I agree Ed,

My needs will be dictated to a certain degree by my final build weight. My desire would be to have a servo that operates the retract doors, and my desire is to have working bombay doors and the ability to drop a bomb. I am not sure why I want the bomb drop.... probably just cool factor. But if my weight comes in higher than I like then these options get dropped (pun intended).

I plan to use your suggestion of 3 flexible linkages to a single servo for each set of 3 flaps. That will reduce the number of flap servos. I suspect that it will be better to use 1 servo for each flap set because there will be a limited amount of space available between the wing halves. It will be easier to connect servo connectors instead of linkages.

With 6 motors (6 electronic speed controls), it may be helpful to ramp up the inboard motors first when adding throttle, then the mid, then the outer motors, and the reverse when throttling down for a landing. Does anyone know how many ESCs can be put on a receiver channel?

At this point I don't know if I will be using 1 larger or 2 smaller servos for the elevator. You would think that I would have figured that out by now but I haven't.

So here are my thoughts of the servos / channels that I might use:

1 servo for rudder: 1 channel

1 or 2 servos for the elevator: 1 channel with 1 servo
1 channel with 2 servos on a Y connector
2 mixed channels with 2 servos

2 servos for flaps: 1 channel with 2 servos on a Y connector
2 mixed channels with 2 channels

6 electronic speed controllers 1 channel with Y connectors
2 mixed channels with Y connectors (3 ESCs on each channel)
3 mixed channels with Y connectors ( 2 ESCs on each channel)

2 servos for ailerons: 1 channel with a Y connector
2 mixed channels

1 servo to the air valve to operate all 3 retracts: 1 channel

IF the flying weight is acceptable, THEN add these:

3 micro servos for retract doors: 1 channel with a Y connector
1 micro servo for bombay doors 1 channel
1 micro servo for the bomb drop 1 channel


So your comment seems to hold up here: MORE channels with MORE mixing/sequencing capabilities is a big plus.

I doubt that I have the experience to properly evaluate the mixing and sequencing capabilities prior to the purchase. So although I probably shouldn't overlook this, I will probably not consider this aspect other than listen to opinions from others.

So "thinking out loud" .......

1. My primary reason for purchasing a 2.4GHZ radio is to avoid losing the plane due to radio failure, radio signal loss, or a problem with the transmitter or receiver power.
- Ed, the results on your website had positive results with either system when the plane is covered in FliteMetal so JR and Futaba are equal in that respect. The multiple receiver antennas on the JR do have appeal in that more antennas logically would be better. But your tests showed the Futaba performing just as well so I won't dwell on the antennas.

2. JR offers a 9 channel receiver that has dual battery connections. Is my list of servos and 6 ESCs considered high current?

3. Futaba has 14 channel receiver that is compatible with the 10C 10 channel transmitter. To me this implies more mixing/sequencing capabilities.

4. Futaba allows a 72 MHZ module to be plugged so that I can use the 10C with the 72MHZ receivers in my other planes


After putting together these notes I think the Futaba 10C has the advantage because of the additional channel on the transmitter and the 5 additional channels on the receiver. Or should I be more concerned about the dual power connections on the JR receiver?

Well I had better get some more building done tonight so I am going to stop here.

Mike Roerig
[email protected]