Original: thebluemax
Do you have enough room under that rod for the rudders to start the plane safely? Looks a little tight.
Oh yeah, plenty of room. The carbon fiber tie rod is only about 1" down from the top of the rudders, just enough to clear the elevator at full down with full rudder deflection. I think the angle of the picture makes it appear to be lower.
AGR413,
Hey thanks for the compliment but there really wasn't much to it. I was thinking about doing it that way from the start, I really don't know why I didn't. The amount of money and hassles it saves is unbelievable. $32 for two standard deluxe tail servos verses $100 for four mini's. Only two 36" extensions needed instead of four. No reversing "Y" or channel mixing needed so a six channel RX works fine. Direction of the rudder servo and steering servo are the same so they can be Y'd together if needed. Total cost of the carbon fiber tie rod setup was under $4 (13" of 5/32 carbon fiber pushrod, two 2-56 ball links, pair of small control horns). I just epoxied short lengths of 2-56 threaded rod into each end of the carbon tube instead of buying the titanium ends which are the expensive part.