Haven't used Fuji but you might want to compare it with a BCMA or Brillelli 40cc before buying. They are lighter and I believe less expensive. I have the BCMA 40cc in my CAP.

Yep, the elevators are up-side down. I did them correct on the first one and beleive it or not it made no difference in the way it flies. When the first one went it, I left all the same settings in the radio and when I got the second one done All I had to change was a little bit of aileron trim. The 38mm throw is more than enough. All Caps have very powerful elevators due to the location of them. Mine tumbles, snaps, KE's and IMAC sequences just fine on all low rates. You'll find out on the maiden, for the first takeoff, be sure to be on low rates and just ease into the elevator.

One time I was on high rates during the takeoff (forgot to switch to low rates after taxiing out) and I pulled back jsut a touch and stood the plane right up on the tail 10 feet off the ground at about 1/2 throttle (remember this is a DA50). Most other Caps would have snapped, this one just stood right up. I panicked and left off the elevator and planted the throttle and she just powered straight up. I've gotten so used to the power I have, it's quite common for me to jump to full throttle, roll 25 feet and pull straight up. Scale like takeoffs just do not feel right anymore with this plane.

Just make sure your elevators are moving EXACTLY the same all the way through the travel and not just at center and endpoints. If they move differently then this plane, like any other will roll to the side moving faster and you'll think this plane is snappy. I have two spring type clothes pins with long straight sticks of balsa glued to each. I then turn everything on and clip each one to an elevator halve and point them back behind the rudder and make them meet and then move the elevators. Move them slow and then a bit faster. The sticks should remained lined up all the way in both directions. If not look for improper linkage setups, servo arms not parrallel to the hinge line, etc...

ricomari,

My first one had the Fuji 43 and came in at 14lbs even and it flew it well. Remove the velocity stack and use a PT Models 20x* prop and not the APC 20X8 and you'll have a little powerhouse on your hands. My went in because I got stupid with the needles and had it to lean, the very first blender ended in a dead stick and it weas then when I found out just how much this plane floats. I ended up off the runway which promptly removed the whole front of the plane. Number 2 has a DA50 and it's all I could ever want.

Lou55 has some other good suggestions for engines. I'd probably go with the Brillelli. The 40 would be a great choice at 14lbs and the 46 would probably fly it like the Da50 does

Thanks guys, appreciate your quick response! I also like the GP Ultimate, does it make for a good all around sport plane with the Fuji 43 combo (again, no 3D'ing). I like what I've read on the Fuji43 and with Tower Hobbies combo's and sales coupon I can get the Fuji 43 for about $360 (muffler included) which seems like a pretty good deal for a first sport gas engine. Is the Fuji oil necessary for breaking in the engine? I'm still on the fence between the Cap or Ultimate!

I own the Ultimate as well. Most are coming in at 15lbs. Too bad you are not closer. I'd meet up with you and let you have at both of them.

Mine started life on the same 43 that the Cap did and it came in at 16lbs. It flew it but you had no power left over to get yourself out of anything bad. I could do a complete loop if I left it build speed first.

Most everyone is sticking a 50cc engine in that bird and having a blast. Mine has a Brison 3.2 and it's at 15.5lbs and I love it. The Cap and Ultimate are two of my favorite planes. My other is the new WH 33% Edge540 and most likely my next favorite will be the 3 meter Comp-Arf 260 my kids just got me for christmas.

In any case, both planes are big puddy tat's. Here is how I describe the Ultimate.

Big puddy tat on low rates
Big puddy tat with an attitude on high rates

The cool thing is you can switch the rates at anytime on both planes and they will respond instantly. Both are so well setup that if you follow the manual, you will have no problems at all. We have a huge Ultimate thread over here. There is a current concern about one of the wing spars. I have one from the batch that some people are talking about and I have not had any problems with mine. The fix is quite easy and that brings up one more thing. Both the Cap and Ultiamte require very few "fixes" In fact, so far, I have not seen anything on the Cap except for adding some wood at the wing mount saddle to keep it from seperating at the side if you tend to really crank down on the wing bolts.

The Ultimate has a issue on some of them using CA hinges so most everyone is replacing them with pinned hinges. Or than the CA and now 2 planes blowing the top wings off and 3 planes very early on (mine was one of them) having main gear issues, there has been no other problems with it

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3240915/tm.htm

Here is the Ultimate. My Cap pics are above

Sorry I forgot about the oil.

