Hi all, I can hover pretty much any of the planes on Real flight G3.5 with ease, but I have yet to be able to do it in real life. I have a UCD 3D and I can’t get the thing to hover at all. It’s the .40 version of the UCD with a Super Tiger .65, the plane itself seems to have plenty of power but once I get it vertical I can only keep it there for a few seconds before it falls to one side or the other.
I know some people uses gyros but I am really confused as to how that helps.
So my questions are:
A: How does a gyro help you hover?
B: any other advice to translate from G3.5 to real life hovering?
C: I have heard that moving the CG back helps. Is this true and if so how much to I need to move it?

The difference between reality and a sim are significant enough to force you to relearn what you have learned. Moving the CG back will help, but it won't fly as forgiving. I had a 60 sized u can do for a long time. It was and still is my favorite plane to fly.

A: It won't, gyros are for helis and can only complicate things. Be patient, keep practicing, and learn to do it on your own.

B: You'll just have to get out there and do it, sims are good to get your feet wet and your confidence up, but they are only a sim.

C: Try moving your receiver battery around. It's pretty easy to do and isn't a ton of weight so the changes will be more subtle.

On the UCD3D, hovering is an exercise in constant compensation.

It's not easy.

I find that it's easier to do if there is a little constant wind, so that you can harrier into the hover entry.

Done right the wind can offset the drop towards the belly, making it a bit easier to keep the plane in a hover.

The UCD3D is not really that great IMHO at hovering especially in the smaller sized planes.

Using a gyro will not "teach" you how to hover because it will almost do it for you, so you pretty much never learn. Hovering is hard, period. It takes alot of practice and many gallons of fuel.

You are using a plane that doesn't hover well to begin with.

The upside is that once you are able to hover it the next plane you get will be much easier.

Hovering is something that takes a lot of practice.. there really is no way around it. It doesn't stop at hovering if you want to get into IMAC or Freestyle then the amount of practice just goes up with every new move you are working on. The nice thing is that although it may not look to you that you are making progress.. you really are and one day it will just start to click.

To hover a plane well you need to do it without thinking and be ahead of the plane not chasing it... this just takes time. Don't waste your time with a gyro.. will only cause bad habbits and not help at all.

I've had a UCD .46 since December last year, and now I'm finally beginning to learn hovering it. Even with the CG moved to 6" from leading edge of the wing it's still quite unstable on hover, and I still haven't learned harriers (having some spoileron seems to help a lot).

I usually enter hover by flying towards me and then just pull up, ending up in vertical position some 30 feet up. I started to learn hovering this way, so my favorite orientation is having the belly of the plane facing me. I can also (barely) do torque rolls.

The strange thing is that I haven't learned to hover on a sim at all, I just can't do it on Aerofly Pro Deluxe, no matter how much I tweak the planes.

The good thing is that I get a lot of practice time on a glow plane, and I have learned to hover my 3DFoamy Tiburon quite well. That bird also harriers well.

if you have a computer radio try a set up which is for prop hanging only.
the most obvious changes would be full throws and much smaller amounts of expo so that the controls are "there" in the stick centre.
don't go the gyro route except as a last resort. Also, try to tune for he best engine pick up that you can (new glow plug?).

If you really want to learn to hover easily, get a profile.

Profiles are *much* easier to 3D properly than the UCD and you'll also find them a whole lot more forgiving and resilient when you dumb-thumb them into the ground -- which you will.

Another advantage of a profile is that you'll be able to hover way down low, so if/when something goes wrong, there's even less chance of damage because you won't be falling 30 feet onto the ground. You'll also find it *much* easier to hover when the plane is at eye-level and just a couple of yards away.

The biggest problem with hovering at 30 feet is that it's too low to recover reliably if something goes really wrong (dumb thumb or engine failure) but it's too high to survive the "landing" that will follow such an "event".

I'd fork out a few dollars and get yourself a Mojo. They're the sweetest (easiest) to hover plane I've seen. Once I get mine into a hover, I can even take my hands off the transmitter for up to 10 seconds at a time without it getting out of shape.

For some strange reason I have never been comfortable in hovering the UCD with high rates on, even with quite some expo it feels way too sensitive compared to the foamy plane. And for the same reason I don't dare to hover it too low. 30 feet up feels safe, or at least my hover exit skills are on such a level I rarely loose any altitude no matter how the plane falls out of hover. I can do tail touches with the foamy...

When I got the UCD, I wanted to have a moderate-size glow plane which could hover, harrier and knife edge. At least I can say I have developed my 3D foamy plane skills a lot.

Thanks for everyones input. I have a profile, Katana V2, so I guess I will just fly it for awhile and learn on it.

What prop are you swinging? Prop the plane for thrust so you have lots of pull out power is helpful. If it starts to fall to one side, gun the throttle while making rudder changes so you get some air moving over the tail. I have a Saito 100 on my 60 UCD, and can hover 1 to 1 1/2 minutes at a time.

