Dalton 42% 260 detailed setup

[RightThrust]

Okay guy's, I'm starting the detailed setup thread I mentioned last week this weekend. I've taken some pictures of most everything dealing with the fuse unless there are more requests. Next week hopefully I'll be able to do the wings and such and maybe get some flight shots shortly after that and possibly some video, I'm still trying to get some suggestions. First of all I'm going to do a quick run-down of the equipment used in the airplane:

Dalton Aviation 42% Extra 260
DA-150/MTW110 can's/MTW Flex headers/Mejzlik 28.5x12 3-blade prop/5" tru-turn spinner
Futaba 14MZ tranmitter
2 R5014DPS G3 2048 recievers
Futaba S9152 servos on the elevators and rudder (one per elevator and two on the ruddder)
6 Futaba S9351 servos on the ailerons (3 per panel)
1 Futaba 3401 servo on the throttle
2 Fromeco 4800 batties on the recievers and 1 2400 on the ignition
10 1.25" Sure-Link control arms
Smart-fly Super Switches with deans ultra connectors to the batteries
Smart-fly equalizer II's matching inboard and outboard aileron servos to the center servo

That's about all I can think of that's worth posting but if I left something out let me know. I'm going to start off with some pictures of the engine and exhaust installs with brief descriptions and move back down the fuse. Once I'm done with the wings next week and the whole plane is covered in detail I'll go through my setup for 3D and precision as well as fill any requests. Here goes...

-Kelly Gerber

[RightThrust]

Here are some pictures of the engine with the cowling off and with the cans in and out. I removed the cans to clean them, get pictures of the mount, and to drop some silver solder I got from DA down into the flex because 2-3 rings of the flex have loosened up alot over some time and rub together alot. I didn't want this ever to become an rf problem so I dropped some solder down in the flex and made it solid as a rock, it's all about preventative maintenance. You can also see what I added some Red RTV on the flex of one of the headers to stop some minor leaking past the flex rings. The can's slide in and out easily and the sub floor is made out of thin fiberglass that Tony makes and it's just screwed into some rails that are glued to the motorbox sides.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

Here are some pictures of the exhaust installed.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

My cowling is done like Tony does most all of his. It has the integrated fiberglass blended baffling that Tony posted a how-to on on FG.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

The throttle servo is mounted right under the motor box with a short direct linkage to the butterfly arm.

-Kelly

[crazyextra]

Nice!!

[RightThrust]

Bottom of the cowl screwed on followed by the top cowl mounted.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

Moving back to the hatch and the area where most of the electronics lay. In the 4th picture you can see the cannister sub floor. If you were to use 100cc MTWcans which are longer and skinnier but have the same volume you would have to extend the can tunnel past that former. With the 110cc cans this makes things alot easier with the same results. The deans ultra connectors on the ignition and recievers allows me to unplug the batteries after every flying session easily and reliably. I've killed 1 battery and almost 2 by turning on the switches accidentally. The regulator's draw a small ammount of current when switched on and over about a week or so the batteries are dead. The recievers are mounted to a honeycomb floor that Tony cut out and glued to some stringers. Switch locations are already designed into the plane, just cut them out and screw them in, same with the fuel dot. The loop in the vent line across the top of the tank minimizes the loss of fuel in flight which leaves a much cleaner airplane, that's the main reason i did it.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

The hatch and pilot. The pilot is solid foam from AI. I had the little guy fall out in flight one day and I installed the 4 dowels you see up into the pilot and the foor to help keep him in several hundred flights ago. The isntrument panel is from tony and glues right onto the former that's built in the hatch.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

Moving back to the tail where 4 servos lie for the rudder and elevators. These are the 9152 digitals and with one per elevator and 2 on the rudder they have plenty of power for the surfaces. Control arms are 1.25" in length and are made by Sam at Sure-Link. The nice thing about these arms is they are adjustable in 1/4 tooth increments by taking them apart and rotating the assembly 90 degrees. This allows you to setup all arms perpindicular off the side of the servo on all servos with zero subtrim. You can also match 3 servos on a surface by spending some time with the geometry and changing the centers of the arms. Tony did this on his plane he took to Tucson, he had no matchboxes in his wings with 3 servos per panel. Here is a picture of the elevator servo setup.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

Rudder servo and tail wheel. The other servo is directly on the other side of the fuse. The tail wheel comes from R/C Blimp Productions and it has help up really well. I've found that combining solid wire with springs allows for better tailwheel steering than just springs. Using zip ties allows you to adjust the center of hte wheel easier as well. For the rudder servos I just used the servo grouping in the 14mz by assigning the rudder function to two different ports which allowed me to adjust centers, endpoints and everything else independantly. However I adjust the centers mechanically with the arms.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

Here's a bottom shot of the whole tail that shows all 4 servos and the tailwheel as well as servo locations. The other pictures shows the max throw on the rudder and elevator, which is obviously used in my 3D setup.

-Kelly

[RightThrust]

That's all I've got for now. I'll get to the wings next week. Any comments, questions, or suggestions? Let 'em rip!

-Kelly

[Fearless Flyer]

All the detailed pictures help alot, by the way good look'in 260

[RightThrust]

Thanks C.J. I'm going to do the wings next week to finish up the detailed pictures part and then go into detail on the setup in the radio and such. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions of what you would like to see. Videoing the transmitter during flying has been a great idea and was thinking about possibly doing this for some precision flying unless FG is planning on doing that with beavis because he'd be the man for that. Let me know guys.

-Kelly Gerber