Its Official I Have Moved To The Dark Side

Javiester

Elite member
@BATTLEAXE - a very nice fuse and even in balsa it is up to you exacting standards - I have been looking for a balsa supplier locally as the model shops here charge an arm and a leg for balsa - it is on my bucket list and me being me I am drawing up a balsa glider to build in 2021, so I am keen to follow all the balsa builds! :)

I came across this
Are you still interested?
Pn36664.jpg
Rm38493.jpg
 

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BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Building with balsa is unique, as no matter hard you try, it is the only addiction that is impossible to kick. But why would you want to? :p Good choice using the ball links. They've been pretty much standard fare in the RC car world for many, many years but I've never seen them in widespread use on airplanes. I find that weird; both the amount of play and level of binding from a not-exactly-square connection are much lower than with Z-bends or clevises.
On the giant scale stuff its ball joints or no linkages 😂
I do have a question for you guys. I hear that its better to cover your tail surfaces first then glue them on the airframe, mostly for ease and precision of covering. Does this mean I need to leave the the hinges disconnected, not glued or pinned till after the covering is on?

I would like to glue and pin the hinges before, but does it make it harder to cover later?
 

OliverW

Legendary member
I do have a question for you guys. I hear that its better to cover your tail surfaces first then glue them on the airframe, mostly for ease and precision of covering. Does this mean I need to leave the the hinges disconnected, not glued or pinned till after the covering is on?

I would like to glue and pin the hinges before, but does it make it harder to cover later?
Most people cover the plane with the tail on but I hate doing that lol. I do hinging after its all covered. You just cut out the covering where the tail is being glued to the fuse and you'll be ready to rock and roll
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Most people cover the plane with the tail on but I hate doing that lol. I do hinging after its all covered. You just cut out the covering where the tail is being glued to the fuse and you'll be ready to rock and roll
Thats what I thought. Seems to be the general consensus. I can loosely assemble the control horns and rods though right?
 

speedbirdted

Legendary member
I do have a question for you guys. I hear that its better to cover your tail surfaces first then glue them on the airframe, mostly for ease and precision of covering. Does this mean I need to leave the the hinges disconnected, not glued or pinned till after the covering is on?

I would like to glue and pin the hinges before, but does it make it harder to cover later?
Yeah. This is my preferred method except in cases where other areas of construction necessitate putting the tail on before it gets covered. It doesn't really matter when you cut the slots for the hinges. Don't buy a slotting tool - that's just a waste of money. With practice the same result can be accomplished with an X-acto and a straightedge. I would recommend gluing the hinges after you put the covering down as it will let you get into the seams between control surfaces. Be careful of glue overrun though - CA tends to leave white fog wherever it goes.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
As long as the control horns screw on, yes because you will want to remove them for covering
The control horns do screw on yes. And not only ball links at the servo end but there are threaded clips on the control horn side of the control rods. Lots of room for mechanical adjustment
I found this in a website that was linked in another thread, maybe it can help.
http://www.airfieldmodels.com/gallery_of_models/rc/herr_pitts_special/index.htm
That does help for sure. I just read some of the flight stuff and it kinda confirmed what i thought about the performance of the plane so far. So i know where to make the improvements. Thanks
CA tends to leave white fog wherever it goes.
You use CA, I was thinking of going with epoxy
Thoughts?
 

OliverW

Legendary member
The control horns do screw on yes. And not only ball links at the servo end but there are threaded clips on the control horn side of the control rods. Lots of room for mechanical adjustment

That does help for sure. I just read some of the flight stuff and it kinda confirmed what i thought about the performance of the plane so far. So i know where to make the improvements. Thanks

You use CA, I was thinking of going with epoxy
Thoughts?
I'd use epoxy
 

speedbirdted

Legendary member
You use CA, I was thinking of going with epoxy
Thoughts?
Good luck trying to put hinges in with epoxy without making a mess of it. The capillary action of thin CA will work wonders here. Putting the tail feathers onto the airplane you can use basically whatever you want to but on smaller airplanes I gravitate towards using CA because it tends to turn out lighter.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
I think the weight savings either way would be negligible, a few grams, im not worried for the peace of mind. I could use thick CA instead.

Do any of you pin the hinges with a toothpick?
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
I have taken delivery of the power system for the Pitts. I am using a Sunnysky 2216-7 1400kv. this will be the first Sunnysky I own, so i bought 2. At 18 bucks a piece I couldn't resist. I am also using a Skywalker 50amp 5V/5A ESC to run the show. I originally was looking at using a 9x6, so i set it up on the bench for a run up test. I was told earlier that this set up will pull 1500grams of thrust. The 9x6 ran at a max of 311 watts with a 27 amp draw. Being that I only have a watt meter i cant verify the thrust data. Then looking in the vault I found a 10x5.5 MR APC and tried that in the stand. It jumped up to 376 watts at 34 amps. And it felt a lot stronger just by the wind flowing through my golden locks. Now I am curious if the there is enough of a thrust gain to justify the extra power draw. I will have some numbers here once i run it through ecalc.

I will say I do love how smooth the Sunnysky motors are. The bearings are almost liquid, and the run up was almost silent without the prop. With the prop on thats all you hear, and the balance is impeccable compared to any of the Racestars I have. Super impressed and I will be looking for more of these from Sunnysky in the future.