Pattern_is_Fun

New plane arrived today and I was a bit skeptical. However my fears were unwarranted as the model is close to perfect - and it's very close. All measurements are within 1/16" or better! Front of fuselage to stab tips - excellent, Stab tips to fin, excellent, canalizer to stab tips - excellent, stab alignment parallel to canalizer - very good (will use a small business card thickness shim to make perfect), wing tips to stab tips - excellent but wing not mounted yet so I can adjust this to 'excellent' - as well as stab to wing being parallel - will be excellent - very close now - not mounted. This weekend I'll be checking servo centering as I hear some has concerns about this, but I'll be checking this close. Being very 'nit-picky- the H-fin is not perfect, but it's a 9 out of 10 for being straight. Motion RC really came through! Wayne sent me the return shipping label inside the new box and is giving me time to mix and match parts should I find one part better on one model. This gives me an extra set of servos to 'play with' should the centering not be great on one servo - or more. I will, most likely, be extending the gear a little to accommodate a 16x10E prop and I'll post pictures if the idea I have works out - which it should and be a neat little fix for that. I'll need to see how much clearance I have with the 16x10 before any changes are made. As many have stated, MotionRC is standing behind the product very nicely - going to purchase a Kit - think of these people - good to work with.

Oh, the wings plugged in great on the new kit so there was a definite issue with the wings in the first kit I received. I'll be sending it back next week.

Pattern_is_Fun

Had a few days to look really close at this plane - making all sorts of measurements and tests. I decided to add a fuselage stiffener (carbon fiber) to make the wing-to-tail area stiffer. There is no indication this would be an issue, but from past experience I know it's not good to have flex in this area. The below image shows the CF spar in the location it will go once I remove the Foam from the bottom of the fuselage. You can also see I'm correcting for a very slight bend in the fuselage near the tail section. I do not believe this would be an issue but as long as I have the time, might as well do it.

Picture 2 / 3 shows the "V" cut in the bottom of the fuselage. The V becomes a "U" when I complete the mod which allows the CF spar to fit down into the fuselage and the CF spar in place.




The below shows the small fuselage correction made as I replace the bottom section I removed. This is now being glued back over the CF spar.

The below picture shows a connector issue I found after I removed the foam from the fuselage. A slight tug removed the 'pin' completely from the plastic housing. This would have caused an issue for sure at some point!


I'll be making a few more mods that are not necessary but things I want to do - and I'll post as they are completed - "if they work!"

Pattern_is_Fun

Flying on CO with 'less air" I'm making plans to run a 16x10E prop. The ground clearance with the gear looked "OK" but I wanted to add a little more clearance, about .7" or so. To do this I decided to extend the gear using copper tubing and a solid copper rod. The copper rod is the same diameter as the gear, and the copper tubing a very tight fit over the solid rod and the landing gear; this will allow a good solder joint. Below you see a 2" piece if tubing and a 1" solid rod. This gives me a 1/2" on each end to slide into the gear (where I cut it) and the solid copper rod adding more strength vs just a hollow copper tube, which would bend easily on any hard landing.

I cut the gear 1.5" from the last bend before the gear and inserted the tubes on the gear strut, making sure to butt the gear with the copper rod inside the outer copper tube. I then soldered the ends to the gear struts and filed off the excess solder.

This added a small diameter increase but it's a strong joint that I wont worry about on landing.

I then assembled the gear and pants back on the strut.

Of course this leaves the top of the gear not 'mating' to the fuselage, so I used a little balsa to fix this.

I did not take much time to shape the balsa (saying it could have been done better!) but it came out fine (this picture before the sanding). I then found an almost empty can of blue paint and after coating the balsa with a little epoxy, I painted and installed the gear.

The picture appears rotated for some reason but you get the idea. Now the 16" prop I will use will work fine and should I go back to a 15", no issue on clearance.

