steph280

My Feedback: (5)

I started one of these last week and it is coming together nicely. I've been holding off on gluing the 3 piece wing together, mainly to see if I can just cut the trailing edge between aileron and the joint to middle wing section to make flaps.

After reading an informative thread on adding flaps by Paladin:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_34..._1/key_/tm.htm

I took an Xacto knife and started cutting into my brand new baby. The ribs are made with hard balsa or lite ply so you will need a hack saw to cut those. Cut just right behind the trailing spar, which lines up with the aileron cutout.

After cutting both the left and right trailing edges off, I discovered something peculiar: the right wing has 1/2 as many ribs as left wing! At least in the trailing edge. Wonder if that's going to cause an issue with lateral balancing???

markhamregular

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but does anyone of you guys have the 60 size?
Or know where to get one? The only places I found online seems to be in Europe.
I was planning to buy the 120, but I noticed it won't fit in my car. So, now I have my eyes on the 60.

Thanks,

Bosco2

My Feedback: (42)

Graves RC They have them.

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

Got some RCLander's retracts. Lots of slops, but cheap. Had to grind the slot wider and make holes on joining ribs for the retract motor to fit. Unfortunately I can't find any OLEO struts this short (why are they so short??) so I may just use some wire struts for now.

NoFlaps

My Feedback: (131)

I bought some loris that fit perfectly, but I cantvtememvervthe distributor. They are from china- which is not surprising.
The real PC-9 has the wheels reversed from the way they are on this model. I can't figure out how to make it Luke the real one without doing surgery to the existing mount.

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

Took a while but I finally got the flaps done. Trickiest part was getting the balsa blocks into the wing for the hinge ti bite onto, and to add the reinforcement for the servo mount. Didn't have the red Ultracote so I used some white I had laying around. This should slow down the landing for our short landing strip.

Bosco2

My Feedback: (42)

Nice,Nice Job.
When can you do mine? [8D]

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

LOL! I don't even know if it will fly yet. Would you trust me to butcher your bird?

Bosco2

My Feedback: (42)

Better you than me. LoL

NoFlaps

My Feedback: (131)

I'm hoping to maiden mine this weekend, but I have 2 problems:
1- My e-flite .60-1.20 electric retracts- i cannot get them get them to work consistently either.- one or 2 always remain locked in the up or dn position. Nose wheel works fine- but the other 2 mains don't....I've futzed with my endpoints and throws,- but to no avail.
2- I think my left wing may be warped. i was setting high & low rates last night and I can't get my aileron to align with the wingtip and flap at the same time.
Maybe the aileron is warped- maybe the wing is warped/ maybe both ?
That one makes me more nervous than the retract problem.

Bosco2

My Feedback: (42)

I had a problem with my electric retract gear and found that the Y harness was the problem, in your case you have a three wire harness I would switch them with the front that you said was working to see if that is the case .
Good luck.

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

Check which part is warped with a long ruler. You can contact Horizon for replacement of the defective part.

What struts are you using with the retracts? The stock ones are 6mm and E-Flite retracts can only take 5mm...

NoFlaps

My Feedback: (131)

I'm using struts that I purchased from some online China distributor.. they look good and were cheap. they use a shaft that fits the cam perfectly.
The goofy thing about it is, when I use a servo tester- they work (most of the time), however when set to my retract channel- no dice~ I can't figure it out.
I'll definitely try switching/ changing the harness though- I hadn't thought of that one yet.
See photos of strut (if it loaded correctly) The nose gear is offset- but hard to see in the pic.
I'm considering painting the struts white 9like the real one, but the Aluminum looks soo nice.

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

I found some similar struts here, but it's 100mm, some 20mm too long:
http://shop.rcskylite.com/products/6...eo-Struts.html

So I went to look for my retract cover to compare size with your photo, only to realize mine kit didn't come with those covers. In fact I think we have a different kit, since my firewall and access hatch look different than yours as well!

Confusing isn't it? LOL

donddsms

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Steph those flaps look great!! Let us know how she handles when you get her up in the air. I wish I had thought of that before I glued the wings together, but I might still try it anyway.
Don

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

After building the battery tray to move the pack back to the servo tray, I was able to balance the plane perfectly. Taxied the plane a few times to see how it behaves, and then took off uneventfully. There was enough power from the Rimfire 1.20 motor running on 6s-5000 and 16x10 APC prop. Although not a speed demon, I was able to keep the weight down to 12lbs.

