iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

For a look at a cross section of the landing gear leg used on the GP Ultimate and the new GP Cap, visit this site.

http://greatplanes.com/performance/a...410-gear-2.jpg

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

I saw that today also. I hope we do not have the same issue with the Cap's gear as we did with the Ultimate's gear [&:]

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Wow, it's quiet in this thread today so I'll post some weights since I just got my new Escali scale

If you all remember mine was heavy and it still is. I'm now certain all 3 scales I used were fairly accurate. Here is what I have

The fuselage and all the installed stuff is 12lbs 15 ounces (stock replacement landing gear installed)
The top wing is 1lb 11 ounces
The bottom wing is 1lb 13 ounces
The interplane struts are 4 ounces

The total is 16 lbs 11 ounces.

I just got my new Li-ION batt in so I'll loose 3.3 ounces there when I change out the 4800 for the 2400

I could order 4 Futaba 3305 servos at 1.4 ounces each (5.6 ounces total) to replace the Hitech 5645's that are 2.11 ounces each (8.44 ounces total) in the ailerons but it's not really worth just a tad under 3 ounces in savings

So this tells me I'm about as lite as I am going to get. Remember I have replaced the Fuji with a Brison 3.2 and am no longer using the Stock Spinner but went with the Tru-Turn 4 inch Ulitmate spinner with the Menz cut

I also weighed the Fuji 43. I know this was done already but hey, new scale and I was weighing everything RC related in sight

The engine, muffler and muffler bolts plus the ignition and the stock black spinner bolt and aluminum prop washer came out at 3lbs 15 ounces and if you add the MPI 1400MaH battery I am using which is 4 ounces then 4lbs 3 ounces

Now if only the weather would warm up for a couple of days and melt this snow, I'd go see how the Brison will pull this thing

My current setup is which includes all changes from the last setup I posted

Brison 3.2
Bisson Pitts muffler
MSC 22X8
Hitech 5645's on all ailerons
Hitech 5945's on the elevators and rudder
Hangar 9 Titanium Pro-Links on everything but the rudder with Hangar 9 ball-links on servo side and Dubro 4-40 safety clevises on the control horn side
Stock control horns all around
Stock replacement landing gear
Replaced the stock foam main wheels with Sullivan Skylite 3.5 inch wheels
2 Fromeco Lith-Ion 2400Mah battery mounted to the former just behind the rear wing mount
2 Fromeco Super Reliaswitches with the built in regulator set at 6 volts
2 It4c digital voltage monitors mounted in the cockpit which displays actual battery voltage and not the regulated voltage
1 1400Mah 4.8 Volt Sanyo MPI battery for the ignition mounted under the cowl opposite the muffler
JR649 SPCM receiver in the stock location

thevirginian

This evening Santa Claus payed me an early visit and dropped off a hugh box. I was exited like a five year old at Christmas. After I cut open the protective corrucating cardboard I opened the actual box with the Ulti inside. What a beauty! She is really big! I went quickly thru all indivitual bags and packages to make sure everthing is in order and luckily it was. Then I checked the quality and the workmanship of the fuse and wings. Immaculate! This is a heck of a nice ARF. No I can't wait to get started. The only thing I critizise is the thickness of the firewall. Too thin in my book. So, I'm going to beef it up. The next couple of days I will weigh all parts and document it for the records. Then we can compair apples with apples. I am really interested what mine is going to weigh when we compair it to Bubbagates. I also checked the LG even so I was able to do it visually. I could not find anything wrong sofar, what doesn't mean anything. The red paint job covers everything nicely. Anyway, tomorrow I will follow up with some more checking and probably do some ironing with the sealing iron. For right now I am pretty hypped and can't wait to get started.

ternadorex

ok she is done. waiting on time(work) and weather to maiden. i didnt weigh every thing seperate but will try to get an all up weight tomorow.

Taurus 52 w/muf
hitec 5625 ail/ele
hitec 5645 rud
thunder power 7.4v 2100 rec bat/ mpi hevy dut reg
thunder power 7.4v ign bat mpi 5.4v reg
futaba 149dp rec

extratorker

My Feedback: (8)

Ok,I"ve tried getting a good read on this thread and what would be the best engine for the plane. I've got one sitting here in the box waiting to be built. Will a 2.4(FPE) do a good job of hauling this thing around for hard 3d,or do I need a 3.2? I can get my hands on a good running ccrc gf45i.

