I would like to know anybody familiar with the Cap 232 66" ARF from Giant Scale (supplied also by Flair in England).
How does this plane fly ?.
Is the C.G. location specify in the Manual O.K.? (135 cm. to 150 cm. from leading edge)
Thank you

gpardo
the plane fly well but is in the heavy side and it comes tail heavy, because the elevator and rudder servos are in the tail, i fly my with O.S. 91fx and i had to add 750 grams (is the same weight of another O.S. 91 fx) in the nose to fly this airplane well it has a tendency to spin out of a loop, you have to set the C.G. close to the low end (135 - 140 mm)

It came with a strong landing gear (that´s is rare in an arf model) you dont have to worry to bend it in a hard landing. What engine are you thinking to use?

Dukasso

I am using same engine as you, OS-91FX
Where did you locate the extra 750 gr. weight ?,in the firewall or behind.

I was able to balance the plane by moving the rudder servo forward to the servo trail over the wing. But to meet your recommendations on c.g. I'll move the elevator servo too in the same way.

The 135-150 margin for c.g. corresponds to 33%-37% MAC, mean aerodynamoic chord wich seems to me a too backward c.g.,even worse when considering such a short tail (TVC=0.4,Tail Volume Coefficient rather low).

Spinning out of a loop could be caused by too much elevator rate or misaligned half elevators.

I expect to test the plane in about a month or two ,when weather improves

I have just started on mine.

Nice looking plane, I believe the manufacture is CM pro


I moved (tonight’s job) the rudder to the servo tray with a 3 " control horn and wires to the rudder for a Pull Pull system to cut some weight out the tail.

I'm putting a super tiger 90 in the plane and was going to place the battery under the fuel tank to try to bring some weight to the front of the plane.

I did/am having trouble mounting the engine, I mounted mine on its side or at about 110 deg but the engine mount is very close to the top of the cowl.

The other odd thing was the instructions say mount the engine 137 mm from the fire wall to the trust plate of the engine. when you do this the cowl only over laps by about 5mm with the fuselage. I set mine more like 132mm. I did notice the fire wall has some right trust built in to it which was thoughtful.

I do have some of the covering pealing slightly on the red strips on the wing other than that no other problems. I’m trying to get mine in the air by Saturday…

My first tail dragger

Dogz
Let us know how it flies and the location of c.g. .Thank you

The instructions are even worse than the plane!
See my post to> tonyduprie<...croz

gpardo
I put a part of the weight in front of the firewall and the other part around the front of the engine mount its work fine i used old spare parts of a real car i just went to a mechanical shop and pick up the parts

About the c.g yes at 135mm the plane still a little tail heavy but you can fly well iam flying my plane since november almost every weekend whitout an accident

Dogz
Yes it´s a nice looking plane in the air when your are turning and the sun goes over the wings the plane looks very nice

About the firewall yes you have to think a lot to put well to get a good fit of the cowl, take care of centering the cowl so when you put the spinner it keep aligned with the rounded side of the cowl i put my engine side mounted so i sanded a little the top of the engine mount to got proper fit of the cowl.

Here is a pic O.S. 91FX APC 13X8, but now Iam using MA 14x6 it has more vertical pull and less speed on landing (more drag)

I don't think it will be ready by Saturday..

Update.... I put the battery just behind the fire wall and the receiver in the other small bay behind the first one. I mounted a JR 371 micro receiver on the side wall just behind the fire wall to run the throttle and it works well, tidy to.

I'm just waiting on a work buddy to cut and weld the muffler outlet to kick it out 30 degrees so I can direct the exhaust out the bottom center.

CG at the moment with no weight and 99% complete is at about 160mm. I want to bring the CG to 140 at least.

I was going to use flat car wheel weights they use for balancing and screw about 100- 150 grams to the fire wall.

I suggest you first fly your plane with c.g. on 135 mm and if you don't like you move backward, in a tail dragger you have much better handling on landing with nose heavy tan tail heavy and this plane at 140mm is a little tail heavy

In my first fly she was at 147mm I almost crash it when throttle back she sink the tail fast i had to made a fast landing after many go around finally got her back to the ground after many bounces that´s why i know the landing gear is strong this is not my first tail dragger (yellow extra 300L, Diablotin, Gp Piper Cub)

For take off with that big rudder you don't have problems a little correction to the right is what she need

First flight today, the instructor took the plane up without any major problems. very minor trim needed and handed over to me. I came in for an approach but the plane seems too flared up slightly after the 3rd attempts the instructor took the control for a try. Just at the moment the throttle broke at ¾ throttle. So we flew around until it ran out of fuel. The instructor was still flying the plane with no engine and it glides beautifully I think he thought he could bring it in at a stand still but 3 feet off the ground tip still and came in hard. I was lucky the only damage was the landing gear was torn back. I will fix tonight.