Pattern_is_Fun

The plane is coming along fine. I'm very happy with the alignment of all surfaces. I have tested the motor - to the point I know it runs but have not taken any watt / current readings. The 16x10 sits up a nice distance from the ground with the gear extension. I'll be working on the elevator surfaces so they tack 'perfect' then put the rudder in place - which will complete the normal building of the kit. Batteries should arrive later this week. Anyone taken AMP / Watt readings with a given prop / battery? I'd be interesting in knowing if anyone still reading this old thread..

scott36

My Feedback: (54)

iam reading it, gotta wait till summer to get more flight time tho

Pattern_is_Fun

I pay close attention to my elevators - very close attention! Given this foam model, I am worried about flex in the elevators causing all sorts of precise trim problems. What you see in the picture is something I did years back on a few planes, and decided to do it here too. Take a carbon fiber strip and glue it along the back edge of the elevator. You end up with a ridged, very straight, elevator. I'll do the same with the ailerons too. I am quite surprised how straight they already are, both elevators and ailerons, but there is a very small bow in the ailerons, which the CF strip will fix. This small modification is perhaps not necessary, but I want to give this plane every chance. I mounted and aligned the wing today so the plane is pretty much together - have not mounted the rudder yet as I want to check elevator tracking a few more times before I do this. The rudder is amazingly straight with no twists so not sure I'll be putting a CF strip on the TE of the rudder.

My Zippy batteries arrived today and they are charged. Sure look nice and hope they perform as well as many have told me they do. I'm going to start testing with the Compact 5000mah 5S packs and see if these work. My goal will be to increase flight time using the 5000mah batteries and reduce the RPM by using the 5S pack. I may end up with the 6S 4000mah (or so) but a few more tests need to happen before I determine if I'll be making that change. Using the 16x10E prop (I hope - given current measurements I have not taken yet) the lower RPM and increased MAH may be ideal for longer patterns. We'll see.

Pattern_is_Fun

Elevators tracking nicely, wings balanced, bottom of fuse is completed w/paint. I'm waiting on a 12" satellite extension for the Rx so I can run a Remote Rx as well as the main. Working on my field stand now as I got rid of most things I had for RC - but had the base. Will be testing the motor / current / watts soon - this weekend, and then it's about ready.

Pattern_is_Fun

Ran the motor today, 16x10E, 50A, 1000W using Zippy 5000 25C 5S batteries - Colorado altitude. Seems decent. Hope to get out and fly this plane in the next days - weather permitting. Servo gear slop at center is concerning, but it will be fine for a while. Should the plane fly great, may consider replacing the servos.

Pattern_is_Fun

Snow on Monday, today is Tuesday - 50-70mph wings (unusual) so I went over everything again - and then recalled I have not planned to carry the plane to the field - hum.. so I worked on car storage. I used the Styrofoam from the box to cut our a wing holder and ended up storing my field charger in this cradle too.

The wing tubes sit in a center slot, the wings slide in nicely and the field charger sits below. I use Velcro on the bottom of the Styrofoam to secure it in place on the carpet inside the car. Its very secure when pushed in place and will not allow the cradle to move at all.

I created a wooded "U" slot the wheels sit in which prevents the fuselage from moving. I have a similar one for the tail wheel too. Shown below is the wing cradle and the fuselage inside the Prius. Fits great with room to spare.

One more picture of the Styrofoam wing cradle


Arming plug installed


I dusted off my transmitter tray and actually put it around my neck - it was like riding a bike. I've triple checked all throws, direction of movement on all surfaces, CG'd it several times - I find it interesting my 5S 5000 batteries sit well back in the battery tray - at least 1/4 - 2/3 back from the front of the tray. This balances at 7.25" from the front of the wing (185mm) per the manual. A good place to start I suppose. I could not get RPM readings as my tach was not working right - it read 360 on a fluorescent light like it should but it was a no-go on any real prop readings. I'll perhaps work on this again. It's unclear when I'll get the plane out - hoping for Friday, but next Monday looks like good weather. In the mean time I'll fly the simulator a bit.

