Assembly of Aeroworks 50CC Ultimate ARF (Black, Red and Yellow)

[spock5643]

From the box to the air and all points between. I have waited for 3 years for Aeroworks to release this plane as an update to version 1. For the purest out there the title of the thread is assembly but as you will be able to see from the following pages there are building pieces as well as assembly. I think the best way to start is to with a list of component’s used and why they were chosen.

1. Aeroworks 50CC Ultimate
2. 3W 50I TOC from Aircraft International with IIS ignition
3. J@E Wrap around Pitts muffler
4. Pete Model 3.5 carbon Spinner Ultimate Style
5. Smartfly EQ6 Turbo
6. SWB 1.25 Servo Arms
7. Hitec 7985 x 6
8. Hitec 7955TG x 1
9. Hitec 301 x 2 throttle and choke.
10. Spectrum Lithium Polymer Receiver packs x 2 4000 and 1350 backup
11. Tenergy 2600 Lithium ION ignition
12. XOAR props 22 x 8 and 23 x 8
13. JR HD switches with Dean Ultra Plugs.
14. Bandegraphix custom Vinyl

I need to say special thanks to a list of people and their companies.

1. Rocco from Aeroworks for his vision on the Ultimate and the QB style of ARF’s
2. Gerhard for Aircraft International for his continued support and for building a horse of a motor.
3. Bahman for his insight and tireless AI work.
4. Mike from California Hobbies for the components and his piloting skills for the maiden.
5. Eric from Bande Graphix for his work on the custom package.
6. Pete from Pete Model for the work on the spinner
7. And to Gaynor for which I owe a ton gratitude, for without her support the build would still be waiting.
8. To wcolby1 for the maiden flight video.

IMHO the QB series has brought ARF’s to a another level. Yes they cost more but if you add up the components included and the labor saved it out ways the cost two fold. Having the hardware included and tested with the plane as configured saves tons of thought and chasing parts. Now to address the group that will inevitably question the use of the power system and multiple batteries and blah blah. I two believe in the KISS theory and to me in this day and age of componet reliability the safety factor far out ways the addition of about 6 OZ over a conventional setup. If you take an arbitrary number for the stall AMP draw of 7 servos at 3 amps (This was measured with and AMP meter) put that much thru a single JR power connector to a single PCB. Sure its been done but why take the chance you just spent 800 dollars on highend servos and you want to limit there functionality and torque. I am sure there may be a couple of pilots that can tell the difference between adding or subtracting 6.7 oz to plane but I for one can not. However I can tell the difference between speed and blowback and when you are talking about leads in excess of 40 inches on the elevators IMHO the answer was obvious. The standard EQ6 would have worked but I got a good deal on the Turbo version. Why 3W well I have two answers for this, one I had the motor and two I like burger king and I like things my way. Using the other guys you get one configuration per motor size and with 3W you get three. There are a number of new engines on the market that could have been used to achieve the objective and this can be left to the individuals choose. OK off my soapbox and on the build thread.

[spock5643]

Up pulls the Big Brown airplane truck and the un-boxing begins. I can say the packing used protected the plane and while there was a couple of small dents in outside nothing translated to the inside. Picked up box one and removed outer packaging, oh no sear panic there is no wings in this box, they forgot to pack the wings, how do you build plane without wings Ah open box and low a behold they are there but that’s impossible that box is to light. This actually happened and the wings are that light. Open box two and check out the rest, everything has it place and nothing is damaged.

-Rick

[spock5643]

More pics of the unboxing

[stung93]

I just built one of these and plan to maiden it Saturday, I have nothing but good to say about this airplane so far, how much did yours end up weight wise, my came in at 18lbs 6 oz less fuel, w/ DA-50R, Jtec wrap around pitts, 3 fromeco 2c batts, 6x5985's and 1x7985, PT models 23x8 cf prop, miracle switch, 4" aluminium spinner, 2 regs, etc. Looks good.

[spock5643]

Since I was waiting on components to arrive I started with the motor and then I will go back to the wings and tail. First pictures of her on her out of her shipping container this is a gorgeous color scheme and should be highly visible. Line up the template provided and drill mounting holes using 1/4 inch drill. Mount the motor and install muffler UT OH the muffler hits the motor box. After emails to AI and Aeroworks it was determined that the cylinder on the 3W is shorter and will require notching the motor box. I would have liked to cut this at a 45 degree angle an re-boxing however doing this with the motor box on the plane would be extremely difficult. I choose to do a 1-inch notch up and back and then re-box and re-pin creating a sound structure. I have suggested that this be done at the factory thus eliminating this rework .

