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Q & A Thread For Newbies & Old Hands Alike!

Thanks mate - I'll do some more experimenting, it can't be that hard. I've got a compressor with a moisture trap on it and that seems to be working well enough, it's just getting the correct pressure level, the consistency of the paint and other things like which needle and tip to use. As Jason says, I'll just have to get some inexpensive paints and blast it on to sheets of paper while I work out what's what - the Tamiya paints are excellent and give a perfect finish for warbirds, but are too expensive to use for experimentation.

Thanks gentlemen - I'll get back here with some results after I've made some progress.

Steve Murray
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Using dry air is critical to a ggod finish when spraying your own mixed paints, however a good presure regulator with a in built moisture trap is more than enough for model aircraft spraying.
Thursday is fine with me Steve, give me a call and we will lock it in Eddie.
Gazz

Parkzone Stryker 27 Evolution
E flite Ultra Stick , T 28 Carbon Z
Skyartec Skyfun Scorpion,Skyfun 90 EDF
Hobbyking Voltigeur, Funfighter T28, Mirage 2000, Minimoa 2.4m Glider
Jet Teng L-39 HPAT Stumax 90
Pheonix Tiger 50
FliteWork Extra 300 LPX 2.6M
Spectrum DX9i , DX6

Don't ever let the fear of landing keep you from taking off!
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Just to keep this topic in the appropriate thread (something we should all do).
My new PA Extra MX likes to roll dramatically when I try to loop (& for the life of me I cannot remember which way). Jason had suggested I check the lateral balance. Have just done so but all it needed was 5 cents taped to the outside of the right wing.
I have also previously mentioned that when I glued the Horizontal Stab into the fuse, the glue cured in a manner that caused it to minimally not be horizontally parallel to the main wing.
Measured by "eye" only, there does not appear to be any warping in the horizontal stab or elevator.
Maybe I will have to do an elevator rudder mix, but will need some programming help.
Anything I may have missed to check?
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(21-11-2014, 07:58 PM)Flying fisho Wrote:  Just to keep this topic in the appropriate thread (something we should all do).
My new PA Extra MX likes to roll dramatically when I try to loop (& for the life of me I cannot remember which way). Jason had suggested I check the lateral balance. Have just done so but all it needed was 5 cents taped to the outside of the right wing.
I have also previously mentioned that when I glued the Horizontal Stab into the fuse, the glue cured in a manner that caused it to minimally not be horizontally parallel to the main wing.
Measured by "eye" only, there does not appear to be any warping in the horizontal stab or elevator.
Maybe I will have to do an elevator rudder mix, but will need si=ome programming help.
Anything I may have missed to check?

I suggest playing with the CG a bit. My old PA Bandit had a very narrow "happy" CG range - no more than a few millimetres. Aft of that, and it would be all over the place in a loop. Too far forward, and it rocked its wings in harriers.

When getting to know a new 3D plane, I think it's a good idea to start off with the design CG, and then experiment. A flight or two with the pack 2mm in front of design CG. Then, a flight or two 2mm behind. Then 4mm forward, aft, 6mm, 8mm... It becomes obvious how pack placement influences behavior of that particular airframe.
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Thanks for that Andre, I marked suggested ideal COG but using fingers to balance it, it is had to know if I have hit the spot. Will be a perfect day tomorrow for a few trial & errors. If you are going to be there, I will also get you to have a look at my "loopy" thumb & check it's vertical movement & perhaps talk me through some corrective sticks to "nail" the loop.
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Quote:When getting to know a new 3D plane, I think it's a good idea to start off with the design CG, and then experiment. A flight or two with the pack 2mm in front of design CG. Then, a flight or two 2mm behind. Then 4mm forward, aft, 6mm, 8mm... It becomes obvious how pack placement influences behavior of that particular airframe.

I really like this approach!! Thanks for posting this up Andre
C of G is an important thing to get right and the extra effort of finding the optimum balance point is well worth it!!

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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COG change did the trick
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Looking for a replacement for my 2800mm edge 540 that did not survive a landing at SMFC too well. All similar planes I have found are $500 +. Hobbyking have a 1870 mm Yak 54 ARF electric for $373. Anybody familiar with this HK model http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...ouse_.html . Only one review on HK which is very good but sometimes I think they are reviewed by unreliable authors.
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I think you should fly an Ugly Stick......the name says it all lol (couldn't resist a dig)

It wouldn't kill me to miss flying for one day, but then again, why risk it.
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Shame on you Chris, thought you would have come up with an Old Timer in that dig. Maybe an Ugly Old Timer Stick. Pick up your game, you are slipping.
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Hi Wayne,
Looking at the review It looks like it's a rebranded Hyperion model. I found an image of the Hyperion Yay 54 on the net and it looks similar. Not identical mind you but there are usually a few versions of any kit that has been made in any decent numbers.

