Gidday Len

You've probably already found a resolve to your painting question, but fwiw I bought some acrylic automotive spray pack cans from a cheapie auto accessories shop. Sand with 300- 400 grit, primer, and top coat with lite (thin) coats until colour coverage achieved. Works for me, but I have no idea what the "done" thing is

I bought my edo-model 185 on ebay, seemed like a bargain, as always, then read this thread, so I left it in the box for 3 months or so, expecting the worst.
In the past week or so I've put it together- I paid for it, so I might as well do something with it- make or break but only with wheels for now.
I remounted the main wheels with spacers because the wheels seem to be able to bind with the aluminium.
Ails, elev, rudder & flaps all have dubro pinned hinges fitted. I seriously dont trust that hinge tape they used.
Replaced all servos with anything else I have lying around that looked better.
I removed the pathetic attempt to run dual pushrods off one elev servo arm, dropped in a block of foam and running dual servos for elev (Y lead & servo reverser), and a larger servo for rudder/tail wheel.
I'm going to overpower it with what ever I have lying around the "hanger", 4S batt with 11 x 7E prop, either a Turnigy SK3536-1400 or GC3648-KV600, and replace the ESC. Two reasons for throwing a bit more power at it...
1st is I'll be running with a Rx/servo battery (eliminate BEC) & fpv camera with it's batt, so it'll have a little more additional weight.
2nd is that I'd like to have a go at the floats- if I havent already killed it by this stage. I thought perhaps if I tried getting more speed accross water, might help with achieving more lift. To help here I've set flaps to a dial so I can gradually dial in more flaps until I find a lift-off balance. Otherwise being overpowered, may make for a spectacular foam flurry if it goes pear-shaped...

Along with the underside step mod on the floats where the V step is cut straight and extended, I thought I might run some longitudinal "grooves" into the underside of the floats, kind of like reversed planing strakes on a boat hull. The idea being that on watching some of the vid footage, it seems to me that there may be an amount of "suction" keeping the foam floats to the water. Not only, but I read somewhere on RCG that a guy had lift off with no problem at all, suspecting ripples accross the water aiding lift-off. The ripples may have aided in breaking the water surface tension, reducing perhaps the floats suction. If all else fails, might even try putting a very small angled "lip" onto the trailing edge of the step, to try and get it to ramp up, like trim tabs on the transom of a boat.

Most upgrade bits I already had lying around, so it is still quite a cheap plane, and if I learn something from it, then it's been worthwhile.

Even if it does end in a polystyrene foam flurry...

Good article AussieHoppy!
Lot's of nice ideas.
For the paint: I use sometimes tamya acrilic spray cans, the don't eat foam, but they are expensives. For the floats I decided to make a new fiberglass coat, they are now more shock absorbing.
I made all angles more sharper and I have added a plastic lip on the V step, I carved a new servo lead duct just to hide it.

Motor: I replaced the stock one with a Scorpion SII 3020-1100KV and APC 11x 7, 4s lypos.. good power now! takes off are shorter but still not enough relaxing, these floats needs more work. I'm curious to see some of your mod's!

Yuppers, Tamiya paints are expensive! To be honest, I love the look of scale flight, nothing beats a good looking scale plane being flown in scale like flight... well.... except for extraordinary 3D aerobatics but other than that I'm not overly concerned on appearance, so as long as it looks great from a distance, I'm happy- hence the cheap acrylic spray paint

