Hi All,

I've got an Seagull Pilatus but no instructions ( it was an ebay purchase!).

I changed the pushrods as the old wooden ones looked awful. My biggest problem is the position of the tank which seems ridiculously high. I haven't tried starting the engine (Irvine 53) yet but I'm anticipating problems.

Has anyone any experience with this installation or could some kind person send me a scan of the build instructions ( it would be nice to know the control throws and CG pos ).

Thanks in advance

Rich

Hey Rich! I have a Seagull PC9, or did have before a fly-away due to a hit. It's repairable. Let me say it is a very enjoyable airplane, stays where you put it, and lands like a dream. I found that when I turn onto base, I go to half throttle, then after turning final, go to 1/4 throttle and adjust accordingly, chopping power over the thresh hole. Don't go to idle before turning final. Although I did not experience any problem, a friend who had one was on final, a bit slow perhaps, turned final and snapped into terra firma. The PC9 is rock steady in a breeze, like on rails on final. Keep your speed up a bit and a nice gentle flair about 3 feet off the ground, just don't crank the nose way up. When it touches down, there is no bounce; it stays on the ground. It is and was a great flying airplane. I did do some modifications to the color on the bottom of the wing as it is exactly like the top and therefore difficult at times to tell up from down. Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a jpg of what I did to the bottom. Interestingly, I powered it with an Irvine 53 as well. Great engine.

Now, to answer your questions. Give Horizon Hobby a call at 877-504-0233. I'm sure they have copies of the manual available. I still have mine and would be glad to let you borrow it if they cannot supply you one. I had problems with the Irvine running inverted until I removed the foam around the tank and moved it down about an inch (there is room to do that without any cutting, you'll have to hold the neck of the tank back from the hole that is in the firewall for it - just make sure you don't get any kinks in the lines). I also had to lean the idle up a bit, but the engine really performed well after we did that. The manual gives no information about the location of the tank, but take my word for it, it is the only problem I had with mine - unfortunate that they overlooked that in the engineering of the plane.

The center of gravity: is 3-1/8 inch back from the leading edge at the fuselage sides. Mine balanced with a 5 cell battery just behind the firewall, and the receiver between it and the servos, with just a slight nose-down attitude, balanced up-side down, almost perfectly balanced. I did not have to use any additional weights except in the right wing to counter the Irvine muffler hanging on the left side, to obtain a good lateral balance, and it was only one little section from those lead weights for that purpose.

Control Throws: Initial flying - Ailerons 3/16" up and down; Elevator 5/16 " up and down; Rudder 3/4" right and left. I took some sensitivity out of my throws since this was my second plane (just got back in after a 35 year absence). I took out 65 % exp. with these settings, and it flew very nice, snap-roll on a line at 3/4 throttle (that's where I flew it most of the time) and would go vertical (not unlimited), do a nice snap, then a hammerhead turn at the top as slick as could be.

Control Throws: Aerobatic flying - Ailerons 3/8" up and down; Elevator 5/8" up and down; Rudder 1-1/4" left and right.

You have an excellent plane and will enjoy it very much. I don't think I ever bounced a landing - they were so smooth it was unbelievable. A friend of mine that flies competition using a Giant Scale Extra (35%) flew it and was very impressed. It really grooves well.

If I can be of further assistance - send me an e-mail at [email protected].. Let me know how you come out.

Phillip

Ritchtea
I'm in the Uk and have the instructions, if you need them send me your address by e-mail and I will post you a photostat of them.
As to the tank, get hold of a Graupner Extra 300L Leki tank this is deeper on the bottom and fits through the firewall after opening up the hole have a look at the thread "Retractaball undercarridge installation in a RTF" for a pic where I have detailed a retract installation in a Seagull PC9.
Mike

Richtea
E-mailed the instructions to you this morning, hope they arrived ok.
Mike

Yep, got the insructions fine. Thanks a lot, I'm very grateful; that was a lot of pages to scan. I just printed them off and I'm looking through them now.
I guess I must have an older version of the kit because I have a single aileron servo. I don't see this option in the instructions.
Another odd thing. My fuel tank only has two lines in it. I've never seen one like this. The instructions show what I think of as a standard one with three? Strange?

Anyway , thanks again.
Rich

richtea
The two line tank seems to be an american thing, convert it to three lines then you will not have to detach the feed line to fill the tank, one thing most people seem to have a problem with is the tank position as previously stated, it needs to be moved down to facilitate an inverted engine, I'm sure you know how.
A single aireron servo? don't know about this one, it must be an older kit as you say, suggest you convert it to two servo's, should be quite easy.
Mike

Rich
I used one of those neat button things to put the fill line on top of the cowl neatens eveything up no end, no dangly bits in the wind, see pics.

Anyone.
This tank thing that has been going on intrigues me, if the tank vent was under the fuel level and the fill line also, the only way to get air into the tank whilst the engine is not running is through the carb, now if you are filling the tank through the engine line, that would then be full of fuel when reconected to the carb, if the tank is higher than the carb, you have then got a perfect syhon to fill your carb with. A three pipe system would solve this by fill and empty through a vent line that is to the bottom of the tank, plugged after filling, the other vent to the top of the tank connected to the silencer, and engine line as normall to the clunk. The syphon effect could establish itself but only after fuel had been drawn through the carb line, if that line is positioned such that it has a route above the fuel upermost level the syphon cannot establish itself without a purposfull draw through the carb line. This is all thoughts that are occuring whilst I'm writting this, feel free to contradict if you need too.
Mike