The Multiplex PC-6 Turbo Porter is well suited to back country operations, thanks to its effective flaps, functioning landing gear and ample prop clearance.
that when you discount the parts lists and general introduction areas. There are also four pages of explanatory illustrations in the middle of the manual.
AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Wing area: Airfoil: Length: Weight:
RC sport scale electric Elapor® foam 49.2 inches 367.5 sq. in.
semi-symmetrical 36.6 inches
(wheels) 37.6 ounces (floats) 44.3 ounces
Wing loading: (wheels) 14.7 oz./sq. ft. (floats) 17.4 oz./sq. ft.
Motor: Multiplex 3530-1100 (installed) ESC:
Multiplex BL-40 (installed) Battery: Radio:
Receiver: Servos:
Manufacturer:
Thunder Power Pro-Lite+ 3S 2700mAh LiPo
Hitec Aurora 9X Hitec Optima 6
(6) Multiplex MS-12016 (installed)
Multiplex
Dist. by: Hitec RCD/ Multiplex USA 12115 Paine Street Poway, CA 92064 858-748-6948
www.multiplexusa.com FLYING MODELS
The manual instructs you to install the landing gear first. This also helps protect the fuselage from workbench dings as you proceed. The landing gear literally snaps into place, with both wire legs inserted into plastic anchors on the bottom of the fuse- lage. The one twist that makes this a little tricky is mating the upper spring struts to the lower struts as you install the landing gear. You may find that you need to loosen the screws that secure the upper spring strut components to the fuselage. The two compression springs are secured for ship- ping with a wrap of thin foam and tape that will need to be removed.
At first it may seem that you need an ex-
tra set of hands to install the landing gear, but if you go slowly you can get it while working alone. I joined one set of struts, barely inserted the wire pieces to the fuse- lage and then finally brought the second strut set together as I pushed the wires fully into place.
The stabilizer and rear of the fuselage are precisely molded and key together with the typical high-quality production tolerances that we have come to expect from Multiplex. Before you mount the stabilizer however, you need to open the rear access hatch in the belly of the fuselage and loosen the elevator pushrod at its servo. Pulling the pushrod aft a bit helps while you insert the L-bend into the elevator control horn. Now slide the hori- zontal stabilizer into place. Once installed, secure the stabilizer with its retaining screw. The next step in the manual is mounting the propeller and spinner, but I set these parts aside until after I had installed the wings and set up the radio. I feel much more comfortable programming a radio with the propeller not on the model.
One trick the manual points out that you don’t want to miss is to tape the flap and aileron leads together before you try to in- stall the wings. Doing so makes them much easier to pull forward from the cabin area to the hatch where you will make the receiver connections. The wings mount to the fuse-
lage by sliding onto a carbon fiber spar tube and are secured with screws.
The wing struts attach to the lower fuse- lage with wire body clips. The manual sug- gests using a short piece of string to tie these clips to the wing or strut so that they don’t get lost. This is probably a good idea. While the clips seem quite secure, it would be a shame to lose one in the grass. Included in the small parts bag is an oddly
shaped piece of flat plastic. This replicates an antenna strake that sits atop the cabin of the full-scale aircraft, and makes a nice de- tail on the model. The slot in which it mounts is covered by one of the decals. I used a hobby knife to quickly slice through the decal. I also carefully scraped this part with the knife to smooth the molding marks. After a quick test fit, I put a couple of drops of thick CA into the slot, spritzed the strake with kicker and pressed it into place.
Radio setup
At this point I moved onto the radio setup and noticed that both the manual and the Hitec web site (
www.hitecrcd.com) call for a seven-channel transmitter and receiver. For the most flexibility, you will want to use a seven channel system. Why? Well, the flap servos are installed symmetrically about the centerline of the aircraft. This means you will need to reverse one of them through transmitter programming or with a special Y-harness that reverses one of its leads. If you don’t have a reversing Y-harness, you must put the ailerons on a standard Y-harness and plug the flaps into separate channels to use a six-channel receiver or ra- dio. Using a seven-channel receiver allows you to program both ailerons and both flaps independently.
Another slight challenge that I came across was that the numeric labeling of the servo leads does not conform to standard Hitec channel assignments. The manual does however, clearly map out the numbers and the servo functions. It only took a couple of moments to confirm proper control deflec- tion and surface travels once I had every- thing plugged in.
With the receiver installed and transmit- ter programmed, I now mounted the pro-
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