i have a albatross and a DR.1 both made of balsa and the dr.1 is coated in silk. needless to say both of these planes took me a huge amount of time to build and the albatross has a high wing loading so it is unstable and the DR.1 is very easy to loose orientation with all the wings, it looks like one big wing when it gets to high. i was curious as to what people thought of adding in some of the new stabilizers like the Gardian from eagletreesystems.com do they actually help that much in squirly planes? i once had the FMA optical stabilizer and that was a huge peice of junk, every time it saw a hill the plane would bank. i think it cause more crashes then it saved. is anyone using one of the new ones and what do you think and what kind is good one to use
thanks jeff

i think a gyro is a good tool to use, i used them on helis yrs ago and the gyro kept me in the hobby. many will say its a cheating crutch but use it any way you want i say.

That's exactly what it does Jeff, takes the squirlyness out of it. A buddy has the Eagle tree system and I have the HK orange stabilizer and they both make planes that you'd be afraid to take out in the wind a none event. The gyro can think quicker than I can when the wind makes the wing take a dip. They work well on scale models of high value, very hairy 3D planes and trainer planes. Just a stability add on.

Gord.

What happens in a tip stall, do they make the plane unrecoverable since they are fighting the stall and not letting the ailerons to the center point to get airfoil back over the wings?

I don't have the gyros in a particularly tipstally plane But I know, in the Zoombi 3D plane, When you go gradually up into a hover, the wings don't oscilate back and forth, as without the gyro. There again the gyro can stop it before it starts quicker than I can. Makes me look good, even when I ain't. All I really can say is, however it flies now, it will be smoother.

Gord.

I have 2 Orange V2 models and a JR gyro and an EagleTree Guardian due this week. I love them. The Orange and JR are the easiest to use whereas the EagleTree can be as complicated as you make it, but is a very powerful device, as is the Blue Ice. Ask your question here on the dedicated Eagletree Forum. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...96644&page=200
Good Luck.

PS. Nice plane, I'd hate you to lose it.

Yes they do help. Immensely. Took an ill-mannered warbird, and made it almost trainer-like in it's habits, but some people would consider it a "crutch", and I suppose if you used it all the time it would be. If you can switch it on/off, and just use it to get the plane in the air, then I don't see where that's really cheating, or using a crutch...

Originally Posted by jeff262

What happens in a tip stall, do they make the plane unrecoverable since they are fighting the stall and not letting the ailerons to the center point to get airfoil back over the wings?

Once the airfoil stalls, ailerons are ineffective.
If anything, the recovery method is "nose down", and "throttle open" to regain airspeed so the wing can begin flying so ailerons can become effective once again.

I'm pretty sure your controls override the gyro unless the gain is too high, but if you are leaving the stick centered, then yes, the gyro will do it's own thing.