I got mine in the fall last year. Sat in my workshop all winter. When I went to take it out this spring, I grabbed it by the tail to pick it up and the stab came apart. A little glue took care of it. But if I'd maidened it when I got it I might not have noticed. Seems common enough of a problem, it's best to assume yours is a bit short of adhesive in this area and "enhance" it.

Before work maiden didn't go quite as planned. Plane flys great and here are my thoughts. Decent power on 3S so can't wait to see it on 4S. Flew slightly nose heavy as I expected for first flight with battery placement. Stalls are nice and gentle. KE had no coupling for me at all. I do think it needs more control throw all around and I will be adjusting my radio to match what I think it needs. Rolls are pretty quick but could be quicker and without more throws in the tail I couldn't get it to do a nice snap like I would like and like I have seen it do in videos. Could also be the forward CG that is affecting it a bit.

Now to the rough part. Bringing it in to land did a couple approaches to feel out the plane and it does need a little speed. Make a nice smooth touchdown but did not see the bigger rock in my path. Rock caught the right gear and basically caused the plane to do a high speed ground loop that when the gear leg bent and folded up the plane then cartwheeled causing the other damage. Will repair the gear at work today and so long as the prop adapter isn't bent then it will fly again soon. I'm thinking though the wheel pants may have to come off in favor of some slightly bigger wheels for when flying off of the grass runway at my club field.

Originally Posted by Brett_N

FYI, the horizontal stab WILL EVENTUALLY come apart if you don't glue it.

In fact, mine came apart even glued - the stupid plastic Male/Female "D" connector broke right off.

Originally Posted by rocketsled666

I got mine in the fall last year. Sat in my workshop all winter. When I went to take it out this spring, I grabbed it by the tail to pick it up and the stab came apart. A little glue took care of it. But if I'd maidened it when I got it I might not have noticed. Seems common enough of a problem, it's best to assume yours is a bit short of adhesive in this area and "enhance" it.

Am I missing something ? Is there something additional you guys are recommending over and above what's in the instructions ? The image notes say a drop of CA but I kinda soaked mine.

Bill S.

Originally Posted by VelocityRC

Am I missing something ? Is there something additional you guys are recommending over and above what's in the instructions ? The image notes say a drop of CA but I kinda soaked mine.

Bill S.

I was thinking of using foam tac so I could completely disassemble if ever needed. I figure it works for foam hinges on control surfaces on larger, 1.2m class birds - think killer-planes recommendations for example ...

Thoughts?

I just pressed them in place then went around the edge with bob smith foam safe thin CA to wick in. Seems plenty tight to me even after cartwheeling the plane this morning.

well that part is repaired at least.

Nice job on the gear! Man, your runway sucks... almost as bad as where I fly. I ended up taking the wheel pants off of all my planes and put bigger wheels on to handle the rough terrain.

Yeah it’s not my club field though. Just a park I stop at to fly on my way home from work sometimes. Normally use the field that is used as a football field but the grass hasn’t been cut so I choose the parking lot.

Originally Posted by cbarnes0061

well that part is repaired at least.

The new gear you made looks nice!!!

I love flying my Pitts but I have problems landing it. It comes a lot faster than I'd like. If I try slowing down more it will fall out of the sky. The rollout is crazy long on the petromat but not as bad on the grass.

Anybody else think it comes in too hot?

I redeemed myself this morning with mine. Yes it lands hot. I'm sure on grass it will be fine but on the hard packed drive this morning it rolled out a good 35-40 feet once it touched down.

Originally Posted by ooOoo

The new gear you made looks nice!!!

Thanks. Also to note your previous question on battery placement I moved mine further aft this morning. I now have it where the front strap on the battery tray is just barely catching the front of the battery. Plus I cranked the endpoints up and swapped out the servo arm on the elevator servo to get more throw. Really livened the plane up.

Originally Posted by cbarnes0061

I redeemed myself this morning with mine. Yes it lands hot. I'm sure on grass it will be fine but on the hard packed drive this morning it rolled out a good 35-40 feet once it touched down.

Originally Posted by cbarnes0061

Thanks. Also to note your previous question on battery placement I moved mine further aft this morning. I now have it where the front strap on the battery tray is just barely catching the front of the battery. Plus I cranked the endpoints up and swapped out the servo arm on the elevator servo to get more throw. Really livened the plane up.

I may just take off from the petromat and land on the grass. All of the grass landings I've done have been great.

Your battery placement sounds a lot closer to where mine is too. I removed the front strap since I didn't use it. I also glued a piece of velcro to the plastic tray to keep the battery from sliding out from under the strap. Battery weight could make a small difference in battery placement; mine weight ~200 grams.

Idk how others do things, but I have read a few cases of the plastic tray sliding out during flight. After I'm done flying the plane I will just set the tray in the battery compartment and NOT slide it in the receiver or click it in. Just toss it in the open fuse. I figure it may help prevent the clicking bumps from wearing out and I'm not sure if they have pressure on them while the tray is inserted or not.

Such a sexy plane! Currently flown with my hybrid TaraniSpektrum radio, but I'm thinking about setting it up on my Taranis instead and use a module since the AS3X receiver works so well.