All hinges can and do fail over time. However, the fact that there are several hinges in any given control surface makes it very improbable that catstrophic failure will occur. I did change out the smaller hinges in the flaps for ROBART hinge points because I did think the OEM hinges were too small. Keep in mind that the control surface hinges, i.e. ailerons, rudder, elevator have minimal pull force being applied to them. I would bet that other "gremlins" will cause the demise of our planes before these hinges do.

Happy Flying!

Loopman

Good point Joe.

In Joe's pic, his pic did not look twisted to me, thats why I decided to do a quick test. I did try to pull one apart with my hands and almost dislocated my arm. Joe, you may have more powerful arms than you know.

And that is why I pull on my hinges before every flight.

Check your stuff regularly.


Did i say every flight, most flights.

Steve

I am wondering if I really need to install my Saito 1.80 with anti-vibration mounts. A friend of mine has a Hangar-9 mustang with a Saito 220 and it's mounted directly to the beams with no isolation and it does not excessively shake the the airframe. Also, The Fliteskin spinner seems a little heavy and I was wondering here as well what the weight would do to the efficiency of the Saito 1.80? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Happy Flying!

Loopman

You may loose a little exceleration, but the heavy flywheel affect provided by a spinner can help a 4-stroke run better and idle lower from my experience. The biggest problem is you need to get it running very well since it is difficult to get an electric starter to work on that big round spinner profile. I have a large spinner on my Albatros and never had any problems hand starting my YS 1.10, but a Saito 1.80 may be a different animal. Here's a photo of my other "hand start model" (by me, not the Baron).

I have been pretty luck and have a lot of very old planes, back in the late 80’s when CA hinges became the rage I built a number of planes with them. only to find out later the CA layer separates from the structural layer. I developed a test and replaced all the hinges on the plane when I found one bad one. Quite often while removing the surface I found that while the others passed my test they to had failed and were supported by the other hinges around them. keep that in mind while checking.

While we are talking about mounting the engine what are you guy’s using for tanks? The one provided with the kit is 420ml or 14.2 fl. Oz.. under sized for a 60 2c. eventually I will look at installing a 24floz tank if that will leave enough room for the E and R servos.

also has anyone used the provided vibe mount? I have some concerns on using the LT ply they have there. Typically in this type of application when clamped between two hard surfaces (the hard block under the mount and the engine) the center layer of the lt ply gives way and the engine is constantly in need of being tightened up.

Joe

What kit is that Albatros? It looks great. Ive been looking at trying to find a decent kit, but want a 1/4 scale. Arizona model products has several, but ive not heard the best on these forums regarding them.

The Albatros DIII is a 65" laser cut kit made by Funaero. Do a search on the web, you'll find them. There is also a rather long build thread about them on RCU. It is only 1/6 scale though. Wait a while and you may see one from Balsa USA.

Paladin, a 14.2 oz. tank is undersized for a .60 2-stroke? How long do you like to fly, 15 minutes? It could be considered somewhat small for my 1.60, but I was never one who liked long flights anyway. If I get in a 7 minute flight I'll be happy.

Thanx Hot Rod. 65" is too small for what I want, but yours looks really great. I think proctor has one, but the prices are even worse then Arizona.

A saito 180 will turn easily with a Dynotron Starter ,
Paladin , good post on the hindges , looks to be a great reason to upgrade to robart

Hot Rod Tod, I like to mock dogfight, it takes at least 2 minutes to get everyone air born and the same to land them. If you have a 7minute flight time that only leaves 3minutes for mixing it up, a whole lot of to do about nothing. But a flight time of 12 minutes gives use 8 minutes to mix it up. I’m figuring the Saito 1.5 for burning 2oz per minute so 24oz in the tank.

Joe

Did the calculation on servo size required:

Aileron:
2.75x13.5 / 120mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 24.598 oz-in
2.75x13.5 / 130mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 28.868
2.75x13.5 / 140mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 33.48

Elevator:
2.75x11.25 / 120mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 20.498 oz-in
2.75x11.25 / 130mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 24.057
2.75x11.25 / 140mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 27.900

Rudder:
4.5x9.125 / 120mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 148.853 oz-in
4.5x9.125 / 110mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 125.078 oz-in
4.5x9.125 / 100mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 103.37 oz-in
4.5x9.125 / 90mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 83.73 oz-in
4.5x9.125 / 80mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 66.157 oz-in
4.5x9.125 / 70mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 50.651 oz-in
4.5x9.125 / 60mph / 15degree surface defl / 30 degree servo defl = 37.213 oz-in

