jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

I am converting a Kadet Senior from a Glow OS46 to a Turnigy Easy Match 46. When I built the Senior, I had to put 11 ounces of lead in the nose to get it balanced. Not thinking things through, I put the servos in the fuse below the wing a little towards the back of the wing. I am using wooden dowel rods connect the tail surfaces to the servos. A friend of mine told me that I should use 2-56 metal rods (which I plan going to put inside the Sullivan Gold N Rod plastic tubing for support) since in his opinion would be lighter. While I am doing that, I thought I would move the servos as far as I could to the front of the fuse still in the wing opening.
Would a 2-56 rod that is 40 inches long inside a plastic tube be strong enough not to flex and to run the rudder and elevator? I can get 48 inch rod onlie (I don't think my local hobby store has them)

Also I have yet to cut the hatch. I plan to cut the fuse behind the firewall and just ahead of the windshield a couple of inches. Then I am going to brace the hatch and fuse. I am going mount dowel pins on the front of the hatch and hold the back of the hatch by magnets.

Does this sound ok?

Thanks for your help

AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

My Feedback: (180)

I'll bet the 48" of 2-56 rod with a guide tube weighs MUCH more than the factory dowl rods.
I'd leave the servo's where they are. They're so close to the CG that it won't matter much.

The idea for the hatch sounds fine.

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks for your advice. I was thinking that the metal rods would weigh more than the wood. I really didn't want to take the rods off to weigh them

MTK

I would not use 2-56 steel rods full length from servo to control surface. The length is such that unless you are supporting the golden rod sheath every few inches, flex would cause you all sorts of problems with control. If you supported the golden rod every few inches, what's is that cost in weight? Also the steel rod this longis heavy in its own right.

If you decide to do this anyway, do it the best way possible. Useshort segments of the"INNER" rod ascentering guidesfor the steel rod; it also helps reduce friction between the steel and the outer sheath. Keep in mind that this set-up won't tolerate bends well. Bends will cause lots of friction and you would have a problem driving the control surfaces accurately. To install the outer sheath accurately, first put a carbon tube inside, about 1/8" in diameter for a straight and true run.Then add the supports to the sheath. Once the glue sets, remove the carbon tube and run the supported steel rod. It should be nice a smooth.

But if you go through all that trouble, forget the steel rod and just run an .075" carbon rod instead. You can ca or epoxy standard brass or steel threaded couplers on the ends of the carbon rod. It is far lighter push rod method than steel rods

If the original dowels don't appeal, then you might consider using 3/16" to 1/4" carbon tubing. It would be lighter and stiffer than wood dowels

red head

Just use the Goldnrod the way it was designed to be used, support it about every 6"- 8"and it should be fine . Moving the servo's might be OK but probably won't do much . ENJOY !!! RED

Steve Steinbring

Carbon arrow shafts will provide a light non-flex solution. Although they do flex under the compression of a bow being fired, in model application there will not be any noticable flex.

jetmech05

leave it like it is...unless you like retrimming the aircraft all the time as golden rods expand and shrink with temprature

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Here is the arraingement for pushrods I use all four of my Kaydets. The fuselage rod are carbon fibre tube (not rod) that is a perfect slip fit for 2-56 Rod ends. Not other special fittings required. Actually I use these on the majority of my airplanes where 2/56 rods ends are used.

I beleve they are only avalible from Darrol Cady a pylon specific supplier and have found at any of the others. Will post a link to Darrols place in a few minutes.
Since you also asked about access hatchs note in the picture of the blue ship there is an access hatch on the side held on with rubber band. In this case it is for access to carry the power supply and batterys for night flight. Another of my Kaydets that I have just finished up that I call the Catalina Cadet I positioned a hatch under the nose for working with multiple fuel tanks.


http://www.darrolcady.com/Carbon_Fiber/carbon_fiber.htm


John

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

Very nice setup. Thanks for sharing.

jester_s1

Changing the rod setup won't make any difference at all in your balance, and likely won't make any difference in your control. To actually save tail weight, go to a pull pull setup. That would look ridiculous on a Kadet, but that's the way to do what you want to do. I would expect putting the lipo for your new setup right behind the firewall is going to help more than anything in moving the CG forward.

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

I hope ya'll don't mind, but I am going to include pictures on what I did to the airplane and make this somewhat a build thread.

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about the control rod. I will leave the control rods alone since the consensus seemed to do just that. Life rule number 2, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Here are some pictures of my rebuild. The first thing I did was to rip the bottom off since I am making it a tail dragger. It was a tricycle gear and at the time, this seemed to make it easier to make it electric. After seeing how it looks with the covering off, I will keep the next one a tricycle.

I stripped the covering from the nose. I hadn't remembered what a bare Senior looked like and was pleasantly surprised that there was a nice horizontal hatch line to cut along. I sawed the top of the bulkhead down to the line in the side. Then I cut along the line for a really natural hatch.

(Continued next post)

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

Continued from previous post. Forgive me if I don't know the proper terms. After I cut the top of the nose off, I shored up the cut in the airplane with a bulkhead. I did this for support and a place to put the magnets. Then I added bulkheads to the hatch for support. More later

red head

Don't forget to cut some intake holes in your firewall for airflow. You should also open an area in the back ( on the bottom ) for exhaust air . That should give you enough cooling for the battery and ESC. The norm is about 2 to 1, Example : for every inch of intake you need about 2 inches of exhaust opening. ENJOY !!! RED

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

Well, I am finally done with the Senior. To recap, three of my flying buddies finished a Kadet Senior kit for me. They did a fantastic job and it looked great. It had tricycle landing gear and ailerons and flaps. I had an OS 46 on it and it flew great with only a few clicks here and there to trim it. Unfortunatly, the exhaust was hard on it and it had oil on it in no time. After trying to clean it up for the umpteenth time, I decided then to convert it to electric.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, the last time I flew it was July 4, 2012. Needless to say, it has taken me some time to convert it. I am using a Turnigy Easy Match 46 with a 50 amp speed control. The battery is a 3600 mah 30C. I also converted it to a tail dragger. The first picture is what it looked like before conversion. The second picture is what it looks like now. As you can see, I had to change the windshield because the hatch took away most of the curve from the original windshield. I was kinda glad since the old powder blue didn't ever quite look right. I think it looks more like a windshield now.

The plane originally had an 11 ounce lead plate in it to balance it. I had to add an additional 3 ozs to just a shade over 14. To add the weight, I took a 1.5 inch cardboard rocket tube and filled it with #6 shot. I shaped balsa plugs and glued the plugs tight against the shot and glued it to the bottom of the fuse boxing it in for more support. I had to make the tube an oval to fit in the space just above the bottom hatch. It is nice and tight and shouldn't move anywhere. The third picture shows the shot tube.

Originally, I cut the hatch too short and had to cut more of the hood off and glue the two sections together. The fourth picture shows the hatch after rejoining the two pieces.

One more change I made was to use the same rocket tube as an outlet vent for the air. If you look in the 5th picture, you can see where I cut the rocket tubes at an angle to help air flow out of the airplane. Hopefully, there will be lots of air flow.

All in all, it was a fun build and I learned a lot. I plan to maiden it on Tuesday when the wind shows to be optimal for a maiden.

jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

Additional pictures: