Randy I have 3 in to the end of the tail. I need to cut an 1 in off of the front. I already cut the leading edge where it was square with the fuselage. I will cut some more. as long as yours flys good that is all I was woried about. Thanks a bunch Rich

OK Rich, keep us posted. Since I've flown mine, I've gotten a real boost in confidence. Someone on here said, "Multi-engine planes don't fly any different from single engine planes as long as all the engines keep running." Very true statement. But, the sound is incredible!!! Worth evey minute of the effort. I felt so good about mine that on the second lap around the field I made a photo pass about 10 ft. across the runway, and the 3rd pass was about 5 ft. off the deck. I guess it all comes down to having confidence in the engines.
Randy

HEY Ryan! Theres a cat or something in your funtana box. Ha Ha.

If your missing parts, You'll know who to ask.

Here kitty kitty

Gunny

Randy Yea thats what it is all about. After flying twins everything else is boring. Rich

Jimcork, did you ever check the incidence between the wing and the stab. with an incidence meter. And if you did, and if yours is correct 0 - 0, and you had such problems, then maybe there's a flaw on the plans. Maybe the plans should state -1 1/2 degrees. According to Randy's post, It seems about perfect at the negative tail incidence. I guess everyone who is building the fiberglass kit version should make the tail bolt on so they can adjust the tail incidence, like Jimcork did. Jim, I think you should throw an incidence meter on your wing, level it out to 0 deg. and check the stab. incidence. I'm wondering since you adjusted it a few times between flights, if you are now close to Randy's numbers. I know for sure as I did when I read Jimcorks test flight report that I'm definetaly going to make the tail bolt on. I think others who are also building this fiberglass kit version should also seriously think about doing that also.


Cats are so funny!

Hey cat! Come back with my spinner.

Gotta go

Gunny

Gunny:

My cats are well trained, they take good care of me. Here are pictures of two that live here.

Bill.

I'll tell you, had it not been for Jimcorks posts here, I would have been in trouble on this kit. He convince me that the bolt on stab was the way to go. Took a little extra time, but well worth the effort. I have definitely appreciated all the help I've gotten here on RCU from Jim, Bill Robison and everyone else, not just for the C-130, but the other questions I've had as well.
Thanks Guys,
Randy

As far as the cat-in-the-box, she is saying either:

A."Now where did I put that hardware package?"
or
B. "Sure is hard to make a hole in this new Kitty Litter."

(either way, it's my sons Funtana!!!!)

I will put a incident meter on the herk to confirm the incident after I get my current big bird off the table. I do agree that a neg incident is correct. I lowered the leading edge on my stab by 1/8" for each flight until I finally got it "right?". Mine is removable much like the post of the black bird. I was concerned about the strength of the stab so I orientated my servos spanwise to reduce cutting the stab. I am flying with 2 standard 40 oz servos on the elevator. This bird flies relatively slow and these servos do work well. I have 22 flights currently and the weather is improving so hopefully I will put it in the air next week. I will check the incident when I pull it out for flight. Glad the information I provided has been helpful. If I built this bird again I would use saito .40 vs the .30 I used. They do fly well, but a little extra would not help.

One caution though. If you lose an outboard engine you will have to work to fly the bird. I had the #1 engine sag out on takeoff once and the yaw was pronounced to the left. I was only about 6' off the ground and when corrected the right wing dropped and just missed the ground. What saved the bird was pulling the throttle back to 3/4 to allow #1 to richen up in the mid range and I lowered the nose, this allowed me to fly it out with a shallow climb. The cause was a bad gal of fuel. I worked the mfg. and talked to the owner who agreed and worked the fuel issue. This was a major commercial fuel. Hopefully we all now have better fuel.

Jim aka vettdvr

Ok guys, my class and work might be letting up enough to get back to work on the C 130. Randy, could you post a picture or of the wing and hor. stab. attachments (the guts). I finally put my nose gear in a few weeks ago.
BIG question..... what did you use for attaching the wing sheeting? I ordered another wing from Bob Sealy because I had so many problems with the Dave Brown product. I could use wood glue.. ir thinned down epoxy, but I need to keep it light.... suggestions anybody... just no dave brown junk.
Randy and Jim.... I was trying to get my vert. stab ready to put the stick up in it. any suggestions? My vert stab seems to be very wavy looking and wanted to know how you shped or filled it with wood? Do you have to put anything else up in it to keep the airfoil shape?

Thanks
Bill R.