Hyperion has a reputation for making very nice gear and HK has rebranded Hyperion models before I had a small Yak 55M that was a rebranded Hyperion model from HK and the build quality was really nice. I think for the price it's certainly worth a go.

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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Hey Wayne,
I have an ugly stick here if you want, unflown and unbalanced. You can have it for cost and you pick up.


(08-03-2016, 08:43 AM)secant0give Wrote:  Hi Wayne,
Looking at the review It looks like it's a rebranded Hyperion model. I found an image of the Hyperion Yay 54 on the net and it looks similar. Not identical mind you but there are usually a few versions of any kit that has been made in any decent numbers.

Hyperion has a reputation for making very nice gear and HK has rebranded Hyperion models before I had a small Yak 55M that was a rebranded Hyperion model from HK and the build quality was really nice. I think for the price it's certainly worth a go.
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Thanks for the offer Russ but when they come up with a Good Look'n Stick I might think about it to match my handsome good looks Biggrin .
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I'm feeling sick

It wouldn't kill me to miss flying for one day, but then again, why risk it.
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(07-03-2016, 07:53 PM)Chris Mc Wrote:  I think you should fly an Ugly Stick......the name says it all lol (couldn't resist a dig)


Hahahahaha !!

Here's just the classic case of the pot calling the Kettle black

..................go on, tell me I'm wrong Wink

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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(15-03-2016, 02:10 PM)secant0give Wrote:  
(07-03-2016, 07:53 PM)Chris Mc Wrote:  I think you should fly an Ugly Stick......the name says it all lol (couldn't resist a dig)


Hahahahaha !!

Here's just the classic case of the pot calling the Kettle black

..................go on, tell me I'm wrong Wink

I'm wayyyyyyyyyyy better looking Smile at least my planes think I am

It wouldn't kill me to miss flying for one day, but then again, why risk it.
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Question... I want to set up my Edge 540T, motor ESC servo combinations... and wondering should I get a separate SBEC that can output 7v for the servos (makes them go faster)? Is there another reason I should have a seperate BEC than one incorporated in the ESC??

Should I bother for a little faster servo movement?
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The main reason to split your servo power into a separated BEC is redundancy.

Especially with bigger/faster servo's, the power the servo requires might be too much for the 5V regulator incorporated into the ESC. If you overload the ESC regulator it will shut down, taking out power to your servo's, receiver, etc.. you will loose control when that happens.

A separated BEC will ensure you have receiver and servo power, even if your ESC overheats and shuts down.

If you don't live on the edge, you take up too much space.
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Hmm, maybe what happened to my 540T on Saturday when I lost control and pulverised the front end (again). Not fixable this time. Brownout makes sense - 60A Plush ESC in mine has only 3A BEC, and 4 digital metal gear servos moving large surfaces through large travel, probably draws reasonable current. Although mine was probably a radio glitch probably due to proximity to the power lines, 4th time I've had control loss while near those lines. Need to be more careful to keep distance from them.

John Jelovic
Planks: Lark, California 28, Skyartec Cessna 182, Skyfun, Extra-300S EPP 3D, Stinger 64 EDF, Rare Bear 1400mm,
Durafly P51 Mustang, Edge 540T 3D.
Helis: Blade mCPX, Blade 450X, HK450GT V2Belt, Gaui 550 Hurricane.
Spektrum DX9, DX7se & DX4e
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I had a brown out on my eflite yak54 which ended up in crash...glued it back together and the only change i did was change a servo(suspected to draw more current) and installed an external BEC...since then no problems ....its good to have external bec on larger models
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(28-08-2017, 11:12 PM)helijeli Wrote:  Hmm, maybe what happened to my 540T on Saturday when I lost control and pulverised the front end (again). Not fixable this time. Brownout makes sense - 60A Plush ESC in mine has only 3A BEC, and 4 digital metal gear servos moving large surfaces through large travel, probably draws reasonable current. Although mine was probably a radio glitch probably due to proximity to the power lines, 4th time I've had control loss while near those lines. Need to be more careful to keep distance from them.

This reminds me... on saturday we had a number of pilots reporting brown-outs at the end of the strip... no idea why. I had one myself with the quad, lost it for a second or two then got it back in time, at least to level it before the crash... no visible damage.

