Over 2 years ago I built a Hamilcar X out of Depron
It proved to be by far my most unsuccessful plane yet! All 3 flights latested less than 10 seconds and all ended in disaster with a spiral (always to the left) into the ground.
After its third rebuild I was not happy that I had addressed its ills so for the last 18 months it has been 'parked'.
So the time has come to do something about it by giving it a complete rework.
With 3 servo right at the tail (1 rudder + 2 elevator) it was always a struggle to get a suitable CofG so these servos will be repositioned forward just behind the wing with pull/pull cables for each surface.
The servos cut out.
Moving the servo forward also saves the not inconsiderable weight of long servo wires running all the way down the fuselage.
The servos reinstalled.
A short video of the rudder pull/pull cables in action.
https://vimeo.com/56690071
So far so good but there is still a lot to do.
The flap system need to simplified and the linkages strengthened.
The ESCs need to be repositioned to reduce the long (18") battery leads. This will require the engine nacelles to be cut off and rebuilt.
Overall the 3 previous crashes have not been kind to the structure with the load bearing skin becoming unglued in places.
