Waynemia, you brought up a good point that I've meant to look deeper into. Lateral balancing. Any tips/suggestions? I can get my hands on a balancer with ease, but from what I'm aware of, that's no good for side to side balancing. Somewhere, I remember reading to turn the model upside down, and with the fin laying on a table, lift the spinner with one finger on the bottom. Just don't know if I trust that method our not.

No that wont work.....and welcome back

The fin will offset your centerline, that it needs to be suspended by, by too much.

Needs to be (as closely as possible) suspended on the centerline/thrustline.

This generally means the spinner and the bottom of the fuse below the fin.

Originally Posted by abaser

Waynemia, you brought up a good point that I've meant to look deeper into. Lateral balancing. Any tips/suggestions? I can get my hands on a balancer with ease, but from what I'm aware of, that's no good for side to side balancing. Somewhere, I remember reading to turn the model upside down, and with the fin laying on a table, lift the spinner with one finger on the bottom. Just don't know if I trust that method our not.

It isn't that complicated. The Tribute is a tail dragger. Just make sure the rudder is straight and look to see that the tail wheel touches the ground under the rear of the fuse. Now, pic up the front of the plane a little with one finger under the prop shaft. You don't need to lift it far, just enough to see which way the wing tilts and make sure the tail wheel does not turn. Don't just grab the prop shaft for the plane and allow the engine/motor to rotate. I have seen that give bad results. Let the plane back down, then lift it again. Do this several times noting which way the plane tilts. If you have to do this outside, make sure you are out of the wind. Also, lift the plane slowly and try to make sure you go straight up.

If the wings always come level, you are good to go. If one wing always, or most of the time, falls, then add weight to the opposite tip. It normally only takes 1/4 oz but sometimes more. If 1/4oz is too much on the tip, move it toward the fuse until it balances. I just use blenderm tape to attach the weight initially. You may need to take it off if you have to trim against the weight on the maiden. Other forces like wing warp, crooked fin, engine torque, etc. can affect the plane and make it roll. After you know you have the weight right, you can make a small cut on the bottom of the wing tip and glue the weight in. (I just leave it taped on.)

On a tricycle plane, I have someone help lift the plane at the tail, just one finger centered at the rear of the fuse.

You don't need anything fancy to do lateral balance.

If you can't decide if it is one way or the other, just fly it first. If I have to add left or right aileron trim for straight and level flight, I will consider adding weight to get rid of the trim.

The main reason that I suggest you check it is if a plane comes out grossly off in lateral balance, it may be impossible to fly or it can roll severely on takeoff and crash. Small imbalances can usually be corrected on takeoff, trimmed in flight, and then corrected after the maiden. Checking before maiden will alert you if you have a serious problem.

I always go over the plane myself when someone wants me to do a maiden for them. Some people will forget to set the CG, throws, have one or more controls reversed, etc. If you can, get one of the guys to follow along as you to a pre-maiden check. A buddy can help avoid massive mistakes.

....uh....what he said^^^

Originally Posted by dad_roman

....uh....what he said^^^:d

:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d

Originally Posted by DaOldGuy

They should stay out of worring about us modelers

February 22, 2013
Sequestration Impact Outlined
By Russ Niles, Editor-in-Chief






The FAA may close more than 100 air traffic control towers and eliminate the graveyard shift in another 60 if sequestration goes ahead on March 1. It is also considering cutting maintenance and upkeep of air traffic control equipment and cut staff in certification and inspection roles and furlough most employees for one or two days per pay period, Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood said in a letter to 47,000 FAA employees Friday. The effect will be decreased capacity and major disruptions to flight schedules, certification programs and a myriad other things that require FAA sign-off. "We are aware that these service reductions will adversely affect commercial, corporate and general aviation operators," LaHood said. Some analysts have dismissed the proposals as political scare tactics in advance of a week of political wrangling over sequestration.
Perhaps the most significant proposal is the threat to close 100 (of about 500) air traffic control towers. Any airport with fewer than 150,000 operations a year or 10,000 "commercial" operations would be closed. The criteria for elimination of the graveyard shift was not spelled out nor was the precise meaning of the term "commercial." Lahood says safety will be the top priority in implementation of cuts and the tradeoff will be widespread delays and inconvenience. For instance, it's expected the cuts will result in flight delays of about 90 minutes at major airports and Lahood said airlines will likely cut flights to adjust to the reduced service levels. Cuts would be finalized in March and implemented in April. They would be in effect until the end of the FAA's fiscal year on Sept. 30

the "sequestration" is equivalent to a man making $100,000.00 having to give up 0.25. How does that .25 equal thousands of teachers and flight controllers and first responders?

