Fascination 50 ARF available
 

I was looking for a new smaller F3A pattern plane and not looking to spend a bunch of money. Went to texasrcplanes.com and contacted the owner. He said he was getting a new shipment in and had a 50 size pattern ship in the bunch. So I ordered it on his recommendation.

Lo and behold a Fascination 50 showed up. The design is really sweet looking and I put it together knowing that its only flaw was the landing gear mounting. I powered it with a Thunder Tiger 46 and it is a great flyer with that motor. So, of course I had a dead stick landing and had to land it in the grass. Of course the gear was pulled out. The landing gear plate was a small piece of China plywood glued in to the nose supported by 2 small triangle balsa pieces and who knows what kind of glue.

So, it gave me a chance to engineer a new platform to install the pulled out landing gear. Aside from that it still is a good looking model. I even did a search on RCU and it showed some company was selling them on Ebay with you guessed it the same problem with the landing gear.

Photo to refresh memories of the older posts

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

jetflyrf86-
just bought the same plane, appreciate the advice on the LG mount. What can you tell me about the elevator servo, can't even figure out where it is supposed to go, never mind how to do that bellcrankish linkage?
Opinion - a YS 63 4 stroke or OS 46ax? Nice looking plane - typically crappy Chinese assembly instructions.

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

How did you use the markings on the firewall to drill the engine mount bolt holes. I'm building one and tryign to figure that out.


Thanks,

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

I have one with a Magnum .52 in the nose. Mine is a little bit different. i do not have the bell crank in the middle for elevator. It uses a split push rods.

I had issues with the markings on the fire wall. They did not line up with anything. I set the engine up so it was centered with the opening in the cowl.

I found the instruction to be great. I used them to mix my epoxy on. I had enough sheets to build the whole plane without using anything but the instructions for a mixing area.

Mine flew nose heavy at the listed CofG. I moved it back almost 1/2 inch.


Dru.

P.S. I got mine from Nitroplanes.com

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

Sorry I have not been checking my yahoo emails.

Firewall: PIA. I did mine by trial and error. I had a template, but cannot seem to find it. Take your engine and keep it lined up with the thrust line on the firewall and turn it till the muffler lines up with the slot under the fuse and go from there. Wish I could help more.

Elevator: There are 2 laser cut holes in the rear of the fuse about 12" from the tail. That is where you mount the black bellcrank. Once I figured out how it went together. First there are ball bearings the fit into the control arms. Then there is the internal horn which goes to the servo. Then there is a hardwood dowel that makes up into a pushrod to go the elevator servo. There are 4 wire rods for this set up: 2 about 12" that have z bends and threads on the other end for the elevator control horns. Next is a short one with a z bend that hooks up to the internal part of the bell crank the other end to the dowel. The last longer one goes to the servo. My directions are as clear as mud.

My Digital camera batteries are on charge. so I will post some photos later today. Again sorry for the response time.

Hal Peters

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

got the supplied bellcrank installed to the 2 outside horns as you note, the rods that would push or pull the elevator halves will be darn hear 12" long at the rear in this seup , however - I guess I'll either use heavier rods or use carbon fiber sleeves over the rods. Do have a UCD 46. that has rods that long (#56) that I did this with. Does your elevator control arm run over the top of the pull-pull rudder servo or did you have to 'build' up the elevator mount so that the rod back to the bellcrank would'nt interfere?
The 'manual' that came with my plane doesn'show (or address) where the elevator servo is supposed to go although it seems that the intent is that it should be in the area where the 'manual' clearly shows the receiver going.
I have the plane pretty much assembled now and only have the rear control surfaces and the engine mount to do, so very much appreciate the advice on this one. This is replacing a Venus 40 which was a 'terror' (this being good!) with a YS 63 on it - so that is what I'm planning on trying first. It will be an inverted mount as opposed to the angle mount shown with what looks to be a .46-.55 2 stroke in the instructions. Trial and error fitting sounds like it might get me cussin'!

Again appreciate your advice.

Captain2

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

Love it - 'the instructions were great, used them to mix epoxy on';) Mine from texasrcplanes.com and actually like the looks of the plane quite a bit. Have found some of the glue joints lacking, of course and I guess I'll have to get used to these Chinese translations etc. - H9 and/or GP seem to have a different definition of what an ARF is!

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

Photos of elevator setup

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

The elevator servo is built up to go over the rudder servo. As far as the engine mount!!!! If you have a small protractor you can find the angle of the mmts. The engine has an offset as shown the huge diagram. If you make a template and use the centerline of the mounts and line it up with the thrust line on the firewall. Making a full size template and rotating it to the angle found by the protractor should get you close to where it should be. Next fun step is installing the blind nuts. guaranteed to make you nuts. It does fly great, so in the end it is worth it

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

If you are still having assembly problems, I will try to get more photos up soon.

Hal Peters

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

More photos

RE: Fascination 50 ARF available
 

thanks, your elevator installation much like I imagined it would have to be - pics help a bunch, assume the other photos are how you went about reinforcing for the LG? I don't have a lot of hair, maybe even less after I get done monkeying around mounting my engine? Thank God for hemostats...
when I get everything finished I will post a pic or two - if I can figure out how to
This has been VERY helpful, some evidence that I haven't completely lost my mind - at least, not YET!

Captain2