The worst radio installation you've seen?
06-11-2009, 10:28 PM
#1
The worst radio installation you've seen?
A lot of people on this thread help others get their airplanes in the air. So what was the worst radio installation you have seen?
For me, it was a guy that built a Heathkit radio and installed it in a Taurus pattern airplane.
To mount the servos (1.2 oz mini servos (KPS-12's)), he cut holes in a length of two by four stud. The kind of wood found holding up walls in most homes. That pretty much filled the entirefuselage. To top it off, he didn't like the pins holding the gears in the servos, so he drilled through the cases andthrough the gears and then broke off the drill bits to act like the pins he replaced.
For me, it was a guy that built a Heathkit radio and installed it in a Taurus pattern airplane.
To mount the servos (1.2 oz mini servos (KPS-12's)), he cut holes in a length of two by four stud. The kind of wood found holding up walls in most homes. That pretty much filled the entirefuselage. To top it off, he didn't like the pins holding the gears in the servos, so he drilled through the cases andthrough the gears and then broke off the drill bits to act like the pins he replaced.
06-11-2009, 10:45 PM
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RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
Sounds awful. I hate to see unprotected recievers and batteries. My alltime favorite installation trick is to use a block of foam cut to fit snuggly in the fuse and hollow out pockets for the battery and reciever.
It works like the old egg drop experiment where the egg survives. Foam for this is had free at electric equipment shops. All foam is not good...the softer the more vibration isolation. Really stiff foam such as styrofoam for example would transfer almost all of the vibration.
It works like the old egg drop experiment where the egg survives. Foam for this is had free at electric equipment shops. All foam is not good...the softer the more vibration isolation. Really stiff foam such as styrofoam for example would transfer almost all of the vibration.
06-11-2009, 10:46 PM
#3
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RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
Ican't cast stones, I have never seen anything like that but I just went through one of my own old builds and had to ask, what was Ithinking. It was just more of a gear set up thing and as I recall it looked like a good idea when I did it. Ihave also done too many rule breaking things in gas engine set up and gotten away with it thinking I always could. Then this year I got bit pretty hard when I broke the rules again.
Going back on some of my older planes is often an eye opener and I have learned a lot with time. Isee a lot of things being done that Iwouldn't do today but it is working for the people doing it, Ialso see a lot of set ups and wonder why I didn't think of that.
Nope, no casting stones for me!!
Going back on some of my older planes is often an eye opener and I have learned a lot with time. Isee a lot of things being done that Iwouldn't do today but it is working for the people doing it, Ialso see a lot of set ups and wonder why I didn't think of that.
Nope, no casting stones for me!!
06-11-2009, 11:10 PM
#4
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
IIRC, around 1974...a guy comes out to the field with a Falcon 56...
He's got the World Engines Blue Max Rx. and servos bolted down to a sheet of 1/4 ply with 1/2" wide brass straps to hold them down.
I remember him saying "in controlliners, we have to make sure everything is screwed down good 'n tight so nothing falls off"
We had to remind him that this was R/C
I still see beginners occasionally bring their planes out to the field with NO foam or anything around the Rx. and battery...they're just rattling around in the fuselage...(makes me cringe ) Seen thatprobably half a dozen times in the past few years.
06-11-2009, 11:16 PM
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RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
Same here
, Funny that we really don't even notice what we've leanred over the years until ya dig out one of your first builds. What the h#@$% was I thinking
I just pulled out my old astro hog a couple weeks ago I built probably 15 yrs ago, and yea, what was I thinking. I seem to really like flex rod then, main functions, one flex cable for both ailerons, battery just laying in the bottom of the fuse, fuel tank phsically gluded in, yea I pulled everything out and re did it and recovered it.
It hard to say what the worst thing I've seen, I've seen allot of noobs bring out some really weird stuff. Course I've done some weird things too
I;ve built a flying 2x4, used a kadet serior wing. acually the radio install with a router make for a very secure servos
I've built a flying brick, I remebered the LHS owner would alway comment on you can make anything fly with enough power. So I hook eda carbon fiber tube run through a standard red brick, attached a lawn dart wing to it with a saito 1.6. It flew, but it flew like crap land were crazy fast and was kinda heavy, kinda like a brick.