I say if they really want to save us some money, they stop doing maintenance on air force one for the next couple years.

Made a little progress today... more to come

Originally Posted by Wookster

the "sequestration" is equivalent to a man making $100,000.00 having to give up 0.25. How does that .25 equal thousands of teachers and flight controllers and first responders?

I say if they really want to save us some money, they stop doing maintenance on air force one for the next couple years.

Those Air Force one planeS do cost a near the price of a small country to operate.

Originally Posted by brathanke

Made a little progress today... more to come

Nice!

DR, Waynemia, thanks a lot for the tips. Im still trying to decide if I want to tear into the fuselage and do some strength mods as I've read several complaints about it snapping in half doing snaps and other high G maneuvers (although I dont PLAN on trying anything like that for a while yet). Ive also read about the wing just coming off mid flight. Its one of those "you get what you pay for" models I guess. It seems poorly constructed, but thought it would be a good introduction model to 3D flight after Im used to it. I plan on getting my Tower Trainer up in the air first to try and get my thumbs back. I do fine on the sim, but I know the pucker factor (for lack of better words) will come into play as soon as the motor fires up. I keep reliving my last experience with my last flight everytime I think about it.

So, just to recap what has been said, keep throws at low rates, check and triple check settings, and get help from experienced flyers at take off time.

To balance a tail dragger laterally, with tail wheel straight and sitting on a table, lift up on the spinner/prop shaft with a finger straight up to see if a wing drops. Add weight to the high wing to level.

Originally Posted by abaser

DR, Waynemia, thanks a lot for the tips. Im still trying to decide if I want to tear into the fuselage and do some strength mods as I've read several complaints about it snapping in half doing snaps and other high G maneuvers (although I dont PLAN on trying anything like that for a while yet). Ive also read about the wing just coming off mid flight. Its one of those "you get what you pay for" models I guess. It seems poorly constructed, but thought it would be a good introduction model to 3D flight after Im used to it. .

We have 3 tributes in our club and they take some serious abuse. My 36TT Pro came off Wild Bill's tribute. He put a 55 AX and I personally have seen that thing pull full speed, high G turns like it was pylon racing 10 feet off the deck.(we hide)

I seriously expected that thing to snap, but 2 seasons now without issue. He has a T___t 60 with an AX 95 too.... , no mercy!

Gotta say, that's welcomed info. I'm sure there are those who have troubles, and like anything else, one bad report outweighs 1000 good reports. I keep telling myself they can't be that bad or they wouldn't still be in production. Time will tell. I'll be sure to report on the maiden. After looking at my assembly manual for the T Trainer, I bay just maiden the tribute first. Its nearly complete and my thumbs are itching to get on the radio. Maybe something this weekend.

We'll be looking forward tgo hearing about your maiden.
BTW we're really glad to have you

Abaser if you ever come up around Cabot or Beebe let me know . We have a club at El Paso and you are welcome to come fly.

Thanks for all of the warm welcomes. I came around for a while in the past, even got on the email list. I just kept getting an overwhelming urge to skip paying the bills just to get a model. Not a good idea, so I left. Now, that urge has come and gone finally, I got my models (thanks Uncle Sam), and hope to be able to hang around for a while and share some stories of my own.

Now for another quick question. The servos I have are probably 6 years old, but haven't been used in over 4. In the two years they were used, they all probably have no more than 10-15 flights on them. All my others got wet from a broken window and were tossed. My old models are kept in a little storage shed in my back yard out of the weather, but still susceptible to the elements such as humidity and things of that nature. Im thinking that I should probably toss them and wait on my new ones to come in, but if I do that, I will be short a couple due to my budget limit to have both planes flyable. Any thoughts? They all worked perfectly the last time they were used. Just a little concerned.

Tower, thanks for the invite. Ill keep that in mind. I rarely get up that far though. Little Rock is usually the closest Ill get, but you never know.