Originally Posted by crossup

You're having a problem with tightness is because your rudder control horns don't come forward to the hinge line. Think of it this way: you want the hinge to be the axle or pivot and the control horn eyes or holes need to draw a straight line from hole thru the pivot or hinge and the other hole.

Yes, you are absoluetly right. I should've studied my Extreme Flight YAK54e to understand this a bit better. I'll see what I can do to correct the problem. You warned about this before but I guess I didnt fully understand the mechanism and now it makes a ton of sense.

Popped over to wally world on my lunch break and picked up the braided variety of SpiderWire. I think this is also going to make a positive difference. Live and learn. Hopefully no more n00b mistakes!

I've used Power Pro(better than Spiderwire IMO) on my smaller foamies but decided to use light gauge braided fishing wire/crimps on this heavier bird. Had the same problem of making it too tight. Loosened up on both wires and that fixed the problem. I'd do a photo for you but my friend "borrowed" my Clik for the week so I don't have it right now. Pull-pulls are great you just have to get used to them and make sure as was mentioned to have your horns angled over the hinge line. You're almost done -nice job!

Originally Posted by ToxicToast

Yes, you are absoluetly right. I should've studied my Extreme Flight YAK54e to understand this a bit better. I'll see what I can do to correct the problem. You warned about this before but I guess I didnt fully understand the mechanism and now it makes a ton of sense.

Popped over to wally world on my lunch break and picked up the braided variety of SpiderWire. I think this is also going to make a positive difference. Live and learn. Hopefully no more n00b mistakes!

Hmmmm, got my Medusa today and toss it on the Clik...415watts in off my 3S2P setup
Looks like I'm gonna have to push it a bit..motor is burst rated 42A and I'm pullin' 35A
WOT. That would get me right at 500w in...pretty stout for a 104 gram motor
Unfortunately somewhere along the line I've lost the shaft circlip(either in flight or in my bedroom, either is pretty much hopeless ) and spacer so the shaft tried to pull out as I hit full throttle, so prop testing is on hold till I come up with a replacement. 4mm shaft so thats about .160" not a nice american size..

It's always the small parts that keep us out of the air More power is mo' bettah!

Originally Posted by crossup

Hmmmm, got my Medusa today and toss it on the Clik...415watts in off my 3S2P setup
Looks like I'm gonna have to push it a bit..motor is burst rated 42A and I'm pullin' 35A
WOT. That would get me right at 500w in...pretty stout for a 104 gram motor
Unfortunately somewhere along the line I've lost the shaft circlip(either in flight or in my bedroom, either is pretty much hopeless ) and spacer so the shaft tried to pull out as I hit full throttle, so prop testing is on hold till I come up with a replacement. 4mm shaft so thats about .160" not a nice american size..

Got the 44" pull pull elevator and rudder assembly finished. Went with HS65HBs for these and 30lb braided spiderwire. Did some nifty mounting with custom ply servo plates just to get it a bit more tidy. They are easily removeable and feel solid. The pull pull is working great!

Thanks for the fishing hook solution, FlyBoy. That worked really well!

Your reinforcement spots are about dead on. I was waiting for mine to fail so I could identify the stress points for the next version. I'll post some pics of the areas that should be addressed as soon as my plane finds it's way back to my hanger. I usually would have gone ahead and reinforced ahead of time but thought I would rather see where the cracks would show up first. Yup, after about 40 flights they showed up! Keep up the good work, you'll be tossing it up soon

More test flights tomorrow but initial impression looks good, I switched to a 14.5x4 Graupner CAM prop and was very surprised to see my amp draw go DOWN compared to a APC 12x6 . Pretty surprising for a supposed 950KV motor
She is now only pulling 30-31A for 315-330amps but seem to be moving a ton more air which one would expect going up 2.5" in diameter. It seemed like, seat of the pants, she might cruise at 8-9 amps or so which would give me pretty good endurance

Mounted aileron servos and linkages tonight. Threw it on the scale and it came in at 486g (17.11oz).

When I add the weight of the motor and ESC it comes to 629g(22.19oz). This means that without the battery, I'm very close to the 22-24oz guess target I set out with. AUW with battery and firewall is going to push it to probably 28oz.

Getting a bit chubby so I am hoping that it will still fly on the Scorpion I picked out!

I guess its harder than it looks to keep these big birds light...I'm already thinking of V2 improvements...I think I could easily cut 8-12 oz out of mine now that I've built one and have a feel for stresses etc
HHEHE, just had an inspiraton.. my scale only goes to 500 gram.. just over a pound but I can weight my plane by weighting say three points.. wing tips and tail and add the result...be right back

Okey, looks like I'm a bit overweight too...34oz w/o battery RTF so 39-44oz is my AUW depending on battery
So as always extra weight adds up quick, my full size servos are 2+oz too much the fiberglass mount I used for the motor could be replaced with the X mount..maybe .25oz saved also Using plastic control horns and steel screws instead of 1/32 ply or CF

I think a lot of weight could be saved by using 3mm skins instead of the 1mm I used and then use a much more lightened core...thats cause the 1mm weigths 2/3rds as much as the 3mm but is less than 30% as strong so in mine the core is the strong part
which is arse backwards

Got 'r dun.

