PHOTOS: MICHAEL RAMSEY
Michael’s son, Andrew, pilots his first Pattern plane. Adding a pilot (above left) is simple with modern cameras and printers. Michael’s lightened wingtips
scavenged parts box and used a small dollop of Shoo Goo to hold it in place.
The plug-in wings and small size make routing the wires a trivial task, but they aren’t quite long enough to get all the way to the brick. Use 6-inch servo extensions to run from the receiver to the wing roots. Orient the linear servos so that the gear is toward the LE of the wing. The pushrod should not go over the gear. The servos are mounted to small rails of 1⁄16 × 1⁄8 scrap which are glued to R3 at about the rib centerline. Adjust them so they can drive the pushrod straight back (not angled up/down at neutral), and then add the control horns so they are straight front to rear. I use epoxy to glue the control horns into place. The servos are, like the receiver, attached using Shoo Goo. The wings can be slid into place on the joiners. If the wings slide too easily, add a layer of thin tape to the wing joiner at the fuse/wing interface. Keep in mind that there is very little force pulling the wings out- ward. A set of 2mm magnets could be added if more security is desired.
The hatch is held on the fuselage by a small block attached to the back of H3 which fits snugly into the hole in F3, and by a pair
(above right) saved a large amount of weight at the tips, which in turned improved roll response.
of magnets at the front. If you make a clear canopy for your Neo, you can use covering to attach it semi-permanently to the hatch wood. This will keep it snug as long as you want it there, but also will allow you to re- move it to add or change the pilot. If you use a foam spinner such as the ParkZone Pole Cat one shown on the plans, you will likely need to hollow it out to fit the prop. To attach it to the prop, use a glue such as SuperPhatic which will bond to the plas- tic. Shoo Goo will dissolve the foam as I learned from my mistake. The battery mounts to the bottom of the hatch (H2) us- ing micro hook-and-loop material. I recommend that you weigh your model before the first flight. This will give you a ref- erence for any future changes you may make. Mine came in at 104 grams which gave me the confidence that it would have plenty of performance based on similar Clas- sic Pattern planes I had built. I also was quite sure that this would be easy to land gently. For me it’s just another way to de- crease the “pucker factor” for the first flights.
Flying The plans show the recommended first-
flight balance point range. If you are using an AS3X receiver, you may want to move it slightly rearward after a few flights to allow the receiver to have better stability control. Always keep it ahead of the trike main gear however. First flights needed no trim, but with the CG at the spar it was noticeably nose-heavy. Moving the battery back im- proved handling markedly. My preference is to have the CG near the aft limit shown, or about 1⁄8 inch ahead of the mains on the trike version.
The gains in the Carbon Cub brick were just fine. I set up the plane in my DX9 to have multiple rates, but ended up flying the whole time at 100 percent throws. The ele- vator pushrod is on the outermost hole of the control horn and the rudder and aileron are on the center holes. The DX9 was set for 15 percent expo on all three axes to get started. You should start with these settings and then adjust to your tastes.
You are going to enjoy racking up the
points during landing! The Neo 180 will slow down nicely, but is not so light on the wing that it floats too long. You should have no problem lining it up and setting it down exactly where you want.
The Neo 180 is a welcome lunch-time flyer, (above left) especially once it warmed up a bit. The color scheme was inspired by Dick Hanson’s original
FLYING MODELS
Tiporare. The colors (above right) really pop out nicely against a blue sky. The covering used for all the colors is SoLite.
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68