Nuts! I went and put everything together last night and was ready to start programming when the RH flap servo quit. Had 3 of these HS-5245's returned for checkout and the case upgrade and this was their first mounting. Not too happy.

Am looking into a replacement of identical dimensions, but may have to eat the work and try and fit full size servos.

O/K. Did not think it possible, but I shoehorned in some normal size servos. I now have mounted a pair of analogs and I internally reversed the one for the L.H. wing. Unfortunately, since not programmable there is a difference in travel if tied to the same channel, so off either retracted or extended. Will have to go through my limited supply of analog servos to see if I can get a better match or figure out how to get back one receiver channel now used for an Rx battery status indicator.

Nothing I could come up with would allow a second mix to tie to the flap channel directly so no way to run the LH unit independently. Bummer.

I did the reverse trick again on one of another pair of servos and these move identically. May need a bit more rigging, but should do the trick for now.

I omitted the servo slow feature for now until I am sure no major problems, (want them back up again quickly if that's the case).

Just organizing the wiring and if I can find more screws for the hinges on the second wing at Toledo should be ready for the season.

hook the batt thingy to a "Y" cord it only reads the voltage from the black and red wires right ? should only need to be "y" in

Both flap servos on one channel as no mixing would function the way I needed, (servo slow linked to both outputs) so the batt indicator back in place.

Well, good and not so good news. After warming up with the 'Bolt yesterday at our unofficial season opener, (when we could get as many together at once) tried the Bear with all the changes. Just had enough down trim to neutralize what was almost an uncontrolled climb on takeoff. Good thing all that power.

Had my jet friend as a spotter so did some testing and noted some of the characteristics of the new elevator setup. Too much expo, (36% on the 9303) and too much travel were the first to be caught and that created some interesting control problems, especially in turns and landing attempts. The second was a horrendous down trim change when flaps extended. I did have some mixed in and after landing, (yeah, right) took that out again. Had been caught by my own rule of not trying to work with too many things at once.

First landing had that expo create some problems as I was riding the outer edge with almost 1/4 stick before effective pitch input and had a pretty hard bounce which bent one leg back. That eliminated the chance to retract and belly in so second try ended up catching one wing on the high grass at the side of the strip. Cartwheeled into the ditch making all sorts of noise, but other than the second leg bent the only visible damage was mud splattered on the end of one wing. Everything came apart with no apparent problems and plan to look closer at it once cleaned up.

Will also look at some way to have a bit of elevator movement programmed to the other lever to offset any changes when flaps deployed beyond what trim can correct. This will only be there till I can figure out what to mix in for final programming.

On that note I am not happy with the elevator servo resolution and will look for something with better characteristics.

All I can say is this plane is surviving far more that every expected. The reinforcements are proving durable, but I do have one overriding complaint. Those gear legs are far too long, making even the easiest landings a pin-bending event or taxiing likely to nose over. If I ever build another would look closely at moving the actuators inboard or reworking the wells to shorten the legs.

yikes ...im not having any proplems tipping over on landings ...but with all the power I have now with some bigger batts I nosed over on take off and did some damage. got that fix but hav'nt reflown it yet.

Got.mine up 2 perfect.flightstry to load.some pics but cant.seem to do it on my phone

With the dry weather this year have been able to get out pretty regularly. Unfortunately maidens and other commitments, (such as getting ready for events) have prevented the Bear from coming to the field since that earlier flight, (need a bigger van!).

Due to this won't likely be comfortable enough to fly at any of them this season. With all the changes want to get quite a few flights in beforehan

Anyone else have any updates?

well here in the UK the weather has been awful, but I did get the RB out for a couple of sorties. I have just replaced the standard mechanical retracts, which were awful, with some electric jobbies. I hope to take her out again soon. Still looks good on the ground and in the air and is a *****cat to fly.

O/K. I'm now officially annoyed. Brought the Bear to the field today and had another hairy flight. Landing took out another set of pins and even damaged the struts. Was not even that hard a touch down. However, had to make several attempts to land and when emptying the tank figured I was on my last 20-30 seconds of fuel. Hoo Doggy!

Make note cutting down the elevator made little difference in total throw, (still approx 1/4" up or down) with this being by far the absolute most pitch sensitive bird I have ever dealt with in 3 decades. So bad I could not accurately define pitch changes when flaps deployed.

This is going to be grounded until I can cut them down again and get rid of ANY binding in the controls. Found even with a 100 oz/in servo slight deflections would not have it return to neutral every time.