At my buddy's direction, I did a couple of flybys at 1/4 stick to see how it behave at low speed, and circled around to make sure it doesn't have any bad stall characteristics. I'm glad to report it handled the slow speed perfectly, stalled gracefully. Plane tracked perfectly straight, flies like one of those pattern ships!

suggested control throws were way too low, had to crank it up a bit to have enough authority.

My flaps caused some unexpected roll action, so I need to check the throw again. Flaps also required slightly down trim to keep level.

Landing was a bit hairy since our club field is rather short. But it landed smoothly without bounce, just rolled forever until it hit the end of the roll off area. My buddy has a similar Super Tucano which he added some rubber tubings in the main wheels to act as brakes. It works extremely well on his so I'm going to do just that on mine.

Now on to the decals and other scale details...

donddsms

My Feedback: (1)

Steph, sounds like making the flaps paid off. Can you give more info about your plans to add rubber to mains to act as brakes?

Also, when applying the decals, pay attention to those darn kangaroos. I assumed they were all identical and didn't bother to look to see which way they were jumping. Now my plane is going to have to fly backwards AND inverted.

Don

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

LOL Don! That sure makes it difficult to take off wouldn't it?

I actually had to look on airliners.net to make sure I got the decals right. I thought the kangaroos on the wings should have been right side up, but the photos proved them to be sideways, so the manual was correct afterall.

The rubber tubing mod was basically cut a bungee launcher rubber tubing into 1/4" section, and place it on the landing wheel axle between strut and wheel. It replaces the spacer collar and provides friction to the wheel. It will require a bit more power for takeoff, but landing takes amazingly short runway. I haven't found the right rubber tubing yet. I'll post some photos once I get them installed.

steph280

My Feedback: (5)

Here are some photos of the rubber tubing brake. Basically slide a piece of silicon fuel tubing over the wheel axle, and install the wheel up against it so there's friction to the wheels.

NoFlaps

My Feedback: (131)

I finally maidened mine with the DLE30and 3 blade- prop- She flew very nicely, & predictable. but wheel base is close together so on landing roll, I ended up scraping a wing tip. the flaps were helpful as the plane is pretty clean, so the slow-down drag and extra lift was nice
I didn't have the cowling on to ensure good cooling and proper tuning.
this weekend I'll get the cowl and and get some better pics- maybe even a video.

donddsms

My Feedback: (1)

I had my maiden flight yesterday, using a DLE 20 and it flew great. I want to thank all the contributors to this thread for helping me avoid trouble.
I used 85 mm back from leading edge at root for the CG and needed no trim. I did find that the suggested throws in the manual weren't sufficient. The high rates worked pretty well for the first flight, and I will use those as the low settings in the future. I tried a roll on the low aileron rates and it only took about a minute to complete. The colors looked very pretty against a blue sky. I was expecting landing to be difficult but thanks to the info on this thread I managed fine.

dalkhaw

Hi donddsms
Was yours a seagull kit? Did you have to cut your cowl a lot for cooling of your DLE 20? Was there plenty of power available? Thanks.

NoFlaps

My Feedback: (131)

it's smart the way you have configured your wheels- not nly does this plane need as wide of a wheelbase as you can get, but the real one is like that too.
I can't get my gear doors to close if it assembled in that config, and the wheels stick out of the bay, but it may be worth it as I'm constantly scraping a wingtip when I make turns.

donddsms

My Feedback: (1)

hi Dalkhaw,
Yes I used a Seagull kit. I have previously posted photos of the cowl cutouts a few pages back. Not much of the muffler shows, and the turbo exhausts weren't affected.
I had sufficient power, but it's a brand new engine. I am hoping to get more out of it as I break it in. I was using a 16x6 Zinger prop at about 7600 rpm. Had trouble getting it to run correctly, seems the fuel filter I installed between the tank and carb caused a kink in the fuel line at higher rpm. Once I removed that it ran pretty well.
Don

donddsms

My Feedback: (1)

steph, I like your brakes idea! I have been landing on the grass instead of the runway, that has been my version of "brakes". I have had loads of trouble adjusting the DLE 20 with the cowl in place. Yesterday I went Dremel crazy on it and opened up the bottom more, and exposed the muffler. Not quite so pretty but the engine hums. I have had maybe 50 flights so far, it looks very impressive and I get lots of compliments and questions about the model at the flying club. It is very enjoyable to fly.
Don