I really, really, really, miss having mechanical trim tabs on my transmitter. I hand launch my only electric right now, a PZ Gunfighter, and I wish I could zip in some up elevator for launch, and then zip it back out after launch.

I know, you can do this with the electronic trims, but it's not as fast, or easy.

The DX6i is everything I need, and more importantly, it's at the perfect price point for me. I don't want to upgrade just to get mechanical trims.

OK, rant off......LOL.

Tim

You will find almost no radios that have mechanical trims anymore, certainly none that would be considered an upgrade from the DX6i.
(JR does still use mechanical trim on the throttle)
This is the (small) price you pay for being able to pull a model off the wall after not using it for a long time and have it be still perfectly trimmed.

But with programmable radios you can often get them to do just about anything you want.
In your case, perhaps you could use a pmix and mix the gear switch into the elevator to give a bit of up ?

Pat MacKenzie

Pat,

I'm an old dog when it comes to R/C. I used to fly years ago in the 80's, so while the flying is the same, a lot of the technology is new to me. I've been back at it for about a year or so now, and the learning curve has been steep. Chargers, batteries, and ESC's, just to name a few.

I never thought to set up a mix on the gear switch. That is an awesome idea!

I'm glad I ranted, otherwise I wouldn't have found this out.

Thanks,

Tim

If you are new to mixing it can be confusing.

Looking at the manual I think you want to set it up with gear as the master and elevator as the slave. Use a rate of 0% for the direction you want no up elevator, and then a small percent in the direction you want up.

Set the mix to always be "on"

FWIW, I am not sure you actually should use up trim for a hand launch , but I will leave that for you to decide.

Pat MacKenzie

I used to hand launch .20 size high wing trainers back in the day, and a bit of up elevator really made the launch less "exciting." I gives a gentle climb while you get your hands back on the transmitter.

When I look back on those days, it seems so backwards, but I guess that was the best technology we had back then. I still don't miss holding a loud, smelly, two stroke that's pumping out castor oil on the fuse and wings, and trying to hand launch it before it turns into a greased pig in your hand....hahahaha.

Thanks for the tips.

Tim

I have my DX6i set up like this for my P-51 and Corsair.

Hand-launching tip for DX6i (1 min 40 sec)

If it's diving from launch then it sounds like it's nose heavy. If you tweak the CG gradually back you should find you don't need the up-trim any-more.

And as noted already... To find a Tx with mechanical trims you would have to downgrade substantially. All decent transmitters have digital trims these days.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I do have the CG shifted back. I am running 2200 mAh packs in it, so I did the battery compartment mod to accommodate them. I set the CG to a hair forward of neutral, and I check it every time I put a pack in the plane. For me, I don't have a lot of room to launch since I'm flying in my yard. Also, just after launch, there isn't a lot of airflow over the elevator yet, so the equivalent of 6 or 7 mechanical clicks up like back in the old days would do wonders, and make the hand launch less stressful. I love not having landing gear, and I have plenty of room to land in my yard, so the only negative for me personally is the launch.

In fact, I have been toying with the idea of upgrading the motor and ESC to give it more punch during the launch. It seems kind of silly though to spend the money for that just because of the first 5 seconds of flight. Put aside the launch phase, and I'm completely happy with the PZ Gunfighter. It has just enough speed and power once up in the air for the area I fly in. Maybe there's a prop mod to give the standard motor/ESC/battery a touch more oomph?


Hi Kid,

That is even easier than setting up a mix. Brilliant! In fact, since I don't use a neck strap(never liked using a strap), it will be perfect having it set up to a switch near the throttle since I hold the TX in my left hand to throw the plane with my right. Very simple and elegant idea to solve my issue.

Thanks,

Tim

Just make sure you dial the ele to go up, not down when you flip the switch .

I really, really, really, miss having mechanical trim tabs on my transmitter. I hand launch my only electric right now, a PZ Gunfighter, and I wish I could zip in some up elevator for launch, and then zip it back out after launch.

This was something that I had to also get used to when I got back into RC.

On my old analog Tx I would put a few clicks of up trim just before setting up for a landing on my down wind leg (just like the full scale guys). This allowed for a smooth final approach glide with very little need to ride the elev all the way in.

I'd leave the trim setting alone and the next flight the plane would just about take off on it's own and have a nice gentle climb out, then re-trim once I got to altitude.

I really missed the feel of the clicking trim tabs. But now days I just give it three quick beeps of up trim. Had to re-train myself to using sound instead of feel.
Now it feels way more accurate.

tim13 morning i have a dx 7 i mix gear to elv. on all my hand lu planes 19% flip switch on & off! 10% is good ror alarge loop on my st blaze. harold h.

A little update here.

First off, I figured out why it's been so dog gonned tough to hand launch this bird. Turns out, my flying weather has been too good! I've been flying all of my flights with no wind. Today, I had about a 10KT wind blowing, and launching was no problem.

Secondly, I'd like to report on the flap switch deal. I set my flap switch to give 15% up elevator for the launch. Turns out, for me anyhow, this is a bit too much. I reset it to 10%, and it's perfect. Now, I'll give the caveat here that I did the battery compartment mod, so the plane isn't as nose heavy as the stock setup. I currently run the CG just a touch forward of neutral. The model almost balances level. Since I fly in my "backyard", this rear shifted CG helps me turn on a dime, and keep it away from the neighbors.

Tim

Not shur why you think you cant do quick trim changes i use a dx7 and fly a stryker 4 clicks of up launch and 4 down after how much easyer does it get? Dx 6 cheeper but you give up a lot. Mixing, model memory. Digital sub trims. I could never go back. You can get a dx 7 for 140 all day on rc groups. But to each his own.

Originally Posted by Tim13

I never thought to set up a mix on the gear switch. That is an awesome idea!

Another idea...if the radio has a trainer switch, disable it, and set up the mix on that. That way you can just hold it down for launch, then just let go when ready...and you never have to worry about resetting it for the next flight.

I used to have an old discus launch glider set up like this (except that the mix was on the rudder instead of the elevator). Worked great.

I like my DX6I, never gonna luv it. agree with not havingwhat you want. I learned to live with it.