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The ARF comes in a box that measures 89-1/4 x 17-1/2 x 10-1/4 inches. The street price for the kit is about $429.00 plus shipping. (Support your local hobby shop and buy it locally if you can). |
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The parts are huge and come wrapped in plastic. Everything is well protected and the kit comes with everything needed to build the plane except the engine and radio. |
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Here's a better look at the kit components. We will use a Saito 1.5 Cubic Inch 4-stroke single cylinder engine, Hitec HS615 servos and a JR PCM10X radio system for this model. |
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You can see how well the wing is protected in plastic bubble pack and the bag. The hardware for the main wings comes in another small plastic bag. This makes finding the parts easier. |
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We took the time to add our AMA number on the left wing. Other decals (included in the kit) were added as well. We used the covering iron set at 315 Degrees F to remove any wrinkles in the covering and to go over all the seams. |
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The hinges were folded back and forth at the center, then marked the center of each hinge. If you bend these hinges, make sure not to bend them too far, or the cloth may delaminate. This helped to locate the hinge center as we glued the aileron hinges. These are CA style hinges. We have seen the some CA style hinges fail on some aircraft - usually when flutter is experienced. We prefer using Robart hinge points on the giant models, but the CA style should be OK for this plane. |
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You can see the Teflon tip on the CA glue we are going to use to install the aileron hinges. The other glue will be used for installing the windows later. We also used 30 minute epoxy for the servo mounting blocks and for attaching other high stress areas. |
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Thin CA was used for the installation, just as the instructions directed - 8 small drops. The aileron is kept very tight to the wing, keeping the gap very small. This still allows more than the specified 1 - 1/16 inch full deflection in both directions. Both wing ailerons were installed before proceeding with other tasks. The wings are kept in their protective bags while not being worked on to prevent damage. |
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Some extra pieces of plywood were glued in each corner of the servo bays, adding more thickness for the screw threads. |
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A notch is needed in two of the servo mounting blocks to clear the servo wire. The mounting blocks were glued with 30-minute epoxy and screwed into the hatch cover. We also needed to file and cut away some of wood around the hatch opening in the wing so that the hatch fit. |
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We set the JR PCM10x radio wing type for flaperons. The left wing is plugged into the AUX1 channel and the right wing is plugged into the normal aileron channel. A six channel receiver is being used for this model. |
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Luckily, the ARF comes with a string for pulling the aileron servo wires through the wing. We managed to lose the string in one of the wings while we were in the process of tying the 36-inch servo extension wire onto the pull string. Getting the pull string back out of the wing turned out to be quite a tricky thing! With a little help of the vacuum cleaner, we were able to get the pull string out again. Whew! |
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Silver solder was used to attach the solder type clevis onto the 4-40 push wire. We soldered all three pushwires that came in the kit at the same time. The solder clevis goes at the very end of the pushwire. The wire was cleaned using steel wool, then the flux was applied. A propane torch was used to heat the clevis and pushwire. The solder was then pressed into the joint area and allowed to flow into the joint. The steel wool was also used to clean the joint as the solder cooled. A propane torch is much more practical for the soldering task. The instructions show a the use of a soldering iron. The torch allows the material to be heated faster, more completely, and the solder can be applied quickly without heating up the whole wire. |
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If we could have, we would have changed the slot for the servo horn, so that the servo horn is closer to the aileron. This would allow for a shorter and lighter push rod assembly. With control linkage it is best to follow, the shorter, the stiffer, the lighter, the better rule! The hardware supplied with the kit works well and the directions are clear and will provide a good installation. The right wing is completed. |
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This is the left wing. We checked the movement of the both wing control surfaces using the radio. Everything was centered and moved freely up and down. The right aileron needed to be reversed (done at the radio). We even had the ailerons set up as flaps, if we want to use that function. |
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Clamps were used to hold the engine in place as the holes for the engine mount were marked on the firewall. The engine mount is offset from the actual center of the firewall due to the built in right and down thrust in the firewall. This allows the engine prop driver to be centered in the cowl opening. |
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Installing the blind nuts for the engine mount was pretty challenging. It is pretty tricky to reach the firewall from behind, even with the windshield removed. A yellow insert from a nyrod was used to help get the blindnuts into the holes in the firewall. |
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We got the mount loosely attached to the firewall. The bottom left corner of the engine mount was secured with one of the supplied Phillips head screws. We used socket head M4x30 bolts for the other three. We needed to use the screw to provide clearance between the mounting hardware and the engine's carburetor. |
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The engine is now mounted and looks pretty good. |
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This is really nice looking plane. I was tempted to install the main wings just to have a look at the all the parts we've worked on. The Saito 150 sure looks nice on this model. |
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