shundley

My Feedback: (7)

All the aeroworks I have gotten never came with a manual but the last thing on the disk click on that its the manual.

elderair

My Feedback: (29)

Did you use the included washers when you spaced the engine out from the firewall? I currently have 3" spacers on my D/A but that may cause a slightly nose heavy condition. I needed all the nose weight I could get with my Yak. I don't think the appearance of the spinner sticking out a bit would look bad. I may try them during assembly just to see. It would probably only be 1/4" more than you will end up having. You will probably have to add the washers to the left side just to keep your vertical line straight while flying.

reyn3545

Other than the washers I just added, I only used the 2 1/2 inch standoffs. With the washers added to the right side, it looks perfect against the dummy radial, just about 1/8 clearance all around. I'll probably have to either add additional washers on all 4 corners or use a little rudder adjustment... we'll see how bad it is when it gets in the air.

reyn3545

Mark... find the guy that said this was a 12-hour build... and buy him a new watch battery!! His is dead.

Well, I'm just about there. Like a dilbert, I forgot to order fuel dots... so, the wheels should be here earl this week, the dots may be a few more days. I went with a smoke system (Sullivan)... but may be pulling it out. With it installed (tank, battery, pump, lines), the plane weights just over 19 pounds .

I'll probably have to change prop sizes (yep.. wait another week for mail order) and see if it helps, but I don't expect much from the 22x8 that pulled the Extra 260 around like mad. We'll see.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the build. It looks great.

elderair

My Feedback: (29)

Good thing it has two wings. A bit of a pig isn't it. Not going to be tail heavy is it? Let us know.

reyn3545

I balanced it before I weighed it... with the smoke pump mounted on the motor box and the batteries mounted in the main tray, it balances perfectly at 2 1/4 inches behind the leading edge.

I'm thinking about a Vess 22A if the NX doesn't fit the bill.

reyn3545

If you don't have a servo programmer.... you'll need one to set up the ailerons. Since you're driving 4 servos with 2 channels, you have to take a couple steps to make sure that all 4 surfaces deflect the same with aileron input... make sure all 4 of your control horns are EXACTLY the same length, make sure your servo arms are as close to 90 degrees from the servo when the aileron is centered (don't worry about the angle of the control rod to the arm.. especially if you are going with 1 1/4 servo arms.

With all that setup properly, your ailerons should be very close to each other. If your ailerons aren't all centered on the wings, you'll need to get a programmer...or do what I did... borrow one from a buddy at the field. I was suprized at how easy they are to use, and you can really get everything dialed in perfect on the build table. Now we'll see how much adjustment it takes in the air!

While going through this exercise, I also apparently shorted out one of the 6 inch extension cables for the upper ailerons. I guess all the plugging and un-plugging that you do to check and adjust was too much. I may have made a few connections with the power turned on, I don't know.

When I determined that the cable was shorted, I thought back to the fuel tanks, lines, cabanes, all the electrical connections and everything else that I'd done since I put that cable in.... how much of that would I have to tear out just to remove and re-install?

As it turns out, all I had to do is remove the cabane. Since the lines run up to the rear cabanes, you can access the cabanes bolts without tearing out everything!

With the new cable in and everything set, all ailerons are dead on the trailing edge lines. I'm getting 50 degrees of deflection on high rates, both up and down! I set the elevators up also, with 50 degrees on high rates. For now, I've got the rates set at 10, 25 and 50 degrees, with increasing expo at each step... we'll see how that works out.

F1 Rocket

Wow, that's a bit heavy. I thought these were coming in at around 17-17.5 with a DA-50. How much does your smoke system weigh?

Danny

reyn3545

I'm using a Sullivan pump (4 ounces) a Troy-Built 3-cell lipo battery (another 4 ounces) and I guess the tank, lines, etc.. might weigh another 4 (probably not that much). So, this explaines most of 1 pound.

I am running dual batteries and regulators to the receiver (another 5 ounces). I think with 7 digital servos (5985) and 2 analogs, I certainly don't want to find out the hard way that I needed a little more power through the receiver. Also, instead of a choke rod through the cowl, I'm running a servo on the choke, so there's a couple of ounces there.

All in all, I guess there's a pound I could shave off if easily, if I need to. I'll try another prop first. I think the smoke thing is a temporary "want".. I'll probably remove it once I get tired of cleaning it off! I set the plane up so that I can take the smoke pump and batteries out pretty quickly, and since the pump is up front and the battery is back, it should have limited effect on balance.

If props don't fix the problem, and I get tired of smoke, go to a manual choke, and its STILL too heavy, I guess I could start looking at titanium links, lighter wheels, tailwheel assembly, etc.. but I hate to start throwing dollars at fractions of ounces!

I think the 18 pound range is about as good as this plane is going to get. That's not really bad for a 50cc biplane, its not supposed to be a hovering machine.

Well, I got the fuel and smoke dots installed today, that's everything except the pull-pull turnbuckles for the rudder, the new wheels and wheelpants. Those should all be in by the time I get back home next weekend. I took it out in the backyard this afternoon to start it and check the smoke system. Thank God for tie-downs... yep, I forgot to check and reverse the throttle servo! Also, the Sullivan smoke pump was running backwards. No problem, I just swapped the tubes on the pump.

