Anyone have any problems attaching the rudder? I just did a test fit and it seems i will have to trim the lower part to get it to fit properly. Instructions are basically useless, I have searched the thread and not found anything so thought i would ask. thanks

Originally Posted by Jeebs77

Anyone have any problems attaching the rudder? I just did a test fit and it seems i will have to trim the lower part to get it to fit properly.

I remember thinking that it wasn't going to fit at the time, but when actually installed it fits perfectly. It's deceptive because of the angle.

Thanks Maca55 I took a closer look and it does indeed fit ok. since the control horn is on the lower part what is the best way to hinge the lower part since I am pretty sure you will have a much more positive rudder response??? or maybe it is a non-issue??? great thread here for those of us building.

Originally Posted by invenext

It was the kit version, came with motor/prop only. Didn't use them. I got it from Dino Direct.

I'm using a turnigy 3000 mAh 3S battery, 25C if I remember right.

It did indeed only require a little glue to repair. I did lose a tiny chunk of foam by the aft wing screw, but it isn't significant enough to worry about fixing. (it's covered by the plastic piece)

You are sure the battery is 3000mAh?
The hobbyking suggests 1300-1800mAh.
How can such a big difference? the battery is too heavy? (the glider has too much weight in front?)
The esc (besc) and the servos?
Wich you install?
thx

Well ... saturday i "maidened" the phoenix with its new configuration in the 9X radio ..


Save for a trim problem (it wanted to nose down and the progressive trim made it hard to find a nice neutral point, but that was solved later) and the weird day (some might renember my review in a low wind day where the Phoenix glided on aparently nothing or next to nothing slope lift... saturday was for some reason the total oposite.. the Phoenix was totally unable to find lift.. to the point of droping in a 4:1 like droping ratio ... even with a light breeze there was simply no lift.. tought i dont blame the phoenix for this.. i have seem this phenomena before in this slope.. there is days when its like lift simply doesnt exist even with some breeze blowing into the slope).

The 4 ailerons worked nice... i have to make more testing but i managed to do a couple of rolls without much effort.. i setup them so the inner flaps "copy" 50% of the outter ailerons movement (thats recomended for wide gliders).. and despite using 80% downtravel with respect up travel i think i might use a bit more differential... tought probably not since was allready turning ok

the problem came when under motor it developed a extrange noise..

landed (butterfly works nice ) and found that the exterior metal firewall had came loose of 2 screws and was a bit separated so the motor was a bit loose..

not any real damage but scary non the less..

looking forward to fix this and continue with configurations

Next programming im thinking in using the throotle stick so its motor from half to up and deploy the butterfly from half to bottom

3000mAh is way too heavy for this plane, IMHO, given that it's possible to wring ~6min of powered flight - but not at WOT - from a 1000mA pack. If you go easy on the throttle and happen to have a slope or a thermal nearby, 1000mAh can easily be stretched beyond 10 minutes.

3000mAh would just weigh the thing down. Better to bring several smaller batteries to the field, and to enjoy more agile flight. Also, many P2Ks suffer from nose heaviness in their standard configuration. I can't imagine how far back the 3000mAh pack would need to be pushed to achieve design CG

Greetings:
I just received mine and it arrived with no damage. I ordered it from the USA warehouse on the 26th and got it today, my battery order from Hong Kong on the 19th has not arrived yet. Anyway thanks to all for the tips and as with any new pre-built model I am going through it tightening, reenforcing, making sure it is straight and square. I bought this plane as a thermal glider for a specific purpose. I already own a Goldberg Electra that is a terrific thermal 3 channel glider. But living in the Sierra Nevada foothills there is nothing but rocks, trees, and brush here, no soft hills covered by grass. My Electra is to fragile to take to some spots I like to fly. Having a 2 meter glider that is tough on landing and thermals well is going to be great! I have a Thuderbird 36 ESC that I am going use in place of the stock one because it has a 3 amp BEC. I am going to use 2 KST DS09 servos for the flaps and I don't trust the ESC for the extra load. I am definitely going to replace the clevis and maybe the pushrods as they look awful weak and bendy to me. Sorry about the picture quality as someone in my household has borrowed my camera and not returned it so I am stuck with my lousy cell camera.

sir dumb thumb is the motor area reinforcement necessary/ or is this just your preference? I am also building mine and have not had time to read the whole thread so i am probably not up to date on all the best mods. Are you going to add a carbon rod to the flaps/ or will you leave them as is? and what about gluing the wings together? necessary? Anyone else who has built one of these can chime in on the essential mods before flying as well. thanks all

Originally Posted by Jeebs77

sir dumb thumb is the motor area reinforcement necessary/ or is this just your preference? I am also building mine and have not had time to read the whole thread so i am probably not up to date on all the best mods. Are you going to add a carbon rod to the flaps/ or will you leave them as is? and what about gluing the wings together? necessary? Anyone else who has built one of these can chime in on the essential mods before flying as well. thanks all

For stock motor there is no need to reinforce the nose like that, assuming you land on the belly and not the nose! However if you do 'make the occasional leek' ie) nose-in, then the plastic will buckle and deform, so this simple mod might help hold it in shape a little. I run that tape along the areas that contact during landing and replace it when it gets ugly.

