Hey there,

My GWS always pulls to the left. Why is that? I've put everything together exactly to specs. I've checked and rechecked the whole install and it all looks good. Any ideas?

Sounds like its either out of trim or possibly the motor isn't mounted with the correct amount of right thrust.

I read your previous post and it sounds like you are very new to the hobby. I can't begin to tell you how helpfull it can be to someone starting out to have in person help problems like this can be spotted so much easier in person then via an internet forum If at all possible visit a local club and have some one check over your plane.

Barring that advice go back and recheck everything THREE times Do you have a place we you can perform some power off glide tests without damaging the model if so check the trim with glide tests if it glides without pulling to the left my best guess it that the motor need a little more right thrust. Is the wing mounted straight and centered on the fuse??

again a problem like this can be solved much quicker with in person help??? Also try ezonemag.com it is a forum like this one only all they talk about is E-flight and the GWS planes get a lot of threads/posts the CEO of GWS even particapates (sp?) from time to time.

Crashem's given you some good advice. The chances are best that the motor has too little right thrust, next best possiblity is that the vertical stabilizer (in front of the rudder) is cocked slightly to the right.

Good luck, and welcome to RCU.
Dennis-

Thanks for the help. I'll try the glide test tonight. I have a nice soft tall grassy field right behind my house. It's great

And yes, I'm really new at this, but loving it already.

Thanks again.

Dan

That sounds like a perfect place to try it. A couple of things to watch out for before you throw the model turn the prop so that the blade tips are horizontal in relation to the bottom of the fuse that way you will be less likely to break your prop some of those orange gws props are brittle and break if you look funny at them.
On thing make several (3-6) glides before making any changes this will help to average out any inconsistencies with you hand launching technique. Also perform the glide tests after making any adjustments and make adjustment in small incremental steps

So I tried the glide test, and it pulled to the left a little. I then realized that my stabilizer is a bit miss-shapped. I fixed it and it barely pulls now.

My next question is the plane seems to be nose heavy, even though the center of gravity is perfectly to specifications. Any ideas on that? I have to add a lot of trim to the elevator to keep it flying even, or else it will start to go down.

Pretty happy though. It's only my 3rd time up and I've already got it doing loops and stalls, etc. Way too much fun, until the sun goes down... damn the darkness! lol I have to work on landing though... thank god for soft tall grass.

Usually the CG is given as a range i.e. 60mm-75mm from say the leading edge of the wing. Try moving it back
a LITTLE at a time, an overly tail heavy plane is a crash waiting to happen. The best way to move the CG is to reposition the radio components and or battery. If that is not possible a small amount of modeling clay might do the trick

Right, I've been reading a bunch of material about CG, and many times it was stated that a tail heavy plan "WILL" crash. When I check the CG (45 to 55mm from the leading edge on the Beaver) the wings sit perfectly level. But when it's flying it seems nose heavy. I'm starting to think it could be my elevator that's out. My friend is an actual flight instructor, and I'm waiting for him to get back into town so he can take a look at the plane.

So does it balance closer to the 45mm or 55mm mark?

Also GWS has in the past put the wrong CG range in their instructions ask anybody who had the first zeros many of the planes died on their maiden flight. don't be to afraid to move it around a bit.

Well, actually I put my fingers right in between the two lines. lol.... How am I suppose to do it? I will try moving stuff around. Everything is glued in though, so i may just tape some pennies in there to change the CG for now. Yes / No?

Yikes! That's crap. If my CG is fine, then I'm thinking it's my elevators. They could be out. Should they be completely parralel with the stabilizer when the servos are at netural position?

I'd say your balancing method got you in the ball park. You can get a CG balancing Machine from Great planes for under 30.00 US or you can make one with two dowels or pencils and a 2x6 you can find detailed instructions on how to make one on this site if you try the search feature.

I'd use model clay but pennies might work the problem is that if you add too much weight to the model it won't fly as well.

They should be parralel to start out with during the course of triming the model it may become neccessary to move them so that they have some deflection when the trims are in the nuetral position in order to achieve level flight.

Its good that you have someone experienced to help its these little problems that I was refering to when I suggested nothing beats in person help after your friend take 5 minutes to show you how to properly trim a model you'll be surprised at how easy it is to do. Describing the process via a keyboard is another matter entirely

Crashem,

Thanks for all your help. I'll be searching for a home made CG Machine now. Thanks again.

The other possibility is "down thrust" built into the motor/mount. Does it seem to pull down as you increase throttle, or is it a general thing? If during throttle up, then reduce the motor's downthrust a little. If it seems to happen all the time, then it may be the incidence of the horizontal stab or the wing.

If the leading edge of the stab is a bit high, it would result in the plane diving a little. Conversely, if the leading edge of the wing is low, it could result in the same "diving" tendency.
Dennis-