Hello:

I am balancing my ultrastick 40. It has a saito 65 on the nose and came out pretty nose heavy. It will take 3 ounces of lead on the tail to balance it out. It this too much weight to add or should I go through the trouble to move the battery to the rear of the fuse? I did this with my last plane and had a hard time figuring out a hatch so I could remove the battery soI just sealed it in the fuse. I would rather just add stickon wheel weights to the rear near the tail wheel. Is this ok?

How much did it take you to balance your ultrastick?

Can someone recomend some high speed servos for the rudder and aileron? I see the tower pro servos on ebay for real cheap but am thinking they would fail and crash my plane so I would rather spend a few bucks more and get reliable ones. But not the expensive $90 gold plated ones...: )

Thanks

Jay

I wouldnt think 3 ounces would be to much, your already over powered with that 65 so it should be able to handle the extra weight.

If it was my plane I would probably move the battery farther back untill I achieved proper CG, but that's just how I am. There is nothing wrong with adding the lead to the tail, with that big engine you won't even notice 3 ounces.

Austin

Ok thanks, I will fly it with the lead. The plane calls for up 2 a 82 size 4 stroke so I wouldnt think it overpowered to much although it should be plenty of power for sure.

Jay

Good servo value? Look at Hitec.

As for the choice between moving the battery and adding lead..... If you add lead, you have to secure it safely right. And tails often aren't exactly strengthened in the off chance they might see 3ounces of stuff in one very small spot. So...... If you're going to have to do a couple of minutes work adding the lead, why not take that couple of minutes and move the battery pack instead. It won't take much more time than adding the lead.

As for your 65 being much of a "more powerful engine than recommended" it isn't. It's roughly a 40 two-cycle in power. It's just about exactly what the plane was designed for. Taking a couple of minutes when assembling an ARF pays you back every minute the airplane is in the air. And that sucker ought to last far more than a couple of minutes. So the time to move the battery is going to pay off way more than the little time it takes to do. And the engine really will benefit from a lighter load. It isn't overpowering that sucker one bit.

I used Hitecs in my two Ultrasticks. Just about wore one of them out and sold it. Servos still working perfectly. Blasted the new one into kindling almost right away and that stripped a couple of brand new servos. Good values can still be trashed if you're unlucky. Think the replacement gearsets were $4 or $5 and WERE AVAILABLE. Hitecs are very popular.

I've got to agree about the extra weight in the tail. The .65 is a good engine, but not a powerhouse. My last model needed the battery pack and receiver way back in the fuselage. I had to build a sliding tray to get it in and out, but I didn't have to add any unnecessary weight to the plane.

I would move servos to the rear, starting with the rudder.

When I build an ARF, I install everything except the rudder and elevator servos. Then I check the CG. If it is nose heavy, I tape the rudder servo in front of the fin and try. If that doesn't do it, I tape the elevator servo on. Usually this does the trick, but I have had to move the battery.

I cut the hole in the top or side anf glue in a little piece of 1/16" ply or 1/8" lite ply, mount the servo and that's it. You do need a servo extension lead.

If ya can, take the time now to move your existing equipment. It will pay off big later. Elevator and rudder servos to the back and when CG'ing .... a slight shift fore/aft of the battery and the plane will come to balance.

Just maidened this plane today .... all it needed was a few clicks of elevator. A blast to fly from the moment it left the ground ... :-)

Fly Safe! Larry (Larrys4227)

i always try to avoid adding dead weight until i have shifted or moved everything you can.i have owned three ultra sticks and they all have came out tale heavy.i cut lightning holes in the rudder and elevators for all of them.i finally had to mount the engines further out on the motormount rails to remedy the problem.

I like Ed's approach, less is always better when it comes to airplane weight. Rear mounted servos seem to more and more common these days.

ed, that is a excellent idea. i think you posted that idea some where before and i tried it on my latest ustick. it worked out great. thanks. i have put together 4 of these planes and they where always nose heavy. your idea saved a lot of additional weight being added to the rear of the plane.

I've had several Ultra Stick 40's and the best thing to do is throw away the aluminum motor mount and use a plastic one. They balance fine then with the battery and radio just in front of the servos.

Sounds like your setup is very similar to mine. My US40 is powered with a Saito .62 and is also a bit nose heavy. I've moved my battery and servos as far to the rear as I can but still have 1.5oz of lead on the tail.

Ed:

So when you mount the servo how do you reinforce the area that you screw the servo into? You said you glue in some light ply....does this meen that you make a cut exactly the size that you need for the servo then somehow insert the ply through the hole you made and glue it? I wish I could see your plane or pictures of it without the servo installed so I can see how you it was reinforced.
I know that would be a pain in the butt.

Jay

Sounds like you are going to do the best thing. I hate adding weight, it usually isn't do difficult to move the existing weight around a little. Good luck, MikeB

Heres a good cheep servo. http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/440701.asp

We learn stuff by watching. Sometimes we do, anyway. So next time you're at the field, look at some of the repositioned servos. Or any servo that's mounted aft in the fuselage. Need a quicker idea on how to do it? Swing by the LHS and inspect some of the things hanging from the ceiling. Or ask to look in a kit. Or ask the people who work there.

Another way to work out the problem is to look at your own model. See the hole where the servo would go normally? That's the size hole your plywood is going to need. Look then at where you want that ply to go. It will have to reach something to glue to. That's how big the plate will need to be. Cut it out that big and cut that size hole in it. It's bigger than the hole you're going to have to cut into the fuselage? Try to fit it through and you'll see that it's not really too hard to do at all.

The fuselage may be solid sided. It may be sticks. The servo plate just needs to overlap enough to glue. With a solid side, you cut whatever size hole works with whatever size plate the servo needs.

With quality LitePly, you won't need extra reinforcement. You discover if it's quality ply when you cut it. If it stays together and doesn't have any voids hidden by the veneer (good luck) it'll stand up without reinforcement. Good ply won't need reinforcement.

Thanks Darock. I got it figured out.

Jay