Got mine today, and amazingly it's in pristine condition.
So happy the fuse isn't glued together as it will make sneaking in the bigger fan so much easier.

Do have a question though. What are the 5 quarter inch long slots for on the bottom span of each wing?

Originally Posted by Glacier Girl

Got mine today, and amazingly it's in pristine condition.
So happy the fuse isn't glued together as it will make sneaking in the bigger fan so much easier.

Do have a question though. What are the 5 quarter inch long slots for on the bottom span of each wing?

I'm doing this from memory but I believe that they are remnants from the injection molding process, they are created by brackets used to hold the carbon spars that are embedded in the wing

- Birger

Thanks, answers that one.

Found they've replaced hot glue with something else, to hold the magnets in. Either a very thin epoxy or maybe CA. But same old, same old. The glue pops right off, doesn't even peel the paint, whatever it is it's brittle. Magnets came right out too.

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I installed a new 60A Hobbywing ESC & was able to get her up Sunday for 2 flights - with 2 landings to boot (such as they were). Last week for my maiden, I had 2 takeoffs with 0 landings (deadstick & tree).

I moved my UBEC & RX up top and back to just ahead of the ESC, which allowed the 4S 1800mah battery to be moved all the way back in the compartment. She's now balanced, but still needs up elevator to fly level & not drop the nose. I'm a bit puzzled by that, but I guess it is what it is ...

I'm starting to get comfortable with her - flying with lots of expo & pretty low rates. She's a lot more responsive than the T-45 my powerplant came out of.

Now I need to work on getting her slowed down to land .....

Exceed RC Concept X PRO - First Landings (2 min 4 sec)

Looked good in the air, landings, well it stayed in one piece, and that's a good thing.

I plan on adding a pair of fences and even playing around with vortex generators to tame down the slow speed characteristics.


Now then while waiting on the poly to dry on the intakes, I dug out some stronger control horns, figured I'd get them installed.

I'm not sure I like the stock servo placement. It goes against everything I was taught. Servo arms/control horns should be 90 degrees to the hinge line.

At best these are 45 degrees. Just mocking one up, I can see the control horn swings in an odd ball arc as the control surface moves. If I install a clevis and control rod I can see it bind as it tries to move the control horn in a straight line.

I'm beginning to wonder if this may have been the root cause of so many having the bird do un-commanded rolls at times. Maybe one of the elevators or ailerons was binding and not leveling back out.

I think I'm going to re-cut the mount areas to get the servo arms lined up properly.

BINGO! it's all making sense now. One of the other complaints on this bird was the holes in the control arms were way too big for the clevis pins. Folks were either replacing them or modding the clevis pin for a tight fit. When in fact they were making the control problem worse. Those crafty Chinese, they had the holes too big to help the bind problem with the layout of the servos. Instead of correcting the molds.

I just went out and installed a servo in one H stab. Tack glued one of my control horns in place, 90 degrees to the hinge line, just like stock. Used a stock control rod/clevis.

Used my servo tester to run the servo full travel in both directions. Well only got one direction before the glue let go. But the problem showed! Right before the arm popped off, The Z bend on the control rod was twisted tight against the servo arm. And when I looked at the clevis it had moved! The twisting had turned the clevis slightly on the rod. Instant miss-adjustment!

Granted I will not use the stock rods/clevises, but I think I've solved the un-commanded roll problem.

So what kind of glue is best to use on this plane to keep it together? And how do you clamp the fuse while the glue dries without damaging/denting the foam? Maybe rubber bands?

Note that this is not completely unheard off to have non=perpendicular control rod setups. In many high speed models incorrect geometry is traded off for better aerodynamic setup ensuring that control rod setup is in-line with airflow thus creating less drag. In may of these high speed models the control surface movement is so small that the twisting moment of the control arm is so small that it usually has no effect. In those cases where there is binding then ball links are used to absorb this small amount of twist.

I think that the designers of the Concept X set it up this way in order to make it "appear" as if it is a fast model (though whether it is or not is personal opinion). I do agree however that the hardware provided is sub-par at best.