Everything seems fine, so now its just a waiting game until I'm at home for a weekend and the weather is nice.

fmnspooch

Did anybody else get these funky looking aluminum washers, about 20 of them... there about 1/4 inch thick X 1/2 inch round. WHAT ARE THEY FOR?????

elderair

My Feedback: (29)

They are engine spacers as far as I know. I just used 12 of them to mount my LCD TV to the wall!!!!!! reyn3545, I can't believe Sullivan hasn't corrected their instructions yet. I had my pump burried on my Yak and had to tear a bunch of junk out and swap the lines. The instructions specifically show the inlet and outlet but they are backwards. Really agitating.

reyn3545

Yep, the funny washers are for engine mounts. and YES, I hate when Sullivan gets the wiring backwards in their pumps then leaves it up to us to fix it! Mine was pretty easy to get to, but I had to remove the spinner, prop and cowl. They do put a note in the instructions to say if it doesn't work, try swapping the lines... I guess that's all we get.

fmnspooch

Anybody plan on using a 2.4Gh for the RX? I am a little concerned that the fuse is sheeted, I wonder if it will diminish or interfere the signal at all? I have the 2.4 in all my other planes, but none of them are sheeted that far back on the fuse.

elderair

My Feedback: (29)

I'll be using 2.4, having sold all other radio systems. I've seen em used in fiberglass fuses with out problems. Don't see it as an issue. You may have to play with the position of your satellite Rx and you could plug in one of the data recorders to see if you are losing signal at all.

shundley

My Feedback: (7)

Got the same washers for my 75% yak use them for standoff mounts work great I will use just 1 on each bolt for my zdz60 install

reyn3545

MAIDEN TODAY !!!!!

I took it to the field today, had about 5 flights. On the maiden, it took one or two clicks of aileron, one click of rudder, then it was straight and level. The glide path on landing is very smooth, overall power and speed is very nice. At 19 pounds, I was concerned about pullout capability, and it doesn't pull out like an overpowered Yak, but it does pull out without having to nose it over and fly out of it. The control surfaces on high rates are CRAZY!!! It will literally roll so fast that you can't tell where the wings are!

Overall... VERY good job, Aeroworks! I still have some dialing in to do (thrust angle, maybe move the CG back just a bit. I had the elevators set at about 10 degrees on low rates.... at the recommended CG, it almost had no elevator at slow (landing) speeds, so that was a little tricky, but at 15 degrees of throw, it was a breeze to land. I still want to push the CG back a little and see how it responds.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the speed, controls and build quality of the plane. It was the talk of the field today. I let some of our IMAC flyers have a go at it, and they also were quite pleased. If you're sitting on the fence and concerned about weight or landing a biplane... don't worry, this one has plenty with a DA50 and 23x8 to get the job done.

Mark Dennis

My Feedback: (4)

Glad to hear it went well! Once you get her set up to suit you I think you will be aven more impressed! The Python is honestly the funnest 50cc size plane I have flown to date not to mention the looks it gets when you bring it out to the field.

Let us know how it goes when you get more time on her!

reyn3545

Yeah, I thought a while about just keeping the Extra 260. I'm building a composite 100cc Edge 540, so my thought was that with that plane going, I wouldn't have as much interest in the 260, and I'd like a fun plane to toss around... I think the Python is going to fill that gap very well.

reyn3545

Mark - Any suggestions for aileron differential

By the way... for anyone building this plane.... When you install the Y-cables for the ailerons, remember that each Y-cable will control TOP and BOTTOM ailerons on one side of the airplane! I set mine up originally with one cable going to the top wing and one to the bottom wing. That was fine until I wanted to start working on the aileron differential, to get tighter axial rolls. When one cable feeds both top (or bottom) servos, any adjustment you make on the down side of one aileron has the equal and opposite effect on the up side of the other. Completely useless.

So, don't forget to split the cables for right and left, not top and bottom! The manual doesn't really address this one way or the other.. if you like big barrel roles... it doesn't matter, but if you ever want to roll it like the guy in the video.. you'll need to dial in some differential.

Mark Dennis

My Feedback: (4)

The way I flew it in the video was stock withought aileron differential. Id make sure they were throwing the same, get your CG and thrust dialed in and then work on the differential. Usually that is the last thing I work on when im setting up a plane

reyn3545

Thanks.. I rechecked everything today, as it turns out, after I don't know how many times I "checked" it, I had the "down" end-points on the right off from the left by about 5 degrees. That threw all of my flight modes off by percentages of that 5 degrees. Those are fixed now, I added just a touch more right thrust, and moved the smoke pump from the motor box back to the main tray area (about 15 inches back). That shifted the CG back about a half inch.

I'll take it back to the field before any more changes and see the effects. Thanks for your help! This thing is going to be a blast when it gets dialed in.

reyn3545

Here's a couple of pictures of the finished product... please ignore the dirty yard... been too busy building planes!

tdrake694

DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW WIDE THE INSIDE OF THE COCKPIT IS.IAM GOING TO PUT A PILOT IN IT AND I NEED TO KNOW HOW BIG I CAN GO

THANKS

reyn3545

I didn't pull the canopy off for an exact measurement, but you have about 5 inches side to side, and probably 5 1/2 inches from the cockpit deck to the canopy.

elderair

My Feedback: (29)

Well, I have finally resumed my build with the replacement fuse from Aeroworks. Glad to say that with just a little sanding on the left side of the fuse the wing and horizontal stab align while the measurment to the top of the vertical fin is correct. Anyway, Aeroworks replaced the fuselage without too much blood shed along with the vertical fin and rudder which was mis drilled in one hinge locaiton as seen in my assembly photo. Rocco made it a point to make sure I knew that he was doing me a favor since I had void the warranty when I began assembly before checking for proper alignment and I do thank Aeroworks for that. Overall I am satisfied with the way the issue was handled and this seemingly isolated quality issue will in no way deter me from buying another Aeroworks plane. This is just such an awesome looking plane. Can't wait for nice weather. Wind today is gusty up to about 35 mph! Any more flight reports?