That is very strange. I thought I had it figured out, but I guess not.

Andy

RICH - glad to hear the maiden went well - she is an excellent flyer isnt she?

i may bring down my clipped cub to fly until my truck is fixed...but its hard to go back to "little" planes once youve had a taste of the gas!!

CONGRATS MAN...

I have to solder the clevises now on mine, what solder do I use? I have some 60/40 rosin core solder. Is that suitable to use? I have never had to solder push rods before.

Also, is the stock tank ok to use for gas if I replace it with a gas stopper? The instructions lead me to believe that the stock tank is not ok for gas. I know the stopper and lines have to be right for gas. Thanks

I use rosin core SILVER solder. Suppose to be stronger than just rosin core. Available at Radio Shack (part # 64-013 E -- about $4.00). Remember to clean and roughen area to be soldered with sand paper and use tinning flux. Tinning flux helps the solder flow and also makes for a stronger bond. Been soldering clevises for years now and never had one fail.

I used the stock tank but replaced the stopper with one specifically for gas and have had no problems. Before installing gas tank with new stopper you may want to test it by filling tank with gasoline and checking in a few days -- just to be on the safe side.

Andt F, try going to the top of the page and click on MY RCU and go to edit options. Make sure send e-mail notifications is checked yes. If that doesn't work, e-mail RCU webmaster and ask for directions. Good luck.

When you want to get E-mail notification for a certain thread, you don't have to post any messages, simply go to the bottom of the page of that particular thread and click on "Subscribe to this thread"

I've got a couple of questions for the people that have relocated the fuel tank to the CG point. Did anyone start out with the tank located in the front, fly it and then move the tank to the CG point? Did the flight characteristics change that much to give a more consistant flight throughout the entire tank or did it not change that much at all?

Depends on how big your tank is and what type of flying you do. In the "Patty" a 24 oz tank will move the CG back as much as 1/2" during a flight. A 16 oz, maybe 5/16".

If you fly precision maneuvers, IMAC or 3D, that much will throw you off, but if you just fly for sport, you might not notice it.

Let's put it this way: It's a lot more noticeable that switching to digital servos, but not as noticeable as adding expo.

Jim

jrf you are correct--it depends on how you fly. For me the 24 oz tank in the standard position is fine because I only fly 10-15 minutes at a time which is plenty for me. I use less than 1/2 tank, somewhere between 8 to 12 onces of gasoline per flight. I don't fly IMAC but like 3D. I believe the extremely small change in the CG is of NO consequence for me.

The 1/2" change in the CG would apply only if I ran my BME 50 for 35 minutes plus and completely emptied the 24 oz. tank, leading to a dead-stick landing.

In a perfect world, I agree the tank should be on the CG.

It's always best to put it on the cg if possible.

One day you will have a great flight were you will perform a maneuver like a torque roll or rolling circle for the first time and you will be so excited that you will forget about the amount of fuel you have just used.

You will attempt to land and find the plane acting really tail heavy. You might have to go around a few times just to get use to it and this could lead to a dead stick at the wrong location.

Seem like I'm reaching but you will be amazed at how often this happens just when your day is going great.

That will never happen-- my Patty will never be tail heavy even with an empty tank.

You are suppose to check the CG with the tank empty and I'm on the money as far as the CG goes. I'm sorry that I neglected to say I like my planes slightly nose heavy. For my type of flying it works best for me. When making a slow approach just before landing a nose heavy plane tends to keep air speed and has less chance to stall. A friend of mine lost an Edge this way. He was coming in a little slow, stalled at about 10 feet, caught a wing, cartwheeled and the Edge ended up in the local landfill. Again it's just my personal choice and may not work for all.

I was flying my Patty today (awesome) and noticed that I get radio interference only when the plane taxied on the ground. At one point the engine reved up so suddenly by itself at taxing that the plane took off straight up by itself, but I was able to regain control as soon as I was off the ground (and almost gave by buddies a heart attack).
When I do a range check with antenna down and engine off, I can walk over 100 feet away from the bird, but when I do the same test with the engine running (BME 50), I can't walk away more than 10 feet when all the servos start going nuts. My receiver is in the middle of the fuselage, but the ignition battery is only two inches from it. Is it this battery that is causing the interference or do I need to get the Bosch cap and move the receiver even further back? Throttle cable is plastic and switches are as far as I could position them from the receiver. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Yikes, Ignition battery 2" from the receiver, never , I mean never do that. All ignition related equipment, battery and its switch, ignition module ect. should be in the engine compartment.

I forgot to mention, when range checking, you shouldn't have more then 10% difference with engine on or off.

You may have a few problems.

