smaze17

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Well.......took her out yesterday for the maiden. Everything went well. She needed about 6 clicks of left aileron trim but other than that she flew great. I think I'll just add another quarter underneath the left wing to counter act the right side heaviness.

The T.T. .40 ran very well. It has about 5 tanks through it and was turning the 9x6 APC at around 15,700. I have not removed the head shim yet. Is this about where the RPM's should be at this point with the shim still in place?

Thanks for all the help and advice!

Looking forward to the Sepulveda 424 race in August!!!


Spence

smaze17

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Pic 2

smaze17

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Pic 3

smaze17

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Last one

Bill Vargas

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Good Job Smaze!

Hope to see how she does under Race conditions at the next Basin Race August 10



BV

DMyer

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Looks like an A1 fine job.... 150 ft is plenty of range without the transmitter antena. Instead of wrapping it... I run it toward the front, taped to the inside fuse... then straight out the back... usually only an inch or two dangling out the read exit. Also... glue your front tank hatch on... that will make the front much stronger and provide a better mount for the engine. If you have never raced before... have an experieinced racer help/show you how to trim it for racing... that will significantly shorten the learning curve and make racing much more fun. Good luck with your first race.

Dan

DrewTelford

Looks really nice!

One thing I see to fix (IMHO) - put some foam between the ends of the RX and the fuse sides. With all the vibration these engines generate, it doesn't take much contact between the servo lead connectors and the fuse side wall to transfer this vibration to your crystal. Be sure to isolate the RX all the way around. I wouldn't want to see you have one of them 'free flight' Q500s that happen now and then!

Drew

smaze17

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Thanks for the help guys!! I've noticed on some of the Pred's guys are putting quarters taped to the bottom of the left wing to counter act the engine head angled to the right. The older Predator I had did need alot of left aileron trim. Should I do the quarter thing before the maiden flight?

TIA!

SM

JohnBuckner

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Yes its a good idea. Virtually all Q500's come out right side heavy using a lateral balance will help avoid the need to fly with a lot of left aileron trim. The Pred's have a rather narrow chord aileron and its probably even more important to try and avoid excessive surface trim.

I now build most of my wood quickee's with carved balsa tips and I hollow out the right side and leave the left side solid and this usually does the job. Some engine mounts like the Jett Square mount does not mount the cylinder horizontal but past that point about 100 degrees pushing the muffler back towards the center a bit and this reduces right side heavyness a bit but not enough. One last thing you can do if you are useing a Nicad 270 or similar keep it on the left side of the fuse. It all adds up.

John

DMyer

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Spencer,

You want to dynamically balance the airplane along it's longitudinal axis as well as the usual lateral axis prior to it's first flight. Check the longitudinal axis by suspending it using string loosely attached to the engine crank and a large T-pin in the rear of fuse. Add weight to the left wing(almost always needs weight unless you BYO and carefully select materials by weight) until it is balanced. I use # 6 and #8 finish nails inserted into wingtip for balance. You can dynamically longitudinally balance plane when you fly it by adding weight to the wingtip that consistently tracks to the inside of the turn(those quarters you see). Be careful when judging whether you need wing balance quarters that you enter the turn correctly and that other more important trim factors have been addressed first.... dynamic lateral balance... climbing/diving through turn... tucking etc. Change only one thing at a time when fine tuning.

As far as needing a ton of aileron.... that is caused by the wing being slightly twisted and is common with these ARFS. You can either dial in some aileron to compensate(OK if only a little is needed) or adjust the wing trailing edge outside of the aileron as needed. With two incidence meters, measure the wing incidence at the root and each wing tip. They should be the same. Cut the trailing edge strip outside the aileron on the opposite side(s) that it needs to go to match the root , not all the way through, just enough so you can bend and re-glue with thin CA into the correct incidence. The incidence should be the same now at both wing tips as measured against the root(no wash in or out).

Good luck.

Dan

Ed Smith

Be very carefull about adding weight to the left wing of the airplane to compensate for the side mounted engine. The torque of the engine will twist the airplane to the left anyway.

You could experience a vicious snap roll to the left on takeoff if you get it wrong. I would suggest you fly it first without weight and then compensate accordingly. Too much tip weight on either tip will result in uncontrollable pylon turns.

Ed S

bob21

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i wouldnt worry about all this techinicall crap yet jsut get out there and do it , its a blast. i had two plane this year that are both destroyed one was very technical light and all that but none of of that matters after there in the garbage.. i pretty much had to learn racing during a race did ok and finished a few ,but now i am out for the year cause of ground problems like its damm hard you know.. so good luck and go fast.

SSAN

In order to get the plane fly properly, you MUST get it trimmed out correctly. Disregarding this area will not give you a good flying airplane (in this case, race plane).

There are some good info from Dub Jett web site about racing trim set up and you can find it under " The Crap Trap". This should guide you as you go. Also, it's better to have the right wing a little heavier than the left so when you pull hard aound the pylons, it won't tuck under (this tip was given from Randy Bridge).

Hope this help!

JohnBuckner

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Forgiove me bobo but possibly if just a bit more attention was paid to "technical crap" the simple basics like control throws, balance etc., then perhaps you would still have your airplanes and maybe it would not be so "damm hard".

That is exactly the reason these forums are here for, a free flow of information for those who would like to learn.

John

Ed Smith

Hmmmmmm.....

Maybe if some of the "Technical crap" had been used your airplanes would still be around!!

Ed S

basmntdweller

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I'm not sure guys, but I think bobo2101 was trying to say just get out and fly. If he can get the plane up and down and trimmed for basic level flight, He should worry about flying the course. Since I am basically a beginner as well, I know it's real easy to let yourself get bogged down in a lot of the stuff that you need to know that can be learned over time. I think just getting out and flying your plane and getting comfortable with it off the course will help mare than worrying about the latest fast tip or trick parts. Had I spent a lot more time just flying my first quickie before entering a race I wouldn't have lost it. Learning to get the plane around the course is much more important than a lot of the "technical crap". Lateral balancing and CG type stuff should already be known and done by a beginner racer or maybe he isn't ready to be racing.
Nervousness is the main reason I lost my first plane. I raced circle track cars for years but I was never as nervous in a car as I was my first pylon race. I was mostly scared of getting into the pits. That first race those pits looked to be only a few feet off course. After a couple races under my belt, there seems to be a lot more room between the pits and the course!
Later,,, basmntdweller

bob21

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thank you basmntdweller, that exactly what i am saying get out there and do it. of course your plane needs to be trimmed and balanced that fairly basic stuff and to those who said maybe i should of payed more attention to this, go fly a kite would ya!! there is not alot you can do to your plane when some hits from behind and your plane gets thrown into the ground ya servos make a difference there i tell ya the bg standard ones break just as easy. and for the record my other crash was do to not alot of control throw and to close to the ground in turn one..

Ed Smith

Now there is a good way to encourage more people to offer free advice on these Forums!

Ed S