Does your HK Slowstick dive in a sustained way ?

sean@seancull.co.uk

Junior Member
Hi,

I got a HobbyKing Slowstick for Christmas and have been having great fun with it. There is a small park next to my house and it has just the right performance to fly there safely.

One negative thing that I have noticed is that if you let the slowstick dive and build up speed it does not naturally climb but instead gains more speed in a straight dive. My expectation was that it would naturally self correct.

It is quite disconcerting and certainly spooked my son when he had a go.

I have tried different CGs - I do prefer it to be at the nose heavy end of the recommendation - but this does not seem to be the issue.

I was wondering if the unusually large wing chord meant that at speed it was less inclined to deviate from its trajectory.

Has anyone else seen this type of behavior ?

Thanks, Sean
 

Capt_Beavis

Posted a thousand or more times
I have had a few plans react similarly. Interesting post on the CG, thanks. There is also an effect on planes in a dive beyond a certain speed losing lift. I doubt this applies here though.
 

quorneng

Master member
I have has similar (not on a SlowStick) and it resulted from the retaining bands 'giving' a bit at speed which reduced the wing incidence so it did not pull out of a really fast dive even with full up elevator. I cut the motor to reduce the impact speed and fortunately the drag from the wind milling prop slowed it down enough for normal control to be regained.

Is this behaviour the same power on and power off.
 

HillBilly30

Junior Member
I have two HK Slow Sticks. One is stock and the other modofied and runs on 3 cell with way too much power now, but both when put into a serious enough dive will not self recover. They are more of a point and shoot than a GWS Slow Stick that will self recover if you let go of the sticks. There isn't really enough dieherial in the wing to recover from much very fast.
 

Foam Addict

Squirrel member
This actually has little to do with dihedral, the phenomenon you are experiencing is probably a combination of a slightly tail heavy plane and flexing pushrods. To get the self recovery characteristics you are describing, moving the CG forward and retrimming for level flight should make it climb slightly in a dive. I really hope this helps!
 
I have two GWS slow sticks ( $25 + $3 shipping ) direct from Horizon ,both have 5gr servos for the ailerons . The ailerons don't have a lot of effect by themselves but mix in about 35 percent rudder then you have a plane that's a blast to fly. On one I flattened the wing a bit and it will fly inverted, the other is setup as a trainer to introduce interested spectators to rc . With a 2826-2200kv motor I can do a complete stall 2 feet from the ground and power out of it. I've got a least 10 planes but I always keep a new stick in a box under the bed. I've pulled out of dives that it is a wonder that the wings don't fold. But I don't expect it to recover on it's own I don't like planes that climb every time they speedup. I seriously doubt that you are going fast enough to introduce elevator flutter but control rod should be" pulling" for up with the horn on the top .