The elevator servo cut-outs in the fuselage of my new 28% Extra Special were too narrow for a Futaba S9451 digital servo which has a standard size case. The case width is 0.79 inch. I'm posting this so others may be spared my frustration upon discovering this problem.

My normal procedure is to cut the covering over the servo cut-outs diagonally from corner-to-corner. This leaves four small pyramid shapes in the covering which I fold into the servo cut-out and iron down. This results in practically no exposed wood after the servo is installed. Upon completing this on both sides of the fuselage, I discovered the servos would not fit (not even with a hammer). The cut-outs were too narrow by about 1/16 inch.

This is not an insurmountable problem but it would have been nice to know before I ironed the covering down. I had to peel the covering off far enough to grind 1/32 inch off each long edge of each servo cut-out, trial fit the servo, then try to re-iron the covering as best as possible. It looks OK but not as good as before the reworking.

This may be a fluke with my airplane only, but I doubt it. And, other brand servos may fit OK but in my opinion the holes should come from the factory sized to receive a standard size Futaba servo case.

Again, the intent here is constructive (well maybe five percent whining). Still a great ARF and I am looking forward to getting it in the air.

I pretty much did the exact same thing, with the wings also. I really never expect everything to work out perfect on arfs.

Thats interesting. The wings were not a problem on mine, just the elevators.

Out of 3 planes, I found that the Hitec 59xx series of servos fit with a small amount (minimal) of lengthing the holes at the mounting plate. The JR 8611s required that the openings be slightly enlarged on the sides. None of that had any adverse effects on appearance, performance, or finish. Any of the standard sized servos that I played around with mostly fell into the holes.

Now if Wild Hare was to provide servo openings that would fit the new giant Hitecs that are about to come out, or that would instantly accomodate all the curent and previous generation 1/4 scale sized servos that are available, none of the other "standard" or near 'standard" sized servos would fit. They would fall through the holes. One size cannot fit all!

I still have to assemble the 35% Giles, and I rather hope that the servo openings are smaller rather than larger so that I can obtain a perfect fit after modifying the openings for my particular servos.

The only other option that would provide a better fit is to build the plane, rather than assemble it, so that each plane is custom fit to the builders specifications and specialized equipment.

I reread my original post and I don't see anything in it that even remotely indicates that I expected one size servo cut-out to fit all servos. It is reasonable for me to have assumed that a standard Futaba servo case would fit in the fuselage cut-outs, especially when the same servo fit nicely in the wing cut-outs.

Nevertheless, you have missed the point of the original posts which was simply to alert future builders of a potential minor problem; nothing more, nothing less.

hey how about a iron ..thats what i use to do the cut outs.when melting it right to the edge it self sticks and don't have to worry about the coating pealing back...

Same here. I also go back over all the edges with an iron and sock after everything has been trial fit to make certain all is as it should be.

After widening the servo cut-outs, I was surprised to find out that the width of the fuselage will not allow both servos to be installed without shimming each one out about 1/8 inch. I installed one servo and upon attempting to install the servo on the opposite side I realized that it would not seat; the trailing edges of the servos were touching. The solution of course is simple.....cut shims from 1/8 plywood and place under each servo mounting flange. You only have to shim the rear flanges for the servos to fit but I chose to shim the front flanges as well. Glue them in and you gain some screw holding depth as well.

I remember having to widen the holes in both the aileron and elevator slots. About 10 seconds each with the dremel. I did not have any problem on the elevator servos with using the stock mounting location. No shims. I am using 5945's. Maybe the Futaba servos are taller? Maybe someone has the specs on both.

This is true if you are using tall servos. The ones that we sell and recommend will fit without any shimming.

TF

Tom,
A JR 8411 will not fit int he elevator or aileron holes on mine. The servo is too wide and a JR 8411 is in a std. size case. Mine is off yourllatest run of them. It was about a 5 minute fix, but just to let you know a std. servo won't fit anywhere on mine Edge. The length is perfect, but width is too narrow.

What I meant was that most servos are not too tall to fit as elevator servos.

TF

Out of the three Wild Hare planes that I've built, all have needed some triming to the servo cutouts to fit the 59xx Hitec servos.
This is easy to do with a Dremel tool and a sanding drum.