Dick,
Are we looking at a maiden during the week or the weekend? Give me a shout and i will try to get
there for the maiden.

What is it with the tall grass? I flew 8 times yesterday and I can be airborne in 20 feet LOL. Just kidding

I may finish it tomorrow evening, depending on other factors. But I don't know for sure when I will maiden it.. will let you know.

Regarding the grass... yadda yadda yadda... If that OS 75 AX is anything like I've heard, well, I can probably hand launch the Protege.. won't have to even think about grass..

Dick.

I was just reading a comment in another post about engines. The comment was about exhaust deflectors. Well, I suppose I could use a length of vinyl tube and route the exhaust right down by the wheels. I won't have to worry about power losses, will I!! Look ma.. no slime!!

On a different subject here, what do you guys think about converting this to a tail dragger? Any suggestions on how to go about it?

CGr

Tonite, I connected all servo's except for the connections at the elevator and rudder. That's tomorrow evening.

The engine is mounted, also, the throttle is ready for hookup.

The landing gear (both nose wheel and main gear) are installed..

I mounted the RX and battery (temporary until I do the CG). I am using the DX7 (DC7000) receiver. I also put in a JR switch with charger jack.

Looking good!! I hope to finish tomorrow evening and perhaps maiden it this weekend!!! Yeah!!

CGr

Well, folks, I'm impressed.

I put the engine on last night, just finished getting the wing mounted, it took a little grinding for the holes to line up, but nothing that shows

I put it on the CG machine just a few minutes ago. It was slightly nose heavy!! Yeah!! No weights needed up front. So, the OS 75 AX with their 'power-box' muffler installed worked out just fine for balance. Now, I have to attach the elevator and the rudder and it's ready to maiden... after, of course, I run a couple or three tanks of fuel through that beast.

Pictures will follow.

CGr

Getting close ! Got to love it when the CG hits that way. I predict , after a few flights, the CG is going to move and so are the throws . lol

Ha.. probably.. we will see, my friend.

Dick.

I've been using a 75AX in the new Goldberg Skylark 70 and with the power that engine has, you should be able to just point it up and let go!

The Protege was successfully flown today. It was amazing! First, though, I forgot to tighten the nosewheel strut and the nosewheel turned 90 Degrees on me.. ha.. so I straightened it out then tightened it. Then it was fly time.

I put a 13.5-6 Bolly Prop on the engine. First, the CG was absolutely perfect. It was as though that engine was designed for that plane.

Next, I took off, took a long roll and a slow climb to altitude at full throttle. I eased on the throttle and put in 6 clicks of down to get it to fly straight. That was it!! No aileron trim, nor any rudder trim was necessary. It flew just great!! I may have to add a little more authority to the ailerons, though. The rolls were somewhat sluggish with where they are set now.

Other than the six down elevator clicks, it flew absolutely straight and level, hands off right away. Beautiful flyer. And that engine.. well, you're right.. stump puller. I was at half throttle going straight, right to left, and pulled elevator to go vertical then ... THEN... added throttle. The engine went to full RPM and the plane started to head to the clouds. It got to a point where it was hard to see it to control its vertical climb, so I went to idle and pulled hard right rudder.. did a beautiful stall turn and headed down.

I did several rolls, several loops, one immelman, two split S's, and a few other maneuvers, and a bit of inverted.. all were really easy and required minimum control to keep things straight.

Just an amazing plane. And that engine.. yep... a good choice.

CGr

Thats great CGR , Had the chance to see this plane fly last week , on and you could just tell , it was a keeper, and that was with an OS.55 AX . It looked like it handled more like a Big Stick than a trainer.

It's a sweatheart all right

Glad you like it Dick!

Hey MinnFlyer and Moondogie.

You are so right. It was very sweet. What impressed me the most was that it handled so easy and didn't require either any weight to meet CG ( with the OS .75 AX) or with any aileon trim at all. It took six clicks of elevator to keep it from climbing, but that may have been all engine.. as MinnFlyer and RCKen said. Man, that thing just wanted to fly!! And, I didn't say this in my previous Email, but landing it was a dream. I did the usual downwind approach, (even though there was 0 wind today) and turned to base then final. On final, I cut the throttle to idle and it just glided in like it was on rails. Each landing I did was picture perfect with no bounces and a perfect flair. What a bird.

This really helped return my confidence in Goldberg after the Tiger 120 fiasco.

CGr

Well , maybe now that Grearplanes has Carl Goldberg , things may be diferent for the better.

Hi Minn.

The OS 75 was not to much engine... well, it was more than adequate, let me put it that way.. On the third flight, on take off, I hit it with full throttle right from the git-go and pulled elevator. It accelleated about 20 feet, and headed to the sky. No problem. And it had absolutely no trends to be ballistic. It was flying. Just beautiful. This would be a great recommendation to anyone for a second, well, maybe a third.. plane.. (with that engine that is).

