Thank you Killer Vtwin

remember all that fuss to get the plane .. waited 3 months.. then came and itws badly treated?? oh well.. it's UNBUILDABLE...


The wing with the fuse does not match and i's so compressed it's impossible to fix.. unbelievable.. I did everything prepared everything and on the dry fit.. there was no fit.. we are talking about an INCh or a tad less to align the wing with the upper intakes..

this project is off. :/ I'm left with the ps only..

Thanks to Pavcon and Jason for the landing tips. I think I'm being overly cautious about stall speed... the plane "looks" fast so it seems like it shouldn't be able to fly very slowly. I'll try your suggestions.

Thanks to Jason for the awesome pics and notes about installing the retracts. This info will be really helpful.

Brad

Originally Posted by FresnoJay

Ok so here is the beginning of the posts with the pics. There are 16 pics and in each I will give the best description I can of what was done. If I miss anything or if anyone wants clarification just ask. As stated before I am using the EFlite 10-15 Servoless gear. Please before you do any cutting, chopping, dremeling read all posts as for whatever reason they have cut off half of what I typed. Ask if you have questions. This took me the better part of a day to do because of the snags I ran into.

Jason

Looks great!

Sorry to hear about that Pavcon. I would just find a way to make it fit. Sandpaper and spare foam go a long way .

Thanks for the compliment guys. I finally have her back together after messing with the reversed servo and trying to fine tune the fan some more. I think I made it worst but its still flyable just irritating.

Jason

nothing can be done. Believe me. I work with foam alot.. This is not worth the time.
I will most probably sell the kit to someone who alrd has the meteor ans also sell the power system and the retract kit. I really wanted to see this running on a meteor. I know someone who has 2 extra kits. If hes selling one of his i will buy it and build it. But i assume he wont be selling it and eventually i will sell him my powersystem and the two 5s packs

Here is my "Easy and cheap, HobbyKing" retracts for Meteor method....

1) Buy 2 x 5094 eTracts (2 x $6.27)
2) Buy 1 x STTE-03 steerable nose eTract (1 x $12.99)
So the total cost is about $25....

I used the existing main gear struts, cut down and bent to suit the needs.
The nose gear comes with a strut, so that just needs cutting and bending.
The stock wheels are great for grass so I kept those on it too.

I was going to take out the plastic main gear mounts and use plywood, but they are so strong I just dremelled them to take the etracts! Very quick and easy to do. Also demelling the foam for the etract depth and the wheel wells as required. Each side probably took 20 mins.

The nose gear is a much bigger task (an hour approx), but still not too hard. Removing the existing gear plastic panel and again some dremelling to keep the front portion of it (cut in half just after the screws so you still get three mounting screws), and having the opening to mount the nose gear down into. I used a "U" piece of 3mm plywood to hold the etract and when the existing plastic mount is dremelled to fit the etract through it, that gives the "square hole" down into the body at that same time which forms an "edge/ridge" that the plywood mount will sit on. Then a bit more of a horizontal slot cut down in the body to take the plywood "U", because it is longer than just the "square etract hole" that was cut out, and which then gets epoxied in.
You have to use a spacer (2mm) between the plywood and the etract, so the wire leg comes to rest just against it when it is retracted. Otherwise it will hit the ply before it gets to be horizontal and locked.

I have not put in the "pull pull" steering yet, as I am investigating other ideas for it. The servo will be central and inverted, some short distance ahead of the battery tray front end. So the arm will be 'down' and close to the nose leg when it is retracted.
I also don't like the huge open area at the nose wheel, so I will try to work out some nose gear door, controlled by spring and cable so it operates automatically with the retracting nose-gear leg. Or a small 5g servo if I have to. I have a gear/door sequencer lying around but prefer not to have to use that.

Hi there,

Anybody have any extra plastic halves that hold the rudder?

I got my meteor used and they glued them together.

I have to break them to change my elevator servo...

Thanks in advance

John L.

Originally Posted by PeterVRC

Here is my "Easy and cheap, HobbyKing" retracts for Meteor method....

1) Buy 2 x 5094 eTracts (2 x $6.27)
2) Buy 1 x STTE-03 steerable nose eTract (1 x $12.99)
So the total cost is about $25....

I used the existing main gear struts, cut down and bent to suit the needs.
The nose gear comes with a strut, so that just needs cutting and bending.
The stock wheels are great for grass so I kept those on it too.

I was going to take out the plastic main gear mounts and use plywood, but they are so strong I just dremelled them to take the etracts! Very quick and easy to do. Also demelling the foam for the etract depth and the wheel wells as required. Each side probably took 20 mins.