Pattern_is_Fun

We had a nice day in Colorado today and I got a chance to take out the Olympus. This was my first experience with a Canalyzer and all I can say is OMG!! I started with dual rates set up on the rudder to 100%, 80% and 60% - and these were all too much! While I have not finalized anything after 4 flights, my rudder now moves about 1" - and that holds Knife Edge. It's very touchy on any rudder correction in level / inverted flight - it's going to take me some time to get use to this. I set ailerons similar, 100/80/60 % and 60 seemed to be good - I realize this tells you nothing but travel seems fairly normal. I set up 15% aileron at the end for a one roll rolling circle and it was too much - and they barely moved! Elevator was left at 100% but played with 80-100%. The 16x10 prop performed great with hardly ever hitting full power and a throttle curve of 60% at the 1/2 stick mark. Having not flown for a while my hands were certainly damp with sweat but it was not too bad. Landings were easy. The extension on the gear is 'iffy' as to effectiveness - one wheel sort of shakes back and forth on landing - so I need to look into this. KE was not bad, but me overcorrecting on the rudder was not helping. I tried slow rolls and 4-points with no rudder and it was decent - adding 3-5% rudder was amazing. I do think the 10 pitch prop may be too much as looking for torque issues and engine offset, the plane would do 1/4 torque roll before accelerating upwards. I am going to reduce the pitch to a 8 and see how that goes. Also, if you have not flown a Canalyzer before you are in for a surprise as the '2 wings' make it look funny in the air based on what I am use to looking at. It will take some time for me to adjust. The Stall was perfect, both wings falling at the same time. I do have aileron trim in for level flight and will make changes to correct this in the next days. It's not bad but I want to correct it.

Given I have not flown for years, I'd rate the plane a 7 right off the board, and the pilot a 4! Over the coming days I'll be making adjustments to the plane and see how well I can make this plane fly. My CG is at 7" back from the front of the wing and it seems fine but as I fine tune it, I may push it back a bit more to the 7.25" mark - as recommended.

Surefire

My Feedback: (1)

Scott - sounds great! You will have fun with that plane. (Just remember, it's a foamie!) Yeah, the canalizer is a big multiplier on the rudder!

Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving!

Pattern_is_Fun

Eight flights, trimming coming along. I am finding the servo gear slop to be excessive. I had excessive neutral rudder movement which I think led to the plane's yawing back and forth at different times in flight (rudder very sensitive to any movement) . I replaced the rudder servo with a Futaba S3102 (I had from years back and is the same size / and exact fit) which has zero gear slop - and the rudder has much less movement - almost none. While I have not tried this change yet, I know it will help. I am considering replacing all servos due to gear slop. I do see small altitude changes in level flight which I think are based on elevator servo gear slop. I think the servos are fine for normal flying around but want to fly this plane in competition and have it 'lock on', I think the servos need to be replaced. I will report on results in the next days. I have also removed some of the standard right thrust which I though was excessive. I will be testing this in the coming days too and see if I like that change. I have moved from a 16x10E to a 16x8E in hopes of reducing torque effects. The gear are holding up fine.

Pattern_is_Fun

One of the linkage 'Gods' in California is Surefire, Jon Carter - a few posts up from this one. I mention this because I've always wanted to build control linkages like Jon - he spares no expense and the linkages come out amazing (he leaves no room for excuses!). Well, using the Hitech HS5085MG servo, which fits perfectly into the Olympus, the linkage came out excellent. Where there was slop before, none now - none. The elevator is as perfect as I could ask for. It's so much better than the FMS servo - and this is not to slam the $10 FMS servo, but it's not the quality of a more expensive servo. I have 2 more of the HS's on order for the ailerons - due to me on Wednesday - then we'll see what this little plane can do. I'm giving it every chance and have hopes of a decent ship.

Surefire

My Feedback: (1)

Thank you for the kind words but you know i learned a lot of that from you! Glad the Olympus is working out well!

