you could bend aluminum stock and drill it to fit. i like the carbon gear that comes with it.

anyone know of a source for the sfg thumbscrews for the showtime! I lost mine!!!!

Thanks
Dirk

My guess would be to get them as part of the SFG package:
http://www.hangar-9.com/Products/Def...ProdID=HAN2816

Or, try to find someone on RCU that has crashed theirs and would be willing to send/give them to you. [sm=71_71.gif]

Maybe Home depot or Lowes. I know I have bought 1/4-20 nylon screws there before.

Sorry to jump into an established thread, and I know I could read back and find out what I need to know...but I'm way too lazy for that.

How is the Saito 125a in this plane? I just cleared my bench and opened the box.... it looks like a pretty quick build. Also, are there and must-do mods to the ARF? I am hoping to use this plane to transition my 3-D from foam to glow....and later to my gassers. I have a low tolerance for 'pucker'. My gassers fly a lot of circles and I'm a bit sick of that...it's just nerves.

I hope this plane will fill the gap for me.

I think your Saito would power it just fine, especially considering its designer used a Saito 100 for his plane and stands by it. Me? I am using a 26cc gas engine, (BCMA) and am quite happy with it. Plenty of power.

I recently won a Great Planes CG machine at a fun-fly and just put my Showtime on it last night. I never knew how innaccurate using my fingers to check the CG actually was! I had to move the battery pack back toward the tail several inches to get it to balance where the manual recommends, (ignoring the typo about measuring from the wing tip). I suppose I'll be able to hover even better now than I was before, which will be quite nice...

Oh, and has anyone else found that their landing gear only breaks off when the SFG's are attached?!?! =)

Dirkg... I got some from towers... It's not the thumb screws, but the one's with the nut
on the end... I think from dubro... It works great!!... For the normal screw type I get it
from Ace...

saito 125 is the LEAST for a 4 stroke. pull out will be slow, but it will fly very light, if you like that. i think saito 150 \180 is the engine for serious 3d on this plane.

for the nylon screws, i just used normal ones from a hobby shop and use a penny to tighten them.

I would personally get the 125 instead. You'll compromise it's weight and performance with the 150 / 180. If you're thinking heavy like theat, might as well go with OS 160.

i had the 160 and put the 150 right back on. i may just be partial to 2 strokes, but i KNOW that my harriers and elevators are much more controllable when i use the 150. the 125 seems like it just doesn't have the punch needed for a nice pullout. im not arguing, but just stating my point of view from personal experience. (i have flown the showtime with a saito 125(a friends) saito 150, and os 160.)

OK,

I'm putting an 8611 on rudder and 125MG's all the way around. Running 6V regulated lithiums (should help a tiny bit with weight). If I don't like the 125, I'll look into something bigger. I appreciate the help guys!

Thanks!!

sounds likea good setup. but one thing, keep an eye on the 125 mg servos. i had one of those on the throttle on my showtime and it failed completely. it would not move at all. the plane was stuck at a high idle and i landed it safely.

it happened when i was filming my video. the landing is not in it, but at the point where my rudder touches the ground, i believe is the servo beginning to act up before dying. a couple minutes after that point, the servo failed. http://www.hiddenhangarrc.com/video/ click on "vinnyshowtime"

OH COOL, I'll check the video (was it posted on the cirkus?).

This is my last glow plane for a while. I like the gassers, but I NEED something I can transport. My gassers get flown once a week if I'm lucky and I am very timid with that much power and mass. (read...wuss).

With a 2yr old, one on the way, work and flying every day, I will be lucky to have this thing in the air by October. I'll try to keep it light, I don't want to buy another glow engine for a while and the small gassers are too heavy for a 90 size 3-D plane IMHO.

Later,

Cirkus handle: 'Chase'

The other thing with the JR125's is they get sloppy pretty quickly. They are called sport servos because that is all they can do, start hammering on them pretty hard and they get all funky pretty quickly

yeah, i put it on the cirkus also.. im proud, first video i edited myself. hope you enjoyed.

Great flying. I hope to be able to do that soon. I'm having trouble with all rolling maneuvers and hovering belly-in. More practice needed. Lots more. I'm hoping to use the ST for practice this Fall.

Practice figure 8 harriers, especially with harriering your plane toward yourself. It'll teach you proper rudder input.