The nose gear is a much bigger task (an hour approx), but still not too hard. Removing the existing gear plastic panel and again some dremelling to keep the front portion of it (cut in half just after the screws so you still get three mounting screws), and having the opening to mount the nose gear down into. I used a "U" piece of 3mm plywood to hold the etract and when the existing plastic mount is dremelled to fit the etract through it, that gives the "square hole" down into the body at that same time which forms an "edge/ridge" that the plywood mount will sit on. Then a bit more of a horizontal slot cut down in the body to take the plywood "U", because it is longer than just the "square etract hole" that was cut out, and which then gets epoxied in.
You have to use a spacer (2mm) between the plywood and the etract, so the wire leg comes to rest just against it when it is retracted. Otherwise it will hit the ply before it gets to be horizontal and locked.

I have not put in the "pull pull" steering yet, as I am investigating other ideas for it. The servo will be central and inverted, some short distance ahead of the battery tray front end. So the arm will be 'down' and close to the nose leg when it is retracted.
I also don't like the huge open area at the nose wheel, so I will try to work out some nose gear door, controlled by spring and cable so it operates automatically with the retracting nose-gear leg. Or a small 5g servo if I have to. I have a gear/door sequencer lying around but prefer not to have to use that.

well done .. simple and nice..
as fo rthe servo for the steering you can put it to the side.. no need for fuss..

Originally Posted by John Boy

Hi there,

Anybody have any extra plastic halves that hold the rudder?

I got my meteor used and they glued them together.

I have to break them to change my elevator servo...

Thanks in advance

John L.

I'm pretty sure I saw a set of plastic parts(includes the halves) in the storefront at grayson hobby a few weeks ago, dont see the on the site though, Give them a email and see if they still have it.

Originally Posted by smasher41

I'm pretty sure I saw a set of plastic parts(includes the halves) in the storefront at grayson hobby a few weeks ago, dont see the on the site though, Give them a email and see if they still have it.

You can order the whole vertical stab. It is in the spares list at the back of the manual.

Regards

Tom Watson

Originally Posted by tommywatson

You can order the whole vertical stab. It is in the spares list at the back of the manual.

Regards

Tom Watson

unless they changed it, the vertical does not include the plastic parts, infact none of the foam parts came with any plastic parts, all of them are in one bag. Ive bought a whole second meteor in parts when stock dried up on the arfs.

Pavcon, what do you mean "put it on the side"? I guess you mean with pull-pull cables and how the servo can really go almost anywhere then?

Did you see Odysis's nose-gear in the Viperjet (page 97 of that thread)? He has one solid rod for steering, but it has a pivot system to match the nose-gears pivot point so that it remains connected fine all the way through retract operation. I like that idea of the solid steering, and still having full and free retract operation.
But I would hope it could have a 'slide' sort of system that meant any steering done once it was off the 'down' position, would not actually get to turn the wheel anymore then.

The one thing I don't quite know, or understand, with pull-pull wires is how the nose wheel does not 'possibly' move off centre alignment as it retracts, and thus the wheel could be askew and hit the side of the storage hole opening. Seeing it is pretty well free-moving once the wires go slack.
So far I have made mine have slight friction in turning, so that it pretty well needs to be moved by something for it to change steering angle at all. So as long as you had the nose wheel aligned straight as the last thing before you selected to retract it.....

But to me cable systems for steering seem pretty lack-lustre in what they can do in total.

Originally Posted by PeterVRC

Pavcon, what do you mean "put it on the side"? I guess you mean with pull-pull cables and how the servo can really go almost anywhere then?

Did you see Odysis's nose-gear in the Viperjet (page 97 of that thread)? He has one solid rod for steering, but it has a pivot system to match the nose-gears pivot point so that it remains connected fine all the way through retract operation. I like that idea of the solid steering, and still having full and free retract operation.
But I would hope it could have a 'slide' sort of system that meant any steering done once it was off the 'down' position, would not actually get to turn the wheel anymore then.

The one thing I don't quite know, or understand, with pull-pull wires is how the nose wheel does not 'possibly' move off centre alignment as it retracts, and thus the wheel could be askew and hit the side of the storage hole opening. Seeing it is pretty well free-moving once the wires go slack.
So far I have made mine have slight friction in turning, so that it pretty well needs to be moved by something for it to change steering angle at all. So as long as you had the nose wheel aligned straight as the last thing before you selected to retract it.....

But to me cable systems for steering seem pretty lack-lustre in what they can do in total.

yes. that's exactly what I meant

I have that system that odyssis has in my RClander F9F Panther.
I tried to do the same in my RClander Cougar but what a mess and locks and allll sort of problems.. so I tried the pull pull for the first time.. never went back to the pivoting system since then pull pull is the easiest way to do it..

I seem to have very little elevator movement ... is this normal or have I done something wrong??