Bob Pastorello

My Feedback: (198)

"hard 3D" = the best 50cc you can get. Your choice. DA, BME, Brison, Taurus, ZDZ, MVVS, any of the ones that *you can actually BUY*. I have a BME 50, after using the Brison 2.4. Others have the DA 50, a couple of posts up is the Taurus 52...

The all-up weight of this bird needs 50 cc to do any respectable serious aerobatics, much less be able to do 3D at all.

Save yourself the grief... get the 50 cc that *you* like the best - you'll be happy.

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

That's GREAT Virginian! Bet you had visions of servos & roaring engines dancing in your head last night huh?

Watch the epoxy... keep it just adequate. You can save 2-3 oz jut in epoxy alone... REALLY. Usually I apply 45 minute on boths pieces that are to be joined... sparingly... by doing so I make sure they epoxy is smushed (technical term) into the grain of both pieces. THen when thy come together, the two moist surfaces meld together. Less epoxy, confident contact.

Please weigh all the control horns with screws and backplates for me... I'm wondering just how much they weigh against the CHP horns...

Also the spinner with backplate and bolt...

iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

"I could order 4 Futaba 3305 servos at 1.4 ounces each (5.6 ounces total) to replace the Hitech 5645's"

Bill, if you will look at the application grid in Tower's catalog for the Futaba 3305, they are not recommended for airplane use. I read the write-up on the new Yak that GP is coming out with and they have the 3305 installed in it and also in the new Cap. I had the 3305's in a H-9 Harrier and I considered them to be sloppy and slow, but were powerful.

I (just my opinion now) always try to use a coreless servo just for the reason that the coreless will center quicker than a standard cored servo.

iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

Here's a hint..[sm=idea.gif]..instead of epoxy, "Gorilla Glue." Just rub a little WD-40 on the outside edges of the covering and the glue will be easy to get off after it cures. When installing the horizontal stab, you can very easily get to the glue joints from the servo openings and from the vertical stab opening. No reason for a big mess there.

A friend and and me did a little test with this glue to see how much it penetrates. We took a peice of foam and some balsa sheeting, we moistened the balsa and then put some Gorilla glue on the foam and then taped the balsa sheeting down and then applied some weight. After curing, we cut the foam in half and checked it. WOW!! We could not believe it!! Thats what won my confidence with this stuff.

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

Absolutely... Gorilla glue is awesome stuff and I'd have no qualms using it to join the wings at all...

It does need to be attended to though. Make sure the wing halves are tightly secured together with tape or some other method of clamping them together. G-Glue foams (which is what makes it so sweet) but that same foaming action can push sufaces apart. It tacks up pretty quick tho... may 15 minutes and there's less chance after than of the surfaces spreading.

I actually typed in my earlier message about G-Glue, but then deleted it as I didn't want someone to try it and not attend to this aspect.

You have to be careful with both epoxy and G-glue.... get film of it on your fingers and you won't see the fingerprints on your plane until too late... epoxy yellows and G-Glue truns brown.

I always wipe down the entire surface with rubbing alcohol prior to it setting up to make sure I don't get that...

iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

I used strong rubber bands to pull the lower wings together after applying the "G" glue, 2 bands around the dowels in front and 2 on the trailing edge. You can lower or raise the ail's and span the bands across the back side. As for the top wing, follow the directions in the manual for mounting (very quickly) and use strong masking tape to hold the wing halves together while in place. After the "G" glue cured, I took a small grinding wheel on my Dremel and VERY carefully removed the "over foam" at the joint and then I put a 1/4" strip of matching blue striping tape to cover the aluminum spar. I thought the tape looked better than the "bare" joint. I put WD-40 on the covering edge's so the glue would not stick to it. I did not put any on the aluminum spar because of better adhesion.

thevirginian

Maudib, you bet ya I had sweet dreams seeing myself standing on the flight line at our field, transmitter in my hands and rippin' holes into the sky. Don't worry, I'll weigh everything. I know where and how you can save weight. You are absolutely correct with the usage of epoxy resin/glue. I remembered when I build my GP CE II I had to fill tons of 30min epoxy into the cavities for the wing joiners ending up quite heavy. BTW, does anybody have any experince with using Gorilla glue for that particular job since this stuff expands?
I am glad that another fellow in here (ternadorex) is useing exactly the same servos I purchased for my Ulti.