As for essential mods, I don't see why everyone cant just read the 140 pages of this thread like the rest of us!!

More seriously though, we have talked about starting a new thread to collate all the good ideas referenced throughout this one. Unfortunately there is a lot of off topic you need to wade through to get to the good stuff.

Unlike some planes it will fly nicely with no mods whatsoever. However it's durability can be improved with some simple mods. I'll try and post a couple of pics of mods I have done in the next few days.

No you don't need the nose reinforcement. I mostly fly in very rocky areas, see pictures below. The only really necessary mod is the clevis connectors. The rest is up to you. I changed the clevis and the long pushrods with 3/64 inch music wire. I changed the ESC because I added flaps, I don't think the flaps need carbon to stiffen them, but I will find out. The ESC is a weak component to start with and I added 2 servos. I don't want to find out the BEC can't handle the servos, I know the Castle Thunderbird 36 ESC will. I turned the servo tray in fuselage over so the servos would be lower and I could use Dubro #608 connectors on the servo arms, as they are adjustable. Is it necessary, no. I also skipped using the clevis connectors on the wing servos by turning them around and using the z-bend on the control horn running the short pushrod through the provided quick connector. I am not gluing my wings together. I did raise the front of the horizontal stabalizer up 1.5 mm, and I am going with 75mm for my CG to start with. For the maiden I am going to local elementary school that has a grass field.

Oh.. one thing that i see wrong with this but never renembered to check here... probably wont have much effect either.


Anyone has the problem with the soft bottom part of the rudder? i mean the part where the horn connects to the surface.. In my Phoenix since the hinged part of the rudder begins some cms above the horn and there is a good part of the rudder "in the air" down.. my rudder bottom part is constantly "deflected" to the right as the horn and pushrod moves it out since there is nothing to hold it in position and it being foam is flexible..

Originally Posted by JLT_GTI

Oh.. one thing that i see wrong with this but never renembered to check here... probably wont have much effect either.


Anyone has the problem with the soft bottom part of the rudder? i mean the part where the horn connects to the surface.. In my Phoenix since the hinged part of the rudder begins some cms above the horn and there is a good part of the rudder "in the air" down.. my rudder bottom part is constantly "deflected" to the right as the horn and pushrod moves it out since there is nothing to hold it in position and it being foam is flexible..

Yes, know the problem, exactly the same here.........I solved it by programming as little as possible rudder reflection in the tx.

Originally Posted by JLT_GTI

Anyone has the problem with the soft bottom part of the rudder? i mean the part where the horn connects to the surface.. In my Phoenix since the hinged part of the rudder begins some cms above the horn and there is a good part of the rudder "in the air" down.. my rudder bottom part is constantly "deflected" to the right as the horn and pushrod moves it out since there is nothing to hold it in position and it being foam is flexible..

Yes it is an issue. Jeebs also raised this question a few days ago. I' was expecting a few responses to his question by now. As far as I know it hasn't been covered in this thread yet, even after 140 pages - happy to be shown it has though:

Originally Posted by Jeebs77

Since the control horn is on the lower part what is the best way to hinge the lower part since I am pretty sure you will have a much more positive rudder response??? or maybe it is a non-issue???

I have seen some good sound mods to a Phoenix by Keiji in Japan. He has info in Japanese, but also informative pictures on his blog here:
http://chmoffet.blog114.fc2.com/blog-category-17.html

About 3/4 down the page you can see a hinge added to end of the fuse for the rudder. The hinge looked a little fiddly to install so I just ran a carbon strip from bottom to top of the rudder to stiffen it - curved from under horn all the way to rudder tip. This has helped rudder authority.

When I told Keiji I was lifting the Horizontal Stab and moving the CG back he warned me to stiffen the link between the sides of the elevator. On close inspection you will see that the plastic piece is very weak. Under higher loads you will find one side of the elevator moving very little as the plastic twists - not good in a fast steep dive. I replaced the plastic on the lower side (it pulls out easily) with a thick carbon strip.

You can see Keiji put a carbon strip on the top side. With the Horizontal Stab lifted, I'm sure that without the elevator strengthening mod my Phoenix would have eventually died a hard fast death.

Yeah.. one of the sollutions thay comes to my mind is adding a hinge down against the fuse .. should be easy.. make 2 cuts, one in the rudder and one in the fuselage and put there a nylon hinge well glued.

I also noticed the elevator thing .. tought not much problem in mine.. i might do the mod one day.


Now i have more "pressing" problems.. as i have to re-fit the motor bolts as 2 came loose the other day

Originally Posted by Sir Dumb Thumb

I turned the servo tray in fuselage over so the servos would be lower and I could use Dubro #608 connectors on the servo arms, as they are adjustable. .

I like this idea as it also gives more clearance for the wing servo leads.

Can you still slide an RX underneath the bottom of the servos? To get more practical battery positions I have pushed my RX all the down the tail as far as the leads will reach and the only way out is under the servos. Would be a pain to have to remove the servos to do this.