Cloud dancer questions ... , please help
 

Hello!

I almost finished my ACE Cloud Dancer 40 ARF. All I have to do is mount the engine and I have some questions about it:

-orientation of the engine-if I mount it sideways, like in the manual, I will have problems with lateral balance of the model! Any suggestions? How did you mount your engine?

- CG-in the box there were two manuals (German and English). First one called for 159 mm from the LE (???) and second one says CG is on the wing main spar what seems reasonable.

- take off weight of my CD will be 2250 g (4,96 lbs) and specifications says 1900-2043g (4,2-4,5 lbs), so I am little concerned about it. CD is fixed gear and I used standard equipment:
4 SANYO 1400KR cells
Futaba 118 receiver
3 Futaba 3001 servos
2 Hitec HS-81 wing servos
Super Tigre 45 GS engine
How much does your CD-s weight?

- I will use ST 45 GS with standard muffler. It turns APC 11x6 with 11000 rpm. Any thoughts about performance and choice of the propeller?

Thanks
Mico

Cloud dancer questions ... , please help
 

I'll tackle these in order.

• Lateral balance: if you side-mount the engine you will indeed have abit of a balance issue. You remedy his by adding weight to the opposite wingtip until it balances. A nifty (and nearly invisible) way to do this - use white glue. This works if the kit has hollow wingtips made of plastic or FG. Drill a small hole in the tip, then squeeze in enough glue to balance the plane. Once you've got enough in there, stand the wing on the heavy end until the glue dries. You can cover the hole you drilled with a small patch of covering.
• CG should be on the spar. Shift your rx battery to suit.
• The CD has a generous amount of wing area for a .40-sized aerobat. Don't worry about the small amount of extra weight.
• Should be OK. A stronger engine wouldn't hurt, though. I'd put one of my YS .53 four-strokes on it in a heartbeat! :)

Cloud dancer questions ... , please help
 

Finally got it in the air!

WOW!
Half throttle from a grass, no trim needed, flies like on the rails. Loops are HUGE! Only ground handling is not very good (I think because of not very short cut grass), it likes to turn over on the nose on landings! Now I have APC 11x6, I will try 11x4!
Very good plane !

Mico