BIG question..... what did you use for attaching the wing sheeting? I ordered another wing from Bob Sealy because I had so many problems with the Dave Brown product. I could use wood glue.. ir thinned down epoxy, but I need to keep it light.... suggestions anybody... just no dave brown junk.
==============
I used 3M contact adhesive for my wing. First time I have used it for the whole wing. If you use the right stuff, it works great, works fast, and is about the lightest thing you can use. I posted a pic of the can way back. It is white and you can get it at auto body supply places. I don't think I've ever seen this at Wal Mart or Lowes. If you need another pic, I'll take another one and send it. This is the first wing I have used this on exclusively since I got back into the hobby in 99. I had been using Elmers Pro Bond, and it works great, gives you time to position the sheeting, but takes at least 4 hours to set, and must be heavily weighted in the core shucks while drying. (or use the bagging method which I have never tried.) The ProBond will add some weight, but if will definitely bond the balsa to the wing and fill any holes between the sheeting and wing. Can be a messy operation though. I also suggest using full 4' sheeting at least on the bottom of the center section of wing for strength. I did this plus added carbon fiber strands across the span of the center section.
I check my pics on the stab and wing and send you something useful shortly. You're right on the stab, it's a little flimsy the way it is. Mine was sort of concaved in on one side. A couple stiffners will do the trick.

Randy.

................I was trying to get my vert. stab ready to put the stick up in it. any suggestions? My vert stab seems to be very wavy looking and wanted to know how you shped or filled it with wood? Do you have to put anything else up in it to keep the airfoil shape?..............
Bill,
In addition to the trailing edge piece I installed in the vert. stab to put the hinges into, I made two additional pieces to hold the fin out and to also make it more rigid. If you study the two pics closely, you can see the two pieces runningup into the fin. The first piece goes straight up to the top of the fin. the other piece follows the slant of the leading edge of the stab, and intersects the other vertical piece. This is something that just takes time to fit. I used about 1/2 x 1" balsa sticks for this. After cutting the length of the stick to slightly more than the height of the fin, I drew a centerline on it and just started tapering the thing and fitting it to get it where I had a snug fit. I also used calipers to measure the outside of the fin and sanded the stick accordingly. They should fit snugly into the fin. I then used Probond to install them. That's the stuff in the pic that looks like foam, because that's pretty much what pro bond is. After those set up the fin still had some wobble to it from side to side. I put a plate across the opening where the fin meets the fuselage, and also probonded those in. that made the fin much more rigid than it had been.
You can also use the guide on the plans that was shown for the trailing edge piece to get started with.
Randy

I cut a spruce 1 " thick to the shape of the rudder post. Then I hollowed it out on my mill except for + / - 1/2" either side of the hinges. I made it about 6" longer than the tip of the rudder to the bottom of the fuse. I epoxied a plate in the lower lip of the fuse with a slot for the rudder post. This was a very tight fit and used a jacking screw to get it straight. I had to put the wing on first to get the rudder correct. I did notice there was more curvature on the left side of the rudder than the right. I do have pics and will try to attach them. The importance on the rudder was the jacking screw to precisely move it left or right. Hope the photos help. If you want details email me for specifics. [email protected] Jim

Hope this has the photos. Ok,, vac photo at Key West Fla attached to show I also sail.,, power boat for fun,,,

I did notice there was more curvature on the left side of the rudder than the right..................

Mine was the same way, Jim. After studying it, I didn't see any way that could have hardly been avoided the way it was laid up. I was however sure glad that the vertical stab was built into the fuse. Saved a lot of work fairing it in. I always have trouble with those areas.
Did you sail from Slidell to Key West?
Randy

I have a power boat and did think of making the trip from Louisiana to KW. But timing didn't allow it. We rented a sail boat while we were there. Weather permitting I will fly the herk today. Jim

Gentlemen,

Having C-130 built by professional builder (Jet Hangar C-130, 133"). I recently visited with him and did an incidence check on the wings. Right wing has no incidence, left wing has 2 degrees of wash-in at tip and 1 degree just before aileron. How much of an issue will this be upon landing? (I've been assured by him that a little right trim will take care of this). The wings are complete (glassed, sanded , primed....ready for paint)....how can I handle this ? (Wings are foam core)

Thank you

Bob

You probably can trim it out, and I doubt you can correct it at this time. Since it is built I would try it, BUT make sure the engines are right, AND I recommend you mix aileron to rudder. Just my thoughts.. Jim..