Gregolot, move the ignition battery to the port side of the firebox opposite your ignition module that is on the starboard side. Saw the picture on your gallery.

I don't understand why you gained control after the plane took off. Maybe the receiver switch cut out and in. I have seen that happen when a pilot turns the transmitter off by mistake when taxing and losing control. A bad receiver switch will cause the same action. Also could be a bad switch in your transmitter.

A Bosch cap can't hurt as well as a PCM setup that you may already have.

A dumb question, but what is a Bosch cap? (capaciter?) (Spark Plug boot?)

Thanks,

Andy

Thanks. My 3W48B2, 3W70 twin, and the RCS 180 engines all had those metal spark plug caps. Is the Bosch different that what is supplied with the 3W?

Thanks,

Andy

I'm sad to report that my Patty suffered a major crash this afternoon. I was flying, (my actual first flight, take off to landing) an on landing approach I clipped one of the light poles in the parking lot, but the plane didn't go down then. We all heard the noise but the plane never acted like it hit anything.

I was too high to attempt a landing so I went around, slowing and low. I lined up for a normal landing approach but it appeared to be coming in too fast and I was afraid that I would over shoot the runway. I killed the motor about 8' above the ground and the moment I did that Patty stopped flying and dropped straight down.

The right gear touch down and stuck in the soft ground tearing it loose from the fuse, this caused the nose to pitch forward which caused the exhaust pipe to dig in tearing out the firewall and destroying the header pipes that held the muffler to the cylinders.

Fortunately the engine is fine and will live to fly again. Both wings have holes where the wheel pants were driven up through them and two servos were stripped, one in the right wing and the throttle servos.

I am not sure if I am going to rebuild it or trash it at this point. I am so disgusted with myself. I never expected it to drop like it did, If I had been 10 feet further south I would have hit the runway and it would have been a rough landing but not a crash.

I had finally got the damned wing tubes sanded and everything fit nice.

Oh well...

Andy

OUCH, Sorry to hear Andy!!!!

AndyF sorry to hear about your crash -- first flight OOUCH!!

The 3W metal cap and the Bosch cap are one in the same. A shielded metal cap covering the exposed spark plug reduces R.F.I. A rubber cap does absolutely nothing but the plug lead is still shielded and grounded. I figured if 3W uses the Bosch cap in its original equipment, why not go for it. By the way it's $14.95 more but I had to send my original ignition supplied by BME (it was never used) back to C&H along with payment. There is another way but it involves buying the kit ($21.95) and installing the new cap and plug lead.

website: www.ch-ignitions.com

rcguy1, thanks for the solder info. that helps me out a lot.

Is anyone here running the Fuji 50 on the Patty? I know it's not the greatest engine choice but it's what I chose as my first gasser.

I would like to know if this Bisson muffler fits properly or if it hits any part of the engine mount/firewall. It is hard to tell just by looking at it without having one to try to test fit. I would like to use it because it looks better and is ready for smoke which my plane must have!! I don't like the stock muffler exhausting on the side.

http://bissonmufflers.com/en/muffler...ting_id=148524

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDXB7&P=7

Does anyone know??...thank you

ShoestringRacer, Model Airplane News, June 2003, has the Patty review and they are using the Fuji 50 for power. They picture the Patty on the cover. Looks like the are using the stock muffler. Try and get your hands on a copy. Got mine at the LHS. Sorry I can't help more than that.

Here's what the review said in the flight performance section, "Nail the throttle to the firewall and be prepared; the Extra really moves out behind the big Fuji."

Here's a quote from the takeoff and landing section of the review, "Takeoffs are easy and short; the Fuji 50 gets the Extra airborne in a hurry."

See what you have to look forward to. Your a lucky so and so. Just take your time and do it right.

Andy,
Sorry to hear what happened. I can't believe that she dropped like a rock. I seem to land better deadstick than with power. I sure hope you can salvage her. Don't give up! We're all behind you.

Thanks guys,

The front is pretty well trashed. I picked up all of the pieces so tomorrow, when I really wanted to work on my H9 Cessna 182 Skylane ARF, I will begin putting the jigsaw puzzle back together. What appears to have happened was the light ply shattered. I will fit the pieces back together and then see if I can reinforce the glued pieces. I guess it will be heavier, but stronger.

Of course I have not completely ruled out calling GP and finding out how much a fuse and cowl would cost. I could reinforce the cowl with some more glass, but the paint is all cracked and crappy looking.

RC1guy- Fortunately it was my second flight. The first flight my buddy did the take off and landing.

If I had not hit the pole (I really must have just grazed it enough to pop the sheeting) I think I would have kept going around until I was satisfied with the speed and the approach. I was really afraid that he wing would come apart in flight because the plane was really acting eratic.

Andy