A Few Radio and Servo Pushrod Questions
 

My first question: Im debating between the Hitec Flash 5 Radio System or the Aitronics RD6000 Sport Radio System. They seem to be about the same. Which one do you guys recommend? Which one has better servos?

Also: Im totally new to RC airplanes. Ive been building my ARK kit or I should say rebuilding lol. The pushrods for the control services where incased in these guiding tubes. There was soo much resistance that I decided to just pull the whole guiding tube out and just use the control rod itself. I figured that since the pushrods are soo strong this would be ok because they definetely will not bind. On the prebuild fuselage there was just like a little tiny hole that this rod was supposed to come out. I ended up like carving a big area around it so It will move as freely as possible. I actually had to cut a pretty big piece out on the Rudder and Elevator push rod exit holes. Im shooting for smoothe as butter but Im afraid this is overkill. I've never felt normal pushrods. How strong are servos, how much resistance could they handle because there still is a little resistance on my elevator.

A Few Radio and Servo Pushrod Questions
 

You are on the right lines with your thinking, in that binding pushrods is a bad thing, but you will still probably need some form of guide for the rods as, don't forget it pushes as well as pulls, and you definitely don't want the rod to bend and lose control / movement of the control surface.

This is especially true of the elevator, as most have the control horn fitted on the bottom, thus making 'up' elevator the 'push' and 'down' elevator the 'pull'. You do not want to rely on the pushrod not bending when you frantically pull the stick back to get up elevator as the ground rapidly approaches in a dive!

I agree the plastic push rods used by some companies (SIG, for instance) are almost impossible to stop binding (they also change length as the weather changes, so trim keeps changing). I always replace the actual pushrod with threaded steel rod, inside the original outer casing as the guides. It's a bit heavier, but completely free of binding, and much easier on the mind when flying!

David C.

A Few Radio and Servo Pushrod Questions
 

DO NOT try to fly that plane without the outter rod casings!

No matter how stiff the rods seem on the ground, they will flex when air is rushing over the control surfaces and you will loose up to 75% of your control!

Either replace the outter sleeves, or replace the rods with a combination of wood and wire rods like this:

Control Rods
 

Hmm... well you see the control rods aren't avtually FREE for say. They do pass through 2 holes in 2 peices of thin balsa wood on the way there. They are somwhat guided if ya know what I mean due to the 2 holes

A Few Radio and Servo Pushrod Questions
 

i would not risk it, a little hard work now to make the plane work right is alot better than trying to save some effort and re-building or re-buying

A Few Radio and Servo Pushrod Questions
 

I'm with the other guys, dont fly it without the push rod outer cover, better yet replace them with the wire push rod/ dowl option, have a look at the SPAD Debonair instructions it has good detailes on how to do it www.spadtothebone.com

as for the radios I have 2 hitech's flash5 and eclipse7 i would recomend HT to any one.