Kenny4842

Hello all, this is my first post. I am a newbie to the RC world but I have always wanted to get into RC planes. I bought a Cessna 182 off of ebay and have almost got it finished. By the way anybody heard of the brand HobbyFan? I am not impressed with the Kit at all, but at least it looks nice when finished.
Anyway on to my first qeustion. When I am setting up the throttle on the transmitter how should I make it when the stick is pulled all the way down. Should the engine idle? Or should I be able to completly close the throttle and cut the engine off. What I did was set the trim all the way to the top and then left 1/5th of the carb open. This way when I pull the stick all the way down the engine will idle, but when I pull the trim all the way down it will completly close the carb and therfore shut the engine off. I dont know if this is how it should be or not but I thought it was a good idea. How should/what do most people do?

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

You've got the right idea. Set the trim at about neutral or slightly higher, and then set the throttle so that with the stick all the way back it is idling; then when you pull your trim back, it kills the engine. This way you don't inadvertantly kill the engine when you throttle back in flight. If you haven't started the engine yet, you may need to fine-tune the adjustment when you do. At idle, the throttle barrel is just barely open, doesn't take much to keep the engine running. Welcome to RC Universe, and r/c airplanes. Good luck flying.

Kenny4842

Wow that was quick. I wasnt expecting an answer so soon. I can tell that this is going to be a great fourm to be a part of.

That is excactly what I thought. I was affaid that I would kill the engine while in flight. I have already started the engine a few times and think I have it about right, but didnt know if thats how it should have been. Thanks again for the quick respone.
- Kenny

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

guess I'll say it.....

not familiar with that model... but whule Cessna's are real world "trainers" they usually do not make good RC trainers....

Kenny4842

exeter_arces. Yeah I kinda of found that information out after I bought the plane. I figured that since it was a high wing desgin that it would be a good one to learn on. I now know thats not always the case but I already have the plane and it is alomst ready. I plan to pratice a lot on a sim before trying it for real. I also have a friend that used to fly and he is going to brush up on his skills and then try to help me.

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

Do you have a engine kill button on your radio?

Given you do - you will wanna have your throttle trimmed so the stick in the down position is idle. Kill the engine using your kill button.

RC-Captain

All I am going to say is if you could not answer this question by yourself then you are moving way to fast as far as getting into flying RC airplanes.

If you ask why I say this , well I have never had to ask this question, because just about all engine manuals tell you how to set the engine up for idling.

Kenny4842

Dear RC-Fiend. I bought my engine off of ebay and it is an old OS 40-FP. My transmitter also came from ebay and is an Old Futaba-4NFB. I read through the manuals of both about 10 times (really) to get myself to a point that I felt good about starting the engine up. Although I may have missed it I am pertty sure it says nothing about how to set the engine up as to if you should be able to Kill it with the transmitter. It says plenty about setting the needle vavle and getting the engine to idle, which I can do just fine. My qeustion was if I should set it so I can kill the engine with the transmitter if needed.
Why did I buy old items from ebay you ask? Well I wanted to get into the hobby but I also have a limited budget to spend. Most of the items I bought were new old stock. So although the engine was brand new the instuctions were printed 15-20 years ago. Trust me I am in no hurry, I have been working on this plane every weekend for the past three months and, the last thing I want to do is crash it 15ft after takeoff. Although I am aware that may happen, thats why I joined this fourm to answer any qeustion I was not sure about.
Take care.
- Kenny

Rodney

Kenney4842, your first post is very good, you have the idea correct and are doing it all correctly. True, once you get the engine running you will probably have to make some minor adjustments to get the engine to kill with trim switch all the way down yet get proper idle with the trim in the upper portion of its range. Sounds like you know what you are doing.

Kenny4842

Thank you Rodney. I have read many of the post in the begginers section and did a search but never seen this question asked so I thought I would. The reason maybe like RC-FIEND said and that most manuals tell you, but mine did not.
Anyway thanks for postitive reinforcement

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Kenny--I have to agree that this probably isn't the best plane to learn on, and as much time as you're spending on it, the loss of it will "hurt" more. This isn't to say you CAN'T learn on it, but I would advise having an experienced flier, and one with instruction experience as well, help you with this. If you are patient about learning, take the time to find an old "beater" to learn with, get used to the controls, learn how to deal with "emergencies" (dead sticks, crosswinds, loss of aspect, etc) so that your responses are quick enough to save your nice plane when you finally DO fly it. It will be worth whatever extra you have to pay for the old trainer. Anything like a Superstar is a great plane to learn on, and are a dime a dozen.

nicadflyer

I have seen people learn on that style of plane when they had a buddy cord and a good flight instructor. If you are able, I would advise you to join a R C flying club near you and have one of the instructors 'teach' you how to fly first (using the club trainer plane).
Or you could get a 'coroplast' style airplane to learn with and use the engine and radio that you already have. The cost would minimal and the plane should last for many bad landings with out major damage.

Paul

RC-Captain

khodges and nicadflyer thanks for the positive reinforcement.


