I just got my AFR avistar in the mail, and I have started working on it. I am having a hard time seeing the pictures clear in the manual because they are black and white. This thing is way more complicated to put together then I thought even with the manual. I need a favor please. Does anybody have any close up pictures of a trainers inside part. Like where all there servos are placed and the reciever and the switch. and the motor. And what there control horns look like. I am confused and I am scared to mess it up because it cost alot of money.
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Soon to be flying I Hope

And that's why I went with a RTF

Sometimes you can find different instructions on the web. Have you looked in the ARF / RTF Forum here?

Did a quick search on RCU for 'avistar' and found tons of threads....here's a good read for when you get to this part of your build... http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...TOKEN=55428108

Well hopefully somebody here as this plane and will take a few digital shots for you. I assume since you got this thing in the mail , it came from Tower. Call up their 800# tomorrow and yell at em. If you don't want to, pm your PH# to me and I'll yell at them for you.

I have seen the type of manuals you are describing and each time they are copied, the quality gets worse. Maybe "BAX" can wake them up back their.

give me a sec stone deaf... I'm figuring out how to post them right now....
Casey

Here a pic of my Avistar:

Thanks alot for the pics!

On my Avistar, Everytime I have to take the wing off, will I have to unplug the servo from the reciever?

I noticed in the pic above, that the control rods where not bent at a 90 degree angle like it says to do in the manual, is there a reason for that and does my avistar come with those hook ups too so I can just stick them in those things instead of bending them at 90 degree angles. All so, how do you adjust throw, do you do it with the radio or manually. I have alot of questions and I am at work and it is driving me crazy I cannot be working on it now. I know I could be using the Search tool to find some answers, but I am and work and do not have that much time, I figured asking questions would be faster.

StoneDeaf, buy a 12" extension to leave permanently plugged into the reciever. The "Z' bends described in the manual are safer than the quick-connects shown in the photo. The servo arm can be taken off the servo to stab the control rod. When you get to the point in the assembly when it's time to adjust the control surfaces, do them one at a time. Without any of the control rods or cables hooked up to the servos (pull the arms off the servos), but connected to the servo arms, turn on the tx and the rx. The servos will center themselves. Now rotate the servo arm until the control surfaces are at neutral and find the nearest place they will go back on the servo. They can be fine tuned by screwing in or out the clevises. The different holes in the control horns at the rudder, elevator, aileron and throttle and on the servo arms will provide the proper throw. It would be much better to find someone at your local flying field to help you with this. For every question answered, there will be ten more. There should be someone at the field willing to help.

Yes you have to unplug the aileron servo when you remove the wings, but not from the receiver -- you need a short servo extension wire. Then you just disconnect at the extension wire rather than at the receiver. You can get one at a hobby shop or from a mail order shop.

StoneDeaf, is there a modelling club near you? The very best way to get help is by having an experienced modeller show you how to do this stuff first hand. I'm not trying to discourage you from getting help here, but I can see that you need a bit more than can be easiliy communicated in this way. Where will you be flying? If it is at a modelling field, the guys there will be happy to help you.


Regards, & good luck

Yeah, I am gonna join my local club, I have only been there once. Should I buy extention wires for all the servos and batteries?

The only extension needed is for the aileron servo usually. Make sure the one you buy matches the connectors on your receiver and servo.

I'll second (or third) the suggestion of joining a club. The club that I joined (or will join today when I get off of work) has monthly meetings to discuss whatever is on our minds. Next month's meeting will include building an electric ARF as a couple of the members do not have any experience with electrics. Maybe the club you're going to join has something similar, where you'd bring your ARF in and everyone would pitch in to help.

About the reciver and wires:

There are a number of slots on the reciver to plug in the servos and power.

First, power: You connect your flight battery to the on-off switch and from the on-off switch there is a lead that goes into the reciver.
Put it in the slot marked B or any empty slot if no slot is marked B.

Then you have four servos:
Throttle
Elevator
Rudder
Aileron

Since three of these servos, Throttle, Elevator & Rudder are placed inside the fuselage, you plug them into the reciver.
You need to test which one goes where by plugging them in and test which servo is activated by which slot.

Then there is one servo that is bolted on to the wing, the aileron servo.
Since this servo is on the wing and not in th fuse, it would be very unppractical to always have the wing & fuse connected with a servo lead... Therefor you plug an extension cable in the aileron servo slot on the reviver.

On the other end of this extension lead (make sure the plug is compatible with your servo brand) you'll find a female connector which fits perfectly to the aileron servo lead.
The thing about this set up is that you can connect power, your three in-fuselage servos + the aileron extension lead and then pad the reciver in foam.
This protects the reciver from vibration/violence and you'll simply just connet your aileron servo in the female connector, coming out of the foam package


-....God, perhaps I just made it more complicated!! ??

Hey StoneDeaf.. I used the supplied easy links on the elevator and
aileron which has the 90 bend, on the rest of the servos I used E/Z
push rod connectors. A lot of people do not like these connectors but
for a trainer I see no problems you just have to give them a once
over every now and then. I have well over 150 flights on this setup
with not a bit of problem. As it has been said above you just need a
6" extension plugged into the rec. and that will be the only one you will
will be taking apart on the servo side. If you look at the tank side of
the pic you can see the female side of the extension which plugs into
the aileron servo in the wing.. Keep your rec. ant. as far away from
the rods and servo wires as possible to prevent interference. Another
good tip is to either used a cable for the throttle or as I did mine, I cut
the rod in the middle and added nylon tubing between the cut halfs with
in the rod housing. This will give some "give" incase of nose-in(crash)
which a lot of trainers seem to do and can save a servo etc.. I never
had a chance to test mine:-) As said above the best bet is get local help
from the club... Keep us updated and have fun!!