acdii

I noticed the book has the rudder on the second from last hole, going to move it all the way out to get as much rudder as I can. I have the Fuse all back together, just have to glue the pilot back ion and put the canopy on. Some light sanding and repair of the top skin and the wing is ready to cover, then fix the servos that can be fixed, replaced the ones that can't, bolt my rebuilt Saito on and ready to fly again.

acdii

BTW, here is a panoramic of the field I fly at. Its 60' wide, by about 400'.

Charlie P.

If you're going to do much building/rebuilding you owe it to yourself to find a nice, flat surface without all those surves and rivets.

Charlie P.

Sorry - duplicate post.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I was thinking about your title and how many great stunt pilots ended their careers that way. The founder of our local air show Tom Jones did that Sukhoi, Glenn Sigafoose did it in a Pitts, and so on.

acdii

ha ha! thats not my building board! Though we are rebuilding that beautiful big beast in the background. My workbench is actually 2 layers of 3/4" particle board on a 2x6 frame. Its 4' x 6' and solid. I lay a hermosote board down and build on that. That piece you see my fuse on is the stab off a DC3 being made into a desk.

I got my Saito rebuilt with a new case, so its ready to be put back on. Supposed to be hot and humid this weekend, so great weekend to spend in my shop and hope to have this plane back together ready to fly. Going to rebalance it and push the CG a bit for more nose weight and see if it lessons the tendency to snap over.

I got a new T-Clips 70 to put together first, but from what I see of the kit, 6 hours is about all it will take to assemble it. mount the servos in the wing, glue on the hinges, wings are done, mount the engine, install 3 servos, hook them up, glue on the tail pieces and mount the gear and its done. I think the longest part will be waiting for the epoxy to set on the tail. Then I will attack the wing on this plane and get that done, I figure about an hour maybe two to recover it and put the servos back in. Another hour to mount the engine and servo, and then another hour to make sure all the controls are working and get more throw out of the rudder.

I'm wondering if that snap tendency is due to the slight twist I see in the elevator, or just a characteristic of this plane. I just don't know anyone who flies this plane though. I definitely will dial in more expo on the up side for this.

raptureboy

I've had a few engine outs on mine and it will snap if there's not enough speed. I have learned to keep the gear and flaps up and keep the nose down and just belly in. She starts to wobble just before she's ready to snap.

acdii

Other than one servo, need gears, it is all repaired. I made a change to the rudder so now it has a lot of throw, which should help. Only thing i haven't repaired or replaced yet is the cowl.

raptureboy

Very nice. Looks brand new, lets hope for better results on future flights. I have been getting a lot of sorties on mine lately and enjoying it alot.

acdii

I am wondering if that snap when giving up elevator is normal, or an issue with the tail. I noticed the elevators have a slight twist to it. I can see it snapping if its going slow, but it was moving at a good clip at other times. When I get it up again I will see if it does it at high speed too.

Charlie P.

Snap wouldn't be designed into a plane or model, no, But if you are slow or already near stall giving up elevator changes the wing's aspect and puts you into a stall. And Mustangs snap when stalled; as do most wings with dual taper. At low speed the prop torgue and unequal wash over the wings will give one a tendency to stall first. And with warbirds one wing with lift and the other without will flip you instantly.

Does this kit have washout built into the wings? And, if so, is it equal on both sides?

There are many reasons trainers have dihedral and constant chord, high mounted wings.

Speed is life.

acdii

It was moving way to fast to stall, it went nose high, turned over 90* and went into a loop, Had I been quicker and could actually see the plane I would have pushed forward on the stick and just flown it inverted, but it went out of sight behind the tree I was trying to avoid in the first place. I have the radio setup to retract flaps above 40% throttle, so they were up as I had gone full throttle a few seconds before pulling up. Only the gear was down. However, I have had this plane do it a few times at 3.4 throttle, same thing, pulled back on the stick and over it went. Some say it was a high speed stall, but with the twist in the tail, I am wondering if that might be contributing to this. The twist is definitely to the right, left one is down, right one is up. At the center both elevators are even, at the tips you can see one balance tab is abve the stab when the other is even, but the TE is below horizontal.

I think I will contact tower for replacement elevators since they are warped.

capriman

I would also like to know what your wing tip washout numbers are before you fly it again. great job making the repairs.

N410DC

The comments about the complexities of landing a model aircraft are very valid. Many years ago, an experienced flight instructor wrote an article in a full-scale about landings. He commented that his students who were already R/C pilots consistently learned to land quicker than other students. As a full scale pilot, I think its easier to position the aircraft correctly on the runway from a "1st person" prospective, though it is more difficult to determine angle of attack, altitude, and sink rate from this prospective. It's may therefore be easier for an R/C pilot to determine when to initiate the flare. Perhaps a combination of full-scale and R/C experience can help a pilot in both realms.

acdii

After several years of flying I finally got the hang of the "flare" with my T-Clips. On the LT-40 and 4*120, they don't flare well, they tend to keep climbing with the slightest of input, but the Clips sinks very nicely, so that as it gets slower, more input is needed to keep the nose up, and for the first time I was actually able to see it flare to a nice 3 point landing. I have a H9 Twin Otter that I rarely flew due to the batteries going down way too fast, no sooner than I was airborne, the LVC starts beeping, so half throttle was all I could do. Once I got a pair of 3S 8000mah packs for it, I could go WOT after take off and get some air time and actually fly it for more than a few minutes. Prior to that I got maybe one or two go arounds then had to land, and not have enough for a T&G to practice landings, and always dumped the nose on it. After getting the hang of flaring with the Clips, I can now flare the TO to a nice main wheel landing and make it look good.

I have not had a chance to get this Mustang off the ground yet after the rebuild, and I swapped out the 100 for a 125, so haven't had a chance to run it up and tune it either. I need to recheck CG, and replace the landing gear with oleo struts. Hopefully I got the throw set right now and enough expo to prevent that horrid snap over when I pull back on the stick. Since almost all my planes are a TD gear, landing the 51 isn't a problem for me, just need to learn how to line it up with a crosswind since it has very little rudder effect.