Well, today i finally got the chance to try out my twinstar 2 with the gyros again.

The first flight went just as I thought, still wanting to roll left. As like the gyro thinks it starting point is 10-15% to its left. Aileron
Brought the plane down for landing. Landed in the potatofield next to grass runway. Plane little dirty, but else ok

Added about 1-2mm with up right aileron - mechanically

Second flight went great! no yerking/rolling to the left. had to add 2 clicks right on my TX. But still noticed that the plane has some unexpected rocking movement(also some yerking) from time to time. Both left and right. The gyro rate was at 25-30% Did finally have the pleasure of flying with my goggles this time, and found it to actually be easier to fly with. Flew also out of visual range for once, fuuuuuun
The landing was done non fpv, due to the fact that I really struggle with the landings now that I use elevatorgyro. Used full flaps, and alot of down elevator, and almost no power. but the plane just wants to stay in the air. Seems like it want to just stop/stall in midair than glide down. Well landed the thing, in the potatofield again, rolled over and ended upside down. Plane real dirty, but no damage.

Didn't get any more flights this day because I forgot to charge up my futaba radio. Takes just 16h or so.. blarrgghhh.

Well, time to reflect. How come the plane suddenly start to rock or suddenly yerk to one of the sides? The mechanical trim sure solved the other problem I had, but now I have a new one. And the elevator? Seems like I have to much elevator trim, right?

I currently use 2 esky gyroes(gray/blue), 1 for ailerons and 1 for elevator

Thanks for all the support/help

Robin

If the wings or elevator "wags" then the gain is too high.
The Esky 704 rate gyros will reduce roll rate. Making it feel like you have "dual rates" turned on. A 704A or other Heading hold gyro like the colco Gy400 won't do that.
The Rate only 704 will require you to turn up the travel adjust some to get the same feel as before.
If you feel like the plane wants to return to level, that's not the gyro doing that. It does not know what "level" is. If you have wag but you think the gyro is not compensating enough, then you'd either need to reduce slop or get faster servos.

I have flown the Colco GY400 in my .46 Nitro Katana ARF a few times now in 15mph winds.
The solidness of the ailerons in the wind is unbelievable. I have very high throws on the Katana so I dialed in only 30% gain (rate mode) w/ the GY400 and it makes a huge difference. It is like flying in near windless conditions as far as the aileron is concerned. I got in the PC-03 gyro kill switches and plan to install them.

I have a new Spitfire Scale warbird that is very pitchy and I'm planning to put gyros in on the Aileron and Elevator to tame it down. Sure I could spend time learning how to deal w/ the plane but I don't feel like dealing with it, Just flying.

Robin, Can you give us an update?

Perhaps someone here will care. I did some experiments on my Fan Fold F-22 just before I retired/recycled it. I had read that you cannot use a gyro on a plane with mixed elevons, it's not entirely true. I put it on one servo, and mounted the gyro to monitor the roll axis. It was GREAT!! the plane behave normally, but was stabilised by moving only one side. It would NOT have worked on the elevator though, because the elevator is split, I would then have had to put one gyro for each side, then a 3rd for roll. At that point, you're better off with a mixer, lol.

Originally Posted by grenadapult

Perhaps someone here will care. I did some experiments on my Fan Fold F-22 just before I retired/recycled it. I had read that you cannot use a gyro on a plane with mixed elevons, it's not entirely true. I put it on one servo, and mounted the gyro to monitor the roll axis. It was GREAT!! the plane behave normally, but was stabilised by moving only one side. It would NOT have worked on the elevator though, because the elevator is split, I would then have had to put one gyro for each side, then a 3rd for roll. At that point, you're better off with a mixer, lol.

Was this a 4 servo setup? or 2 servo setup?

Originally Posted by Melnic

I have flown the Colco GY400 in my .46 Nitro Katana ARF a few times now in 15mph winds.
The solidness of the ailerons in the wind is unbelievable. I have very high throws on the Katana so I dialed in only 30% gain (rate mode) w/ the GY400 and it makes a huge difference. It is like flying in near windless conditions as far as the aileron is concerned. I got in the PC-03 gyro kill switches and plan to install them.

I have a new Spitfire Scale warbird that is very pitchy and I'm planning to put gyros in on the Aileron and Elevator to tame it down. Sure I could spend time learning how to deal w/ the plane but I don't feel like dealing with it, Just flying.

Robin, Can you give us an update?

Sorry for the late answer. I basicly "solved" the problem, or made it less noticable. Mechanicly trimmed the right aileron only. That seemed to do the trick. It got more easy to fly. But of course, with one problem solved another appeared - crashed the plane...

http://vimeo.com/5081413

I have ordered a new twinstar plus 1 easystar

Originally Posted by Melnic

Was this a 4 servo setup? or 2 servo setup?

