I crashed my trainer a logn while ago, and am about to maiden my four-star with the guts from the plane. i had to clean out the engine, but it is now back in working condition. I sent in the receiver, and it had a major overhaul. Everything else looked fine, but when i was double-checking my plane tonight (I'm going to maiden tomorrow!), the servos quit on me. everything was charged, but i would move the servos full both ways for about 1min, and they would all slowely lose power and die. At first, i assumed it was bad connection to the Rx, but i was wrong! I decided to take out the batter to see if it had a loose chord, and what do ya know: the last battery had fallen off! I guess it must have gotten unsoldered and the plastic wrapping ripped. I hadnt noticed this before when i checked the parts. I found an older battery i had spare, so that's charging. What are other tricky places i should check. What is a good way of telling if a servo needs repair?


For you newbies, ALWAYS check EVERYTHING before important flights (Or any flight for that matter). you never know what kind of kinky stuff you're going to find.

Leaks in the fuel tank or around it due to drying out or cracking, bent-pushrods or partially broken pushrods, battery life of both the receiver and transmitter because if its been sitting awhile, the battery may not be able to hold a charge anymore, loose wiring, faulty antenna, clogged fuel lines, dirt in tank, and i'm sure you'll get a lot more suggestions soon ....

Visible damage, change in speed, change in the noise it makes, chatttering where it didn't before. Hold on to the output arm (gently) while cycling the servo. Sometimes you can break a servo gear in the impact. After a major OOPS!, I send the whole shebang radio back, not just parts. One of the oddest acting post-crash radios I ever owned was suffering from a broken receiver crystal. Worked with engine running, acted up with the engine off. Go figure.

Please check if engine has dirt in it ... usually does. Simple way to clean is remove carb and flush that with alcohol (not JD ok!!!) and if u r lazy then just open the back plane and plug and flush with alcohol (Absolute vodka is good).