P.S. to Post 2198.
Slow progress with this model I'm afraid ... ... But I've now trial assembled the tail feathers to the fuselage, and tightened everything up, to double check the incidence angle of the tailplane that I was originally concerned about ... in relation to the fuselage's horiz. datum which is in line with the Battery Shelf.

However, when screwed down tight, what I originally thought would be an overall positive tailplane incidence ... i.e. a negative angle of attack ... was actually cancelled out, and will therefore not require the LE to be packed up to give zero incidence. The foam obviously compressed enough with the underside of the foam tailplane conforming to the shape of the moulded tailplane platform better than anticipated before assembly.

So the people who designed the Phoenix seem to have got that part right, which is good I 'spose.

Pity about the motor mount though, which I've now fixed, as noted in my earlier post ... and I can still actually use the motor mounting screws supplied in the kit of parts because my new ply firewall thickness is 1/8" (3mm)

I think I've also worked out a simple bottom hinge for the Rudder too, which may be able to be made demountable with the rest of the tail assembly.
Although I 'spose it wouldn't really matter if it was permanent, because it's probably, and quite likely to be cheaper to buy a whole new P2K for spare foam parts if required.
I don't think the P2K's you-beaut, plastic fantastic fuselage is likely to ever get damaged. And ... even then, I'm not even sure if individual spares are available if something gets broken anyway?

Will keep you posted on further progress ... at a snails pace unfortunately ...

Daffy.

Kia ora Sarge,
Sorry to hear about your prang. Its all a learning curve...even for those of us who think we know what we are doing.
Keep your eye on the Hobbyking site they sometime have the kit for the Phoenix at a real good price.
It gets to the stage that even though this is very fixable, you get all reminiscient for that pristine look.
Carrington Rd eh....had friends up the top. Also met some old friends of frieinds from Lepperton who were over for a holiday last week.
One good thing about New Plymouth, lots of hill choices.
The tape on the front wing leading edge is for when you land in the longer grass ( and small bushes ). Also nicely hides up the sparkle and bog repairs...when it gets too scruffy off it pulls and you put on a new lot.

Cheers
Tony

Lost my P2K this weekend. Since I don't have a lot left of it I can only make my best guess. I think the elevator linkage disconnected in flight.

After about three 10 to 15 minute flights and one good launch, the poor fellow just pointed to the ground and went in a straight line at about 10 degrees off vertical. It hit asphalt which didn't help in the piece count. It all happened too fast to be sure but I think I did have aileron control so I didn't loose radio link.

I was suprised how loud it screams in a steep fast dive. It got a lot of attention at the field. I will definitely get another one as soon as they get the bare bones version in the USA warehouse. And... I did replace all of the clevis's on the poor fellow but I think I'll go one step further on the next one.

To make a long story short..... Poo

Originally Posted by bamoore01

Lost my P2K this weekend. Since I don't have a lot left of it I can only make my best guess. I think the elevator linkage disconnected in flight.

After about three 10 to 15 minute flights and one good launch, the poor fellow just pointed to the ground and went in a straight line at about 10 degrees off vertical. It hit asphalt which didn't help in the piece count. It all happened too fast to be sure but I think I did have aileron control so I didn't loose radio link.

I was suprised how loud it screams in a steep fast dive. It got a lot of attention at the field. I will definitely get another one as soon as they get the bare bones version in the USA warehouse. And... I did replace all of the clevis's on the poor fellow but I think I'll go one step further on the next one.

To make a long story short..... Poo

If something like that ever happens again, here are some action plans you can try.

1) Go full flaps if you have flaps. They will slow the glider and can have an elevator type effect. I have seen glider pilots fly their gliders using flaps when the elevator failed.

2) Full rudder will divert the path of the plane and might even take it into a climb which will kill the speed. It can also put the glider into a flat spin which again could kill the speed and reduce the damage.

I once launched my Radian without connecting the elevator. Flew it on the rudder alone and landed it just fine. This works well on a R/E glider, not as well on an aileron glider.

Grrr..

While carrying the wings i accidentally grabed them by one of the inner ailerons and it ripped half in the hinge line...

Any advise to rehinge this?

I use clear packing tape to replace, repair, or reinforce foam hinges. It helps to clean the area with rubbing alcohol.

It worked in the CloudsFly where it hinges at top of the surface.. but the Phoenix has the problem of hinging "in the middle" and having way irregular hinge area so scotch tape doesnt work .. same problem as i had with the HawkFighter

Originally Posted by aeajr

If something like that ever happens again, here are some action plans you can try.

1) Go full flaps if you have flaps. They will slow the glider and can have an elevator type effect. I have seen glider pilots fly their gliders using flaps when the elevator failed.

