Has anybody out there lateraly balanced there ucd? As i posted in the ARF section. which way is better, placing the string on the crank shaft or placing a screw on the center top of the firewall then loop the string. Im running a saito 91 in mine and already have a few dozens of flights already. When I try balancing it on the Shaft the left wing drops. but when i use the screw method. It balances perfect. Anybody else with the same set up lateraly balance theres yet? If so, did you have to add weight to the wing tips? Oh. If there is another way to balance the plane i would love to know about it.

Thanks,
Santi

I've always balanced my planes from the prop. Not sure if it's the best way to do things, but since the prop shaft is axially centered I thought it should lead to more accurate readings. If you place a screw on the top center of the firewall it seems that you'll have a lot more weight below the actual pivot point and that will cause the plane to try and self-level itself regardless of what the balance really is. At least thats how I see it visually. I may be completely wrong though.

i guess i spoke too soon.
[img]C:\Documents and Settings\Bill & PAM\My Documents\Image Transfer\'03_12_14_05\DCIM\101MSDCF[/img]

oops here it is

There i think this is right



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v

got the gear back on and finally finished the cowl.


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Out On a Limb,

How did you re-attach the landing gear? Did you use epoxy or did you you use fiberglass?

I posted a reply on this thread like on page 15 of how to re-enforce the landing gear. I have pics and instructions. I was argued by some that it did not need to be done. But I owned 6 UCANDO's and they all broke off.

I'm impressed! You still have that spinner in one piece! Mine broke off on the first flip of the prop. I had a hard landing yesterday, too. It was windy and i bounced it a little and the wind caught it and took it up about 4 feet. Came straight down on the gear. Busted the left wheel pant, but no dmamge to the gear mount. Probably because I reinforced it with CF as outlined by STLPilot.

i used fiberglass. luckly it was a very clean break. the little dowls were still intact.
I didn't have my new engine tuned in just right(i guess) and i dead sticked it in. about 5 feet above the ground i flared it too much and it nosed over right onto the gear. luckly my prop was not hurt..
STLPilot i will have to go back and look at that for next time i have to fix it.(and i know i will)

STL Pilot,

Thanks, I found the post about the fiberglass and landing gear .............it's on page 18


I'll be doing the fiberglass work tomorrow night

Thanks

Regards

Scooterpilot

Well i finally got it in the air. Had a blast but was too nervous to hover it low. maybe tommorow.

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Congrats on the first flights! I ALMOST had a major disaster with mine today. On the third flight, I was tooling along hovering, slow rolling, touch and gos, etc, when I noticed the engine (a Satio .91) running a little rough. On a slow fly-by, I noticed the muffler shaking quite a bit. I figured it had come loose, so I throttled back and brought her in. he engine quit on landing, so I carried it back to the pits. Checked the muffler - it was tight on the engine, BUT THE ENGINE WAS FLOPPING AROUND IN THE COWL! All 4 bolts that hold the mount to the firewall were gone, as well as my high speed needle valve! I can't fgure out how the engine kept running in that condition! The only thing holding the engine to the plane was the throttle pushrod, the fuel line, and the cowl screws. I could just picture myself pulling into a hover and the engine pulling right out of the plane. I consider myself VERY lucky today. Only damage I found was that the holes in the cowl got wallowed out somewhat around the muffler and needle valve.

Lots of locktite and RTV on this one before it gets in the air again. I'm not used to 4-strokes shaking. Been a two stroker for a long time. But, I learned a valuable lesson.

ok i need help the hobby shop has the 46 u can't do 3d . he got it about 2 to 2 and a half months ago . do you think that it would have a bad wing or other problem . the wing is very heavy not many wrincles at all . is their any way to tell if it has problem other than flying it.

By bad wing, are you talking about the crushed ribs? I found the rib where the servo mounts in one side was broken in mine, but I was bale to pop the pieces back in place and I saturated the rib with thin CA. No problems so far. (At least with the wing - see post 714!)

I'm still trying to get mine dialed in. I had the rudder on pull pull with the servo mounted at the rear of the wing opening. I needed about 2 oz of tail weight to get it to fly level inverted, so I decided to move the rudder servo back to the original position in the tail. Hopefully get to try it out next week...

prophanger1, I bought mine about 2 months ago and the wing seems to be fine on it. for the price even if you have to do some work on the wing it's still worth it. i've had about 15 flights on mine and it's been ok other than the gear coming off once.

i did have a slight mishap today. the spinner i had on it had a crack(i guess) and while i was trying to tune in the engine it shattered to pieces. luckly i had the tach behind the prop otherwise i would probably still be picking plastic pieces out of my arm(face,chest,ect...) i also lost the wire for my high speed adjustment in flight. but nothing serious enough to keep me on the ground[>:]

Has anyone used an OS four stroke in their UCD46 I bought a 91 Surpass II to put in her but I have been seeing that OS engines are heavy I need some input if anyone has used this engine or one like it.

I have a Magnum 91 four stroke in mine and it feels good in the air . Plenty of power but i was having dead stick problems with the fuel tank position so i have rotated the engine to 90 degrees but have not flown it to see if it helped .

Barry

I started with an os 70 but i didn't like it too much. i put a saito .91 in mine and it ended up balancing at 4" dry. so the extra weight might help.

I'm using a Saito .91 and while it is lighter, it has an extreme amount of power for this plane. I can't see where 3-4 ounces will make any difference in performance. Mine hovers at less than half throttle, and I rarely get over half for anything, except to watch it blast off vertical. If you can get it in the cowl, I'm sure it will perform just fine.

Thanks Joe, biggest concern was the weight of the OS 91 I can get into the cowl but I will need to make a small opening on the bottom for the valve box, no biggie as it on the bottom anyway and I am sure that it has more than enough power to pull it to the moon, does the Saito 91 fit the cowl without any cutting. Thanks for the help guys its nice to see some constructive help here.


Thanks Mike.

The Saito fits completely inside the cowl, but I still cut out some of the bottom and also a hole in the front for cooling. The only problem was that the length of the engine forces you to mount it at the very back of the rails, and the lower right mounting screw gets in the way. I had to find a pan-head screw to use for that hole to get the proper position. Other than that, it was one of the simpler cowled installations I've encountered.

BTW, I got a lot of good flights in today. Got the low end adjusted better and the Saito smoothed out a lot. I don't need over half throttle for anything, but it sure is fun pointing it straight up and watching it rocket up...

Man what a pain in the butt the wheel pants turned out to be, I cannot get the washers wheel and collar inside the wheel pants, there is just no room, I followed the instructions to the letter, how in the world are you guys getting these on, i want to use them as they look nice so not putting them on is not an option...am I missing something here can someone post some pics in detail.



Thanks. Mike.