Hey guy's don't get me wrong, I am not *****in about firewalls labels or planes comin apart with a motor that bends the main gear in taxi.

If I or anyone puts something bigger than the "recommended" on the nose of his/her plane, they take on all of the responsibilities associated with the change.

My train of thou gt with the Yeager thing was not that he was lookin for a label. He pushed most everything he was involved with to the edge, learned from his mistakes and went on to the next.

The nice thing about us kickin stuff around in here is we can all learn from each other and our mistakes. My hat is off to the ones of us that don't push the edge, as well as to the ones who have gone way past it. But if someone puts a bigger motor on his plane he/she does not need warning label flags posted in reply to a post that is intended for others to learn from. More than likely they are looking for a constructive reply or just wanted to get the info out for others that are feeding off of the generated data. (CAUTION Data MAY be corrupt!)

On the other hand if someone complanes (cool) about failures from a plane that has a bigger motor mounted on it than "recommended" and blames the manufacturer, he/she deserve to be chewed on.

I agree that for $189.00 <or less> The UCD is a great value!
It is such a good value that I compare it to a bic lighter. Very affordable to replace. Perfect (IMO) for me to learn and practice on rather than learning on the 33% Extra (yes it is overpowered also!)
I still wonder who had to mortgage there house to buy a UCD? I searched for the post but could not find it.

I like it when Yeager said that he had to cut his fingers apart with a knife after he bails out and lands on the ground. Not sure witch time is was but I think it was when he burnt his face.

Hey guys, been flying my UCD for a couple a few tanks now. Love it, real forgiving craft... I'm just starting out though and I'm wondering if anyone would share there mixes? I like hovering, harrier, walls, elevator etc but my ultimate goal will be waterfalls and torque rolls... What best suits the UCD?
Thanks in advance...
I currently have Ailevators, spoilers/flaps on a switch and rudder to elevator full time...... I'm wondering if I should put elevator to spoilers/flaps full time or anything.... I'm thinking it's a very stable plane so I am unsure of the best mix......
Thanks in advance....

the only mix I have on mine at preset is for knife edge

rudder to elevator
L 1 2 4 H
4 4 0 -1 -1

Rudder to Ailerons
L 1 2 3 4
-3 -3 0 5 5

Throttle to Elevator
-3 with a idle offset

JR -8103 Radio

3 degrees of right thrust on the motor

Been up alnight and finally done building the 46 ver u-can-do. Although it took me and a friend to build in 8hours it looks great. Havent set the controler up yet. Gatta get some sleep Building went smooth and leaving the battery back was just perfect for the balance. Hope it flies as good as it looks.. Should have it up Wed. Hope I dont smash it in the ground heh

Max..

What recommended prop should I run on the UCAN DO .60 with a Super Tigre .75? I just installed this engine yesterday and took it out for some flights with a 12x7. I don't have a lot of experiance in this engine size range nor with 3d type stuff so please excuse the ignorance. But The aircraft flies very well, but falls out of the hover. I'm thinking prop is an issue as the engine should be able to do it. I may be underpowered? I had a 91 fx with 14 by 6 but the 91 fx never ran correctly mounted upside down so I off loaded it to a right side up application.

I'm running an APC 15x4w on my ST 90 w/MCP.

My nephew is runnng a TT Pro 61 w/MCP on his UCD spinning an APC 13x4w. It hovers and pulls out vertically at full throttle.....but nothing like the ST 90.

So with a ST 75 powered UCD, I'd suggest starting with an APC 14x4w.

I just got the Tower Hobbies .75 installed on my UCD60. The chin tunnel was just a little too narrow for the fat muffler, so I had to widen it a little. I really don't mind fully inverted engines, but that tunnel was just too tempting a place to place the muffler.

My question is: would a little bit of down thrust be bad for this airplane? Because of engine being mounted roughly 30deg. down, it's kinda difficult to dial in just right thrust. I get 1deg. of down thrust for every 2 deg. of right thrust I put in.

