Gil,

Thanks!

Most sailplanes have taped control surfaces to eliminate "hinge" gap. The gap is very tight and usually beveled to cut wind resistance. My EZ control surfaces hinges are reinforced with fiber strapping tape (and around the horn area). the hinge system is not as refined as an advanced sailplane, but very adequate.

The "geared" servos are very strong and don't use much juice at all when compared to the motor. The EZ hinges don't have to flex very far and will loosen up quickly with use.

Tad

sargentw

Please forgive my thick-headedness here...I am guessing that the hinge is a stick-on across topside, and the bevel is created on undersurface of both control surface and the wing, stab., or rudder fin.

I plan to (eventually) use boat sail stick-on mend patch material which is very lightweight. I still feel that the eplar type hinge demands more current than necessary after mucho break-in.

Gil,

Then just cut the foam hinge all the way through and then tape it together using strapping or hinge tape.

Gil, I am sorry for my ignorance---but what are "eplar type hinges".

Curious. Paddy.

Over time the forces of flying have made the wing spar holes larges and slightly oblong. The wing was starting to move more than I like.

I gave it some thought and here is what I came up with.

I found some fiber washers in the local hardware store. The washers are very strong, light, and have an inside diameter of about 7/16" which fits the carbon spar perfect.

The first thing I did was put the spar into each wing and trace the outline of the fiber washer. Next routed out the traces area about the thickness of the washer. I used CA with kicker to glue em on. Man, I love that stuff for fast mods like this.

Note: the velcro that helps hold the wings together. This is a mod I did earlier and has held up well.

The sequence of pictures will illustrate what I did.

Now it's time to run down to the local field for a test.

Like that washer mod!

If you pour hot water into the rod holes, they may tighten up. If you dent Elapor, hot water, or sometimes steam, can often reexpand the foam.

Worth a try!

Ed,

The hot water trick works well. I had a couple dents from a mishap (see post #87) and the hot water fixed them up pretty good.

BTW: My test "wing joiner mod" test flight went great. The EZ was flying fine before. Now it flies even better (like new). The plane flies better with little/no movement around the wing joiner .

Tad

Originally Posted by sargentw

Ed,

The hot water trick works well. I had a couple dents from a mishap (see post #87) and the hot water fixed them up pretty good.

BTW: My test "wing joiner mod" test flight went great. The EZ was flying fine before. Now it flies even better (like new). The plane flies better with little/no movement around the wing joiner .

Tad

Thanks for sharing the Mod with us.

I have a friend with the Multiplex Easy Glider who has been winch lanching it. I would bet the wing rod holes are getting a little loose. I will mention your reinforcement to him.

When running the wires from the motor to the cockpit..should I run all of them together...I am using a Castle Creations Pixie 20 with mine...looking to start my build tomorrow if I dont chicken out...LOL

All of them? All of what? The wires? Yes, no problem. Twist them loosely if you can, if you have the length.

Yes I mean...I have on one side of the pixe lines to the motor...on the other side I have two sets coming out...I just wanted to make sure I wasnt going to have any interference problems by running those two together...I might extend the motor wires anyway so that I can change stuff out if need be as long as you guys think that it wont cause an interference problem in the cockpit...If it will I will do as oldpilot did and leave the ESC in the wire channel...I just was looking for the best setup really...ESC in the wire cannel or in the cockpit....Inquiring minds want to know???...

JediKnight2,

It should not cause interference. You want to be able access to all the gear in the plane. It makes it easier to fix problems and make upgrades.

Remember to run that 3rd wire just in case you want to make that brushless upgrade.

BTW: I am now connecting all my ESC's Eflite and Phx's to the motor using gold plated bullet connectors. It makes it a snap to change out the ESC's.

Sarge

My modifications:

* The stock rudder is way too small. Glued two 4cm deep and full height pieces of very thin (0.6-0.8mm) ply, on to each side) onto the stock rudder and top of the stab with CA. Then grooved out the top part of the stab so that the original hinge now continues from top to bottom. No need for tape. Works perfectly and the 4 cm deep rudder has excellent control authority.

* Created a round round cilinder of foam of the same diameter as the stock motor mount. Cut that in half lengthwise and cut out a 10x10 mm groove. Glued a a spruce motor mount stick into the groove and glued the two haleves of the cilinder back together. Then glued the cilinder with motor mount stick into the stock motor mount. Ideally the stick should have 1 degree or so more up angle than the stock mount. A Typhoon Micro 6/20 with 7x4 prop was mounted on the stick mount with a Kobri aluminum motor mount.

I didn't bother pulling the motor and ESC wires into the fuse yet, will probably leave them over the top and cover them with tape or something when further finishing the model.

Testflights with the above setup were more than satisfactory. On a 2000 mAh 11.1V 3S LiPo pack 30 minutes of very aggressive flying including multiple tackoffs from the grass, just sliding over its belly, close to vertical ascents, no down or up deviation on sudden throttle changes once ballanced correctly and with the correct motor mount angle, and very good control surface response. Still can fly very slow, but can also fly very fast with this setup. With some nice ultrabrigth LEDs mounted this is going to be a really great model for nightflying the coming long night months.

Another question..I am runing a 3/16" rod in the tail...for support...should I just run it the 6" in the precut channel or go the whole distance...???

6 inches is good and the channel is already there.

I saw a post where the rod is glued in first on one side. This will help keep the fuse straight when joining the two halves.