Well Bum, most of the times they're pretty good. But once in a while, yeah, like baby poop and every now and then they're just crap!

Is that off grass, or can us paved guys get away with stock gear on a 22 to 23" prop?

Jason

I wanted to find out about CF gear. Never seen one.

Jason, there's really no problem with the stock gear until you bend it for the first time.. You surely can get away with a 22" with stock. They're just springy. They give more than the carbon fiber. If you have a hard landing, then the aluminum tends to allow the fuse to go lower to the ground than the CF and it also has a tendancy to spring it back up into the air. I hope I'm not giving you guys the idea that the stock gear is crap. It's not and works fine, UNTIL you bend it. Once that happens, they're a lot weaker and you will continually be bending back into place. My $25 props were getting wasted because there was too much give with the aluminum. That's why the CF. I haven't changed a prop yet. And that's going from a 20" to a 22".

Oh, and Jason, that's off a 600' paved runway. Here in Las Vegas, there's not too much grass unless it's around your house or at a hotel or park. I've never flown off grass but seems like the aluminum gear would work great for that. UNLESS or UNTIL you bend it the first time.

Thanks,

I would hate to see my $46 Mejzlik props chewed up.

Jason

Let's see if this works...

OK, I have read through this thread and found C.G. locations ranging from 5 5/8 - 6 3/8 at the fuselage to 3 3/16 - 3 13/16 at the wingtips. There have been different CG locations given for whether the Fuel tank is located in the stock location or if it it re-located over the wing tube.
I have a ZDZ 50 with servos in the tail and the tank re-located over the wing tube. Using a GP CG machine,if I balance it at the 3 3/16 or 5 5/8 positions, it requires quite a bit of nose weight (around 10 0z) even with 2 2700 mah NiMH packs as far forward as I can get them. Why the different CG positions depending on the location of the tank? Is there a definitive CG location to start out at?

3 13/16 is stock 3 3/16 is if you mount the tank on the CG.... The other measurements are from the side of the fuse.. LE in.........
If you join the wing panels with the tube and draw a line across the two at 3 13/16 you get the the larger of the measurements at the fuse......
You, like me will want 3 3/16 measured from the tip............
I am about to balance mine as well........................

I'll try to type out what RCM had for their Patty Fuel Tank Retro. Sorry for the mispellings.

I typed it and made a few huge typo's and Jim caught it and I deleted my typed copy. Here's the link that gets you to the review.
http://greatplanes.com/reviews/gpma1305-rcm.html

Situation corrected. Thanks CAP.

You're very right .. Good catch....

Thanks for the help! I have a ZDZ 50 w/Bisson pitts, servos in the tail, 1800 mah sub-c nicad pack on firewall for ignition, 2-2700 mah nimh 6-volt packs placed between the bulkhead in front of the wing tube and bulkhead behind the firewall, with the fuel tank over the wing tube. With this setup, it is going to take around 13oz placed on the firewall to balance at 5 3/4 from the LE of wing at the fuselage (3 3/16 at tips).The only other mod I made was to epoxy the horizontal stablizers in place,but this did not take much epoxy. This seems like a lot of weight to me to get the aircraft balanced, has anyone else with a similar setup had to add this much weight to get it balanced?

Wow, that's a lot of useless weight. What kind of servos do you have on her?

well i got mine balanced at 6 1/4 from the leading edge of the wing but i also have a zdz 60 on it with smoke and the tank is mounted right under the wing tube.

pictures in my gallery.


dennis

hi is anybody having a problem with servo chatter with this set up at center on the rudder. i'am using jr 8231's ditigals

I'm using Hitec 645MGs all around. It seems like a lot of useless weight to me also.

I got mine to balance with a single 645mg in the tail. Am I the only one who thinks this is enough torque for the rudder(6 volts). I don't do a lot of 3D yet so maybe that's why it seems like plenty on this size plane.

I have a Futaba 9405 on my rudder I think it is about 80oz of torque at 4.8. It seems to do fine.

I thought the book calls for the c.g. to be located 3 13/16ths at the tips not 3 3/16ths. that would make a diff. of 5/8 of an inch which would translate into a lotta lead any body got the instruction manual handy and could check this before we get a whole lot of very nose heavy Pattys flyin around

If you read the posts above carefully, they state that the manual is-- IS 3 13/16ths. After the above mentioned fuel tank position change it goes to 3 3/16ths at the wingtips. It is a good point to mention though.

The following is cut and pasted directly form the manual on great planes site


❏1. Use a felt-tip pen or 1/8"-wide tape to accurately mark
the C.G. on the top of both wing tips. The recommended
C.G. is located 3-13/16" [97mm] back from the leading edge
of the wing tip.
This is where your model should balance for your first
flights. Later, you may wish to experiment by shifting the
C.G. up to 1-3/16" [30mm] forward or 3/8" [9.5mm] back
to change the flying characteristics. Moving the C.G.
forward may improve the smoothness and stability, but it
may then require more speed for takeoff and make the
airplane more difficult to slow for landing. Moving the C.G.
aft makes the model more maneuverable, but could also
cause it to become too difficult for you to control. In any
case, start at the location we recommend and do not at any
time balance your model outside the recommended range.

14th_Reaper Help a dumb ol Texas boy out cause I don't understand how moving the tank back over the wing tubes is gonna make that much difference when we balance our planes it's with the tank empty. I just cant see that making enough difference to justify a starting point 5/8 of an inch off from the man. starting point. moving the tank is a good idea for not changing the planes characteristics during flight but I just don't see it making that big of a deal

WOW GUYS

I just got done watching funfly2005's Patty fly and it was awesome.. The CG was way tail heavy and we flew the plane anyways. Thats the way we like them!!!! DA-50 ran great for three flights. This thing flies light. The waterfalls were awesome.
Harriers were rock solid for the time that he did them which was not very long because of engine break in. Although it was way tail heavy it still floated for a landing awesome.

Well we will keep ya'll posted

Later,
Mike

The 3 3/16 is if you mount the tank on the cg. It works good that is where I have mine.