*JCB*

*rider, have you maidened yours yet?? I'm hoping to maiden mine on saturday...did you ever change out the nylon ez connectors? I know John said they have been thoroughly tested, but they still don't leave me with a good feeling. I'm going to leave those until last so i can decide whether to use them or not...

*rider

No, have not been able to maiden it yet. I'm leaning towards leaving the nylon connectors installed. If I could find appropriate replacement pushrods I'd likely make some Z-bends on the servo arms though.

*rider

So I maidened it today and it was basically a non-event stress-wise. Small clicks of trim on aile's and it was good. It looks great in the air. It is nice and smooth on the recommended throws. It is very-scale like. Yet, with the Park 480 on the recommended APC 12 x 6I was neither impressed with climb performance nor anything other than anemic mild aerobatic performance. Great ARF, I will fly again and try different props, otherwise it's the classifieds for me.

*JCB*

ha! that's a pretty harsh review! I still haven't flown mine. I'm waiting for a pilot...

*rider

LOL I did not intend to be harsh it is a nice ship. I will have to adjust the rates, etc. and see what it does next time out.

Jaybird

I was able to spend a few hours with the kit this weekend and made some more progress. I found the flap servo assembly rather frustrating as it took a lot off fiddling to get the two flaps adjusted to line up and the servo has to work pretty hard to hold them in the full up position. I've tried to eliminate as much binding as I can, but the servo really "buzzes" under the strain and reverberates inside the wing. I actually tried several different servos with the same result. My tail section needed some slight twists removed with a heat gun. I have to finish up the cockpit hatch and install the rest of my radio/electronic grear and it will ready to test fly.

Jaybird

Jaybird

Found pictures of the full size homebuilt with this paint scheme, although it's a tricyle gear and the same scheme in white and yellow in the conventional gear. They look pretty cool!

Jaybird

Jaybird

[QUOTE=*rider;625084]Well she's 100% complete, operational flaps & all. Hung it up until maiden.


"No spinner for me as it was missing the screws. No biggie."

Rider,

I found that the small long machine screws are the ones to hold the spinner on. The manual is not clear at all as to what they should be, but they were left over and they fit. There were four in my package. What I don't like is there are only a few threads past the face of the prop hub with the spinner back plate on.

I had one nylon block strip and one stretch so I've replaced them with metal ones I had on hand. My cowl was predrilled too and with the 450 it matched up perfect.

There is no exit air hole for cooling air entering the cowl. has anyone opened up a bay towards the tail section to let air out?

Jaybird

*rider

[QUOTE=Jaybird;631295] Hrmm, I'll have to take a look and see if I have those machine screws, pretty sure I used %100 of the hardware. I have not opened up an exit for air inside the fuse.

*rider

The flap setup was a bit of a pain, I remember having to mess with the servo travel and mechanical linkage for awhile to get both sides even and the right deflection for 3-position flaps. And with the flaps full-up and even I also noticed it was a tight squeeze and the HS-65MG I have in there does buzz a bit at times but appears to be holding.

Jaybird

I have two of the long machine screws left over. They are the same size as the short ones that went into the pushrod blocks but twice as long. If you can't come up with any I'd be glad to mail the two I have. If you flew yours without the spinner that might account for some of the less than stellar flight performance from the drag off the nose...or not.

I finished up the radio/elecrtonics installation last night and got it balanced with battery placement. I have to finish my pilot bust (of myself) and complete the cockpit hatch and it's ready to fly.

Jaybird

*JCB*

Mine came with screws for the spinner...they are sheet metal screws. They were in the same bag as the spinner, but sealed into one corner of the bag.

Jaybird, did you use the nylon EZ-connectors?

BTW, mine flies pretty good. The thing is pretty dang fast, but the aerobatics aren't that crazy, although the snaps are pretty good...

Jaybird

Hmm...I didn't see any sheet metal screws, but the machine screws seem to work.

I did use the nylon E-Z connectors, but as I said above, one stripped when I put the screw in and I over tightened the one for the flaps and it stretched so I replaced those two with metal ones I had on hand.

I'm not looking for wild aerobatics from this plane, just fun scale flying and looking cool on a fly by. I have other planes specifically for aerobatics.

