tom.laird

Hi Matt,

Was this 25% from the front of the wing tube or from the rear face?

thanks
Tom

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

The Contrast is a very well made light and stiff airframe. We have been very impressed with the quality and value with what we have received so far.
Mike Mueller

dlipton

The box containing mine from F3A unlimited just arrived, but I haven't opened it yet. Can't wait!

griff7166

My Feedback: (2)

25% from the rear . Or 75% of the wing tube from the motor side.

tom.laird

She flies. Following the range test I had 3 flights. With the batteries located at the position shown in previous pictures I required 7 or 8 beeps of up elevator on the first flight, or approximately 1mm. As expected, during the 45 degree up with half roll test the nose came down too quickly thanks to the up-elevator. Rolls and 4-point rolls in both direction were nice, and again as expected the knife edge pulled towards the canopy thanks to the up-elevator, but it was very steady and executed well on the minimum rudder throw. For flights 2 and 3 I moved be battery back 5mm each time and was able to start taking out the up-trim but more adjustment is required. Frozen feet and inbound snow storm stopped play.

Landings were okay. I have Fir trees 150m away and normally have my crosswind leg about 75m out then a rudder turn onto finals but no heroics today so came along the tree line, turned on finals, cut the motor and let it sink then opened the throttle to give a bit of flair for landing. Touch-down to full stop was 10 paces on wet grass. The 3 1/4 wheels definitely helped in these conditions and it did not nose over. With all of today's techo-wizardy has anyone found out how to stop the prop horizontally as per the YS engines?

algis123

Nice foto on snow...

dlipton

Finally unboxing mine. Wow, it's light. Paint looks great. The person who did the final assembly/hardware installation for me did outstanding work. Now I just have to reattach everything he removed for shipping.

dlipton

algis123

very nice to hear good feedback .... Thanks very much

Surefire

My Feedback: (1)

Dan - Looks great! You flying it this weekend

dlipton

Hi Jon, Hope to fly this weekend, but not the Contrast. Have to get it re-assembled, programmed, etc.. You know how long it takes me to do things like that :-)

tom.laird

Hi,

This might be standard practice, but as the root edge is quite fragile and prone to little chips in the paint I have run a bead of fuel proofer varnish around the edge.

Regarding the donut for the front location pin on the main wings it was suggested that they are secured with screws rather than epoxy in case I want to change the wing incidence.

24 flights so far. Very stable on a windy day.

br

Tom

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

Hey guys we now have both color schemes in stock and on sale.
http://www.f3aunlimited.com/catalogs...contrast&cat=0
I only have one of each but more are coming.
Thanks, Mike Mueller

algis123

Hello everyone, i really want to ask all who fly with Contrast LT models, write your comments to me by email [email protected] We are creating a new model and we want to know all the bad qualities of this aircraft that we could correct them in the new model. Thanks to all.

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

Hey Algirdas. We look forward to having the new design. Mike

dlipton

Tom, What's the best approach to using screws on the front pins rather than a wood donut epoxied in? Are those pins threaded?

tom.laird

Hi Dan,

I fitted the wing to the body, put the donut in place and used two servo screws to hold it in place. I had already drilled the two holes in the donut. Eventually I will replace the servo screws with two M2 nuts and bolts.


I also made two of these linkage covers from some 2mm balsa one night when waiting on the batteries re-charging. They are a snug fit so that they do not easily fall off, and they stop the linkage snagging on the inside of the wing covers.


cheers

Tom

dlipton

Cool stuff, Tom! Thanks

dlipton

Do you think a gator adjuster could be substituted for the donut on the front pin?

dlipton

First 3 flights on Saturday. Very little trim needed. Was a bit nose heavy with the CG right at the tube. Moved the battery back about an inch, vast improvement. Perhaps it's me being nervous with a new plane, perhaps it was the wind, perhaps the Contrast LT stalls more easily at touchdown speeds than my old trusty Neptuno, perhaps all three.... but I definitely got close to busting the thing at landing 2 out of 3 times. Second landing, too slow, stalled a foot above the ground, but landed flat on the gear (busted prop) The 3rd one was actually looking really good, then a gust came up, raised my altitude a foot or two, then it tip stalled. Scuffed some paint off the bottom of the wing tip. Total cost, a falcon prop :-( Next adjustment is to add a tad of positive wing incidence, as it seems to pitch towards the canopy in both up and down lines. Any thoughts?

griff7166

My Feedback: (2)

I used gator adjusters on one of mine they work fine . Also the tip stall problem was overcame by running a 20.5x14 or a 20.5x14.5 and adding stab fences to the stabs will solve the problems it has with a negitive G aspect (Going over the hill in a push push pull humpty bump ). I found all of this out while flying this plane last season had over 1700 flights on them. They are a great plane, Algis is a great guy who builds them personally one at a time.
And as Forrest Gump says "that's all I got to say about that"

dlipton

Hi Matt. Thanks for the reply. Curious as to the reason why the prop affects the tip stall problem, and to what extent you experienced that? (As I said, I was wondering if it were just my flying skills, but I usually land pretty smoothly :-) )
Also, can you describe the nature of the problems you had with negative G? How did that manifest? Thanks
Dan.

griff7166

My Feedback: (2)

The plane nature needs to fly a little faster.so the 14 or 14.5 gives you the air movement that is need to keep the tip stall down. on the negative g problem is that the rear end of the plane quits tracking and gets loose like a race car getting loose in a corner. If you have anymore questions please ask.

thanks

dlipton

Thanks, Matt.. Interesting... I had a 21x13.5 prop. Also, I was flying without the Cannalizer. I wonder how that affects the issues. (pitching in up/down lines, tip stalls, and the negative G problem - which sounds a little scary at the bottom of an outside loop from the top or something like that.)

griff7166

My Feedback: (2)

I flew mine with out the tcan to me it flew the intermediate sequence better without it. I believe if you will hold a little more speed and fly it all the way to the ground you will be fine. It's just different don't beat yourself up.. It happens to us all. I just had esc failure on my maiden flight of a new bj craft invitation and broke it up pretty good.