leedees

mobyal, I was curious about the weight of the tail hardware etc. Not too heavy at 3.5oz.

The gear installation was really good on this plane, heavy duty. Lot's to like about this ARF.

The literature mentions 'functioning' gear struts, I assumed they would have some suspension action. Although the brace strut has a spring on it, it's a solid piece and the gear struts are not hinged so I don't know what that was all about.

mobyal

Yeah, well, I agree w/ that. But we'll see how much weight's really needed after I get everything in place. And for me the lack of hassle w/ the 2stroke glo just bolt it on, put a spinner on it anf go means something to me. That's reinforced, so far as I'm concerned, reading this thread and see guys standing on their heads trying to get the gas engines fitted and working...

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

No head standing for me. Just drilled 4 holes, managed to get those @#$%^&* blind nuts behind the firewall and bolted the G20EIin place.

Maybe 20 minutes tops and the engine was up and running.

fabmaster911

I'm not sure what you mean, I can't even stand on my head. The mount consisted of three basic elements. Extend center lines, measure and drill. Glue blind nuts to fingertip and install. Mount the engine. This is the same procedure as anything else. The only difference is you mount an ignition on the firewall. The best part is we end up with a very nice finished product in my humble opinion.
The fuel costs $2.50 a gallon and I don't need to take a roll of paper towels with me all the time.

Zippi

My Feedback: (10)

fabmaster911,

I stuck a piece of double sided tape to my finger and then popped the blind nut on my finger and in the hole it went. Many ways of doing this, just though I would share my way. I finally have the correct DLE 30 engine on the way to my house. Should be here on are about the 7th. I should have had this plane in the air two weeks ago.

KDawg

leedees,

I sent an email to Horizon support about how they obtained the proper cg with the demo airplane they have on their video with the Zenoah 20ei. Their response was that no extra weight should need to be added and that the ignition battery should be placed next to the fuel tank on the left hand side.( I did see your earlier comment about your battery not fitting up there)
It will be interesting to see where my cg ends up compared to yours and Mr. Pettit's.

leedees

KDawg, thanks for the info. gade600sdi posted about how to fit the battery in the compartment next to the fuel tank, you have to take the fuel tank out first and then it should fit in there.

I was able to sort of get it in there and also moved the receiver battery forward under the floor board and then checked the CG, it would still have needed a lot of lead in the nose even with the batteries in this position. I ended up putting the batteries in the stock position, added the lead and I am still under max weight by a half pound.

I just got one that had a heavy tail. I must have checked five times to make sure I measured the CG at 3 3/4" back.

Zippi

My Feedback: (10)

leedees,

Did you try the CG at the max of 4 1/8"? The 3 3/4" is just a starting point. If your like me, once the plane has been flown the CG will need to be ajusted anyway. I'll be glad to get my engine in and see what mine is going to do with the CG.

Rudolph Hart

Zippy do you think anyone on this thread will fit a heavy zenoah with magneto or 4 stroke twin to this airframe and pop the battery down the back,makes an amazing difference to ground handling and they balance better in the air when doing aerobatics and tend to behave like the cg is further back than it is?

Zippi

My Feedback: (10)

Old Fart,

I'm sure somewhere down the road someone will try some exotic setup. An O.S. FT160 Twin sounds nice. A fellow at our field has one on a giant Super Cub and it sounds great.

leedees

Zippi,

I wanted to be very conservative with the CG at first and you're right, a little adjustment may be needed after we see how it flies. I have several options to move the CG back a bit. I can move the receiver battery or take off some of the weight in front of the prop or add some tail weight as Old Fart favors. I have to fly them a long time before I can decide where the CG should be.

Unfortunately, it's going to be another week or more before I can fly this beauty as the bigger of the two flying fields we have is still partly under water.

Rudolph Hart

That's what i'm going to do with a saito 182 twin,the distributor here says i won't see my kit till christmas.

Rudolph Hart

Leedees a quick shortcut to get your cg in the ballpark.After you have it flown and trimmed to your liking gain a bit of height and gently roll it inverted.You should need very little forward stick now to stay level,after that i gently move the cg further rearwards each flight until i get close to the UH OH! stage where i land and go back one step.Nose heavy trimmed taildraggers are a pita.

leedees

Old Fart, thanks for the tip on setting the CG. I'll definitely give that a go. I'm sure I don't have the CG set to the optimum on several of my airplanes.

What do you see as the flight characteristics of a slightly nose heavy trimmed setup on a taildragger?

Rudolph Hart

Aerobatically they don't dance as well as a properly balanced taildragger will,and you flare with a lot more backstick and speed than necessary.

leedees

Christmas??? That's your punishment for living in such a splendid place and flying all twelve months of the year.

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

Flew my T-Craft last Sunday. Did great balanced at 4.25" behind LE. No unwanted maneuvers.

Quite aerobatic and lands fine. Wheels may drag a bit in the grass.

Full review in the next online issue of "you-Know-what" dot com



G-20 provides enough power for spirited flight. Not unlimited vertical, but OK for most other stuff.

15 minute flights leave half a tank of gas.

gade600sdi

Pettit...looks good in the air! About the wheels, I was wondering. My brother has a larger 1/4 scale Tcraft (non clipped wing) and he is flying it with 4 1/2 inch wheels. The kit came with 3" wheels I am pretty sure, and they looked small to me. I picked up a set of 3 1/4" wheels but I think I am going to try 3 1/2" wheels if they fit in the pants. I am sure that I can at least go to 3 1/4 for sure.

gade600sdi

Pettit, can you at least comment on the power of the G20 in that plane? Good power, or was it a little underpower? It should be a real gas sipper. I imagine that 17 ounce tank you can fly a long time with the G20

leedees

Congrats Dick. Pics look beautiful. Glad to hear the G20 power is good and the CG can go back a bit.

I fly off a grass strip too and worried a little about the wheel pants being pretty tight to the ground.

Please pm me where I can catch your review.

dale691

Looks good Pettit, what spinner are you using?

leedees

BTW, you'll need longer servo arms on the ailerons than those shown in the manual to get both the low and high rate throws spec'd in the manual. I couldn't even get low rate throws without the pushrod hitting the wing.

Pete Bergstrom

Gentleman,

The airplane I flew in the videos balanced without any extra lead in the nose. The ignition battery pack can be placed forward next to the left side of the fuel tank (that's where I had mine) and because of the high amp draw of the Zenoah ignition I used a 4500mah 5 cell pack up there.

Before my comment about the Zenoah amp draw starts a firestorm of comments let me say this. I have been working with Zenoah for two years to try and get them to revise the design to no avail. it does work, just draws a lot of power from the battery.

BTW - I have very big hands and I sympathize with others afflicted with the same problem when trying to work in tight spaces. In order to be able to satisfy as many users as possible we elected not to pre-drill any of the mounting holes so you could install the power system of your choice. If we had drilled and mounted blind nuts into all the holes we would have ended up with a firewall that looked like swiss cheese.

I'm glad to hear about your successes and I hope you'll continue the postings

Pete

Lotsofcrashes

Hi guys, I was just reading your thread on the Taylorcraft and was surprised at some of the comments regarding centre of gravity. I just finished buiding mine and it balanced perfectly with a 26 Zenoah in the front end. It was that same zenoah that faded on my maiden flight yesterday and down she came. My much loved plane is now a wreck.

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

Tru-Turn 2.5", same stock number as listed in the manual