2) Full rudder will divert the path of the plane and might even take it into a climb which will kill the speed. It can also put the glider into a flat spin which again could kill the speed and reduce the damage.

I once launched my Radian without connecting the elevator. Flew it on the rudder alone and landed it just fine. This works well on a R/E glider, not as well on an aileron glider.

Yea, I kinda thought about all this kind of stuff after. During was just a screaming streak in the sky. Happened way too fast.

Hello,

when building ultrabatics very light glider, there is now a tendency to cover EPP or EPO wings with laminated films. See for exemple http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...4&postcount=25 (There must be better links somewhere)

I plan to test it on my new phoenix. If someone tested beforehand, the experience mith be valuable

ztrem

I finally installed my new Turnigy 2836 motor. I hooked up the watt meter and it seemed to read fine up to half throttle or so. Then I ran it up to 100% throttle to see what it would read and the motor mount started breaking/coming lose and I got bad vibrations.

So now I have to put a fiberglass sheet on the nose again or completely rip out that plastic motor mount and put in a a self made one made out of wood or something and then fiberglass it in.

Originally Posted by HoosierGuy

I finally installed my new Turnigy 2836 motor. I hooked up the watt meter and it seemed to read fine up to half throttle or so. Then I ran it up to 100% throttle to see what it would read and the motor mount started breaking/coming lose and I got bad vibrations.

So now I have to put a fiberglass sheet on the nose again or completely rip out that plastic motor mount and put in a a self made one made out of wood or something and then fiberglass it in.

HoosierGuy ... Check out my mod for this grossly over stressed part of the P2K.
Read post 2187 for my fix which has proved to be far stronger than that paper thin moulded-in plastic firewall, despite the inclusion of the grossly inadequate, and worse thanuseless extra parts in the kit.

If this mod. fails I'll eat the fuselage ... and that stupid Rudder too, with it's woefully designed lack of a lower hinge, which I've also now corrected with a little thought and butchery to the back end of the fuselage.

However, suffice it to say, my motor mount mod is good and strong, which, with your more powerful motor it obviously isn't!
Just remember that most, in fact just about all, glues do not work on the plastic fuselage, and the contact cement glue I used to hold the inner former in place, is really only to hold it in place until the actual outer ply former/motor mount is screwed to it with the four small 4g self-tappers through that woefully thin plastic firewall, and into the inner ply former to form a ply/plastic/ply sandwich, which will now be adequately strong, being now somewhere over 1/4" (6mm) thick, although the motor is actually mounted against the outer 1/8" (3mm) motor mount, as noted in my earlier post.
I hope this earier post repeated may help.

And I also suggest you consider modifying the back end too, with the woeful lack of that lower hinge too, in order to make the Rudder control effective, which, in standard form it definitely is not!
I'll advise you of how I effected my Rudder hinge mod. method if there is sufficient interest from you, or other P2K assemblers.
Daffy.

For now I'd like to give a quick summary of what I think of this aircraft ...

All in all ... I would not recommend the P2K as supplied and rigged to anyone either new to flying e-sailplanes, or even those more experienced not prepared to spend a considerable amount of time modifying the airframe, as well as binning the supplied Motor, ESC ... and the clevises, in particular, which are a disgrace, and totally inadequate for safe usage in any model.

Even the rest of the included e-flight gear in the PNP version are at best of dubious quality, directly related to the price of the model.

However, some flyers have, after correcting the obvious faults in the P2K as supplied, either PNP or ARF ... which version I'd definitely NOT recommend ... have eventually found that the P2K can be a very good flying e-sailplane.
So it has some potential.
Knowing what I know now about this model though, I would not have bought it in the first place. Too much work and time required to make it a viable, and more importantly, a safe aircraft.
This is solely MHO, and others may think differently.
I will continue to persevere with my ARF version though, and hope it'll be worth it!
At least it's keeping my thinking cap on, fixing the obvious faults in it.
The only positive is the basic price, I suppose. But even then you really just get what you pay for!
Daffy.

P.S. for HoosierGuy ... Despite my scathing criticism in my last post.... check out my post 219, which may explain my motor mount mod a little better.
May help ... Won't hurt! .
Daffy.

Sorry that should read Post 2198. ... Finger trouble, I sometimes dislike i-Pads!!!
Daffy.

Originally Posted by Little Black Duck

<snip>
And I also suggest you consider modifying the back end too, with the woeful lack of that lower hinge too, in order to make the Rudder control effective, which, in standard form it definitely is not!
I'll advise you of how I effected my Rudder hinge mod. method if there is sufficient interest from you, or other P2K assemblers.
Daffy.

I'm interested as I am building my P2K now.

Ted