, Funny that we really don't even notice what we've leanred over the years until ya dig out one of your first builds. What the h#@$% was I thinkingI just pulled out my old astro hog a couple weeks ago I built probably 15 yrs ago, and yea, what was I thinking. I seem to really like flex rod then, main functions, one flex cable for both ailerons, battery just laying in the bottom of the fuse, fuel tank phsically gluded in, yea I pulled everything out and re did it and recovered it.
It hard to say what the worst thing I've seen, I've seen allot of noobs bring out some really weird stuff. Course I've done some weird things too
I;ve built a flying 2x4, used a kadet serior wing. acually the radio install with a router make for a very secure servos
I've built a flying brick, I remebered the LHS owner would alway comment on you can make anything fly with enough power. So I hook eda carbon fiber tube run through a standard red brick, attached a lawn dart wing to it with a saito 1.6. It flew, but it flew like crap land were crazy fast and was kinda heavy, kinda like a brick.
06-11-2009, 11:16 PM
#6
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RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
Worst radio instlations go along for the most part with general poor building techniques.
I recently bought a couple planes, one a 1/4 scale acrobatic and the other a 33%. I've spent probably 30 hours so far getting the 1/4 scale in a condition I would fly. The thing that amazes me is that the guy went top end with equipment then cobbled it together.
One of the outstanding things was that the throtle servo had a 4-40 Dubro ball joint on the arm, with a #4 pushrod to the servo. On the carb end, there was a little ball conector, which I've used a lot of, and a dubro #2 nyon snap on ball connector, which I also use a lot of. The problem though was getting teh #4 threaded rod into the #2 ball conector. He had managed to get a turn and half, about 15 degrees off center and called it good. The rod left the servo at a 20 degree angle and then the throtle arm on the carb was bent to find the pushrod. All of that came out today and a nice flex cable from the servo to the throtle arm is replacing it. I usually end up with to much servo arm movement for the carb, but in this case, I had to move the ball joint in one hole on the carb arm to get enought travel.
the guy also mounted a big ole JRswitch so the throttle linkagehad to fight the switch leads for space. A switch on each side just to make sureboth servo mounts were covered.
I keep telling myself, build it myself vs fixing someone elses build. I could havestarted from scratch and been ready to fly sooner thattrying to accomidate someone else's build screwups. Like I said, the radio instlation is just a part of the problem. You have an air frame that has to all work for the plane to fly.The radio is just the electronic interface to the rest of it. Just using top end receivers and servos doesn't make it a good instalation, but it does sofften the grief of fixing some one else's poor setup if you get the parts at a good price.
Don
I recently bought a couple planes, one a 1/4 scale acrobatic and the other a 33%. I've spent probably 30 hours so far getting the 1/4 scale in a condition I would fly. The thing that amazes me is that the guy went top end with equipment then cobbled it together.
One of the outstanding things was that the throtle servo had a 4-40 Dubro ball joint on the arm, with a #4 pushrod to the servo. On the carb end, there was a little ball conector, which I've used a lot of, and a dubro #2 nyon snap on ball connector, which I also use a lot of. The problem though was getting teh #4 threaded rod into the #2 ball conector. He had managed to get a turn and half, about 15 degrees off center and called it good. The rod left the servo at a 20 degree angle and then the throtle arm on the carb was bent to find the pushrod. All of that came out today and a nice flex cable from the servo to the throtle arm is replacing it. I usually end up with to much servo arm movement for the carb, but in this case, I had to move the ball joint in one hole on the carb arm to get enought travel.
the guy also mounted a big ole JRswitch so the throttle linkagehad to fight the switch leads for space. A switch on each side just to make sureboth servo mounts were covered.
I keep telling myself, build it myself vs fixing someone elses build. I could havestarted from scratch and been ready to fly sooner thattrying to accomidate someone else's build screwups. Like I said, the radio instlation is just a part of the problem. You have an air frame that has to all work for the plane to fly.The radio is just the electronic interface to the rest of it. Just using top end receivers and servos doesn't make it a good instalation, but it does sofften the grief of fixing some one else's poor setup if you get the parts at a good price.
