beginner needing help with set up
 

Ok. I'm tring to make sure my ailerons and rudder are set up right.. when I pull back on the stick on the transmitter to make the plane go up witch way does the back flap go UP or DOWN.. and on turns. say the plane is flying away from you and you make a right turn. witch way do each aileron go. right now it sets up for the right ailron goes up and the left goes down... I asked the guy at my LHS and he was'nt sure . he told me he can never get that right... and theres not been anyone at the local club lately.... This is my first plane and I dont want to destroy it because it's not set up right.. One mor question.. I have a old sullivans electric starter that needs a new rubber fitting for it.. where can i get something like that? LHS? or order online?

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

OK, Tail flap (Elevator) points up to go up (pull back on stick) and down to go down (push forward on stick).

Ailerons: When the aircraft is pointed away from you, (So that your stick movements correspond with the actual direction the airplane banks relative to you)

Stick left = roll left. Left wing aileron points up, right wing aileron points down.
Stick right = roll right. Right wing aileron points up, left wing aileron points down.

Rudder:
Stick left, turn / yaw left rudder surface points left.
Stick right, turn / yaw right rudder surface points right.

While I am quite confident in these answers, I am just a n00b myself so more experienced modelers feel free to comment as needed.

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

Sounds like yours is prolly correct, as for the sullivan.. Not a clue..

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

Those answers are correct. The rubber cone should be available at your LHS. If not, Tower hobbies online will have them.

It sounds like you don't have much support there. PLEASE get an instructor before you attempt to fly.

Good luck!

Dr.1

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

millertym2000,
Since you are a beginner, I highly recommend you find a local club to help. They can provide a lot of free information and besides just flying instruction, you will learn preflighting, engine tuning, safety, etc.

Go to http://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx and enter your zip or city, etc and you may find some close.

Good luck!

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

thanks for all your help.. I do have a couple clubs close and I do plan on joining one. Just tring to get set up right.

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

Just dont be too dissapointed when you finally get to bring your airplane to the field, and after all that tireless work getting everything "Perfect" your instructor points out about half a dozen (or more[:'(]) things that need to be changed / fixed, possibly even before you can fly it.

(My first time out I was all fired up ready to go, got plane out at the teachers house. he looks her over and pronounces that I wo'nt be flying to day because I have to fix this and this and this and...)

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

As stated, Adui's answer is correct

As for remembering them in the future...

(Note, all dimensions are from standing behind the plane)

Elevator and rudder are easy:

Elevator: Up (Pull back on the right stick) Elevator moves up

Rudder: Left or right (Move left stick left or right) Rudder moves left or right correspondingly

The Aileron is a little tougher, but here's a "Rule of Thumb" to help you remember:

Use the "Thumbs Up" rule - Push the right-hand stick to the right or left with your thumb. If you "thumb" the stick to the left, the left aileron will go UP

Thumb to the right, the right aileron goes up.

So in either case - Thumb = Up!

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

Thats a good method minnflyer.

heres one more tip

a lot of new pilots can understand controls on the tx when the plane is moving away from them. left turn, left stick input
right turn, right stick input.

Its when the plane is flying towards them,they get disoriented. usually if you have to think for two or three seconds,it just may be that a second or two is too long.
One good way to remember is, when the plane is flying toward you, if say the wing on your left drops low, to correct to level flight, simply move the aileron stick to the left.

In other words (think) always move the aileron stick towards the lower wing, to correct to level flight.

Also remember, the plane will aways travel in the direction of the low wing.
The plane is coming toward you on landing,if the wing on your left starts to drop lower, the plane will start to travel to your left.

To correct, move the aileron stick left, or towards the low wing, to regain level flight.

Ive heard some pilots, new and not so new, say, when a wing drops to one side or the other, they just move the aileron
stick back and forth until it becomes level. but they are kinda guessing.

With this technique there is no guess work, it works every time.

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

I have been flying for four years and I am usually pretty good at setting up an airplane but I still have a friend give it a good going over before I fly for the first time. I usually make one or two very small mistakes that I overlook after being involved with the plane for awhile. usually it involves missing a keeper or maybe more binding due to tail wheels

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

I have been crashing balsa ....err umm I meen Flying RC for twenty years and I instruct now also. BUT I still remember going home with out flying three times before they would let me fly my Carl Goldberg Eagle trainer. And bring a trash bag along(don't ask why);)

RE: beginner needing help with set up
 

I remember my control surfaces by thinking about it logically. If you want to bank right you want the left aileron to go down and produce more lift. You want the right wing to go up and produce less lift therefore dropping the right wing and rising the left which results in a right bank. With the elevator if you want to go up, you want the back of the plane to go down so the elevator must loose lift and the elevator control surface must go up. I could never remember which way things went by memorizing. I hope this confusion makes sense.