stegl

Yes , If Airtronics had a better marketing setup I am sure you would see many more at the flying field. The local hobby store will only carry Spekctrum
as that is what Horizon Hobbies distributes plus their big push on the bind N fly aircraft and heli's. there is another hobby store about 45 min drive away that stocks a few Spekctrum and Airtronics but will order Futaba when asked. Personally I would not have a Spekctrum. I have tried one and don't care for the programming, binding system and don't like the signal transmission format. In the 6 years I have been flying the Airtronics 2.4 ( switched from Futaba after 17 plus years) I have never had a single glitch and some very extreme range flying. Couple of years ago I sold all my Futaba and Hitec servos and converted to all digital Airtronics servos. To nitpic any issues with the Aiurtronics servos would only be the leads as I would prefer a more flexible lead .

abufletcher

I've been happy with Airtronics over the years (since 2003 when I got into RC). But I'll admit that my decision to go with Airtronics was mostly about price. My first RDS8000 including the Rx, battery, switch AND 4 servos was $130 on sale. You really can't beat that...when an Rx alone can run $70-80. Really, with the other items, the Tx itself is almost free.

I've heard good things about the SD-10G but so far I just haven't felt that I need anything fancier than the RDS8000. I'm really only interested in WWI scale so my radio needs are modest. I did read, however, that it's better to use digital servos with the Rx that comes bundled with the SD-10G (see the second to the last paragraph of this review). I I don't use digital servos at all. I also don't use Airtronics servos anymore. They just aren't available. So I use either Futaba (with the tab cut off) or HiTec.

PS. My problem is that I use the US-style Mode 2 radios but in Japan you can only get Mode 1. So I either have to order from the US (shipping is expensive) or buy one there and bring it back myself during a visit.

*****

Regarding the twitching my plan is to first try a battery that I am 100% certain of. Then disconnect one servo at a time to see if any one servo is the cause of the problem. If I still don't find the problem, I might remove all the servos, connect them directly to the Rx to see if it might be the leads causing the problem. The only source of interference that I can think of would be the braided steel cable (1.0mm) that I used for the tail rigging wires.

For the hinges, I'm just going to have to cut off the aileron and start over. It feels plenty sturdy with just the 4 hinges, but that's just sloppy, lazy workmanship.

gravityking

My Feedback: (19)

The gimbal wire thing is a bummer. They did catch it and make a revision. One of the guys at our club put the word out as it happened to him. Version 1 had no strain relief on those sets of wires but ver 2 had them clamped to the gimbal housing before running to the mother board.

stegl

Yes the RDS8000 is a great radio.......Nice thing with the SD-10G is that you don't have to worry about which mode it is as it is very selectable with 4 modes , plus almost unlimited programing combinations that is only limited by ones imagination. Strange that you can't get Airtronics servos as they are readily available thru Ebay.com and other sources out of China. Same with receivers...... just have to shop. About using digital servos with Airtronics receivers , that is only a requirement for the FHSS-3 protocol but if using the FHSS-1 that the RDS8000 transmitter uses then your good with either analogue or digital. The SD-10G allows you to select either FHSS-1 or FHSS-3. If you have any questions , you are welcome to PM me any time.
Thanks

Your plan on how isolate your twitching servo ; is a good one. With the Airtronics system , I don't think the braided steel rigging wires , should affect it as I use pull-pull wires (short or long) for the rudder; all the time with no issues; even long servo lead runs but I do use twisted servo lead wire and make up my own extension leads.

RBACONS

My Feedback: (3)

The tail wires could potentially be a problem if they make a continuous electrical loop. Pull-pull setups normally have non-conductive servo arms and/or control horns in the loop so they are less likely to cause an issue.

stegl

True.... In the past, Airtronics , even though I was using Kraft and Futaba way back; appeared to be the best radio out there that rejected interference ie from magneto gas motors and such, although 2.4 may be different. Most spark ignition now has totally shielded electronic systems for those radio brands that can't handle the interference. This came about by improvements in systems over time.

abufletcher

What I should have said is that Sanwa servos are harder to find (even online) here in Japan. Most online RC shops here don't even handle Sanwa Rx units. I could, of course, order from "overseas" (like from the US) but then shipping to Japan (not to mention the current yen/dollar exchange rate) makes that expensive.

On the rigging cable, each section is a attached via a hard plastic (vinyl?) clevis so that would break the circuit.

gravityking

My Feedback: (19)

High tension wire leaks can throw one into fits! Had a 20cc gasser throwing a spark 3/4" from the wire to the muffler that caused all my controls to flutter wildly back and forth from flat to full. Glad I caught it on the ground. If I'd been in the air it would all be over with!

stegl

As with anything ; setup and proper operation is paramount. I do remember the old Quadra engines the guys used way back when with true magneto/points ignition and no high-tension wire shield got by with Airtronics but those with most other radio systems on 72mhz had issues.
Having said that; a lot of issues were created with dirty spark plugs , bad point condensers , dirty, misadjusted points and so forth but then that could be called poor installation and operation. Now those issues should be pretty much cleaned up with the newer shielded ignition systems out there.

flytheedge

My Feedback: (84)

Why not use two separate receivers, one for each half of the plane. You'll need two packs and two separate switches. That way if you lose one of your receivers you still have control on half the plane and can get it down somewhat safe. Just bind the two receivers simultaneously.

stegl

I believe ( unless shown otherwise) that the only receivers that will bind together with Airtronics ;are the FHSS-3 that use a link code as with the SD-10G

abufletcher

That would be one devil of a choice: Either rudder/elevator or ailerons/throttle...or if you split the model down the centerline: 1 elevator half/1 aileron each. BTW, I saw a similar model setup with 3 receivers: On in each wing panel (for the aileron) and one in the fuse (for elevator, rudder, and throttle). The reason was purely cosmetic, to avoid having the aileron leads intrude into a scale cockpit.

