You may sometimes find that a
small landing wheel can
make your plane tip over during landing or is not be
capable of ROG takeoffs on rough terrain.
A simple way to create a larger wheel is as follows: 1. find a plastic bottle
cap with larger diameter 2. slice to your desired
thickness (make four of these) 3. glue the pairs together
with CA glue (notice the inside should be hollow) 4. mark the center of the
circle and find a durable tube for landing rod to fit,
bore a hole and insert the tube -make sure this is done
center and perfectly in both sides of the disc, or else
your wheel will waggle during ROG) 5. you may glue the sides
of the tube in contact with disc and insert landing
rod. secure wheel by putting a stopper or wound a galvanized
iron wire at the tip to prevent wheel from sliding off
during take off or landing.
2nd
week / August 2005
Always
avoid any obstruction during takeoff but give enough
space for turning the plane. It is better to plan a
flight route before every flight and always give margin
of error incase your plane misbehaves in the air.
1st week / August 2005
Choosing
a flying spot is important. if posible choose a wide headwind
space for launching your airplane. once plane has already
picked up height, make it fly in spiral direction until
you achieve a good altitude then attempt landing it infront
of you and not from the back or from an area with high
obstruction. fly plane always infront against the direction
of the wind and dont let it go away from you - an rc plane
is not a kite - it is supposed to go straight against
the wind. it will be very difficult to make airplane go
back if it is already drifted by high and strong winds.
in this case strength of wind is always a factor.
4th week / July 2005
It
is important that your plane is balanced during flight.
a tail heavy plane will be difficult to control and
may cause sudden dives. it is therefore advisable to
adjust the positioning of the internal parts inorder
to achieve perfect plane balance. first find the center
of gravity by suspending airplane by its wing -3/4 from
the leading edge.
3rd
week / July 2005
Identifying the internal components of an rc electric
plane will help the hobbyist to easily troubleshoot
hardware and electronic problems that may occur in
later period of the hobby. It will also help in familiarizing
parts when assemblying your own rc plane from an ARF
(almost ready to fly) kit.
note: when selecting a receiver and transmitter, make
sure you have compatible TX/RX crystals that will
function on receiver and transmitter brand of your
choice or else your plane wont function even if you
have same operating frequency. also propeller dimension
should match motor speed to avoid burning your motor
magnet wire or worst the ESC (electronic speed controller).
2nd week / June 2005
Notice that positioning of the hooks on control horn holes
have different response rate on plane.placing
the hook nearer the control surface gives a faster and
higher angle movement and vice versa. for beginners, it
is advise that you position the hooks away from the control
surface, this gives you slower response, wider turns and
a not so tighter steer or abrupt rise and fall which could
sometimes result to sways and spiraling and crashing.
however during ground training, it is advisable for a
beginner to position hook of rudder near the surface for
plane to steer quickly. beginner can later reposition
hook of rudder farther away from surface when already
atempting to fly plane.
3rd week / May 2005
For most slow flier planes gaining altitude during
take offs is a critical part. Never pull elevator
up or add too much power or else plane will come
to a stall and nose dive. Do a "going up the
stairs" climb rather than a steep full throttle.
plane can also gain
altitude by flying it in a spiral direction - going
against and floating with the wind, at no time your
plane can reach greater heights.
1st week / May 2005
A brushed motor employs a carbon
brush for electricity to flow through the motor for
an electromagnetic reaction. the carbon brush is the
most susceptible part of the brushed motor to wear
and tear as friction occurs during spinning of the
commutator. often when the motor already exhibits
degradation of RPM (for double prop planes you will
notice the airplane turning to one direction where
the RPM of the two motors is no longer synchronized
- for single prop plane, it can no longer take off
from the ground - this is the case when you know that
the batteries are in top condition and through time,
the carbon brush will surely wear off).
Opening the motor casing, you
will notice that grindings and pulvurized carbon is
all over. the degraded carbon brush can be replaced
with equal size from an old motor with still in top
shape carbon brush, after the replacement, motor gets
back to its original performance.
1st week / April 2005
contributor: Jim McVey, U.S.A
Loosing an airplane due
to strong winds, servo malfunction etc... is not uncommon
to this hobby.
Placing an owner's label on your airplane may sound
funny but it can better help bring back a lost plane
than being sorry for ignoring this little tip.
4th week / March 2005
NOTE: This
is a very quick charger. it can fully charge most batteries
within 4 mins. never leave the battery that is being charged
unattended. when the battery that is being charged gets
warm, this is an indication that it is already fully charged,
therefore you must remove it immediately from the charger
to avoid overcharging and before it cause any damage.
CIRCUIT Description:
The Lead Battery is
the main source of power for charging any rc battery.
the resistor act as current limiter and to produce a constant
current source that is needed by the battery in order
for them to charge. You can use motorcycle battery but
make sure it is spillproof or simply low maintenance type...
Charge the Lead battery a day before flight schedule.
if the Lead battery is fully charged, it can give you
more than 50 charging times before it drains off.
Charging the Lead
battery:
What you need is a
simple ac/dc adaptor that has an operating voltage of
12 volts or 13 volts at 500mA. Connect the positive lead
of the adaptor to the positive terminal of the battery
and negative of the adpator to the negative battery terminal...
charging time at 500 ma is about 4Hours, please be reminded
that when charging main battery, please charge outdoor
only or with proper ventillation. This type of battery
specially the lead acid type produce a hydrogen gases
when charging and please stay away from open flames
Always observe manufacturers battery charging enviroments
and warnings including safety hazards.