However I then noticed that my transmitter aerial was pointing flat parallel to the strip when I was seated in the pilots box, therefore at the end of strip where I had the brown out, the quad was at the extended axis of the aerial (dont know how else to describe), in other words, the lowest strength signal.

I pointed the aerial up to point at my head, then flew the same exact track 3 times, I was FPV so I knew exactly the landmarks of the track I had flown when I had the brown out... but for the 3 times I never lost signal.

Im not saying this was everyones same issue, there is a known interference issue at that end, but it's a reminder to minimise risk of brown out by making sure the aerial is pointing up(or down), so youre not creating your own 'brown spot' in the circuit you are flying... or anywhere else Smile
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Positioning of receiver antennas is very important, it's quite easy do reduce your reception by less than optimal receive antenna placement!! Antennas in close proximity to wires or carbon frames are not going to be optimal.

Also there are some reliability issues with orange receivers. I know they are economical and many of them work very well but I must say I have had radio issues with more than one of them. I haven't had a so much as a glitch with an original spectrum receiver. I've had two issues with FRsky both of which had been adequately explained one was a firmware problem with an early RX which locked up then returned to normal after reboot. The other was a total failure of an RF board of an early Taranis Transmitter.
Neither of these were intermittent glitches. These were instances where control was lost with out warning and stayed lost.

I think it's a good idea to use an ESC with at least a 5A BEC tho' 3A should be enough. The trouble with some ESC's is that the BEC is mounted on the same heat sink as the main switching FETs and once the ESC gets hot from driving the motor the capacity of the BEC can become greatly reduced.


It's a very good idea to make sure that an ESC has adequate cooling and/or is moderately larger than what is required. It's not good to have the ESC as the weakest link in the power system. It's much better to have a bigger than needed ESC.

A separate BEC is a great way to go As Dirk pointed out in his post.

The BEC on a multi rotor should not have to work very hard at all and there should be plenty of cooling so I would be looking at antenna placement as a possible issue there. Is it an orange receiver? How many times has it been subject to harsh impacts. Multi rotors seem to handle a lot more abuse than fixed wing airframes so their radio gear can have suffered quite a hard life.

The bottom line is that If I suspect a receiver of not working properly I fix it with a big hammer and make sure it never causes problems again. It's is simply not worth having a dodgy or unreliable RX in a flying RC model.

Please bare in mind that our field is in a rather dirty Radio environment, it's on the edge of an industrial area where there are all sorts of noise sources. There are Mobile towers and there are also domestic noise sources like Wifi and microwaves. There are high tension lines and who knows what else. At times I marvel at how well our radio links hang in there. It really does pay to do everything to give your gear the best possible chance of working correctly. If something is dodgy please do your level best to find out why!! Do proper range checks and have a good hard look at your electrical and radio set up.

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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Hi everyone. My son and I are working on a plane, we have a stuka fuselage made of balsa wood and are looking into turning it into an absolute beast of a plane. We have been looking into petrol engines, but know little about electronics. Do you have any suggestions?
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Hi Wayne, Depends on alot of factors and what you want. How big is the plane? Estimated weight?
Did it come with a recommended engine size if from a kit, or are you scratch-building? Gas engines are more messy, noisier, and you cant fly them at a number electric only fields like ours. They do though sound better, feel more scale, and you can fly longer.

Electric is dominant and in terms of power just as powerful, perhaps more so in the small to mid range, larger models will be gas/petrol, the battery weight and charging hassle works against electric for larger models.

The electrics can seem confusing at first, dont worry we have all been there, you can work it out, there is plenty of stuff on the web and when you get down to the field, ask some members to explain their setup. Most of it is largely plug and play these days, with little soldering, once you work out the right bits to buy.

Post some photos or details of your build and we can try and give you some suggestions.
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Here are a couple of pictures I took of the plane:
It is balsa wood with a plastic canvas pulled across.        
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What wingspan and weight, did it have an engine size recommendation? Is there a weblink to the retailers/mftrs site?

Just thinking, you've got a prop on... do you already have a motor in it??
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(02-10-2017, 06:17 PM)robbo Wrote:  What wingspan and weight, did it have an engine size recommendation? Is there a weblink to the retailers/mftrs site?

Just thinking, you've got a prop on... do you already have a motor in it??

I will have to look at it another time, I purchased it a couple years ago as a kit, but turned it into a model rather than a rc plane which means it is well balanced. But because of its age I do not have any of the original specifications.
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Looks like it might be around 1.2 meters span?? Just a guess
probably a 30 size electric set up would be my initial thoughts.

Hard to say without any real numbers tho'

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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