limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

amazing what a new prop and some lead can do! :D

high alpha flying is now possible and the stall is well.....virtually non existant!

so much more fun now that the CG is furthur back, i've got the roll rate stupidly high and its fully controllable in the stall, i accidently fully stalled out the wing last saturday after pulling up suddenly with engine on idle, when i tried to use elevator the tail just wagged and there was no change in pitch until i put the throttle up some more

think i'll put another ounce onto the back again, god knows what it'll be like to fly next time!!! :D any tips?

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

chop em off, roll will be even faster :P:P:P

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

But exactly where is your CG VtolGuy? Let us know and I'll try it too! ;)

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

hmm, shes in the shes right now so cant get to her till tommorow but she must be at about 115mm :D i wanna make 125mm!!! lol

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

what prop and motor are you using?

I havent really tweaked mine at all yet and my cg is still only about 1/2" behind the spar. Spins are sedate and harriers non existant.

I am using an OS 32sx with apc 11x4 on 5% synthetic.
One thing i did find helped was elevator-flap mixing (elevators up, flaps down and vice versa),
Does give me a bit of a harrier:eek:This also makes it do outside loops, any Limbo dancer owners will know this is not somethingthe like doing[&o] Dont have too much to start with tho and have it on a switch (makes it quite hard to land). Also large amounts of throw give a blinding roll rate:D

Any tips? (dont bother edible;))

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

I ended up with my CG about 3/4 inch behind the recommended range. Would have considered going further but never got round to it. Sadly plane is no more - too many nose first landings :D

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

what is the recommended range?

cant find my plans[X(]

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

Not sure but from memory the front is about on the spar, the back about an inch behind. Kevin went further back with his. :D

Oh and I used the OS 32 SX, ended up with an APC 11.5x4. Bit big for the engine, but made prop hanging really easy.

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

recommended range is 90mm-110mm

i've currently got mine at 130mm! [X(]

well...was at 130, shes now at 140mm!! lol


just measured how far back from the main spar is and shes 2 and 1/4 inches!!! [X(]

ok im either a really good flyer or.....god knows! can anyone think of any possible excuses? lol


AsM, get your CG point about 1.5 inches behind the spar and try flying her like that.

A WARNING WHEN TRYING THIS THOUGH!!!

on saturday, after moving the CG back a lot furthur than previously, at one point i completely stalled the whole wing out, i pulled up too fast after diving with throttle at idle, she started falling very quickly and i only just cleared the ground by about 1 foot when i flicked the throttle up. The way things are going i should be able to get it back to 2.5inches-3 inches before shes too unstable to fly.

I've got an MDS .38 on her new carb version swinging an 11-3 with no spinner. She'll harrier like a piece o' pi*$. I've never done a harrier in my life before saturday and it does it no problem, then again though my CG point is vvveeerrrrryyyy far back lol. Didn't try prop hanging that saturday though, engine was a bit on the iffy side, transition was horrible but fuel is quite old so was going off i think. Good luck to everyone flying limbo dancers anyway, she really is a fantastic fun fly, i'm gonna modify mine shortly though. I'm replacing the elevator with a much bigger control surface and i might split it in half and put in an extra servo so i can mix it in with ailerons and have a really crazy roll rate!!!

by the way, anyone know what the aerobatic is called when you put in full roll to either left or right and feed in full opposite rudder, whatever its called it doesn't half make the limbo dancer spin!! No one at the club can keep up with it, i can a little bit but its hard to do so. hmmm....might even enlarge the control surfaces of the ailerons too! :D

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

Think i may that prop sprink, also some 10 or 15% fuel as the transition isn veeeery slow.

do it vertically downwards sounds a bit like a blender, don't think they could take that stress tho[:o]

Thanks for the help, will move the CG back and try it maybe this WE if the weather holds out on Sunday, busy on Sat[&o]

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

I retired my Limbo in September. By December it was out of early retirement! It is one of my favorite models.

It's got an OS 32sx with weston throttle pipe, standard servos a 1400 4 cell that sits below a 138 rx between the tank and the servo tray.
There is no extra weight anywhere. The CG comes out at exactly 110mm from LE. I have tried it further back but the model does not fly as well.
I rarely use flapperons on this model but it will still harrier quite easily. Torque rolls are a little too quick and the attitude has to be absolutely perfect due to the aerofoil ( It has a habit of stopping half way round if it starts to fall out)l. I can prop hang it all day long and fly it around in a prop hang (Thanks to realflight G2!). Spins are pretty dull and not particularly flat.

I run just a 10x4 APC even with the throttle pipe. A setup which I highly recommend. The throttle response all way through the range is terrific. It will climb from a hover like a bullet.

All that said it does look so much like a patch work quilt.
Lessons learned
1. Don't prop hang at 5ft with an empty tank. (Bulkhead out and fus side split)
2. Don't fly too far too low with a hang over. (Middlle section of leading edge gone!)
3. Don't prop hang at 4ft with an empty tank - a monkey would have learned not to after the first time! (Bulkhead refitted and rewelded undercarriage)
4. Don't show off by dipping the tail in a puddle. (Damaged ego and wet feet)
5. Don't drag the tail in high alpha when your the wrong way up (fin snapped off)
6. Don't do any of the above when committee members are present!