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

That's the only thing I'm wary of... G-Glue's ability to hold to aluminum... of course there is still the joiner, but G-glues strength comes from it's foaming and penetration ability in pourous materials... not sure aluminun is purous enough... but it seemed to work for you huh?

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

iflywhenican,

I used those numbers based on what the Cap manual says to use and the weight of them. Mind you I'd rather have the more powerful servos, it's just the way I am. Where did you see the writeup on the Yak. I'd love to see it?

I'm pretty much done changing things until I can get someone to make CF gear if the replacements also crack. Now all I need is to get some decent weather to go fly the thing again

extratorker,

If you can keep the weight at 14 lbs the Fuji will work fine BUT as everyone else has said, any decent 50cc will most likely be balistic. I speak from experience since mine came out to be pregnant at 16 lbs with the Fuji.

Maudib,

I forgot you asked about the spinner weights, if thevirginian doesn't get them for you by the time I get home I'll weigh them.

I also agree about Gorilla glue, wished I thought of that before I started mine. By the way, I sent the Brison 3.2 templates we did to Gary and he appears to have liked them. I told him to put them in with the paperwork he sends with the engine if he would like.

iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

The aluminum spar kind of concerned me also with the G glue. I made sure that I had plenty of glue in the cavities and that the glue made contact with both sides of the wing halves. It should be ok.

iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

iflywhenican,

"I used those numbers based on what the Cap manual says to use and the weight of them. Mind you I'd rather have the more powerful servos, it's just the way I am. Where did you see the writeup on the Yak. I'd love to see it?"

Bill, get the November/December issue of 3-D Flyer magazine. The Yak-54 is a feature "News/Flash." Look closely at the rudder setup and the servos they used.

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

Is it bare aluminum or painted?

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Virginian,

Do we need to suply you with batteries for weighing everything or is the scale A/C powered Just kidding. Go to it. I read your post last night but was pretty tired. I was going to ask why you were posting and not building, again just kidding.

Enjoy yourself, it's amazing how big this thing is once you see it in person. Pics just do not seem to give you any perspective of it's size. I was like you when I first opened the box, I just sat there saying the same thing and probably had my mouth hanging wide open

iflywhenican

My Feedback: (1)

It's bare, and is not smooth, at least mine wasn't.

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

it's bare. Cool idea on the trim over it. Never gave it a thought.

MormonMike

My Feedback: (2)

Uh, guys, not to be a "party-pooper" but, we still have a landing gear issue to deal with here. That "slanted-back'' styled shape to this gear I'm making is very difficult. Trying to use 6061 alum at 3/16 thick. Sub zero temps here at Logan make it difficult to to spend time on personal projects [ here at work ] May have to go without slants, dunno yet. 17 pounds certainly sags the original gear after it sits on it for a couple days. Wonder if the guys at GP read our posts...... More at break time, MM

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

I don't believe there to be a problem with the gear... We have ONE report of a failure and a couple paint chips that "could" have been caused by propwash grit.

I don't think the "test" that was performed was a fair test. Just my opinion and I could end up wrong... but truth be known we simply don't have enough reports to justify stating "the sky is falling"

I'll stick with stock and put it through it's paces without a bit of worry.

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

What bothers me about the 3305's is the warning in Tower's site...

This is the Futaba S3305 High Torque, Metal Gear Servo. Per Futaba this servo is approved for use with NiCd batteries ONLY!
This servo can produce high-current draw from your batteries. If using NiMH or Li-Po batteries, make sure they are capable of delivering sufficient Amps.

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

I'd be really interested in how your comes out. I'm not a metal worker by any means but I was afraid that trying to shape aluminum to match would be a pain at best. I was going to send a set to TNT but gave up on that idea. I'll just wait to here from Supergear. If it does not sweep back it may end up too far forward and just might throw off ground handling quite a bit. We are probably talking 2 or 3 inches difference from where the axles are to having "straight" gear versus swept back