I suspect like Jim that it can be trimmed out. In any event, it's a little late to do much else. If it makes you feel any better, I built a Royal B-25 years ago, was a built up wing, but I ended up with one wing tip at -1 1/2 deg. and the other tip at +1 1/2 deg., for a total of 3 deg. from tip to tip. I was expecting the worst when I test flew it, but it took suprisingly little aileron trim to correct it. At least you know about it ahead of time and will be ready for it on take off.
Personally, I always have someone standing beside me in case I need a lot of trim adjustments. Becomes hard to find the trim tabs sometimes when you are busy trying to maintain control. Fortunately, I haven't needed much help at it, but it's nice insurance to have.
I built a Sterling Citabria a couple years ago, and somehow got the wing so twisted that it was VERY obvious. You didn't need an incidence meter to see it, you could see it plainly with the eye. We decided to give it a whirl anyway just to see what was going to happen. Between me trying to keep it in the air long enough for my son to get the necessary trims adjusted, we did manage to get it flying, but only if you stayed with it on the controls full time. It was so bad that it was just "crabbing" through the sky. We only flew it twice, that was enough!
Randy

Phewww! I feel much better. Thank you for the input. I'll post pictures in the next few days.....about 85% done (having 4 saito 1.20's broken in as I type by "Mr. Saito"....otherwise known as Denb on RCuniverse). The specs on this monster:

133" Wingspan
100" Fuse
4 fowler flaps (Robart hinges)
Retracts from JHH
Pnematic disc brakes
Pneumatic cargo door (hopefully not dive flap...lol)
Lighting system (xenon strobes, nav lights, 6 landing lights)

plane to be replicated: Commercial firefighting air tanker.....therefore......gallon slurry tank... drops load in 4 seconds!!! (total weight of tank/gate valve/servo set up: 10 Lbs)

Having a ton of fun!

Bob

WOW! That's going to be some plane! I hope you have someone on the camcorder on the first flight. Take lots of pictures. I make it a habit of never flying a plane without a ton of pics of it first, plus video tape of at least the first flight. I have not read of anyone else flying the JHH C-130, but I assume it has about the same airfoil at the smaller version I have. I can't say enough about how well this one flies. I am at 17.25# dry, and based on the first two flight, I'd say it could easily carry an additional 7-9 lbs. with no problem. (put in the right place, of course)
Keep us posted on this one.
Randy

rryman

I have a question for you regarding the multi engine power settings. I was running my Lancaster on the weekend and all engines are putting out the same RPM give or take a 100 RPM. The aircraft had some Yaw effect to the right even when it is secured to a teather. My question is, it seems that the left engines are putting out a slight bit more thrust and I was wondering about how to compensate for this? I am more concerned with reliability than exact RPM settings. I was thinking on slightly richening the left engines to give less thrust? What is you opinion regarding this? I am not to keen on leaning out the right engines as they are all running great when held vertical. I know it is hard to determine how it will act once in the air, however I want to alleviate any problems on the groung prior to my first flight. This is my first multi engine plane. and I want to ensure things are good to go on my first lift off. I am sure someone who is following this thread may shed some light on my question.

Craig.

Craig, I didn't pay that much attention when you were running those new engines at the field but what you describe sure sounds like torque to me. What have you got for engine off-sets? You once told me but I have forgotten. Don't richen the engines on the left side. You may have problems with low speed if you do.

I agree it is probably torque. I saw the same thing in my c130.

It is important however to insure the engines are reliable in operation more than matching rpm. If you get reliable operation but the rpm's are over 200 apart, you could move the strong engines inboard and the weaker outboard.

But don't overlean the engines searching for rpm. Also check the throttle opening to insure all are exactly the same position from idle to WOT. This is important also. It is possible that some of the yaw is from slightly different servo time and engine response. You should be able to control this with slow application of power and rudder.

Haven't had the [&o] herk out yet, 40 degrees small craft warnings and winds gusting to 25mph. Where did spring go?

Jim

Spring is still doing its thing. "Rain" and May comes the wind. Then all's quiet till November. We hope.

Gunny

Can you provide pictures of this plane? I'm curious as to the quality, gear design, build proccess, etc... I want to build this plane, but at 2k I want to be sure its a good investment. Any comments, feedback, pictures, build quirks, and tips or etc.. would be appriciated. JHH site only has finsihed photos and no pics of the kit or its gear or a builders review that I can find. So, if any of you fella's can fill me in would be greatly appricated.

Thanks,
Shawn