Jaybird

*rider

Thanks for the offer, I'm OK using a prop adapter though. Doubt the lack of the spinner affected performance. Let us know how you like yours when it's finished up

*rider

Hrmmm...maybe I just expected too much. I want to try new 2350 mAh 25C lipos, last time out I used 2200 mAh 20C, which should have been fine though, those each had about 10 cycles on them.

Jaybird

Maidened mine this morning with a quick flight on the way to work. The 450 pulled it up with no problem and it cruised around at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle while I trimmed it out. It needed up and right aileron trim for level flight. It is pitch sensitive being so short and having a large elevator. Some expo and more flight time will have that taken care of. I need to relocate my receiver wire (I know "old school") as there was some signal interference with it inside the fuselage. Landing was nice with the flaps, but it did bounce when I touched down.

This will be fun!

Jaybird

Jaybird

I put in three more flights yesterday afternoon and evening making slight adjustments as I went. Two big improvements came when I routed the antenna wire out the bottom just behind the wing saddle and moved the battery back about 3/8". With antenna running along the bottom of the plane to the tail and trailing a few incheds behind I didn't have any further radio problems. With the CG moved back just a bit it handled a lot better and was less pitch sensitive. My two evening flights were quite smooth and again the flaps worked great. It likes to float in ground effect, so I'll have to get more flap down travel to get it slower and add drag. It doesn't like to get up out of thick grass that was at the noontime soccer field and it would nose over too, but that was before I had moved the battery back some more. The evening flight at the BAM field was easy on the mat runway and short cut grass.

I'm liking it more as I get used to it. The 450 is enough power to get it around and will do loops nicely, but vertical maneuvers require speed/energy management. Rolls are okay and I haven't tried much inverted flight yet.

More later!

Jaybird

*rider

I'm slowly warming up to this one. Put 3 packs through it today. Moved the C/G back a bit, and upped the rates. Most enjoyable flights to date.

*rider

Aye yi yi! I was making some travel adjustments to the flaps on the bench, toggling between the 3 positions and checking with the incidence meter, had it in the UP / neutral position for about 30 seconds, didn't hear any buzzing from the servo then BAM "Puff the magic dragon" appeared

It must have been holding strong then gave out. There goes $36. I gotta find a solution before I smoke another servo.

Jaybird

I've let my flaps droop just enough to kep the buzzing down. It seems to make it more stable in pitch with just a slight addition of drag. I also used dremel with an end mill to open up the torque rod openings.

Jaybird

*rider

Yep, mine were drooping just a bit and everything was A-OK.

I just had to be a sticker and make them perfecto.

Good idea on the dremel, I'll bust mine out after work tonight and do the same. Then I'll put another 65MG in there and hope for the best. If I smoke it, I'll say this and go fixed.

Jaybird

I've been trying to get some action and in-flight shots but it's proving to be tricky. Here are a couple from last nights flying after work.

Jaybird

Jaybird

I tried moving my battery back another 1/4" or so and it didn't like it. It flew okay, but it became twitchy again and hard to handle. I moved it back to where I had it (with the up trim required for level flight) and it flew much better. In calm air this plane flies like it's on rails. Again the vertical performance is minimal, but it really cruises in level flight and wingovers. I also played with the flap programing and I now have the first stage with slight down elevator mixed in on a toggle switch and I can then vary the rest of the movement with a trim knob on the transmitter. It likes a lot of flap and slows nicely. The next step is to shim the tail group to try and eliminate the noticable up trim of the elevator. I'm thinking that a shim at the back of the assembly would help and then I can reduce the elevator trim.

Jaybird

*rider

I put another 3 packs through the rv-9 on Monday, had some good flights! I've got the C/G right where I like it, and it's a mellow flyer. I think I will remove the wheel pants and put some larger du-bro wheels on, the airstrip where I fly at has some rough surfaces / pebbles / tiny potholes / little patches of weeds randomly scattered about. Not a problem for my bigger aircraft tho a couple of times with what I thought was a smooth landing with a nice flare she bumped into something and nosed-over. Just scratches on the cowl and wheel pants.

ddragon

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