Speaking of engines.. I filled the tank, closed the needle valve, turned it 2.5 turns, opened the throttle to full, put my finger over the carb, turned the prop 5 revolutions, returned the throttle to just above idle, hooked up the glow driver and, per chance, I hit the prop with the chicken stick. First flip.. started right up. I let it run for about a minute without disconnecting the glow driver, then disconnected it. I then advanced the throttle to about half and leaned it out a bit, not much, then slowly to full throttle. It was pretty rich.. lots of smoke and spitting oil. I let it go that way for about two minutes then leaned it out to go full for about 10 seconds, then rich again. This continued for the full tank. When I was done, I set the needle valve for good response but on the rich side, and shut it down.

After about 10 minutes to cool down, I refueled and restarted the eingine... again, one flip and it was running. Love those OS's !!

I let it run for about 2 minuts then shut it down and refueled. I figured that the way it was running, which was sweet.. very sweet, I would fly it. So, I refueled and up it went. And what a maiden!!!! I was a very happy Retired Coastie!!

CGr

With my 75AX all I do is close the throttle, add the glow, flip it backward, and it starts - first flip - every time

Great engine!

Oh yeah. What I found fascinating was that the OS 75 did that for the very first starting attempt on a new engine! The first flip and on it went. I was commenting to Ken that the Protege sure took off with authority... That engine is awsome. And it ran so smoothly, even during the on-the-ground break in process, I slowly added throttle with a very rich mixture, and pretty much followed my usual break in procedure.. anxious as hell to get that plane airborne.. ha..

Dick.

Dick, are you using high torque servos? I believe that is what Goldberg recommends (54oz min). What is everyone using?

Well, I used the Spektrum servos (JR 821's) on the ailerons and Airtronics High Torque ball bearing servos on the elevator and rudder. Standard Airtronics, non ball bearing on the throttle. All seem to work very well.

I had a bit of a scare today. I had it in the air and it started making a real wierd sound. I thought perhaps I had some flutter going on. So, I quickly landed it and looked everwhere for something that may cause the problem. The only thing I could come up with was a loose nose wheel (loose on the shaft so it spun wobbly and perhaps that was what I was hearing) so I put a piece of fuel tubing between the collar and the wheel, to act as a sort of brake, and also one on each of the main wheels. I put it up and the noise was still there.

Well, I had about 8 partial tank test flights today with the plane. Never really going full out for fear of maybe breaking something.

The club "pro" showed up and he flew it. He thought it was a piece of loose ultracoat trim that might be vibrating as the air passed over the airfoil. Well, he landed it, and we looked around and sure enough, on the left wing there was a strip about 8 inches long that was tight on either end but loose on the middle, so I put a piece of tape over it and put it up. Voila.. no noise!!! I was happy happy. I flew most of that fight at full throttle.. ha.. which I never do, but I really wanted to wring it out, which I did, and it was just fine.

So, now I have to hit the wing surfaces with the iron again and make sure all the trim is well adhered.

CGr

Good job.least it is an easy fix.

Oh yeah. It had me going for a while, though..

Old n Slow, Standard servos are all that are needed for the Protégé

I used Futaba S9001s, but S3004s would work fine too

Hi Mike.

Well, I only had two of the standard servo's in my "collection" and a bunch of the high-torque ones. Not the real expensive ones, just the high-torque ball bearing versions (Airtronics and Jr/Spektrum). So I used them for the ailerons/rudder/elevator setup and a standard for the throttle. I figured I had em laying around so I used them. I am put the expensive ones on the Seagull Super Sport. That's where I think I will need them.

It was a nice morning yesterday, warm and a calm wind. But, around 10:30 or so, the wind picked up, and wouldn't you know it, the wind was a cross wind, gusty and blustery. Nasty landing conditinos, but actually, had some fun getting the plane in for a safe landing. That tail is certainly a large sail area because once I was on final, and slowed the thing down for a landing, the tail took over. I did not have quite enough authority in the rudder to do what I wanted to do, so I sort of crabbed it in and then, at about a foot off the ground, I sort of whipped the thing around and pulled the elevator just enough to flare to the ground. They were all nice landings, in fact, I was proud of them. My good friend, Bob, was there flying his Yak and had some difficulty landing and was not very happy with his landings, but congratulated me on mine. Trial and error.... and a bit of luck were in order there.. ha..

So, between finding out that the noise was just a piece of loose trim, and the performance of that OS 75, well, I was a happy camper yesterday.

CGr

Sounds like a fun day!

Yes, it was, Mike. And I thank you for introducing me (us all) to the Protege. A definite keeper and a great overall plane for just having a fun RC flying day.

I may want to convert it to a tail dragger. That nose-wheel is a pain in the butt...

And, if anyone out there is flying on grass, or a bumpy runway like I am, consider using 3.5 inch light-weight Dubro wheels. They definitely make things better on bumpy grass, and don't add any weight.

CGr

And for those of you who may be interested the review has just been posted:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=901