Kenny4842 my pal, I am not knocking you for asking questions here on RCU . I my most humble opinion I feel you need to have some one supervise you when operating the engine. If you can't get any supervision , I am here to answer any question you have. I wish you lived closer I would help you first handedly.

The first time I got into glow, the OS .40 manual was the first thing I ask for on RCU and the manual was a great deal of help. I didn't know much about primming and someone helped me with that on RCU and so on and so on.

Point and case, I thought the question had an obvious answer so I am sorry if I have offended you that wasn't my intentions. GL with all of your endeavors.

Kenny4842

No, no offense at all. I want to know if I am in over my head and I am given some 2nd thought to what others here have said about a better plane to for a trainer. Thanks

David Cutler

It's true the Cessna isn't a trainer, but even truer that you simply must get somebody to help you at least with the first flight.

If you aren't used to building models, even getting one already built ready for flying, you are bound to need to trim it the first time up, and that is not easy, even for somebody who has become proficient with a high wing model.

Put it this way, if you fly it by yourself the first time, you are very likely (yes, I'm afraid very likely) to have a first flight that lasts 10 seconds or less, and you won't get the opportunity to get up the learning curve enough to enjoy it. Please get an instructor. It'll pretty much insure you will get to a stage where you can start to get the bug and it won't cost you a fortune in time and money. From what you have already said, you sound as if you will learn very quickly, and that instructor will very quickly become redundant!

Good luck and welcome to a great hobby!

-David C.

TheBrickLayer

Here is some tuning advice take it for what you will, it has helped me tune my engine and I am still learning as well. When you think you have the engine tuned up nicely pinch the gas line for sec or two. If the engine revs up then you need to lean it out a little. Do this until the engine dies when you pinch it. Then turn the gas to the rich side a slight bit. When I first flew I thought I had the engine tuned but I wasn't getting enough power to take off. I did the gas pinch test and within a minute or two I was in the air. Also I don't want to discourage an instructor but I did my first flight without an instructor and it lasted for about 60 seconds with a mildly rough landing. My second flight lasted about 4 seconds due to my own anxiousness. After the second flight I had to do some minor repairs for small cracks in the rear part of the frame. I did try an instructor but the guy just screwed my engine up so bad it took me forever to get it tuned back in. After my second short flight I think I might try an instructor again. By the way my first solo was yesterday and my second flight and minor mishap was also yesterday, so fresh experience talking.

multiflyer

TheBrickLayer,

Bummer about the bad instructor. Obviously a bad instructor is not really and instructor. Unfortunately there are a few of those types out there. Sorry you had to learn that the hard way.

TheBrickLayer and Kenny4842,

It really is worth it to find a good club to learn at. A good club will hook you up with and instructor who really will take care of you. Also you can spend some time at the field and see how a potential instructor behaves with other students.

Multiflyer

TheBrickLayer

Roger that, I saw right after I posted that a guy who lives near me has been doing this for years. I sent him a pm hopefully he can set me on the right track.

Mitty

Welcome to the comunity,Kenny!! this is a greatest forum .Tons of ideas and information avaliable on here and there will be always some one whos willing to loan a helping hand or advice. Welcome and enjoy!!

tasdevilmick

G'day kenny I to have just got my maiden flight under my belt + a couple more and some advise I received prior was to not so much as fly it but find a large open space and taxi the plane around alot till I got used to the diferent aspects of what the plane direction took when the plane was coming towards me and away from me in relation to the radio control lever position, Took some getting used to the fact that when the plane was coming towards me the controls seemed reversed but they whern't it was just the fact that if i looked back over my shoulder when the plane was coming towards me the controls all worked as they should, a matter of preception and as looking back over the shoulder initialy realy do's make you feel like you are sitting in the pilot seat .throttle position was a question I would of asked if I hadent got a new radio as engine i got did not have a manual with it but the radio had this set up info in it's manual.Check your radio manual it may just have the info in there as well
Best regards mick

Grampaw

Kenny, don't be bashful about asking questions, everyone of us here have been in your shoes when we started. I thought I'd never get my first engine runnning properly. It was a Fox, and back then they had dual needle valves, and for me that was double trouble. I read the manual, then read it again. Didn't quite grasp what they were trying to get across. There was references in the procedures that I didn't know just what they meant. I find the same thing with this danged computer from time to time too! But one day a chance occurance cleared up my problem and another hurdle was crossed...then I came up against the problem of getting it up, and then down in one piece, and as it was a tail dragger, I never got it up. It chased it's tail most of the time. So I converted it to a trike gear and it took off. But it ran into a tree. The manual didn't tell me about that part of learning to fly. But I kept at it, and here I am yo these many years later, still asking questions, reading about RC and related procedures. The one saving thing in my case was that I already knew what the stick, rudder and ailerons controlled in full sized airplanes, so the day I finally got one airborne I flew it! Not as good I thought I could, but I flew it. Hang in there buddy, you're in for a lot of fun.