If I remember correctly its a 12x4

I second the coments from Xjet, you need a "real" 3D plane to learn on. I have the 60 size MoJo and it makes me look way better than I am, currently beating up a Primo and having a blast.
For good 3D you need a light plane with an ultra reliable engine swinging the largest dia lowest pitch prop it can plus powerfull fast servos with metal gears.
I also have a sub 16OZ electric that is a 3D animal. Huge throws instant throttle and almost on inertia.
Keep working and good luck Eric.

I think you are propped too small. Maybe try a 13X4, or perhaps even a 14X4. I have a OS 46 on a scratch built 3D stick, and it swings a 14X4.

I different prop will probably help a lot. I fly a 46 Do with a Saito 82 and 14x4W prop and can hang it pretty much as long as I want to. Try experimenting with your CG and your throws. Also if you have a computer radio you could try using some expo.

Kenney:

Got a lot of good advice here, condenced, be sure you have a good prop, a 4 pitch for most is ideal, get that CG back but controllable and practice, practice, practice, practice. Almost anything will hover once you get tha hang of it and has enough power. Imagine seeing a Alley Cat racer hovering around. It will, I do, and not that all good. ENJOY

I double checked the prop and it seems I am using a 14x4 prop. So I will move the CG back and like everyone else side just pratice more at it. I also will try giving the profile a spin. I have just got it, I here they are much easier in that respect. Thanks

The U-can-dos are great flying planes, and very forgiving. I loved mine, much more than the Funtana 90 I have now. It's a matter of personal preference, but that plane should do anything you want it to...with enough practice.

I'm back after 2 months recovery from knee replacement & ankle problems, back to huckin & tail touchin!!!
I've had (have actually) both the .40 & several .60 UCD, they both are capable of hovering, its best to practice in light winds at first, AM or PM usually. Hovering requires an engine that transitions cleanly from idle to full,has enough to pull out, more is better but as long as you are hovering less than full throttle should give you some pull out power. Its also hard to learn to hover if you are too far up & away, you need to be close enough to see changes in vertical attitude, focus on the nose or canopy area of the plane. Next, you need a plane that has the thrust line optimized for hovering, usually right thrust and possibly some up-thrust. What ever surface you are "hitting" the most tells you where the thrust adjustement is needed. If you are constantly pulling up elevator, then you need some up-thrust. If constant right rudder is held, add some right thrust. Once the engine & plane are setup, its practice,practice,practice & more practice. Its still a very difficult thing to do, it can take some years to get it down on the deck(3 years for me even after 15+ years of regular flying). Other things you might need to adjust is surface travel, specially rudder & elevator- not enough travel and you wont be able to keep the nose vertical. Too much throw(or aft CG) and you will be "over correcting". The sim might give you some idea what its like, but with real models, you have to work on everything, then there is "pucker factor", how much do you love your plane??!!!

heres an idea. pull the motor and guts oua that ucando3d and burn it and buy yourself a tribute 36. i hade a 46. maiden flight 1/3 throtle with an os 46 fx riped tail off replaced it and tried doing some basic 3d and wut do ya know? thing flew like "poop" then i ran out of fuel when i was just starting to get the thing in check on a low hover and it hit rather soft riped the nose off. put it in the garage never tuched it agian. anyone need u can do 3d 46 parts? lol

The UCD is hoverable.

1. Try adding more expo to the rudder and elevator (especially the rudder) - see if that helps. Over control is hard to overcome.
2. Make sure you are hovering right into the wind - not on an angle. Let it twist itself into it. No wind is harder because you have to push through top dead center and then you start torgue rolling.
3. Lots of practice. Sims only get you so far

I have a profile and a UCD - the profile is easier, but still challenging.

Good Luck!

I learned to hover with foamies. Then I bought a pizaaz which I learned to hover on and still do. The secret for me was crashing that pizaaz so many times that it looked like s___t and then I didn't care any more. Once you don't care about it, it's just like hovering a foamy! Now the plane is so full of gorrilla glue that I had to take out the Saito .72 because it no longer had the power to weight to get me out of trouble. I put a .51 os fsr 2-stroke on it and now she hovers like a dream. I like to come in with flaperons on, pull up ten feet from me, give her some throttle and start dancing her around. The flaperons make her stand straight up quickly with a little elevator, then I flip them off once shes vertical. Changing to 6 volt receiver battery helped because then your inputs are instant, and you don't get behind the ball. Now I can do it with 4.8 volts because with practice you learn to predict better and can stay ahead of the game. Don't stop trying, you will get it. I agree with someone else though you can't learn to hover 30 feet in the air. You have to bring her closer! Don't worry gorrilla glue works great to fill in all those gaps left by splintered balsa! And when she gets too heavy there is always a more powerful motor! Good luck

You know, I think you guys hit it right on the head here... maybe I have been too afriad to bring her down close and just go for it. So I have decided I am going to stop worrying and just do it! Hoping to get to fly this weekend as long as the weather is good, so I'll report back and let everyone know how it goes

Another thing to think about is programing a throttle curve. I use a little to flatten out the mid range and that really made things easier for me. Before without it was either climbing or decending. Once I added a little curve I had more of a finer feel in middle to float around with. This changed the hover and made it more smooth and easier for me.