I watched the video, and I just cannot get my Showtime to behave the way yours does, Whaturi. If I come in low and pull up hard like that, it wants to drop a wing or start to roll. Where is your CG at? Mine is right on the recommended... My ST also has a pretty consistent wing rock when I try and do an elevator or harrier. Are you using some spoileron mixing in there?

P-Diddy.

Take a very close look at your elevators, what you are describing is either the elevators are not moving the exact same distance or you are too nose heavy

How I check my CG is pull up into a true 45 degree climb at 80% or more power, roll inverted and take you fingers off the sticks.

If the plane does a very slow arc back towards the ground then you are slightly nose heavy, if it continues in a straight 45 degree climb you are neutral, if it starts pulling towards the gear (remember you are inverted) then you are tail heavy. I always start with the CG set by the book and adjust to what I want to see.

On the Showtime, neutral to slightly tail heavy will work well for 3D. I go just a touch nose heavy on everything because that is what I like.

When I say nose heavy, the arc towards the ground should be very very gradual. If it arcs quickly you are way nose heavy. I have actually quit measuring the distance after the maiden flight of all my planes since I have found doing it this way sets the plane for the way the wing is. I do fly IMAC sequences and this has long been a very acceptable method of checking CG

It's a pretty quick roll-out, so I'm thinking it's most likely not the elevators, but I will definitely double-check them.

Hey, I have no objection to moving that CG back a little more =) I can't move the battery pack back any farther, unfortunately, so I may have to add weight.

Thanks for the advice Bill.

P-Diddy

I actually edited to include more info on the previous post so you may want to check it again


Actually, I'm thinking just the opposite, a pretty quick roll out would be either very nose heavy but I think it's most likely the elevators are giving you an issue.

They may be exactly lined up when you look at them at neutral or full deflection, but it could be that one is getting there before the other and if the plane does the exact same thing everytime then it's a good possibility.

\Lateral balance could be a problem as well

my showtime is on the stock cg and that is perfect for straight stuff and 3d. just put it where the book says, it will de everything from there. i use a spoileron mix to pop it up into a nice wall and also to get my elevators to sink real hard, but not for anything else. i have tried the spoileron mix for harriers and it really didnt seem to hurt or help, so i just leave it off for them. this plane is touchy and you have to learn what makes it upset. it will tip over pretty quick, but if you stay one step ahead of it, you will be fine, assuming you have enough power to escape a bad mistake..(saito 150)..

waterfalls, harriers, elevators all need CONSTANT rudder input. the rudder is what makes it smooth. the rudder is what makes it possible. the showtime gives signs that it is headed for trouble while in high alpha. the signs are very subtle and must be paid close attention to. when i do harriers, i am always pushing it back in line with the rudder.. always. it never floats around like a profile.

my elevators are all messed up, one is higher than the other because the factory cut the hinge slots wrong. they don't seem to go up togetehr perfectly, but it sure doesn't show up in walls or anything. is your engine thurst ok? wrong engine thrust totally ruins 3d. what engine?

I thought you re-sloted the elevators when the hinges broke [sm=confused.gif]. I just reviewed your latest video, especially the walls and what I saw is in all cases, you were holding left rudder as well as left aileron right as you enter the wall. On your plane the right elevator is higher so this would make sense as to why you are holding those controls that way as it's gonna want to roll right and you are counteracting that.

At 2:19 in the video you get a good view of the right aileron being down then quickly switching to up to arrest the TR and at 3:22 you get a great view of both the left aileron being way up and the left rudder and you were level for this one just as you pull the elevator to enter the wall.

I have seen you fly this plane quite a bit and since you are way better at 3D than I am, I look at control surface deflections which help me learn in every 3D video I see. I think you are simply doing it out of reflex and not even realizing you are even doing it. Your a heck of an instinctive pilot when it comes to 3D and recovering from certain disaster.

So my opinion remains unchanged, check your elevator travels and make sure they are getting there at the same time. You'll be surprised just how off you may be. On this plane, I know I had 2 of them, the elevators are very sensitive at big throw amounts and when they are out of sync, the plane is going to roll to the higher/faster elevator

i'll have to pull straight elevator next time i fly it and see where she goes.

and yeah, i re-slotted them, but just one side, the other side needs it, but i havent done it yet.. but i did not fix them by reslotting, i simply went next to the factory ones. it is to hard with ca to really change the location, so i just open the old hole back up.

Hey Guys,

I just ordered mine from my LHS, should be here next week. Any thoughts on this with the Saito 1.25?