Well I have mine, and have set it up with a Turnigy 42-40-1050 running seperately on a 4s A123 pack, with the 5 servos and rec.on a 4.8v pack. I added flaps, but all else is as received. The problem I now have is that it will take about 10.5 oz a nose weight to balance, which seems exessive to me. How does this compare with what others have found?

Well I have mine, and have set it up with a Turnigy 42-40-1050 running seperately on a 4s A123 pack, with the 5 servos and rec.on a 4.8v pack. I added flaps, but all else is as received. The problem I now have is that it will take about 10.5 oz a nose weight to balance, which seems exessive to me. How does this compare with what others have found?

Arnie,

You say there are 5 servos and you added flaps. Can you provide more information on this layout? Did you take the aileron torque rods and run one servo off of them to make flaps? If so, how much aileron did you remove?

Share some pics if you can. I think that's the direction I'd like to go with the Escapade.

You say there are 5 servos and you added flaps. Can you provide more information on this layout? Did you take the aileron torque rods and run one servo off of them to make flaps? If so, how much aileron did you remove?

Share some pics if you can. I think that's the direction I'd like to go with the Escapade.

Sorry, but I don't have photos. The flaps are each 11'', which leaves the ailerons at 11 1/4''.Yes, I used the factory as built torsion rods, and hooked them together at the servo using the supplied rods. I made " Z " bends for the connector at the torsion end. One link is straight from the servo to the rod, and the other off-set, and connects to the straight link just before the servo.

Sounds exactly like the PTS-51 from H9, which works very well and is the easyest setup for flaps and ailerons. It also leaves the option for making the ailerons into spoilerons for airbrakes, like the H9 UltraSticks!

My real concern is with the amount of weight needed to balance. Short of loading the weight inside the motor mount, I see no easy way to balance. I am looking at ways to reduce the weight of the tail feathers, either by remaking from thinner balsa, or prehaps with foam parts. Am looking for feedback. This is my first "conversion plane ". Is this balance difficulty typical?

Is it the recomended E-setup? If the motor is lighter, or ther battery smaller, it could throw the ballance off quite a bit. Also, at this size, electric is generally much lighter, and the plane can have .40-.60 sized motors on them, plus heavy APC sport props. Thats a solid chunk of metal on the tip of the nose, vs. your small chunk of motor and the battery, which is behind the firewall. So even if your setup weighs the same as a .46 motor, half of that weight is behind the firewall in the battery. Being the nitro guy, I cant say this is typical, but it makes sence that nose weight would be needed, but I seriously daught 10+ oz. are ever needed, otherwise why go electric in the irst place if teh plane is going to weight 10oz. more than if it were nitro!?

The motor I am using is a 42-40-1050 and is 125kg, the recommended motor is a 42-60-800, and also weighs 125 kg. A draw. I did send a E-mail to Great Planes describing my set up and posed the balance question to them. Their response is that as long as I do not add more than 8 oz I would be ok. So adding 10.5 is not, since that so far is only the estimated amount.

I'd go with the biggest battery then. That would giv eyou more power, more flight time, more weight in the nose.

Are the servos mounted in the tail? If they are, or if they can be moved inside the fuse, move them farword as much as possible, an use lighter push rods. Use the plastic sleeved pushrods like Dubro's Lazer Pushrods which are easly setup, and will save a lot of weight inteh tail compared with metal rods.

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I'd go with the biggest battery then. That would giv eyou more power, more flight time, more weight in the nose.

Are the servos mounted in the tail? If they are, or if they can be moved inside the fuse, move them farword as much as possible, an use lighter push rods. Use the plastic sleeved pushrods like Dubro's Lazer Pushrods which are easly setup, and will save a lot of weight inteh tail compared with metal rods.

Good suggestions,Jake. This is an ARF, already covered, and very well done in my opinion, so changout of linkage would be difficult. The servos are in the fuse over the wing. By replacing the balsa spacer behind the motor with a thicker maple block, and adding a weight salvaged from an Art Tech Corsair in the front of the firewall, it looks like I am at about 6 oz away from balance. I will keep pecking away.

You could still replace the metal push rods with the plastic ones if the metal pushrods are in a sleeve, just pull them out, and slide in the plastic ones if they fit into the guide tubes that are already installed. I bet you that would save you as much as 2oz. from the empennage's total weight!

Sounds like your very close! Can you move the ESC and Rx farward into the nose one on either side of the battery? Also, do you need a seprate battery to operate the servos? If so, move that up against the firewall, under the battery tray, I bet these would put you on the mark!

I would consider 10.5, or even 8 ounces, to be excessive to get an ARF to balance as recommended. Especially if using standard components, or similar weight items.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arniebud

The motor I am using is a 42-40-1050 and is 125kg, the recommended motor is a 42-60-800, and also weighs 125 kg. A draw. I did send a E-mail to Great Planes describing my set up and posed the balance question to them. Their response is that as long as I do not add more than 8 oz I would be ok. So adding 10.5 is not, since that so far is only the estimated amount.

Picked up an Escapade today at my LHS. Looked great coming out of the box. Sadly, one of the wings has a broken lip on the leading edge that locks it into the fuselage. Not something I can fix so I'll see if I can get a replacement.

For those of you flying her, what servos are you using? I'm considering Futaba 3004's...good choice?

I'm hoping to acquire an AXI 4120/14 for this bad boy. I've got a couple of 5S that "might" fit. I want a fast, powerful, efficient setup.

Arnie: When you clipped the ailerons to add flaps, did you add another CA hinge to stop flutter? Or did you not run into that problem?

Hi Lee. No , I did not add hinge material. Since each flap and aileron is only 11'' and each has 2 factory hinges, I would not expect any problem. Due to exceptionally long streak of unflyable weather, I have not yet maidened.
You will find that without some serious rework, you will be limited to "standard size " servos due to the opening sizes provided.