Dash:

I used a 15 CVA on the OS aluminum mount.

The tank is a 4oz Hayes Slimline, with a 700 nickel metal pack under it. (Helps to get the tank as high as possible in the fuse for good fuel feed.)

The throttle servo's in back by the trailing edge of the wing, and the elevator servo is all the way in back in the stab. The receiver and the switch are accessible through the standard rear, lower hatch. The black tape on the bottom of the stab is securing one of the two antennae for the Futaba 2.4 receiver.

When it was new, I had a small Nicad pack in the same place, and it balanced perfectly with no ballast. The nickel pack required one 9mm FMJ bullet in back near the elevator servo to bring the CG back. If I had it to do over, I'd have tried mounting the battery futher aft and thus wouldn't have needed the ballast in the tail.

My servos are all HiTec HS 81 metal gear micros. If you use micros, don't use plastic geared ones, the vibration will eat the teeth.

Thanks for posting your set up. The pictures are a big help. I will try to place my equipment close to where yours is. Unfortunately I did buy the plAstic gear micro servos. I got the HS-85 BB servos already so I guess I'll try to use these. You don't think they'll hold up? Did you try these and switched to metal gear later? How long did they last?

I had plastic gear micros in another 15 powered bird, and the aileron servo failed after about 10-15 flights and it crashed on landing.

I looked at HiTec's website, tho, and this is what I found on the HS 85BB:

"The HS-85BB features a high power motor for greater speed and torque. The HS-85BB is the choice of modelers looking for a high performance servo without breaking the bank. The ball bearing supported output shaft and sturdy gear trains are preferred for smaller glow and electric airplanes, heli’s and sail planes."

I think you'll be ok. I was using cheap butt Airtronics micros.

Nice looking planes and giving great ideas.

Right now,,I`m working on a "Two for "One"der",,As I bought a pile of wood from the hobby shop and I am using the parts from one kit to trace onto the appropriate wood to make another.
The kit one will have an OS 15 brand new waiting for it,,and the "Copy" will get an old OS 25 that I have in the box with nothing to use it for.

The one I was working on with the landing gear is done,has an OS 10,but a little dissapointed in the final covering scheme,,it didn`t turn out as planned but still will be a part of the hanger.

These things are fun to build

Rt4957

Two for oneder, I love it! So you'll have one each with a .10, a .15, and a .25? Let us know your thoughts on the plusses and minuses of each.

I haven't updated this in a while. I have made slow progress however. The fins and the stab are completed.

And now I have completed much of the covering. I am covering everything separately and then gluing the pieces together. I like the covering scheme on the box so I am duplicating it. Almost to ARF stage now. I still have the fuselage and control surfaces to cover.

That's purty, Dash

Finally got time to work on the Wonder some... I am at final stages now. Installing the throttle servo and control wire, and gluing in the elevator servo and installing the switch. Pictures are from stabilize side and hatch side. I've been reluctant to install the tail yet because I want to make sure I have plenty of access to put in the bits and pieces in the tail. What happened to all the pictures from page one and two of this thread? Sure would like to see those now that all the electronics are going in! [:@]

More pics...

Installed the servo in the wing and hooked up the ailerons. The travels turned out to be perfect as per the plans without any adjustment! That was easy!

I'm using micro servos. Trying to keep this one as light as possible!

The only thing I splurged on, weight wise, was I used epoxy to glue on the tail instead of CA that the instructions called out for. Call me old fashioned but I think tails should be glued on with epoxy. I don't think I added too much weight there.

Now a question. I know the balance of this model is critical and I want to make sure I am doing it right... I put a straight edge up to the leading edge and then measured from the straight edge back the recommended distance. Is this right? When the directions say measure back 2 3/8 inch, or whatever it is, are you supposed to take take the curvature of the wing into account? What I mean is are you supposed to measure back from the LE with a flexible tape, taking the wing curvature into account? or measure back with a straight rule, disregarding the wing curvature?

Dash: you did the CG measurement correctly.

Your component installation looks great.

The cg as per plans is utterly conservative on this one. Think of moving it backwards to gain agility once you're up to it...

OS .15 cva : nice engine choice ! A little bit pricey, but I think it's the best match... That alu mount is overkill and a waste of weight. You'll have to locate the batt in the aft portion of the fuse probably...

I will let you know. I'm planning on finishing it up this evening.

You've got the servos in the locations I used, and that will allow you to mount the battery underneath the tank like I did.

Finished it up tonight... It balanced perfect with the battery under the tank and shoved up just aft of the firewall. Now I just need to program the radio and I'm ready to go! How much expo should I use?

Dash:

Here's what I've got. Works good for an old guy who aint too fast.

Elevator: 3/8" up, 1/4" down. 50% Expo

Ailerons: 1/4" up and down. 25% Expo

These sound conservative, but I've never had the need to use full stick deflection on either.

For launching, I have a mix setup: The flap switch is mixed to the elevator channel so that with the flap switch in "down", she has 1/16th inch "up" trim added to the level flight setting. This keeps it in a positive climb before I can get my fingers back to the stick during a launch. I never use a neck strap with hand launched birds- years ago I had one crash because the dang strap got over the stick and I couldn't get hold of it without taking my eyes off the airplane, and boom.

I have just a slight amount of "down" trim for level flight, maybe 1/16". For your first flight, I wouldn't mess with the mix but I would set the elevator as close to neutral as I could get it, and launch at full power at about 45 degrees nose up into a good wind. Once she's off and climbing you'll want to throttle back to about 1/3, get her in close, and start trimming. You'll probably need down trim like I did.

If you do end up using the flap switch mix, be sure to measure and note your level flight trim before you do it, and make sure it's the same after you do the mix. I don't know if all radios are the same, but mine changed after I set up the mix, and things were crazy for awhile on my next flight.

PS- Love that blue and white trim scheme.
Here's the one I'm working on at the moment. Can anybody guess?

Looking at the fuse, I'd have to guess it's a P-51 of some kind. Nice covering job BTW......

David

Real nice covering job!

Thanks, guys. She's a Mustang, all right, but which one?

Finishing up the radio installation. Installed the fuel tank and receiver. Plenty of room using the micro servos. Routed the antenna to the tail. The seven channel receiver is overkill in this model but it is what came with my new radio (it actually came with two seven channel receivers). Next time I need a new receiver I'll buy a smaller 4 or 5 channel and swap it out with the one in this plane.

Spent all yesterday evening setting up the radio and adjusting all the control throws. Set the end point adjustment on the throttle. That was a little tricky because my new radio has a weird throttle trim that only goes down, doesn't go up, so I had set the trim down 30 clicks and then go back in to programming and set the EPA so that I have room to open and close the throttle with the trim. Took me a while to figure that one out.

Adjusted ailerons up and down 5/16" and elevator up and down to 1/4". Doesn't seem like enough but I'm taking you guys word for it. I did not know how much expo I would need so I set two different rates to the dual rate switches so that I have 50% on both ailerons and elevator with the switches down and 30% on both with the switches up.

Made the little balance stand like it shows in the instructions. I went ahead and added one 1/4 oz weight to the firewall to get it to balance on the marks, but I may take that off, we'll see.