Well, almost. Mounted motor, battery and SFGs tonight. Going to give it a toss tomorrow, hope I don't dork it on the first try.

The only thing left is some bracing, but that shouldnt stop a test flight in the morning. With the .22 CF tubing in both wing and fuse, there really isnt too much flex. The tail and rudder have some flex and give but I'm not planning on doing anything violent maneuverwise yet.

Got a beautiful calm morning in a few hours, just gotta get a few hours of sleep and then we'll know if it survives the first flight!

AUW: 30.69oz, 820g. Not too bad, not sure if the thrust is up for the job though.

Good luck in the AM. Hope all goes well, mine needs a little power on landing so make sure you've got a little speed. And the rudder can be toned down as well, it's got uber authority! Just a few things I've learned on mine. And the good thing to remember is: it's only foam! My 2 cent deposit.

Originally Posted by ToxicToast

Got 'r dun.

Well, almost. Mounted motor, battery and SFGs tonight. Going to give it a toss tomorrow, hope I don't dork it on the first try.

The only thing left is some bracing, but that shouldnt stop a test flight in the morning. With the .22 CF tubing in both wing and fuse, there really isnt too much flex. The tail and rudder have some flex and give but I'm not planning on doing anything violent maneuverwise yet.

Got a beautiful calm morning in a few hours, just gotta get a few hours of sleep and then we'll know if it survives the first flight!

AUW: 30.69oz, 820g. Not too bad, not sure if the thrust is up for the job though.

Maiden went flawless, CG was perfect right at the carbon spar line. Power was good, not phenomenal but it did hover on a fresh pack w/50% throttle. Gotta say, this is a phenomenal design the slow beautiful and highly controllable flight was amazing! Very little trimming needed to get things going straight and true. Tracknig was just the best I have ever had. This NEEDS to be a kit if the price can be kept low enough. My throws on the elev and aileron could use a bit more at the low rates but otherwise it was such a joy. At about 8min I brought it down gently and tried to un-puck :O Temps on motor, battery and ESC were all mild, probably around 110-115 degrees.

Second flight, I tossed it and handed it to Gator Greg, FB extrodinaire, so I could take some photos. He was so thrilled about the flight characteristics. We all flew it conservatively with some hovers and knife edges but nothing to fancy. At about 6min in, he handed the controls back to me and I flew it for a few min more. I could feel the power drop a bit so I decided to start setting up a landing.

Just one more hover, please! 15' off the ground I pointed it skyward and gave it throttle. It hovered then suddenly the soft cutoff was kicked in and it nosed down quickly and didnt have the room to pull out and it dorked pretty badly. Broken prop, firewall pulled out and damaged the supports, fuse cracked at the rear of the canopy and some distortion and cracks on the horizontal at that same area. Sigh. It will be repaired but wont be as pretty and may not be as true as before.

Oh and I really didnt feel like the force and power used justified bracing but there is some flex on the rudder/elevator line that may be a little problematic at higher speeds only.

Great design, great idea. Thanks David K and edf!!!

Alrighty then! Too bad it got banged up. It's a foamie so I'm sure you'll be able to repair it and on the next one make some more improvements. Yes they do need to kit a Clik XL. I'm sure if David gets enough requests he might consider it. I quess his factory is doing all it can to keep up with all the other planes they produce. But in the meantime, we're having fun!

Originally Posted by ToxicToast

Maiden went flawless, CG was perfect right at the carbon spar line. Power was good, not phenomenal but it did hover on a fresh pack w/50% throttle. Gotta say, this is a phenomenal design the slow beautiful and highly controllable flight was amazing! Very little trimming needed to get things going straight and true. Tracknig was just the best I have ever had. This NEEDS to be a kit if the price can be kept low enough. My throws on the elev and aileron could use a bit more at the low rates but otherwise it was such a joy. At about 8min I brought it down gently and tried to un-puck :O Temps on motor, battery and ESC were all mild, probably around 110-115 degrees.

Second flight, I tossed it and handed it to Gator Greg, FB extrodinaire, so I could take some photos. He was so thrilled about the flight characteristics. We all flew it conservatively with some hovers and knife edges but nothing to fancy. At about 6min in, he handed the controls back to me and I flew it for a few min more. I could feel the power drop a bit so I decided to start setting up a landing.

Just one more hover, please! 15' off the ground I pointed it skyward and gave it throttle. It hovered then suddenly the soft cutoff was kicked in and it nosed down quickly and didnt have the room to pull out and it dorked pretty badly. Broken prop, firewall pulled out and damaged the supports, fuse cracked at the rear of the canopy and some distortion and cracks on the horizontal at that same area. Sigh. It will be repaired but wont be as pretty and may not be as true as before.

Oh and I really didnt feel like the force and power used justified bracing but there is some flex on the rudder/elevator line that may be a little problematic at higher speeds only.

Great design, great idea. Thanks David K and edf!!!

I love the standard Clik, so thought I would give an XL (46") version a try. Build from 10mm EPP, AUW is 700g (25oz) with an 1800mah pack.

Lousy wind is stopping me from maidening.