I also wanted to make one more comment, at least in my experience, and that is that the roll coupling on the rudder is backwards from any other model I have every flow and it is very violent. First time I tried to knife edge this model I rolled into knife using right aileron and when I fed in left rudder it violently snapped right (i.e. not left) and before I realized what had happened it had continued the roll the remaining 270 degrees to level flight. I'm not saying that rudder is responsible for all uncommanded roll instances but it wouldn't surprise me if someone instinctively fed in some rudder in a given maneuver and the unexpected response was not immediately correlated to the rudder input, just a thought.

Regards,

- Birger

Yeah, Birger something is just not right with the geometry. Won't take much to align the servos, part cut out can be used to fill in the opposite side's gap. Me, I'll give up that little bit of drag for a control alignment that's perpendicular, and doesn't cause a bind.


Khoysagk, Rubber bands will dent the foam if they are tight enough to hold the fuse together tight. And tape pulls the paint right off.

Try this instead, I've used it a lot. Shrink wrap, or if need be Handi-wrap/Saran-wrap will do. Stretch it as you wrap around the fuse, it's wide sheet will spread the load across the foam, and you'll have less chance of marring the foam.

As for glue, I've heard that Gorilla glue works. I'll be using the white version. Make sure you clean the surfaces well, and to get a better bite, I take a toothpick and poke holes into the foam after lightly sanding it. Both help give the glue more to bite into.

Originally Posted by Glacier Girl

Yeah, Birger something is just not right with the geometry. Won't take much to align the servos, part cut out can be used to fill in the opposite side's gap. Me, I'll give up that little bit of drag for a control alignment that's perpendicular, and doesn't cause a bind.


Khoysagk, Rubber bands will dent the foam if they are tight enough to hold the fuse together tight. And tape pulls the paint right off.

Try this instead, I've used it a lot. Shrink wrap, or if need be Handi-wrap/Saran-wrap will do. Stretch it as you wrap around the fuse, it's wide sheet will spread the load across the foam, and you'll have less chance of marring the foam.

As for glue, I've heard that Gorilla glue works. I'll be using the white version. Make sure you clean the surfaces well, and to get a better bite, I take a toothpick and poke holes into the foam after lightly sanding it. Both help give the glue more to bite into.

I have saran wrap. Gotta look into the shrink wrap. Sorry, I don't have any experience yet gluing foam planes together. What do you use for the wing halfs? Just put some weights on them while the glue dries? I have been using the white gorilla glue a few times, that stuff sure expands. I wonder how Epoxy would work.

Epoxy would work, though a little on the heavy side. Same prep required to get a good bond.

As for the wings, take a look at them, they are tabbed to fit together pretty well. You could use tape on the part that is hidden in the fuse, after removing the paint.

I think I'll just use T pins on the tab areas to hold it together.

Can't get a good look at mine right now, I have em jigged and clamped to put some washout in the wing tips.

One other thing, if memory serves me regular CA was advised to use to glue the parts together. Well just my experience, I took two pieces of scrap from some of the modding I did, and applied CA to em. Used a spring clamp to hold em tight and left it sit overnight.
Didn't take much at all to pull the pieces apart the next day.

That's why I like GG. It only takes a tiny bit and you get a good bond, and little excess foaming to clean up. Plus like I said with the holes poked into the foam, the GG expands into those holes and the little crevices much better then a layer of epoxy or CA.

Originally Posted by Glacier Girl

Epoxy would work, though a little on the heavy side. Same prep required to get a good bond.

As for the wings, take a look at them, they are tabbed to fit together pretty well. You could use tape on the part that is hidden in the fuse, after removing the paint.

I think I'll just use T pins on the tab areas to hold it together.

Can't get a good look at mine right now, I have em jigged and clamped to put some washout in the wing tips.

One other thing, if memory serves me regular CA was advised to use to glue the parts together. Well just my experience, I took two pieces of scrap from some of the modding I did, and applied CA to em. Used a spring clamp to hold em tight and left it sit overnight.
Didn't take much at all to pull the pieces apart the next day.

That's why I like GG. It only takes a tiny bit and you get a good bond, and little excess foaming to clean up. Plus like I said with the holes poked into the foam, the GG expands into those holes and the little crevices much better then a layer of epoxy or CA.

T-pins? Man I'm such a noob.
I do like the white GG, even if you get squeeze out it's easy to sand or cut away. What I don't like about it is that you have to work fast because it starts to "foam" fairly quick. I like to take my time to make sure everything is lined up right.

Mix some white glue with it to slow down the foam action.

what kind of white glue?