Scale Curtiss XP-55 Ascender

[Pistolera]

Very good news! Glad to hear ya got the CG worked out.

Now....to train Abe to run the camera....well.....that may be harder

 

[Larry B]

Well today was flight #4 and it was an exciting one! We did get a good video of the flight and the lucky landing. I moved the CG back just a bit, the spinner back plate and some paint were added this flight but boy did it seem to make a difference. The elevator was really sensitive and the model would not find a happy trim for level flight. I ended up chasing the thing around the pattern trying to get it on the ground in one piece.
I think it's time to set a new low rate for the elevator and move the RX battery back up into the nose.

 

[acerc]

Very cool, nicely done. I can see where slight cg shift could get hairy with that big canard. Definitely calls for low rate with lots of expo. Maybe even have the rate mixed with a dial to fine tune it in flight.

 

[Larry B]

Finally got the landing video posted of flight #4 on You Tube, man that was a handful of airplane. I know it looks like I am really being "ham fisted" on the elevator but Abe said I was just touching the elevator.
I am moving the CG forward just a bit and installing a Futaba single axis gyro for the next flight.

 

[Pistolera]

Wow.....bet you were one happy camper once she touched down!!!

 

[Rolling.Circle]

+1 ... That did not look easy AT ALL... Congrats and good luck with your mods!

 

[Larry B]

Yes! Flight #5 was the best one yet. I moved the CG forward just a bit, installed the nose gear doors, and most importantly installed a Futaba GYA 430 single axis gyro for the elevator.
It was like a whole new airplane, NO crazy pitch tendencies. I am still thinking I might move the CG aft just a touch because it still seems to be taking quite a bit of canard throw for a normal pitch response which tells me it might be just a little nose heavy still.
My friend Bobby took a video on his phone which I'll ask my wife to up-load on YouTube in a few days. When you compare flight #4 to #5 it looks like a different model, gyro's are a wonderful thing!
Now I guess it may be time to actually finish the thing, or maybe I'll get one more test flight on it just to make sure that it was not a fluke.
Larry B

 

[Jetpainter]

Sounds great Larry!

Another thought on your pitch response is that if your using expo, it may need to be dialed back on the elevator because of the gyro. To much expo with a gyro can give a lazy feeling. Just something else to think about.

Doug

 

[Larry B]

Thanks Doug,
I never thought of that, I am using 30% expo for the canard. I have ZERO experience with gyro's so that is a good bit of info to think about.

 

[Pistolera]

Good news!!