Don
06-12-2009, 06:12 AM
#7
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
I must admit that I am somewhat of a neat-nick with my installations. Everything has to be right. Wiring correctly routed, servos secured properly with the screws passing through the ply mounts and into the 1/4" square supports on both ends underneath the serov trays, battery and receiver held in place with sticky velcro then velcro neatly wrapped around battery and receiver, power on the right signal on the left.. all sorts of crazy stuff like that.
Funny because my desk at work is an absolute mess..
But, they always say a clean desk is a sign of a sick mind!!! [X(] 
That makes me the most sane person on the face of this earth, I guess.. 
CGr
06-12-2009, 07:09 AM
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RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
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My worse experience was with a father and son that came out to the field with a new trainer. The boy was about 12 and his father readily admitted that he knew nothing about models.
I started giving his plane the once over and had to secure the RX and battery with some spare foam and replaced the missing screws in the servos. Uncoiled the antenna and ran it the length of the fuselage. I checked the control surfaces and all were in place but the hinges were not glued. A little bit of thin CA and they were secured. Next I got all the servos connected to the right channels and moving in the correct directions, set the throws and checked the CG. Put a quick charge on the RX & TX batteries and did a range check. When I checked how the two wing halves were mounted and noted that the aluminum rod had been left out of the spar slot. I didn’t have any way to fix that at the field so I showed him what the problem was and ask him to go back home and find the rod and install it in the wing. He agreed and off he went.
The next day he and his boy were back at the field. I did a follow up check on all the previous items and held up the wing and looked through the crack where the wings were joined and I could see a spar had been installed.
We hooked up the buddy box and after trimming both radios gave the boy his chance to fly. He made a couple of circuits around the field and of course was a little ham handed on the controls. He got a little out of shape on one turn and pulled hard on the elevator and the wing folded like a shot dove. The post crash investigation revealed that the father didn’t install that aluminum rod after all because he couldn’t find it and had used a #2 lead pencil instead.
I felt bad about the loss of the plane and I offered to help him with the repair or sell him a used trainer at half the price of a new one. He didn’t say anything, he just picked up his stuff and left. I never saw him again
Note: How do I get rid of the HTMLdata at the beginning of this post? It doesn't show up on the original editor but appears when I paste to the forum. I used 3 different editors with the same result.
</meta></meta></meta></meta></meta></meta></meta></meta>
My worse experience was with a father and son that came out to the field with a new trainer. The boy was about 12 and his father readily admitted that he knew nothing about models.
I started giving his plane the once over and had to secure the RX and battery with some spare foam and replaced the missing screws in the servos. Uncoiled the antenna and ran it the length of the fuselage. I checked the control surfaces and all were in place but the hinges were not glued. A little bit of thin CA and they were secured. Next I got all the servos connected to the right channels and moving in the correct directions, set the throws and checked the CG. Put a quick charge on the RX & TX batteries and did a range check. When I checked how the two wing halves were mounted and noted that the aluminum rod had been left out of the spar slot. I didn’t have any way to fix that at the field so I showed him what the problem was and ask him to go back home and find the rod and install it in the wing. He agreed and off he went.
The next day he and his boy were back at the field. I did a follow up check on all the previous items and held up the wing and looked through the crack where the wings were joined and I could see a spar had been installed.
We hooked up the buddy box and after trimming both radios gave the boy his chance to fly. He made a couple of circuits around the field and of course was a little ham handed on the controls. He got a little out of shape on one turn and pulled hard on the elevator and the wing folded like a shot dove. The post crash investigation revealed that the father didn’t install that aluminum rod after all because he couldn’t find it and had used a #2 lead pencil instead.
I felt bad about the loss of the plane and I offered to help him with the repair or sell him a used trainer at half the price of a new one. He didn’t say anything, he just picked up his stuff and left. I never saw him again
Note: How do I get rid of the HTMLdata at the beginning of this post? It doesn't show up on the original editor but appears when I paste to the forum. I used 3 different editors with the same result.
</meta></meta></meta></meta></meta></meta></meta></meta>
06-12-2009, 09:49 AM
#9
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
I have seen a plane with all the servos hot glued in place. It was bought used that way and never flew.