I pulled the rear out the other week on the first flight of the day.

I love this plane but getting tired of fixing it and she a little slow with the DLE-20 on her.

Luckily the gear mount mods I made have held up perfectly, with up till now bent or broken pins the worst result. If I had known the problems with those long legs I would have also modded the wings for shorter struts.

I did bend the legs this time, likely the result of trying some H/K struts as they had longer stroke. Nowhere near as strong as the Robarts that will now have be remounted.

All this may not have been necessary if the pitch was controllable. The larger control linkages I installed recently when reducing the elevator area must be binding, (that required I heat and reuse the original pivots to fit the larger wire, which is where I suspect the problem lies. The servo is more than strong enough to overcome anything like that, but with such small deflection any resistance to returning to absolute neutral causes all sorts of pitch control issues.

Since they will have to be removed AGAIN! I will try and figure out something with less drag.

Make note the CofG has been checked and confirmed several times and will not account for such a pitch tendency. Since it is placed aside till the season is over to keep what is still flying this will probably not go back on the table till late Fall.

Also, I have the Saito 125a pulling mine along, basically the same class as your DLE. I did compromise and go with a 2-blade for now as nothing I had with 3 blade would fit their spinner, (Graupner has too wide a base chord to fit the slots). What prop are you spinning?

that is a bummer ...im not having any pitch issues. I have cut my elev down a bit from stock . I have the servo mounted in the rear of the plane with very short push rods. im using expo and very little elev movment . next time I have it out ill ck the throws and reck my c/G ...it could be im a bit further fwd of the "book". I have robart struts on mine too ,no issues with bent struts or pins ..but with flaps it lands pretty soft ,plus my kid is a hell of a flyer...I have not allowed my self to land this one yet . he makes it look easy ...but I seem to land a tad harder .

I set my CofG right on the mold line in the gear pocket, where the specs indicate. With the added mass of the servo and mount in the back it needed a lot of lead up front to balance.

One thing I noticed is it bounced on first touch down and glided a bit at a lot slower speed than I could have ever expected considering the weight. This with flaps retracted. I'm hoping when I can solve the elevator issue and be able to have full control in flight I can check that out at height. I did try the flaps this time with mix off and found very little tendency to change pitch, a bit of a climb the only effect noted and it was less than expected. Perhaps the Fowler design is the reason as this is the first machine to have that setup.

Another problem was the need to keep the speed up. There was so much residual elevator when released required quick response to keep from losing it into the corn.

that may be it we have never landed the RB or the F-8F with out flaps. with the flaps you carry a bit of power to touch down ...the prop is blowing on the flaps giving a lot of lift and really slows it down. the faster landing speed you have may cause the pitch issues as air speed is higher ? ??

Undoubtedly.

What type flaps do yours have and any pitch effects?

Also, for the comment the tail may be flying in the wing downwash, doubtful. It sits above the wing line, higher up the fuse and just below the vertical fin.

I made the flaps just like the TT F-8F from root to the ailerons . I hinged them on the bottom so they roll out and down . I posted pic back in the thread. little if any pitch change if you slow down and drop the gear ,then flaps.

For some video of my Rare Bear flying over the weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg6tAojtk-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQmrl_q5Aw

Nice, except the sound of the drone reminded me of a trip to the dentist. Can't remember, what did you have powering yours?

Mine has been on the back burner. Some work related issues took priority but I hope to get back on the elevator mods soon. Doubt it will get airborne again this season.

Next up is the 80" CL-415 just picked up yesterday. Have a pair of Saito 65's set aside for that one. Think both of these would be nice at the next scale rally.

Added some more nose with up front and much better to land now.

Sunday, I got about 10 flight on her and loving the plans more and more.

Got alittle to low on one of my pass. Just hit the prop.

got 3 or 4 flights on mine at a electric meet in St George Utah ,flew great and got some nice pic of it flying . there in the elec event thread over in RCgroups

trying to post some pics

Nice. Makes me wish for asphalt.

Season is pretty well closing down here so will try and get the bear back on the table to work on the elevators and control system.

After that it's an 80" CL-415, my first twin.

Hey guys,
I recently bought the TT Rare Bear and the F8F Bearcat in Navy blue.
After reading many threads, it seems some newer parts or kits were sold with updates addressing some earlier issues with the plane and design.
Any way to tell whether I have an early produced kit or later version with any fixes?
I am an experienced builder, but wanting to see what I am starting with.
Thanks guys,