-Rick

[spock5643]

To be honest I have not weighed it, I will do so once I get a scale. On the old pick up the plane comments I have had is this plane is light.

edit:
Using the weigh yourself on a digital scale and then add airplane total weight is 18 -8 oz. This is just about were it should be given the additional parts and the 3W is a little heavier.

-Rick

[ferocious frankie]

.

[spock5643]

That would be incorrect. This is actually the plane in this review and its owned by Rick Clayton from the same club. Mike was just doing the maiden.

-Rick

[ferocious frankie]

	Quote: Originally Posted by spock5643
	That would be incorrect. This is actually the plane in this review and its owned by Rick Clayton from the same club. Mike was just doing the maiden. -Rick

Oh wow, I didn't see your location. I'm a member of Tomcats also and caught this video on You Tube thinking it was Mike's.

I took it off, sorry about that. I haven't much time lately to get out to the field.

[ferocious frankie]

BTW, do you know if we can order planes from AW through California Hobbies?

Thanks and sorry to hijack your thread. This looks like a very nice plane!

[spock5643]

FF,

NP about the video I was going to post it anyway. Mike is a authourized Airworks dealer. Just gets me motivated to finish and get the final results up

-Rick

[ferocious frankie]

	Quote: Originally Posted by spock5643
	FF, NP about the video I was going to post it anyway. Mike is a authourized Airworks dealer. Just gets me motivated to finish and get the final results up -Rick

Thanks Rick! Hope to see you at the club!

[ferocious frankie]

	Quote: Originally Posted by spock5643
	FF, NP about the video I was going to post it anyway. Mike is a authourized Airworks dealer. Just gets me motivated to finish and get the final results up -Rick

Thanks Rick! Hope to see you at the club!

Sean

[spock5643]

Time to get the fuselage laid out and pieces installed. I choose to mount the EQ6 over the tank as this puts it on the CG and the 4.7 oz will not effect the overall CG. I used a Hitec FM receiver to setup the plane and then I swicted to a JR 9 channel FM. It is almost impossible to get a new receiver on 72 MHz in 9 or 10 channel. I am still waiting and had to cannibalize another plane to get the one I used. Install switches and the 3W fueler. One word is decide wisely here while it may look like there is enough room getting your hands in there is another matter. It took almost 3 hours to get the fueler mounted do to this(no pictures not enough hands) lining up the screws proved to be a challenge. Setting up the throttle and choke proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that people with small hands are blessed. Rear induction motors put the carb in a position in the motor box that leaves little room for working. Make sure you know the position of the butterfly because once installed you will need mirrors and 6 hands to see it for final adjustments Note the closeness of the needles and the holes needed to be able to adjust them they under the muffler and while the HS is pretty accessible the LS is under the muffler.

-Rick

[spock5643]

One of the features of the EQ6 is the ability to program centers and endpoint on 3 servos per surface on 6 channels and set the master slave for each channel thus if you lose a servo the other surfaces still work. I set the right side of the airplane as A and the left side as B If you are not using a power panel you can use the HP21 or HP20 from Hitech to do your servo center and endpoint. I built a jig to do two servos at once and will be doing a build thread on this at a later date. I set all servos to be 0 to 60 degrees thus giving me exact movement on all surfaces and installed the servos using no y leads. Installing the servos and linkage is straight forward per the manual I did change the control horn screws from philips to socket heads(personal preference) the provided ones work fine. One note my linkage on the ailerons was 1/8 to long so I had to reprogram them to be slightly off center and then reset endpoints. There was some epoxy seepage around the hinge points so make sure you check and clean this to insure full throw in both directions. My front tube for the stabs was slightly long and I had to take off about 1/8 inch to make the stabs set to the fuselage. Checked all the incidences and they were spot on. There is no servo tubes going to the tail so make sure you install some kind of restraint to keep the wires from flopping around. I assembled the plane and set all the throws per the manual using the supplied meter. I purchased another one so I could to both surfaces at the same time. make sure the plane is level when you do this so at neutral you have 0 degrees. Hinge the rudder per the instructions. I took the time to seal all surfaces with the provided material. The clear is a little difficult to use as there is no markings to show front or back. I installed the Fiber optic kill switch per Smartfly instructions. IMHO this is a must on this size airplane as saftey is something you can never be to cautious about. Yes I know the choke will work for this and trim as well. Any loss of signal, battery will immediately shut off the engine. Full throttle lawn darts are not a pretty sight :> I changed all the servo screws to socket heads, you can get these online. Hitec size is 2.6 x .8 JR would be 3.0 x .6 I do not know what Futaba is for this. When using metal arms and then locite (blue) its very easy to strip the screws the socket heads make life much easier. More to come

-Rick

-Rick