I have recently fitted a carbon bost in fron of the fin to stiffen it up a little. Makes no differnce to flying it but it should stop the fin snapping again.

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

one thing i've learned is not to fly so close to my head, coming in for a landing and i've grown a bad habit of landing into the pits [X(]

thing is theres only usually 3 of us at the field but i know this is still dangerous, under estimated the speed of it last saturday and had to quickly pull away from the pits...tail missed my head by about 2ft lol

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

i crashed my limbo! lol

on take off the other day (wind was blustery). On climb out at about 15ft the engine dead sticked, she stalled all the way down to 5ft and then the wind rolled her over, fuse snapped completely in half and the wing was punctured. Damage looked very bad at first but had her fixed that night! lol

also modified it and taken off the wing tips so roll rate should be faster now. Sadly my mother has gone on holiday and we're snowed in here 'up north' so i can't go flying till (ooh let me see) about another 2-3 weeks [&o]

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

HELP!!!
Where can I buy 1???
I crashed mine last season and been searching for another kit ever since that $@#%!#$% @ day.
any idea where can I get my hands on a new kit??

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

its not available anymore, just the &%$"£$£$£$ artf[:'(]
If youve still got the plan u can use it to build another one. I did that, didnt take long and u can save weight with careful wood choice.

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

i'm not sure, i'v seen a limbo dancer made by a very good builder and in comparison to my artf one, mine was much better in terms of weight and appearance, just my 2p

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

what type of good builder sam?

theres the liteply ribs and spruce spars glued with gallons of epoxy good builder who cant fly well and builds them to crash (!)

or theres the contest grade balsa and thin cyano good builder who has a nice agile light model that bounces well!

artf version could definately be lighter.

i think they are one of the best models arond, i still got a plan..............................

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

i like building,. thats the reason for the &%$"£$£$£$ artf[:'(]

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

I baought the kit for $40 in a swap meeting last season
I found an ARF from a seller in UK but it will cost me $150 + $30 shipping
so that leaves me with no choice but to start building it from scratch.

Thanks anyways.

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

trust me this guy was a good builder, i've seen him build at least 20 different planes in the past year i've known him and all have been fantastic machines, so much though that i've bought 2 off him myself! theres an aermacchi he made which is drop dead gorgeous! has to be seen to be believed, haven't flown yet though as i'm waiting for the day to go flying! Its built to prop hang and knife edge though im pretty sure, definatly prop hang as i've had it prop hanging whilst i was holding onto the wing and it was stable as a tank! :D

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

What are the most important design factors for a plane to prop hang and knife edge well?
since i'm going to build mine from scratch maybe I could change the design a bit?

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

for a good knife edge in a plane you need good power to weight ratio. You'll be flying on the side of the plane in theory so theres a lot less 'wing' area so it'll need more power. Also an effective rudder has to present so it can keep the fuselage in a knife edge flight. Also a deep fuselage is a MUST. The limbo dancer will not knife edge as its very thin in height terms. Look at something like the flip 3D, that'll knife edge fine as it has a lovely deep fuselage.

For a prop hang you again need a good power to weight ration, obviously power has to overcome the weight. The lighter you can get the model the better. If you 'fall' off the prop then you need some more power just to recover from it. Also large control surfaces are helpful as a lot of air has to be shifted to keep it in vertical. I have a VMAR arrow which is a typical low winger aerobatic model. It can also just prop hang but i'll have to be careful as it doesnt have power to recover from it if it falls out of the prop hang. Also i'll have to modify the elevator to give me enough area to keep the plane vertical.

hope this helps

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

Mine has the CG back along way. It climbs inverted.
Try mixing in flaperons, opposite to elevator. Mine are set a 50%.
Full rates, half throttle start doing those around the CG loops. Once it get established, and real tight, start feeding in rudder and opposite aileron. You'll be in a storta real tight, sorta knife egde spin come horizontal loop. Controll vertical decent and climb, yes thats climb with throttle. Stand back and let the crowd cheer.
You'll find it.
By the way it's kit built, OS.46LA powered. APC 10x7. Weight just under 3.5lb.
Haven't flown it for a couple of years, May be I should get it out of the loft.
Do not use those 12x3.5 type of hovering props with an aeroplane this light. You'll be hovering at just over idle and thats not what you want. Prop it to hover in the mid range and use you throttle curve to flatten out an aera so it's easy to find. Helicopter setup style. You'll also discover that they need two CG positions. One to do what I've discribed above and another for super, long time low level hovering (read board) . That benifits from a CG futher forward than mine.
Neat for a tank full, but the crowd are normally fast sleep to cheer.
Last time I flew mine I was doing these CG loops around a telegraph wire next to a car park.
Much clapping until the police arrived.

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

dont change the design, just cut off the tips...;)

RE: limbo dancer- TRANSFORMED
 

the tips of the wing? I'm rebuilding the whole wing, i can just skip that step, what do they do anyways?