I've never had a receiver fail and have never heard of it either. I've heard of batteries failing. And that's why I'm using dual batteries on dual switches.

stegl

Good combination would be left aileron with right elevator and right aileron with left elevator. For flaps you don't want them split as they have to both work together so I put them on a Y connector. You want either to both work or not work at all. PowerBox Systems from Germany makes a great dual receiver setup that uses the receiver that gets the best reception... not cheap but works well. Check their website and check out all the goodies. Most European flyers that fly the expensive equipment use their equipment.

abufletcher

I agree that a L-R combination might be better than an all-L or all-R setup. Anyway, that's all for fancier models than I'll ever build or fly. The various brands of powerbox systems were discussed (often quite heatedly) in my prior thread on "dual batteries/dual switches."

stegl

With Smartfly Vs Powerbox.... Smartfly only uses one power regulator and Powerbox uses two....each side is completely separate from the other. the issue with any mechanical switch system is they can fail and especially in a high vibration environment. the same vibration is working on each switch so they could quite conceivably quit together . Advantage of most good powerbox/smartfy or others is that if the switch fails the power box stays on or at least it should.

abufletcher

I little progress with the right aileron hinge problem. I cut through the old hinges using a hacksaw blade (since I had to cut through the metal hinge pins). Then I did my best to drill out the old hinges. This wasn't easy, but eventually I managed. I epoxied medium Robart-style hinges into the aileron LE. But these didn't line up well with the holes in the wing TE. So....I enlarged the holes in the TE to 12mm and then packed in a 1" length of 15mm balsa dowel. It made for a very good, tight fit. These were CA'ed in place. Next I remarked the horizontal centerline on all of the dowel plugs, then taped the aileron in place and marked the vertical position of the hinges. They were all within the width of the balsa plug though not all were centered.Still ahead, I need to drill out a 3mm hole with maybe a shallow 5mm "pocket" at the top. Finally, I'll re-grease the actual hinge "knuckle" and re-epoxy the aileron in place...using 30min epoxy so I have plenty of time to take it slow and make sure everything is right. I don't want to have to do this again!

MTK

When the servos die, seldom do they die in neutral. Had one aileron servo die years ago, on take off of all things. Hard over to one side, the model tried to roll of course. Hit one panel, then the prop, stopping the crate. Only slight damage....Lucky!!

I've tried dual elevator servos and decided I like my old faithful one servo with pull-pull linkages better. It is the lightest set-up yet and removes weight from the tail to boot. Ailerons are just too simple to set-up in dual servos so I do that

Redundancy is better served in the batteries/regulators imo.

abufletcher

I would never use dual elevator servos on a scale model...particularly a WWI scale model. Pull-pull is what the real aircraft used so that's what I'd use on my model. And, yeah, normally tail weight is a major concern. In the case of this ARF, however, I'll be hanging 2.6 kilos worth of engine and mount in front (plus, an exhaust ring, and on-board glow system).

abufletcher

The other plus is being able to dial in aileron differential.

abufletcher

Wahoo! Aileron is repaired and good as new, the push-rods have all been finely adjusted to center the surfaces, FLAPE function was activated and Aileron Differential (AI-DIFF) set to +50% (so twice as much up travel as down)...

...and most importantly when I switched it all on, with the battery which had been charging overnight, there was absolutely ZERO twitching! I think that was the problem, low battery.

gravityking

My Feedback: (19)

Well now that the bad mojo is behind you you can look forward to a smooth maiden!

abufletcher

I started a thread over in the ARF forum to have all my Paulistinha stuff in one place...and to deal with any other issues that arise. The main task remaining is to install the engine and figure out the throttle servo placement and linkage. A tedious but simple task will be converting an aluminum pot into a suitable looking 1930ish sort of round cowl.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/arf-...f-asembly.html

Lucky Dog

My Feedback: (1)

It'll work fine with the RD/RDS8000. Used the same set-up on the BUSA Eindecker with split elevator (built by RC Art no less). Of course it didn't help when I took it off the first time with both elevators reversed did it ART?

radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

You seem to be saying that dual servos only work if they're mounted at the tail? Mount your servos at the front of the plane and run the pull/pull cables back to the tail. One servo driving the left elevator and the other driving the right.

stegl

Dual elevator setup in the H9 twin Otter by ARF design that I adapted to my Top Fite Cessna 182-60 and would do it again in a snap. System is tight with no slop.