[&o] I just bought a seagull zero fighter and am in the process of mounting my os 52 four stroke on it. If any one has done this please help. I can not for the life of me get the throttle lined correctly, and i even had to drill new holes in the engine mount to even mount the engine. I am using a flexible control rod for the throttle but it still seems to bind and i cant figure anyway to mount a turnbuckle to the mount to connect the throttle that way either. If any one has this plane and had this problem any help would be more than greatly appreciated. Pics would be very nice too. Home of the 300xs, p51 slow flyer, four star 40, zero fighter, and mkII trainer.

thanks
smthlndr

Have not built a zero, but I only use 4 strokes. I have had to approach thottle different because carb in the rear. What I do is use a stiff rod (2-56 or whatever) and bring it through the firewall and bend a loop back to the carb using a e-z connector to the throttle lever. With this the hole for the rod doesn't have to be behind the engine, can bee above, below or to the side. Never have had a binding problem. It works well for me. Good Luck

so i basicaly run the stiff rod through a nylon slide tube and if the hole is to the side of the carb just bend say a l shaped bend in the rod toward the carb and then a z bend to the likage or what kind of end do you mean by ez connector?

thanks for the help.

no he is saying run the rod through the guide past the throttle horn then make a generous arc 180 degrees back around to mount on the horn. then either use a Z-bend or the ez connector. see attached.

this allows the control much more radial play without influencing throttle accuracy dramatically.

I like to use Dubro flexible braided cable inside a nylon sleeve. The sleeve can make all kinds of bend, but the cable will still move freely:







Of course, I use silver solder at both ends of the cable to harden it up and to prevent the cable from splaying.

i've also used sullivan golden rods sucessfully. i think it's a little easier to work with than the braided cables.

there are also people that mount a bell crank on the motor mount and lead a rod back to the throttle horn but i think that's a little much. the bend, the braided cable or the golden rod would be fine.

the other option is to mount the servo in front of the firewall. i often do this on planes i know will be tail heavy (most bipes and warplanes). the HS-81 is my favorite servo for this application as it's small enough yet has a good amount of torque. i cut out a ply servo tray, brush it with thinned epoxy and mount it screwing it into the side of the engine mount and add epoxy as necessary. the tray would be mounted so that the servo sits "below" (relative to engine) the engine. then a run a short rod to the engine. voila! easy. i'm sure the zero would need more than a 52 to balance so having a small servo up front would help you get the optimal CG without additional lead.