The other thing is to add some down trust, I only put 90 grams of weight on the nose. The plane flies quite nice, looks good in the air. OH and some glue on the grub screw that holds the throttle

Dogz
Nice picture.
I guess your final configuration was :
The rudder servo in the servo tray, the elevator servo still in the tail and 90 gr. extra weight in the fire wall. So your c.g. was around 140 mm. Is that right ?.
As you describe your approach, seems to me the plane is a little tail heavy.
Thank you.

Dogz
First flight with no engine could be worst, but now you have to fix it and fly again

your plane still tail heavy and when you flare it maintain its altitude thats mean you are little high over the ground then hit it hard because stalls

When you approach for a landing you have to come a little hot once over the threshold chopped the throttle and let the model glide to the runway then flare a few inches off the ground in all this process you have to control the altitude with throttle and speed with elevator

If you are getting short of the runway add power and coordinate with the elevator the rate of sink and if you are coming to fast go around don´t force the landing because this plane is going to bounce

I suggest you check the low speed performance do some stalls at high altitude before you landing this practice help to know when to flare
I hope this helps

I don't think the plane is tail heavy, the plane glides great with no engine

I fixed plane and added a little down trust, I with test tommorow and post results..

If still flares I'll add some more wieght to the front and test agian

UPDATE -

I took the downthrust back out and added more wieght

Dukasso was right, sorry Dukasso for not listening. I added about 400 to 450 grams of wieght to the front

I changed the 4 mm bolts holding the landing gear to nylon so I don't rip the under carage off, hoping the nylon bolt will snap first.

I tried a 13-6 prop but going back to the 14-6.

With the amount of wieght you need in the front a Zenoh 23 might be a good engine.

Dogz :

Did you locate all the extra weight at the firewall ?.

Do you have any idea where is your cg now (as measured at the fuselage side from leading edge).

Is the Cap flying well now ?. Thank you for your help.

I screwed about 35 gram to the underside of each engine mount using longed mount screws and a extra nut to hold the on. I also screwed 80 to the firewall under the engine mount and about 250+ grams of lead sheeting to the fire wall between the 2 engine mount arms.

I guess I have 400 + grams screwed to the front of the plane

The plane is very disapointing with the 90 2 stroke on it. I'm going to change to a better brand prop. It doesn't seem to have enough speed.

Landing is a hand full, I'm going to move the landing gear as far forward as I can, tips over a bit to easy.

I guess my CG is at about 135. A nice heavy 140 4 stoke would be the go in the plane or Zenoh 23 or 26

Last Saturday after landing when i was turning to come back to Pitts the plane made a ground loop. The problem was that tail wheel´s plate broke then wheel went off.

I suggest to change this wheel because is not to strong for this plane soon or later its going to go off

Dogz
If you are going to put a gas engine let us know how its flies
Thank you

Just been to the field..

I move the landing gear forward 30 to 50mm and took out about 70 grams of wieght and changed to an APC prop and increased the fuel to 10% nitro

The plane flys alot beter now, I landed twice without riping the landing gear off!!!!.

I won't be able to hover but the plane fly ok now. After I get a bit more experance with the plane I moght take out another 70 grams of wieght..

Good LUck

UPDATE..

I bought a 2nd hand 120 2 stroke. GMS 2000. Took all the weight out the front put the 120 in and the plane fly’s fantastic landing is a breeze take off 1/2 throttle. The plane seem to suit a 1.08 to 1.20 engines the best.

I'm spinning a 15/6 prop on the 120 at aprox 10000 rpm and gives about 17 lbs of thrust. The plane flies at a nice slow graceful speed and pull through large loops without dropping to much air speed. I’m actually enjoying fly the plane now before I dreaded it, with the super tigre 90 it was an effort just to get of the ground.

I was read a mag the other week and they were advertising the CM pro planes the interesting thing is the ad said the Cap should have a 90 to 1.08 engine but the instructions say 60 to 90 2 stroke. I personal say 1.08 minimum. I can’t imagine the plane getting off the ground with a 60.

Now I’m a happy flyer.

me too:
I like to do a low pass following a inmelman then split s and a touch and go, when you get the proper c.g. this plane flies great but you need 91(two stroke) not 61 as the manual state with a 61 its flies like a cargo plane

First flight for my Cap 232 was succesful.
Since I removed both servos from the tail I was able to balance the plane at 120 mm from leading edge with only 100 gr. extra weight, but I think I could remove this weight gradually. So total weight for the plane would be 3800 gr.
No trimming needed except up elevator.
Even the landing was very soft, the plane bounces e little when touching the ground.