lead) later.

Coolness

Well, advertisers being good at what they do… The keenest, neatest, coolest thing might not be the thing you want in your model. Sometimes the simplest, tried and true parts are the ones to stay with.  Ask your fellow modelers if they’ve used the new stuff. You might save yourself some headaches,

You might want to avoid:

Clevises that have multiple parts that can get lost. 

Plastic stuff that can wear (due to vibration).

2-56 linkages

Metal-to-metal connections

Parts that require a special tool to adjust might not be field friendly and someday prevent you from flying your favorite model.

Ease of use

Use parts in your control linkage that make adjustments easy to do and that will hold these adjustments over time. Soldering clevises onto the steel wire sure makes a strong connection, but has no adjustment (resoldering). Sometimes simple is best – like using wheel collars to adjust the push wires on the indoor models.

Adjustability

Make sure your choice of parts allow easy adjustment of the control surface (both center and overall throw). Being able to make adjustments from outside the model is a huge plus. Also make sure the adjustable bits can be locked in place, and unlocked for later adjustments. Some modelers will CA their threaded parts. Others will use lock nuts. Some use thread locker. Some will use safety wire. Many use a combination of these. (Ask about the T6 story…)

How well it stays in adjustment

Ideally, we want our adjustments to stay forever. However, if we have selected less than ideal components, parts with a different coefficient of expansion (the ratio of the change in length or volume of a body to the original length or volume for a unit change in temperature), or incorrectly installed our components, the model may have very different flying characteristics from one day to the next.

Stuff you need to know

Keep the control linkage as short as possible.

Use mechanical adjustment to set end points and

   center, rather than relying on a computer radio.

Use silver solder on all of these type of joints. 60/40 rosin core solder (electrical) is not a good thing to use! Make sure to use flux when soldering and clean the flux off (it is usually an acid!).

Coreless digital servos are expensive for a reason – they are fast, precise, repeatable and strong. They have far more linear torque (just as high at the center as the endpoints).

Control systems always fail at the weakest point. If you use balsa servo mounts or thin lite ply – guess where the weak link is…

Providing bearings for push rods and attachment points for the plastic sleeve is a good thing. Depending on the load and power requirements, you may need to put one every 6-inches or less.

Bending the control wires to reach the attachment points weakens the system.

Slop causes flutter. Slop occurs in the servo output spline, control horn holes, hinges, and the push rod itself. Installing the control rods so they run straight  between the servo and the control horn is best, but not always possible.

Counter balancing control surfaces (equal weight on both sides of the hinge) prevents flutter.

Some ARF vendors supply 2-56 or 2mm metric parts. Sometimes the threads are rolled, sometime they are cut. These are not compatible nor interchangeable. Check your parts and make sure they fit correctly.

 

Hinges

Here is another area that brings modeler’s opinions to the forefront. Many use the hinging techniques that have become familiar. This is OK as long as you are building models in the same class (size, weight, power, capability, etc.) When you migrate from peanut or 40 size sport scale to other types of models, different choices must be made.  Many kit manufacturer’s include or at least recommend the hinges and the number of hinges to use. Lately, the large 3D type ARC/ARF/Kits do not include any reference to hinging (or control linkages). They leave it up to the experienced modeler to use the components they like.

There are many new tools available to help make hinging easier. The idea is to provide a strong connection between parts that have no slop, small or no air gap, no friction or binding, and are simple, repeatable in use.

CA

Many vendors make these – not all are created equal. I have seen many of these type hinges fail. When they do – it is tough to fix- cut the control surface off and re- hinge. Still, some modelers swear by them and not at them…

Not-CA

Most of these hinges are installed with epoxy or white glue. It is a good idea to put oil or Vaseline on the hinge area to prevent glue from migrating to these areas. Pinning the hinges is a good idea and may save your model some day

Robart Hinge Points – make sure there is enough wood to capture the points

Plastic

Plastic with metal hinge pin

Monocote – not glued in the traditional sense, these are strong and work well up to a 40-size model.

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