No need to get the fuji oil. It's very expensive. I used 2 gallons of 32:1 Lawnboy ashless then switch to Penzoil Air Cooled at 50:1. I sold the Fuji to someone at my field. He stuffed it into a GP Yak and still uses the same 50:1 mix and is somewhere around 10 gallons with it and loving it

Hey Aussie,

Do you still need pics of how I have the Da mounted. I expect the muffler to be in today and I can take them for you tonight.

Bubbagates, I think I'll go with the Cap (less weight). I have JR Sport servo's with 125 oz torque for all the control surfaces, can/should I go with one or two for the rudder and how do I set it, push/pull, push rod? Again, thanks for all the good info

Those servos are pretty light weight so get everything installed except for the rudder servo, put the plane together and then see how it balances with one servo sitting on the horizontal stabs. That way you will see if you need one or two.

You'll need at least one in the tail to offset the Fuji or just about any gas engine you put on it. If you do decide to go and start learning 3D I'd get rid of those sport servos. They may be a higher torque but they will not handle the stresses of 3D or hard aerobatics.

I'm not saying they are bad, I used them on my showtime doing 3D and they got really sloppy in about 25 flights to the point the elevators were getting really bad. Keep a close eye on them. You can tell when they start to get sloppy. Just grab a surface and wiggle it, you'll feel it.

During the aseembly, you can get away with not installing one of the servo trays (passenger side) which will save about 4 ounces. Just put the battery and receiver on the center mount and the throttle servo on the left side (pilot side) servo mount.

If you look back in the first few pages, there are some fuzzy pics of my internal layout with the DA50 installed

Hey bubba, Yea if you dont mind im going to order the Da online now just want to know what extra's i need I.e What stand off size do i need and where do i get them from...? and bolts and nuts and all the extra bits im going to need...
Also where did u order ur motor from>???
Thanks bubba....

Aussie,

DA50's come with stock 2.5 inch standoffs. Most places where you order the engine from will give you either the 2.5 inch or the 3 inch. Others will charge for the 3 inch standoffs.

You can use either. If you go with the 2.5 inch you will need a 3/4 inch block of wood behind each standoff to get the prop hub out where it needs to be. If you use the 3 inch standoffs, then you will need a 1/4 inch block of wood. In either case, it's important that the wood you use is exactly the same length or you will end up giving the engine some weird thrust anles

I ordered my second one right from DA at the last Toledo show. The first one was bought used on RCU. The standoff's are drilled and threaded for 4mm bolts (I think that's the size) on the engine side and 10/32 bolts on the firewall side. They are not drilled all the way through.

You also want to use nice big flat washers between the firewall and standoffs (car type fender washers work great) to help distrbute the load across the firewall better.

I know your "down under" so I cannot help too much with who can ship for you from the US but the first place I would look would be Troybuilt models (http://troybuiltmodels.com). They give you a choice of 2.5 or 3 inch standoffs

Thanks so much bubba, im going to get this motor Right now, so i gotto buy some bolts for inside of the firewall?? 10/32, smart way to do it that means there is no blind nuts like the 160 engine mounts to the firewall, not a bad way to do it.
and do i also have to get a bolt so i can bolt in the spinner,.??? and thats about it.??

also where did u get ur spinner and prop from bubba.??

Aussie, the prop and spinner are both from Troy Built Models (TBM) as well. I get most everything from them.

The prop is a 22x8 PT Model and the spinner is a Pete's CF 3.5 inch

If you order from TBM, you can pay the extra to have the spinner cut out and drilled as well as the prop. CF spinners are not drilled or cutout for the prop and they do a wonderful job for jsut a few dollars more and everything will line up perfectly for the DA50

Oh, oh! I may have some transport issues. I transport our planes in a four door Tahoe. Front to back clearance is just 78 inchs. The Cap is listed as 77 inchs long, does that include the spinner? How high does the top of the rudder sit from the ground with the Cap sitting on all three wheels( top of rudder to bottom of tail wheel) also the width of the cowl side to side just behind the propeller! I may be able to shoehorn a few inchs of airplane between the driver and passenger seats. I know I can set it in at an angle but is would take up way too much space, my sixteen year old son is my flying partner and has his own planes to load and fly. I know it's an off the wall request, the info will help me decide which model Cap/Ulti I get! Thanks

Unless someone answers you sooner, I'll get those measurements for you when I get home.

I'm getting my shopping list together and plan on ordering sometime this weekend. What propeller should I get from Tower Hobbies for breaking in the Fuji 43? Do I need to order the gas conversion (Dubro or Sullivan) for the fuel tank? Besides the kill switch, battery for the EIS, gas fuel line, do you recommend anything else that's not in the kit? Thanks

hey bubba, i just checked the cg on my cap and Boy it came out tail heavy i had to add a bit of weight to the front to get it right...is this normal...later when i get confident ill take a bit of weight out and send the cg aft for 3dgood plan.?