I maidened her today, and flew very very nicely indeedy! Easy take off, predictable in flight, and on landing she was skittish in gusts of breeze but as soon as she was down to 4-5 feet off the ground she all but hovered in the slight headwind breeze! very nicely reacts to ground effect.
The setup I used was Turnigy 2450 4S batt with 11 x 7E prop, with the GC3648-KV600 motor and matching GC ESC. Gave an easy 10 minute flight on each of my 3 batts, recharging now to see how much energy remained.
Takeoff was half to 2/3 throttle, and eased on the throttle so she didnt corkscrew left, as tail draggers seem to.
loads of reserve power to fight the headwinds at higher altitude, but excess and unusable power for speed- she only goes so fast, then that's it... flying wot is pointless lol
For an extremely cheap plane, improved by second hand bits I already had, she's a real pleasure to fly, honestly!
My only real gripe is that because the elev & rudder had warpage in them, it was difficult to set up neutral trim before her maiden, so she was a bit of a handful until I managed the correct rudder~ails~elev trim adjustment, but once adjusted, flew very fine.
No flaps on takeoff, unessesary, so I kinda forgot I had them fitted heh heh, next time for a giggle I'll try them fully deployed for landing to wash off speed... otherwise she floats and floats just before touchdown.
I'll leave the flaps on though, if later I do try the floats-on-water gamble, I'll almost definately try the flaps at 30-40 degrees for increased lift to help get off the water.
I ran without BEC using a 6 volt NiMH 2000mah batt pack for Rx/servos, and I'd reckon she'd still fly well with 10 of these on board!
Later perhaps I'll try fpv, the camera gear & extra batt will have no weight effect. I'd love to try fpv with floats
by the way, I'd replaced the plastic engine mount as it had split when I screwed the motor to it, so I epoxy glued a timber mount exact duplicate. This does concern me a little, because if the epoxy glue ever lets go, the prop could well pull the complete motor mount out of the fuselage.... but mine should be ok... I'd put a LOT of glue in there to be sure.
CG at 64mm I'd reckon pretty well spot on, very small amount of elev up trim only, so I'll leave it.
And the only other thing is I did heed advice and taped the underside access hatch panels to avoid a fluttering in the breeze...

All in all, a very pleasant plane that flies surprisingly well given the cheap purchase. keep in mind though, I never used the supplied original motor/esc/servos... I'll put these in a plane I don't like!

I'd post photos/ video, but I've never tried to upload on a forum lol

Hope this helps

Cheers

Put a E-flite power 15 in mine with a 11X5.5 prop, 45 amp speedy and 3300 4 cell 20c lipo. Thing goes well now. Even has vertical proformance.

Originally Posted by actflyer

Put a E-flite power 15 in mine with a 11X5.5 prop, 45 amp speedy and 3300 4 cell 20c lipo. Thing goes well now. Even has vertical proformance.

Vertical performance in a Cessna lol! i havent tried mine for vertical, I'll have to have a shot at it next flight
I wont bother with aerobatics coz I havent made any strengthening mods eg carbon in wings, still have all the brittle plastic wing strut attatchment points- even the fuse join under the main wings was never joined properly and flexes like a ballerina

I'm curious though, what flight times are you getting with yours? I'm getting 10-12 minutes on half a battery, with mostly half- 2/3rds throttle

Hi AussieHoppy

Yep vertical performance in my cessna.
I'm getting 10-12 minutes flying time at about 3/4 throtle.
Still need to try a couple of different props.
I've had 10 flights now with this set up. All successful.

I just put another 4 batts through, definately no vert performance, but has no problem pulling through the air.

I'm getting 15 minutes easy flying, love the scale look, very easy to fly.

I'm finding flaps are useless for land, she noses right up, and to fly slow she just wants to stall. I get the impression she needs to be heavier to justify flaps, but I have no doubt flaps would help to get off water, if ever I venture down that track.
So landing, start the decent miles away with no motor & keep pushing her down, just keeps on gliding!