Pattern_is_Fun

Just out for 3 flights before the snow arrives. The new servos worked great. The wings locked on, the aileron trim I had is gone. I did some snaps today - it was quite amazing. Airspeed, 1/2 throttle (where I normally fly) which is 60% power via the throttle curve. The snaps were on-line, no altitude change, no heading change - excellent. I may slow them down just a bit, but will fly like this for a while. I have the plane CG'ed well now, the batteries mount over the CG location which is nice from a momentum standpoint in snaps and general flying.


Here you see the white "plug" (on top of the fuselage) where I CG the plane - a long screw goes thru the foam and screws into a hardwood block (so I can pick up the plane from this point). I tie a string around the screw head and the knot ties at the green dot in the picture) so the string is very close to the center of the fuselage. I then carefully hang the plane from the string looking at wings level and fuselage attitude.

The Red dot is the screw I use to secure the battery tray to the landing gear block (6/32 screw). The 'snap in place' battery tray is concerning to me. Now, it's not going to move. You also see the Styrofoam fixture in back of the battery to hold it in place during snaps and such maneuvers. I don't worry about the battery moving any more.

The new thrust setting for the motor seemed to work out well, but will need a less windy day to check more closely on that. I flew many of the Masters maneuvers today and they were all decent - but need work. The plane now has potential for Masters (but more on this after many more flights). The gear mod I made is being removed - it did not work out very well. Not ridged enough - new gear on the way at this time - should have them next week. I think (hope) the 16" prop will be fine with the original gear.

sc

Pattern_is_Fun

It seems battery trays are positioned too far forward to make a CG of 180mm - recall in early models the CG was stated at 150-160mm. Having a CG of 180MM hangs the battery off the back of the tray a fair amount. After thinking about this a bit I made a small modification which allows the battery tray to get pushed back about 2-3" and the battery now sits fine in the tray and very secure. I took a Dermal tool and cut out the back 'stopper' inside the tray slot on both side slides - then did a bit of filing and the tray then slid back 2-3" in the track. I then mounted a small hardwood block (picture) in the Styrofoam which aligned with the screw hole I have in the battery tray. A 6x32 screw now holds the battery tray in place and is very secure. I like the solution and it's easy to do. I will be removing the Styrofoam rear battery supports you see in the picture.

Note the picture with the battery tray in position - you can see the mounting screw just to the right of the front Velcro strap. The red line is the original battery tray mounting position.

Swaggerjacker

Just finished putting mines together. Might maiden it next week. As well as most have said this plane flies, I'm surprised there aren't more or longer threads. This one should be good fun.

Swaggerjacker

Pattern, have you flown yours yet? If so, verdict?

Thanks

Pattern_is_Fun

I have flown mine several (11) times, just short flights to look at trimming. Did did you see post #87 above? There is no verdict yet. This is a good plane to see the effects of a canalizer and get flying quickly. I have hopes it will be more than a sport plane actually entering contests with it, but I'll need many more flights to determine this. I'm getting close to having the CG set, then the thrust can be determined. The plane rolls and point-rolls nicely. When the snow melts I'll be at the field flying more.

Thenightstalker

Hello guys!

I maiden mine yesterday but I'm not sure about CoG! First flight was at 175 mm, it flew very well but needs LOTS of up trimm (about 5 mm) to fly level at normal flight (not inverted).

I went back ar about 180-185 mm but still have about the same up elev. trimm. I fired it up 90° and it flew straight up, I turned it to see how the rudder works and then I let it sail down and it was very stable and level, so I think it it's not the motor mount.

Not sure what I should try next, going back further might causes stability problems. I heared from others flying at 190-195 mm and also others flying at 160--170 mm so I don't know where to go now.

Maybe there is an EWD issue but that can't be changed anyway...

Do you have any ideas for me???

Sorry if my english is not that good, I'm from Austria (not Australia hehe).

Bye

Pattern_is_Fun

Hey Stalker - I would not go much past 185mm on the CG. I'm sure you could but as you indicate, stability issues will arise - certainly when inverted and holding a horizontal line. I carry a bit of up trim but I've not yet decided on my final CG - but it will be at 185mm or a bit more (not more than 190). If your plane goes up and down in a straight line, and KE is good, I would not mess with the CG and I'd not worry too much about the elevator. Other than a visual issue of the elevator being off a bit, do you see any flying issues having the up elevator you have? Does it do OK inverted?