Second thing. We had a 15 year old in our club years ago. More money than sense. So he buys a Ultra Sport 40 kit, Rossi 45 with pipe and a set of retracts. He gets this kit on a Thursday afternoon. Saturday AM it is done. I mean DONE, covered, retracts installed, ready to fly. The covering job looks like he wrapped it in Monocote and stuck it in the oven. It is really rough, but it did fly. I see him at the field two weeks later. He had a bad landing before I got to the field and knocked one AILE off and the covering off of the bottom of half the wing. When I arrived he was getting ready to start it and go again. He got POd when I grounded him. The kid grew up moved away and went on to be a great 3D heli pilot. I was just glad he moved away.
David
Second thing. We had a 15 year old in our club years ago. More money than sense. So he buys a Ultra Sport 40 kit, Rossi 45 with pipe and a set of retracts. He gets this kit on a Thursday afternoon. Saturday AM it is done. I mean DONE, covered, retracts installed, ready to fly. The covering job looks like he wrapped it in Monocote and stuck it in the oven. It is really rough, but it did fly. I see him at the field two weeks later. He had a bad landing before I got to the field and knocked one AILE off and the covering off of the bottom of half the wing. When I arrived he was getting ready to start it and go again. He got POd when I grounded him. The kid grew up moved away and went on to be a great 3D heli pilot. I was just glad he moved away.
David
06-12-2009, 10:51 AM
#10
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
We had a guy show up with his airplane ready to go, and it all looked good to everyone that looked at it. So he was making a pass across the length of the field when a chunk of covering blew off. It turned out after he landed that he had never used Monokote before, and didn't remove the backing when he covered the wings. The Monokote blew off the bottom, but the backing stayed on.
06-12-2009, 11:48 AM
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RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
Had a guy come to the field with a Robin Hood built with Elmers school glue,and servo's held in place with scrunched up newspaper! He figured and crash would just pop the glue joints,and servo's would just fall out unharmed! Motor was held in place by bent over paper clips!
06-12-2009, 11:58 AM
#12
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
ORIGINAL: abacro
Had a guy come to the field with a Robin Hood built with Elmers school glue,and servo's held in place with scrunched up newspaper! He figured and crash would just pop the glue joints,and servo's would just fall out unharmed! Motor was held in place by bent over paper clips!
Had a guy come to the field with a Robin Hood built with Elmers school glue,and servo's held in place with scrunched up newspaper! He figured and crash would just pop the glue joints,and servo's would just fall out unharmed! Motor was held in place by bent over paper clips!
That's the best one so far
We had an older modeler do the same thing with Monokote...didn't know about removing the backing...and an entire upper wing panel blew off.
Somehow the plane came back down in one piece...
06-12-2009, 12:10 PM
#13
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
ORIGINAL: abacro
Had a guy come to the field with a Robin Hood built with Elmers school glue,and servo's held in place with scrunched up newspaper! He figured and crash would just pop the glue joints,and servo's would just fall out unharmed! Motor was held in place by bent over paper clips!
Had a guy come to the field with a Robin Hood built with Elmers school glue,and servo's held in place with scrunched up newspaper! He figured and crash would just pop the glue joints,and servo's would just fall out unharmed! Motor was held in place by bent over paper clips!
One guy came out years back with safety wire holding engine on and servos in with no padding for the receiver/battery, and with no covering on the fuselage and exposed wood surfaces to save weight. [X(] He had been flying gliders before and was not about to listen to anybody. So instead of sending him home a couple of sadistic flyers said he could fly there. He took the plane up had a few so-so flights while they took cover. On about his fourth or fifth flight fuel started attacking his glue joints (the Elmer's school glue that was used to hold his firewall onto a .60 size plane). Last we saw of his engine it parted company with the firewall and fuel tank from the rest of the fuselage and went into the cornfield and was never found while the plane just tumbled down from about 700' and broke into twice as many pieces as the kit manufacturer had supplied initially. I was told he had been out there before and had a really bad attitude and they just wanted to see him crash just for spite! After a few jeers and I-told-you-so's from the peanut gallery he was never seen at that field again.
Hogflyer
06-12-2009, 12:23 PM
#14
RE: The worst radio installation you've seen?
I have seen old servos with a modern plug added but not with solder or crimps but twisted together with the wires exposed. The beginner wanted help but he would not fix the problems.
