I recently purchased an older PT-40 ARF, not the Mk II, the manual says to remove all of the control surface's. I can only remove the rudder. Also, the manual says that it has pinned hinges but I have CA hinges instead.
Question is....are they already glued in?
I don't won't to break the thing trying to dissasemble something that I shouldn't.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Jay

That's the same PT-40 that I had.....the control surfaces may seem a bit tight, but they are NOT glued in! Give them a couple of quick, strong tugs....I really doubt that they are glued in. Mine also mentioned Pinned hinges, but came with CA hinges...so I'm thinking he had/have the PT-40 from the same time frame.

Mike

I tried the quick tugs, they are there to stay. I may damage the plane if I pull any harder, If I can't pull them out then they should be ok, I'll just check them before each flight.
I'm also building a PT-40 Mk II, it is built much stonger and better.
Jay

Another question......
The engine on this plane is tilted down, should it be that way, should I shim it up?
Jay

Yes...engine should be tilted down somewhat. Trainers tend to climb when the trottle is opened up. An engine tilting down a tad is called "downthrust" and thats a good thing on a trainer.

Dan

not to distract from your thread cajungent but since we are on the same subject. I have a superstar EP that I converted to nitro from electric. I installed the nitro engine with the same exact down/right thrust as the electric motor...now, the plane is constantly climbing and I am having to give down elevator to make it fly level when I trim it out and land the elevator is down a good bit at center and it should not be that way. after talking to a few people at the flying club they determined that since it is now nitro powered and flying at much higher speeds I need to reduce the wing incedence ( raise the back of the wing slightly) could this also be accomplished by removing the down thrust?

Thanks Guys. She's almost done, will break in engine tommorrow. Don't know when I'll get to fly her.
Jay

The early kits had the modeler glue in the hinges. Later kits had the hinges glued from the factory. If you tug on the control surfaces and they don't easily come out, then you've likely got the pre-glued ones.

A really good pull, but not hard enough to break the wood, will show you if you have the glued or not-glued ones. The not-glued ones just had the hinges inserted into the slots. A light tug would pull the surface free of the wing, stab, or fin.

Thanks Bax.

Some things I've learned the hard way:
I have new OS 40 La, breaking it in today.........
1st off, the prop came off twice, the nut was really....tite. Took off the spinner, problem solved.
2nd even on a new engine, you need to take the screws out and lock-tite them. Matter of fact I need to lock-tite every screw on this bird.
I know that someone is gonna say that the prop isn't balanced, but it is. I replaced the broken prop (cracked from it coming off) with a plastic prop (didn't wanna ruin anymore of my wood props)
it is balanced.
Got it all figured out though.

Joined AMA today and contacted local flying club, should start training soon. Was gonna learn on my own, but wife reminded me....of how much I have invested in this hobby.

Have this ARF going and building 3 kits. Love to build.

Jay

You'd need to add MORE down thrust.

doesn't matter now...plane destroyed. folded the wing...thanks