Here's a profile shot. About the only things sticking out should be the cylinder head and carb. I'll give the TH .75 a try, since I've heard it's a stout little engine. After several grossly overpowered projects, I'm really trying to stay light on this one.

Hi Volfy, from the front view, your thrust line is way off center. I'll be more concerned on that than the downthrust. The chin tunnel is basically to facilitate airflow path over the cylinder head in inverted position. I will be reinforcing my fuse in various areas by using 1/16" maple dowel pinning and ply doubling and good old epoxy, without adding too much weight. I tested the glue used throughout the fuse and wing structures, and I'm sure it's hot glue, just like my other GP ARFs. Put your finger thru the firewall hole and press on the glue fillet with your fingernail, and you'll know it's not epoxy. Good luck........

Rajul, it looks off-center because the darn photographer was off-center. You can tell that by looking at the main gear. Actually, as shown, the engine mount is offset to the left 1/8" and has two thin washers on the bolts, giving the engine slight right thrust - probably around 1deg or so. The prop hub is only about 1/8" over to the right of the center thrustline.

I realize the chin tunnel was originally designed for airflow exhaust, but I'm think hiding the big*** 2stroke muffler is better than hiding the engine cylinder, especially since the TH .75 has that purdy purple anodized head.

The two cutouts I did on the sides of the chin tunnel make for convenient places to add glue to the backside of the firewall.

i agree it looks better with the mufler in the tunel,

Volfy, is all the muffler goo going to travel along the bottom of your fuse ? Maybe a deflector will help.

your not gonna be happy cuz your pertty purple head will fade off in about 20 flights...... plus before you put the cowl on make sure that the screw throught the muffler is very tight.

Rajul, the exhaust tip is barely poking past the bottom of the fuse, so yes, an exhaust deflector is definitely in order. The bottom of the fuse and stab will still get gunked up a bit, even with the deflector, but at least that's all. Plus, I've found through experience that folks holding my planes (including myself) much prefer a bottom exhaust outlet.

Raptor, that's not good news about the anodizing. Oh well. At least I'll get to admire the purple head for 20 flights. I never liked the bolt-on style muffler either - the inside bolt is a pain to get to - but the deal on the engine was too good to pass up.

I had a bad experience with my UCD yesterday. I flew one flight and had just refueled when I noticed fuel dripping from behind the wing. I drained the tank and pulled off the wing. The screw holding the bung in the tank had loosened and it had been leaking quite a bit. It was dry in the front of the plane but had soaked a little down the fuse sides and back by the rear wing screw plate. (my tank is on the CG) It shouldn't take much to dry it out but I am wondering how to keep it from happening again. IF I put loctite on the screw or in the threads there won't be any left by the time I get it tightened down. The rubber will wipe it off. I may try some RTV on the head of the screw and hopefully it will be enough to keep it from loosening. I had close to 100 flights on the plane as of last night.
Later,,,basmntdweller

Thanks for the warning basmntdweller. Reminds me to spray some clear lustercoat in the fuse. Did this happen to the stock tank ? Did you use any foam padding between the tank and fuse ? Funny that the rubber compression was not enough to prevent vib from loosening the screw.

Yes, Stock tank, foam all around. I had a piece between the tank and the wing that held it in place when the wing was mounted. I had never had one come loose on the bung either. It surprised me! It must have been working it's way loose for a long time and finally got real loose as the screw was several threads from even beginning to tighten. I have this same bung setup in several of my other planes. I plan to check them all and rtv them so they can't back out.
I've never had one of the sullivan plastic bung plates loosen on me.
Later,,, basmntdweller

I've had good luck solving this problem by coating the screw with 100% silicone (clear) before screwing it in.

You are a fountain of knowledge when it comes to good ideas. How is the Saito 150 doing. Have you finalized your planes for the big gasser, with clipped wings yet

Fixed Wing forwarded me this URL, on has a UCD with a Saito 100. Makes good viewing:
http://www.*************.com/dodvf/ff_basicclass.htm
Thank you once again Fixed Wing