Inner Flap:
3.625x7.125 / 100mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 55.103 oz-in
3.625x7.125 / 90mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 44.633 oz-in
3.625x7.125 / 80mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 35.266 oz-in
3.625x7.125 / 70mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 27 oz-in

Outer Flap:
3.375x7.375 / 100mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 49.44 oz-in
3.375x7.375 / 90mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 40.047 oz-in
3.375x7.375 / 80mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 31.642 oz-in
3.375x7.375 / 70mph / 45degree surface defl / 60 degree servo defl = 24.226 oz-in

I used:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/eflight/calcs_servo.htm

to do these calculations

Joe

After checking the servos I have available I’m going to install the following:
Aileron 2x aitrtronics 94141 (45)
Elevator Airtronics 94737 (57)
Rudder JR DS821 (88)
Flaps Airtronics 94102 (50)
Throttle Futaba 3003 –
Retracts Airtronics 94461 –
Spoiler:
Assuming the spoiler worked in unison with the flap to allow air through the glycol cooler and when the flaps come down it follows. To accomplish this I will probably install separate servo for spoiler. But have no idea how to work out the slaving/mixing on a seven channel rx, may have to spring for a 9 channel rx.

Joe

The spoiler could also go up, not just follow the flap (I have a BF109 engineering manual). Most static photos show it down with the plane on the ground. In any case, I believe the plane could use some more drag on landing. Split flaps provide much more drag than standard, so at the very least I would lock the top surface making it act like a split flap. I don't care if it looks scale in the air, who will be able to see it? I have mine going up, but used the shortest part of the servo horn so there is more down movement than up. I also set my radio so the flaps deploy before the "brakes." I'm curious to see how they work to slow the plane down. I'm hoping it lands like my planes with full split flaps. In the photo you can see the split flaps deployed on my Ki-61.

Is a damned nice looking airplane.
What spinner is that, btw?

Very nice image, I just noticed the wheel leaving the ground...

Do you think he was using the flaps on take off? Maybe, but the tail wheel is still firm....

I imagine it was during a bouncy landing!

Well considering the tail is already on the ground, you are probably right...

But sometimes I do use flaps on take off...

The spinner is a Gene Barton.

The photo is during a landing. I never use flaps on take off with that plane. The runway is a bit rough causing the wheel to bounce up, it is actually landscape fabric even though it looks like pavement.

Fantastic picture... I wish I had some of my better landings...

Hi All

Just noticed Nitroplanes dropped the price to $269.00 for the 109.

Steve

A-K models has them in stock for under $250 with the current discount.

Still not enough to get another one.

Yet.

Steve

Yes I am afraid I wouldnt touch another one either, I am building a new "big" plane at the moment.....(hey I had to put that ASP 180 somewhere) and I am quite stunned at the difference in quality between the CMP model and WORLD MODELS http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8439357/tm.htm

You can use a JR matchbox to run all 4 flaps on channel 6(if a JR radio) and then use channel 7 AUX2 for the spoilers on a normal y-harness as I believe this is the set that has the servo covers the same.

Channel 1: throttle
Channel 2: ailerons(y-harness)
Channel 3: elevator
Channel 4: rudder
Channel 5: retracts
Channel 6: flaps(matchbox controlling 4 separate servos each can be set individually)
Channel 7: spoilers(on own servos separate from flaps) regular y-harness

You can then, if you wish, use one of 6 mixes to make the spoilers move up or down in conjunction with the flap switch or leave them on their own switch.

Viola. No need for a new 9 channel tx, although its nice having one.
I had to buy one a while ago due to my B-25 and having separate engine throttle servos, etc. while still being able to have bomb drops.

Snappa,

Yes, the world models plane is lighter because it is covered wood, not fiberglass. It also costs $400 instead of $250. The CMP BF109 is far from the "Cheap junky kit" you described in the other post. No doubt some new hardware is required, but I don't think I would use all of the world model stuff either. I for one have trouble with the look of most of the world models warbirds, semi-scale at best. Keep telling yourself your BF109 crashed due to mechanical failure, because it is far more likely that it crashed due to too much elevator out of a loop causing it to stall and snap.

If you want planes the fly like .60 size sport planes (and look kind of like them too), stick with Hanger 9 or World models. When your ready for the real heavy metal warbirds step up to KMP or CMP. I have yet to fly my 109 and know that due to the weight it will be a challenge until I get it sorted out, and that's fine by me.