Sorry for my late answer as well, I keep losing this thread for some reason. Anyway, i was flying "4 wheel drive" with 2 servos. It shouldn't matter either way. The experiment proved, that just as you can roll a plane with only one aileron, you can also roll stabilize a plane, with only one aileron on a servo.

Robin, you were flying it by camera and lost the signal?

Originally Posted by Melnic

Robin, you were flying it by camera and lost the signal?

-I was running 2 aileronservoes through a Y into 1 gyro-

-Yes I was flying fpv. I had large high voltage wires/towers just right behind me. This made the video give out interference. Alot of mistakes were made. First of all, positioned myself to close to electrical wires, and to close to road(caused video intererence + caused anyoing sound intererence from traffic passing by). The interence made the landscape colors blend into each other, making it impossible to see what was what. Didn't see clues/marks that would identify where I was. Had some sun penetrating the goggles aswell, making it even worse. Second of all, have a good spotter that not only look at the air, but at the live videorecording on laptop aswell. So he/she could point the antenna in the right direction or maybe give out any information on where you might be located. 3rd - have a gps/osd (bought antennatracker with gps/osd now )
Found the plane eventually, in a 18m high tree 2km north of my position, actually thought I was 1km W of my position, but after looking at the recording(smartest thing I have ever done is to record) I got a clue on where the plane had gone down. Took me an hour to find it in the dence forrest/jungle.
Got a lumberjack to climb up and get the plane down. Plane was totalled. But electrics survived, except Videotx, and maybe cam(havent tried cam yet as tx destroyed)

Robin

Sorry to hear this.
I have this beeper device. It beeps loudly when it does not get a signal. You can put it on a Y splitter with a servo or a spare channel. I used to use it all the time but never had a crash with it. It might be something you should look at getting.

Originally Posted by Melnic

Sorry to hear this.
I have this beeper device. It beeps loudly when it does not get a signal. You can put it on a Y splitter with a servo or a spare channel. I used to use it all the time but never had a crash with it. It might be something you should look at getting.

Yeah that would be a nice thing to have But the thing with the twinstar, is that since the motors are connected to the wing, theres a big chance that the battery will get unplugged if you get a crash/impact that tears of the wing. Thats what happened in my case. Wing came off on impact, since left part of wing was first to hit the tree. Both cam and videotx(with RV pan/tilt) got ejected too. Both video and primary batteries were still inside twinstar. Found tx and cam some distance from tree
The first thing I do when I go looking for a plane, is to carry the RC tx with me.
Doing throttle ups and do some steering with the stick. This is so I might be able to hear where the plane is located. Know this might damage props etc if the battery is still connected. But its better to find the plane at least, than not to find it all

Robin

Originally Posted by Melnic

I have a new Spitfire Scale warbird that is very pitchy and I'm planning to put gyros in on the Aileron and Elevator to tame it down. ?

Any word on how you got on with the spitfire?
Getting near test flight stage of mine and would like to put gyro's on the ailerons. The scale ailerons on the spitfire are a weird design and will scoop air from under the wing which goes against all my flying experience (I tape all my hinge joints to stop air flow)and kind of worries me.

Cheers
Glen

I have the COLCO gy400 and am having a hard time setting it up on my 3 CH easy star.

It seems like it initializes but it barely lets me move the rudder to the right, but it moves to the left normally...

im really having a hard time but still want to install it to open up more flight days due to 10 + mph winds here in Brooklyn...

Any tips with this specific gyro for use on the gyro would be much appreciated

Thanks

Your installing it onto a 3 channel (Rudder and No aileron?) plane?
I've never tried that. Not sure it will work well or not.
Are you hooking up the gain channel to the gear servo output on the Rx?

Originally Posted by glen

Any word on how you got on with the spitfire?
Getting near test flight stage of mine and would like to put gyro's on the ailerons. The scale ailerons on the spitfire are a weird design and will scoop air from under the wing which goes against all my flying experience (I tape all my hinge joints to stop air flow)and kind of worries me.

Cheers
Glen

I only have about 5 flights on the spit but I had put a gyro on the ailerons (using a Y splitter so ailerons are both using the Ch1) and a gyro on the elevator. I've got a Telebee and a Colco GY400. They I ran the gain channels of each into a Y splitter and then to my Ch 6 which goes to a switch and I'm running rate mode at about 60%. Tip stalls no longer happen on landings and it tracks WAY better.

About 2 weeks ago, I flew 3 flights and practiced my scale landings and take offs about 30 times.

Have not flown it since. Been working on other projects