Thrust needs to be tested as a slow airspeed - not high speed (as the rudder has dominate control at flying speeds) - so you might look at the thrust a bit closer as the plane slows down on a upline (cut the throttle back to 1/4 or so - then when the plane slows A LOT - add power to accelerate up, and watch the nose - if it pulls one way or the other, correct with thrust (make sure your rudder is straight)). That's all I can suggest based on what you have said.

Also, I would not do too much trimming on the first day out - just fly around for a while and get use to the plane.

good luck.

Thenightstalker

Hi, thanks!

just landet the Olympus after 3 testflights today. I slightly pushed the cg back at (not measured) about 185 and still need about 3 mm elev up to go level.

I tried inverted 2 times, first wirh old CG, i needet to push almost 1/2-3/4 elev down to keep the Olympus level. I also tested for EWD (whats the english word, decalage I think) at a 90° down passages, the Plane slightly pulls out to normal (up) which means that the main wings leading edge should be lowered (too much decalage).

BUT for a 250€ PNP Plane the Olympus flies REALY well. I assembled it in about half an hour and did nearly NO TRIMMING at all and I was able to fly almost all the basic Arobatic Program at the 2nd flight today... That's still impressing !

Pattern_is_Fun

I would not worry too much about the 3mm up - you can mix in a LITTLE down elevator with no (low) throttle and that will take care of the downline. It sounds like you have a good grasp on trimming and flying so you should have no issues from here on out. I'll assume you weighed your wings and corrected any CG issues there. Get the thrust correct and the ailerons correctly set and you are on your way.

Once you have had a taste of this model you might look at this one:

http://www.sebart.it/download/Assemb...0Evo%2050E.pdf (I just ordered this one - I had the 2M version years ago and if flew great. It's not the latest design but will be a great step up from the Olympus and you can you your same Olympus components in the Angel - if you want to)

Unclear where you would get it in your area, but they are on sale for $258 (US) and will use the same batteries (I assume 5S, 5000 or around there), can use the same engine and same servos as in your Olympus - but if you have not changed our the FMS servos, you will want as there is too much slop in the gear train for 'precision' flying. This also may be something you change out on your elevator to see if some of your trim goes away. I changed all my servos out and it made a noticeable difference.

Here is the build thread - have fun reading!!

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-p...ld-thread.html

Thenightstalker

Hi,

ya, think you'r right except there's no need to change thrust or seting a mix, it needs up trim, no matter what speed or direction I fly :-) except inverted, there it still needs about 1/4-1/2 stick down to fly level.

But it did knife edge and also a 1/2 knife edge loop with almost no correction, real good.

And yes, I'm aware of those great SebArt Planes, we have about 10 of them in our Club here (Wind, Mythos, Angel, Shark and SU in all sizes) and I could get one from one of our F3A Guys for REAL low price... But I don't realy want to get into F3A (I think) but wanted to complete the C Licence in silver (and later gold) so I need different types of planes to fly different programs.

But if the Olympus and I become close friends I maybe get one of those SebArt planes ;-)

At the moment I prefer Sailplanes, got a 3,20 meter full carbon F3B machine and I love it! Thinking about a 4 Meter FOX or Stingray.

Pattern_is_Fun

After flying the Olympus for about 15 flights over weeks due to weather related conditions (I would have liked to fly it every day for a week to get use to it!) I decided to build another plane to compare the two. It's the same size and using the same Motor and ESC as the Olympus; it's an Angel Shadow. It actually has more wing area and is a bit larger, but the same "class" as the Olympus. We have snow coming in the next days but I'll report back as to how it fly's in comparison to the Olympus. I made a few mods for improved elevator tracking. The planes weigh the same, within an ounce. Using a 16x10 it's pulling 56-58A at 1050-1080W. Should be fine. This motor is much less weight than the Hacker recommended motor - so we'll see how it holds up.