Great scale flight very enjoyable

Thanks for the paint tips. I did some experimenting, and I can't eliminate the foam cell outlines without "creaming" it with light spackling first. I'm getting about 10 minutes on 3s 2200 mah battery running it down 1400 mah. I'm a bit of a novice, I've had trouble with eratic taxi on take-off. Everything else has been smooth. I love landing this bird, slides in slow and easy. I may have too much throw on the tail wheel. I play with the flaps and enjoy the affect. I used my transmitter to adjust a little elevator to counter the nose up with the flaps on. Also adjusted the flap throw quite low. I'll measure it if anyone wants the info. I encountered the cheesy two push rods hooking to the one servo for the elevator problem. I had to reaarange one of the horns by adding a shim to get the two sides going up and down the same amount (since they connect to different holes on the servo arm). Only other way around it would be to join the two push rods and attach to the servo through one connector. Don't know how to do that.
thanks, Len

Len

aussihoppy:
What type of FPV set up are you putting in it? Can you provide a photo of your installation?
I'd love to try this some time.
Len

Originally Posted by green_mtn_boy

aussihoppy:
What type of FPV set up are you putting in it? Can you provide a photo of your installation?
I'd love to try this some time.
Len

Hi Len

I had started an installation in the cessna, but have shelved that idea for now because the cockpit is too restrictive view for camera P&T. If later I try the floats, I'll then look at some interesting camera work heh heh, most likely a spectacular splash!
I've started a rebuild on my P-51 Mustang, with 1500mm wingspan should be a fun short-ish distance fpv.

SN555 camera
Lawmate 900mhz 500mw Tx
EzOSD with current sensor
8db patch antenna
Scherrer UHF

This worked well just as a naked cam/ Tx/ patch, but havent yet plugged in my Ez gear, I'll be getting it all together on the P-51.
Never enough time to play...

I've got another setup I'm hoping to get together by xmas:

DX201 camera
2.4ghz 1000mw Tx
Dual Rx's / diversity
Dragon DOSD+V2
8dbi patch antennas
Dragon UHF
I have the Ez antenna tracker, I'm hoping to make this work with the Dragon gear, at least until the Dragon tracker is released.

All this will be going on my new build Cularis, hoping for some degree of thermalling, even if it's power assisted.

I'll start this build when my last remaining dragon gear arrives

I have yet to try to upload photos onto RCG...

Cheers

I use a 2.4 ghz radio, do you think that would get tangled up by a strong signal transmitting video images on 2.4 ghz? I plan to do some FPV flying in the future.
Your setup looks good.
Len

Originally Posted by green_mtn_boy

I use a 2.4 ghz radio, do you think that would get tangled up by a strong signal transmitting video images on 2.4 ghz? I plan to do some FPV flying in the future.
Your setup looks good.
Len

From all warnings on forums, dont share 2.4ghz with both rc & vid.

I have read short distance can sometimes work, but you need to activate the 2.4 vid before the 2.4 rc, so the spread sprectrum can find clear freq's... but you are risking in the least glitches, I've read even total blockouts.

Also try and set up your plane with rf sensitive components far and away from rf noisy gear.

I've not tried sharing 2.4, I'm not going to risk it. That's why I bought 900mhz vid, so short distance fpv I can get away with 2.4 fasst rc.

I'm in my fpv infancy, but I hope that helps you

Cheers

Oh, and especially in my case, I'm using 1000mw 2.4 vid, so for me to use 2.4rc as well is a recipe for disaster!

First up, I noticed that mine might be a later revision from E-DOMODEL.
Both anchor points of the wing-support struts are aluminum.
Motor mount is ply-wood.
Small hatch is attached with magnets, but big hatch is secured with 2 hex screws.
I primarily want to use this plane on floats, may I know what's the best way to make sure no water gets into the floats? Anyone ever tried cutting open the seams and filling with something like PU foam?




Is it normal for motors to be mounted pointing to the right?

Originally Posted by kaon

I primarily want to use this plane on floats, may I know what's the best way to make sure no water gets into the floats? Anyone ever tried cutting open the seams and filling with something like PU foam?

I used a mixture of epoxy and microballons (phenolic spheres) to fill the seams. The microballons are a ultra light filler to use with epoxy, which is heavy.

Originally Posted by kaon

Is it normal for motors to be mounted pointing to the right?

Most planes need a bit of right thrust to counter thrust assymmetry from a clockwise-rotating prop. Look up P-factor.