Tore the rudder this morning flying off grass. Funny thing was that i did not notice this immediately and kept flying. But i was commenting to myself that the back end was really loose. Duh!
No big deal, a couple of CA hinges will take short work repairs. To prevent future issues, i thought of putting a small foam block at the end of the tail just shy of the rudder. Should not affect water control, not sure about on the field. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by teckbot

Tore the rudder this morning flying off grass. Funny thing was that i did not notice this immediately and kept flying. But i was commenting to myself that the back end was really loose. Duh!
No big deal, a couple of CA hinges will take short work repairs. To prevent future issues, i thought of putting a small foam block at the end of the tail just shy of the rudder. Should not affect water control, not sure about on the field. Any thoughts?

thanks for pointing that out! I do a lot of grass landings and my rudder hinge is half missing

I'll be adding a small plastic wedge from a pair used to protect lower wing tips from ground strikes. Have one on the Seamaster and built one from lite ply for the Polaris. This also protects the tail when operating from hard surfaces. Once worn it's easily replaced.

Originally Posted by Model Aero

If you are running the recommended 2810-9 motor and it won't take off then you have a problem, most likely with the battery or possibly the prop on backwards. If you have a amp meter it would be most helpful to check the amp draw and wattage under power. With a decent battery you should be getting over 300 watts, which is more than adequate for spirited performance. There is no reason to hand launch this or any other Polaris.

Once you confirm the power output, then you need to check the CG and make sure it's on the fuselage step as illustrated in the build guide.

The motor has 2 degrees down thrust built in to the airframe. Left or right thrust is not needed.

Scott

I bought the complete kit with recommended motor. Using a newer 2200mah 3S (Turnigy nano-tech) which work great on my other planes. Up to about 1/2 throttle, the motor has good power, but nothing additional over 70%. The blade is definitely installed correctly. Not certain if I should look at programming the ESC differently. I will unfortunately not be able to play with it for about a week. I might try the 2 blade prop.

Originally Posted by gi1mo2

I bought the complete kit with recommended motor. Using a newer 2200mah 3S (Turnigy nano-tech) which work great on my other planes. Up to about 1/2 throttle, the motor has good power, but nothing additional over 70%. The blade is definitely installed correctly. Not certain if I should look at programming the ESC differently. I will unfortunately not be able to play with it for about a week. I might try the 2 blade prop.

Try an ESC calibration:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...ostcount=21334

Originally Posted by gatorb8

thanks for pointing that out! I do a lot of grass landings and my rudder hinge is half missing

to fix, I inserted a small CA Radio South hinge!
thanks again for pointing that out!

Originally Posted by gatorb8

This was an experiment on iPad
filmed on my Panosonic cam in HD
loaded into the iPad
edited, rendered, and uploaded to vimeo with iMovie
I did run into a 50MB size limit on Verizon so I uploaded with wifi
was hoping to be able to do this all at the field, seems like that will be limited to 50 MB and slightly less video quality

https://vimeo.com/65500927

The video looked really good.

One thing it demonstrates is how nicely the model lands if you have smooth elevator control. That means good piloting skills AND accurate servo and linkage AND the right throws and expo AND correct CG. The poor landings we see at the field and on videos are nearly always due to lack of one or more of these factors.

What sort of control settings do you use?

Originally Posted by Daedalus66

The video looked really good.

One thing it demonstrates is how nicely the model lands if you have smooth elevator control. That means good piloting skills AND accurate servo and linkage AND the right throws and expo AND correct CG. The poor landings we see at the field and on videos are nearly always due to lack of one or more of these factors.

What sort of control settings do you use?

actually , I thought I blew those landings....usually I grease them!
I'll have to look up my settings and let ya know.
Many Polaris pilots seem to land to hot, I like to throttle down and let it settle into a glide path and just manage the elevator.

Originally Posted by gatorb8

actually , I thought I blew those landings....usually I grease them!
I'll have to look up my settings and let ya know.
Many Polaris pilots seem to land to hot, I like to throttle down and let it settle into a glide path and just manage the elevator.

One man's grease is another man's bounce.

Originally Posted by Daedalus66

Good ideas. As for the servos, sealing where the cable comes out is very important. The only problem I've ever had with water in a servo resulted from pooling around the servo cable exit. The water seeped in over a couple of weeks and next time I flew the rudder went hard over and caused a crash. I now do two things: seal the cable with Goop or similar, and make sure the water can't collect around the servo bottom (the problem was that I had sealed down the rear fuselage top, making a pocket for water just where the servo bottom poked through the wing).

Note that the problem was not the electronics as such but the feedback pot, which I had to take apart and clean. I don't think you can treat the pot with CorrosionX, so you just have to keep the servo properly sealed.

Murphy is ubiquitous.

The above issue took out my Polaris on the 3rd flight off water. Apparently, water seeped in thru the pushrod tubes and water pooled in the rudder servo pocket, drowning the servo. The white lithium grease I used to seal the pushrod tubes washed away, allowing water to seep in. Just like the quote above, the rudder went hard over making the plane uncontrollable and crashed - destroying the plane.
New PU is in the mail. This time I'll seal the servo wires to the servo case, seal pushrod tubes with heat shrink tubing and vaseline, and monitor the wetness of the internal paper towels after every flight off water.

Live and learn,
Tony

sorry to hear that...
I use vaseline on the pushrods to seal and line the internal cavity floor with rolled up papertowl to keep water from pooling. I then cover everything in front and rear cavities with papertowels before putting covers on. After flying in rough water, I have to replace the wet papertowels.

Originally Posted by gatorb8

sorry to hear that...
I use vaseline on the pushrods to seal and line the internal cavity floor with rolled up papertowl to keep water from pooling. I then cover everything in front and rear cavities with papertowels before putting covers on. After flying in rough water, I have to replace the wet papertowels.

So your line of defense (after the vaseline) is to absorb the water BEFORE it finds its way down alongside the rudder & aileron servos and pools at the bottom of the servo pockets - eventually drowning the servo.
It sure would be nice if a passageway was molded into the fuse halves that would connect the bottom of the servo pockets to the deep area behind the canopy. The passageway would allow the water that found its way alongside the servos to harmlessly flow to the deepest area where it would do no harm and easily absorbed up by a paper towel placed in the "bilge".

first line of defense: vaseline
second: papertowels
third: don't fly on windy rough water days
forth: CorrosionX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fifth: order another PU!

Originally Posted by gatorb8

first line of defense: vaseline
second: papertowels
third: don't fly on windy rough water days
forth: CorrosionX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fifth: order another PU!

Along with all the above I intend to seal the servo wire openings in the servo cases as well. 2nd PU will be here monday.
Tony

On my Gemini flying boat I filled the servo wells with urethane glue to keep water from getting under the servos. In that case, the servos are on the top of the wing and are always getting splashed.

http://www.modelracing.it/immagini/3123.jpg