PT-60 needs more control
I just finished building my pt-60 and took it to the field sunday. Plane took of great but would not bank with aileron input, had to use rudder instead. Everything else was just about perfect. Next, I tried moving the servo connections in on the aileron control rods and maxed out the servo rotation on my radio. This helped and the airplane can now maneuver with aileron input. However, the plane is very slow to roll. Granted it has a 71" wing and 2" of dihedral on each side, it is slow. I am looking to increase the roll rate as the slow roll rate makes the plane hard to recover without rudder input when inverted. I am looking into extending the aileron size by at least a half inch or so, any suggestions? My next step will be to move the servo connection on the servo to the furthest point forward to get max throw, however, i am certain that this will still not be enough to get an acceptable roll rate. Obvioulsy, it can roll quickly with rudder and aileron together, but i would like a lot more aileron roll. Another issue is that the servo seems to be a little sluggish, there seemed to be no binding when i installed the hinges. I am using a JR st-47 sport servo. I think putting in a faster servo would help a minutely to speed up the roll and give me faster reaction times.
The next issue would be my elevator, while it is pretty sufficient, i think the plane could use a bit more control surface. I have maxed the elevator out in its area between the stab and fuse. I was thinking either put a larger elevator on or cut the stab and fuse to get more of an angle, any ideas?
I think the airplane would be a better trainer if it could have a little more control for recovery. All in all i was impressed at how well this plane flew. It was fairly smooth and could land with very little air speed, I think this will be a great trainer when its finally tweaked out. Coming from a CG falcon 56, this is a very tame plane.