Just got my blue 120 ultimate and have discovered a few things that cause concern.
First, I weighed everything in the box and came to 8lbs even. The only way to arrive at 10.5lbs imo is to use rubber band power. After searching through this forum it seems around 12lbs in the norm with a OS 160. I guess that's not bad for 1230 sq. in.
More importantly, there is no mention what so ever in my manual of how to square the wings to each other and then the fuse. It only states to sink four strut mounts into each wing and jumps on to something else. According to the page #'s I'm not missing any pages.
Lastly, the cabaine strut has about 1/2 in of fore and aft play. The screws appear to be tight. If you haven't guessed this is my first bipe. I have his extra and really like it so I figured this would be a great addition.
Your thoughts, comments, or suggestions are welcome. Most of the info I found here are focused around weight, power plant, flight ability, customer service, and such..

Dave

my dp bipe and xtra have been great to me you will love the bipe to i have ran the following on mine:
rcs 1.4 gas, satio 180, and now a os-160. i am 12 7/8 lbs right,
12 3/4 with the 1.4 and smaller batteries. i love both glow motors on there the 1.4 did not cut it. its on a 11 1/4 funtana now.

I called them and asked the same question about squaring the wings and struts. I was simply told that the interplane struts should be perpendicular to the wing. My cabanes also wiggled a little. They held on, even after the crash, so I guess the wiggle is of no consequence.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess it's just trial and error on the depth of the interplane strut mounts.

Dave

I think so. As long as the mounts are well screwed in and the wings are parallel, and the struts are perpendicular (I had to do very little fiddling) everything should be ok.

Sounds good enough

Thanks again,
Dave

.

I have not even unwrapped the tail feathers yet but will be sure to check this and let you know. Going on a four day fishing trip, I'l start on mine Tuesday. Does anyone think HS225bb servo's on 6 volts are acceptable for the ailerons? Just like to use some stuff I currently have.

Dave

Patrick does say minis are ok for the aileron, but I have seen many posts regarding 225's stripping out. I'm going with Futaba 9602's on the ailerons of my second ultimate. The first had standard size servos on the ailerons. The ailerons are very large and I think flutter is/could be a problem. In any case, I would at least go with metal geared 225's and seal the gaps. The amount of torque necessary is not large with one each on the ailerons.

.

where are you finding them for $35 each?

.

i running jr 53 i can remember if is 1 or 7 the next one up from the 517 on the ailerons.

Dave Patrick specifically mentions the 9602 for the ailerons. Remember, each servo moves only one aileron and the aileron movements are very small. The Ultimate has tremendous authority from its ailerons. One-quarter of an inch of movement creates quite a roll rate.

My friend has this plane and he used 2 hitec 645mg servos in the bottom wing and connected the top ailerons to the bottom ailerons with a carbon fibre rod and clevices.

This makes for a clean look and has had zero problems with flutter .

This setup is a lot easier to put together than using 4 aileron servos.

Just another idea for everyone.

Connecting ailerons using struts is inherently more prone to flutter than individual servos due to the increased slop from the extra connections. Using 4 servos is no problem, you have many more choices of servo due to the fact that each servo only needs to drive one aileron, rather than two, so it needs less torque. It does need speed however as Patrick suggests.

Believe what you want. If you listen to Dave Patrick you would have $1000.00 in servos on a $300.00 airplane. MOst people don't have the money to burn like that.

2 servos work just fine on this plane. In my opinion the simpler the better. 2 more servos is just 2 more servos to go bad

If you use 4 servos you will have the same amount of control rod connections as you would with 2 servos. So the theory of less connections with more servos doesn't make much sense.

All you need is the correct amount of torque and no flexability on the control rods. It doesnt matter how many servos you use.

Speed is another question. Speed depends on how you want to fly the plane. The average flyer doesn't need or want fast servos. Fast servos will only make the plane more sensative. A slower servo will make the plane more smooth in flight. If your flying 3D a faster servo will help. It all depends on how you want to fly and how much money you have to burn.

I agree about the money but... slower servos does not make it more smooth, it only delays control input from your radio to the control surface. Using struts, you have the slop from the servo to the control surface added to the slop from one aileron to the other. Yes, more servos makes a greater chance of failure of an individual servo but you will lose one of four ailerons rather than two of four if a servo fails. Yes, Patrick does recommend expensive servos (the 120 Ultimate costs $400) and mine has $500 worth of servos in it and I can't afford many planes (one) with servos like that. (Two 9402's on rudder and elevator, four 9602's on aileron and one on throttle) For sport flying I would use good servos but probably not that expensive. (Futaba 9402's are not cheap) It does go to what you want. The setup you describe probably does fly fine, but I would always use one servo per aileron if possible. Mine is set up for pattern and I want the limitation to be my skill (or lack of it), not the plane.

Obviously the idea of using 4 servos or two is primarily a personal choice. But do not assume that two servos and aileron connecting rods is more sloppy than using 4 servos.

If you go the normal route of Sullivan clevis and plastic control horns there is a certain amount of play you can't get rid of. However, I have used CF rods, MK control horns and MK BB connectors. There is no play, whatsoever in the lower to upper aileron connection.

Splais


who sells the :
MK control horns and MK BB connectors

.

my set up is a JR8101 on the elevator 90.4oz

JR531 on each aileron 51 oz

JR8411 on the rudder 155 oz

i am running a 6 volt 2700NMHi so my oz should be a little bit higher....

12 7/8 lbs os-160 18 x 8 moki and sometimes a 18 x 6 pro zinger

.

I've been flying my Ultimate for 3 years now, and it's still a favorite. The way I got the wings aligned was along the lines suggested for truing the wings. Put a pin in the tip at the leading edge and the trailing edge. Make sure you get them centered well, as the next step depends on accuracy. Assemble the plane, and measure the distance between the pins top front left to bottom front left, top rear left to bottom rear left and so on for all 4 distances. Adjust the mounts for the interplane struts until all 4 measurements are the same. I did it that way, and I needed no aileron trim and only one click of elevator trim on the initial flight.

HTH
Jim

Krayzc, I don't know what happened to my post, but here goes again.

www.centralhobbies.com. They have everything you need. I used the MK 1/4" horns, Black 2mm BB clevis' and Central Hobbies small CF rods with 2-56 threaded ends. Real high quality bullet proof stuff (read that expensive, but worth it).