I'm assuming you still have the 160 in it?

Where is your battery at? Where is the rudder servo at? Pleasew refresh me on your current setup. I can't remember at the moment

i got 2 jr 8411 in the tail for elevators
i got 1 hitec servo inside the fuse for rudder (5955)
I have the reciever just behind the rudder servo and right behind the tank i have the battery ( Doesnt weigh much though.
so yuh im guessing my jr servo may be alil too heavy
yea i still have the os 160, i have a hitec 8511 for throttle just a standard servo

That's strange. I basically ran the same setup in mine but with two ganged servos for the rudder and an on-board glo-driver (the battery for this was on the CG) and it balanced perfectly. Later I had to add a little tail weight to get the plane perfect. Are you using the stock fuel tank in its intended location? I do have my receiver behind the tank with the battery. 2400mah 6V I'm using Futaba S3305 servos in the tail so that's a total weight savings of .8 ounces. I suppose with that long of a moment to the CG it would make a difference but I can't imagine it would be that much.

HEY guys i finally did it today i maidened the CAP WOW im so excited, now let me tell you how the day was it was very very event ful...
i flew only twice as the Exhaust come off.
The first Initial flight was about 5 mins all was good then i throttled down to do a low pass and my motor stopped, at first i thought it was a lean run but i filled her up and about 1 hr later i flew again and in about 3 mins the motor went dead again and when i landed her the exhaust was hanging by the fuel tubing and i lost the bolts, ( Bugger ) so that canned my day.
I just dont under stand i used lock tight on the bols and it still didnt hold it in
im using the Pitts muffler ( Bisson ) and the standard screws ( M5 ) now im going to get Same bolts bbut a little bit longer ( The stock bolts seemed a bit too short ) and use lock tite again and this time use spring washers.
What do u guys think>??? anyone else have this problem>??

I tell u what though i only flew on low rates today and it still had so much talk..i showed the guys at the club full 3d rates and they couldnt belive their eyes hehe.
The os 160 is more than enough power when it is properly run in ill try some serious stuff hehe

I wonder if you can post pics of pinning firewall. I just got my CAP $50.0 easy crash special. It will be my first gasser. On the fance between Brison 3.2 for $300.0 or new DA. Do you have Ultimate set up with smoke, by using a crank case pressure(no smoke pump needed)? I'm setting up my CAP for nothing but hard core 3D. Info hard to come by, since very few gassers around my neck of the woods.

I already have the muffler installed and cowl back on, sorry. I also test flew it with the new DX7 radio yesterday [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Pinning the firewall is easy. Get yourself some 1/8th inch wooden dowel rod. About a foot will do easily. No take a drill with a 1/8th inch bit in it and drill into the sides of the firewall from the outside where the sides and front some together. Drill into the wood about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Not take some 30 minute epoxy place using a toothpic, place some glue in the hole. No dip the 1/8th inch dowel rod into the glue and slide/twist it into the hole. Once it bottoms out in the hole, just cut off the extra.

I did three pins per side and three on top and bottom.

Using the brison and smoke in my Ultimate I just used a TME Smoke pump. The engine is under warranty so I did not wat to drill the crankcase. Besides until you add the servo to turn the smoke on and off and the valve to adjust the smnoke with, you will have added the same weight as the pump and a small battery

Aussie

Good to hear that you got the maiden in and most likely found out how well this thing floats and how powerful the elevators are even at such a small throw...

Here is what I do for all my pitts mufflers, both gas and glow. Use the spring washers you are talking abot but also use some of the red Permatex high temp gasket maker that you use for cars. Open the tube, push each bolt into the tube until the threads are covered, then bolt the muffler on. Before you reinstall the cowl, run the engine for a few minutes to warm it. Now retighten the bolts and you should be good to go

Help! I'd like to order the GP Cap 232 but may have some transport issues and need the the width of the cowl cheek to cheek. and the height of the top of the rudder to the ground with the plane sitting on all three wheels. I transport in a Tahoe and the cargo area is 78 inches front to back. The CAP is advertised as 77 inches, that's cutting it close. I'm trying to see if I can squeeze a few inches between the front seats! I know it's a strange request and folks are busy this time of year but I would greatly appreciate if anyone could provide me those measurements. Thanks!

Or crap...I was going to get these for you but forgot. Give me a few minutes and I'll go out and get them for you and post back