Have an Aresti 40 with a Saito 72 spinning an APC 13x6.

The listed CG locations seem very nose heavy. Has anyone experimented with moving the CG AFT?
Was thinking about going back to 4.0" behind the leading edge, instead of the plans 3.75".

Can bearly hold knife edge and takes about half down to fly inverted. As well as a dog to take off.

Also, on another note. When doing an avalanche, at the top, the engine seems like it wants to quit, any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Glowfuel....

Glow - if you have to hold 1/2 down to keep it inverted then it is of course nose heavy. Take the CG back to as far as you like it. Mine is also nose heavy with a Saito 72, I got 2 oz in the tail and its still a little nose heavy. I have been flying it too long like that and tomorrow it will have another 1/2 to 1 oz on its tail! Yeah ... a dog to land too!

tIANci:

Where did you finially wind up with your CG behind the leading edge?

Thanks,

glowfuel

glowfuel - I always start with the CG about ... ok ... an example ... if it says 100-120 I will keep it at 105 for the maiden. Then I will take it back slowly by moving and shifting things back. For the Aresti I do not measure it, I just add weight till I am happy. Will let you know tomorrow how she flies with added tail weight and I will measure the CG for you. Guess, its my own plane and I don't really bother to measure to know how far I have taken it. Hehehe ... I am so technical and detailed!!! Hahahaha ...

Thanks tIANci

Will be waiting for your report on the CG measurement and GOOD LUCK tomorrow.

glow

glow,

I have the Aresti 40 with an O.S. 50SX up front and mine balances just aft of the forward CG location. Instead of adding additional weight to the tail, have you tried moving the battery pack as far back as possible? I also replaced the factory tail wheel with a Sullivan unit and I also added tail braces. Also try to mount the engine as far back as possible on the mount. And as a last resort, move the battery pack as far as necessary toward the tail to achieve the desired balance.

I can fly knife edge the entire length of our field, although it has a lot of roll/pitch coupling. Inverted flight on mine barely requires any down elevator to hold. I routinely fly inverted only about 2-3 feet off the deck and I have no problem going vertical at the end of the maneuver.

Hope theis helps. Good luck and happy flying.

Gary ... how far back can the battery go? I mean the cavity is so tight, my battery is just under the cockpit, in front of the servos. How did you get yours further back? I tried to KE today and the plane pitches to the canopy, is yours the same? I think I make take some weight off the tail to gave it less pitching to the conopy.

Glow - will get measurements for you later, I added 1 oz to tail and its is now flying inverted with very very little down elevator, I also balanced my wings and the plane will fly inverted level! Also was hard working and finally added in more right thrust. Plane is lovely now, landings are so much easier too. I never really enjoyed it in the past and that was due to my laziness! Take my advice DON'T BE LAZY!!!

I too added more right thrust. I noticed that during my uplines it wanted to go to the left.

tIANci, I didn't have to put my battery in the back. I guess with my h-stab modifications, the tail braces, and the Sullivan tail wheel my plane balanced with the battery just below the canopy. I plan on moving my cg back some to achieve better knife edge performance. Mine has a good bit of roll coupling and wants to push towards the belly. Next time I fly I may try to setup a P-mix to make it easier to sustain knife edge. I can do it, it just takes a lot of concentration to hold it.

Let me back up a bit. I stated the I made h-stab mods. On my third flight, my left h-stab seperated at the fuselage, in mid-flight while doing a "2-mistakes" high inverted pass. I was able to roll upright, and land with no further damage. Upon inspection of the broken h-stab, I noticed that the balsa was very spongy. After a call to Horizon, a new h-stab arrived. For my piece of mind, I opened the new h-stab and added a spruce spar spanning the width of the h-stab, just behind the leading edge, from corner to corner. This added a lot of lateral strength. I than added tail braces just be safe. I have since put about 20 flight without further incident.

Overall I like this plane a lot. It will go where you point it. But it can bite you if you are not careful.

Good luck and happy flying.

EZ - yeah this baby loves a lot of right thrust. I have been doing snap rolls and all but no sign of h/stab failure at all. I am still trying to figure out the pitching for the plane ... today it seems to pitch to the belly a little, yesterday it was like towards the canopy. See what happens tomorrow morning ... maybe its just me, a little confused. Actually, my WM Superchipmunk does a better KE. Hehehe ...

Measuring back, where are your CG's?????