Fairchild RC II: 4 CH. RC

[davidchoate]

It is .020" wire I have. I used small pieces of Red plastic tube to work as a bushing to keep the wire from wearing the soft balsa wing ribs, and I ended up using regular CA Hinges. Hinge tape would not have worked well here. Although the control horns are not in Yet ( I want to wait until I'm sure where I want them) I believe the one little servo will work. I had to fuss with the wire until the servo stopped "buzzing" and I will probably try and get even less resistance in the movement. I'm going to cover it in microlite. But if is does Fly I would like to do it in a GOOD tissue and Dope Finish.

[davidchoate]

I covered with microlite. I still want to tweak the aileron control wire adjustment a bit more while I make the fuselage. The Wing weighs 22 grams with servo and covered.

[davidchoate]

I made templates of the fuselage formers, and have picked a suitable piece of 1/16" sheet balsa. I hope to get at least the pieces cut today, but the weather is perfect and I really need the practice so I might Fly My trainer today. Also I wonder how hard to put the wing on the bottom. Sounds like a Job for Widdog !

[davidchoate]

I made the new formers and one side. Now drying.

[davidchoate]

I used light balsa for the formers and medium balsa for the 1/16" side frame pieces. I am placing the main fomer in place without wing seat modifications to give the structure a lot more integrity so it will not twist or rack. I am considering also playing with different LG configurations for this reason. The single piece of bent wire is not attached to the stick box type of fuselage and that may be fine for a rubber powered model, but with the extra weight of a 4 ch. RC setup and My hard landings I fear the fuselage will not live very long.

[davidchoate]

Fuselage

[davidchoate]

Gonna do a bit more work on the fuse tonight, and I already am planning Fairchild 3.0. I want to make the lower wing one. It looks a wing from a PT-19 maybe.

[davidchoate]

I got a good bit done. This Model is the lightest of this size I have built ever. So far. It is lighter than My Fairchild 1 3 ch. Perhaps it's the fact that I chose the wood and cut it Myself. I don't know. The Microlite is definitely a factor in the weight being much less than a tissue and dope finish.

[Bill Gaylord]

The one thing I did with this model which paid off, was using strong stringers for the upper and lower fuse corners. I probably would have broken them during handling, with lighter wood. Still a pretty light model though. One thing that surprised me was the strength. It looks fragile, but most of the weight is transferred to the stronger frontal portion of the aircraft, making it pretty robust. I had an incident where I was flying in too small of an area, with too much wind. Almost couldn't get it back, and it nosed in from about 12 feet, after a brush with a tree. To my surprise, there was no damage whatsoever.

[davidchoate]

I also chose a bit stronger stringers from an old 400 series die cut kit. And I made the LG from .032" wire and not the .047" wire supplied in kit. I was contemplating using a Parkzone brushed motor because of how light this thing is. My estimated AUW is around 70g with a 2s 250mah Lipo. But I have had reliability issued with that stuff. And I have decided to use a 2.5g micro servo in each wing because I am not satified with even the very slight friction caused by the flexible control wire system. I even went as far as to try some heavier Gold n Cable with a plastic tubing, and I just do not think the little servo will be able to reliably produce enough torque to operate the ailerons. The only way I can eliminate the need for a stronger, or two weaker servos is by using a bell crank, and these tiny servos weigh only 2.5g's; to save only 1 single gram by using one servo and the thin .020" wire does not seem worth the effort , and reduction of reliability. Sometimes the juice is not worth the squeeze. Also I learned that if You make a steerable tailwheel by putting the tailwheel wire integrated direct to the rudder. Do not store the Plane without some support under the appenage, or the rudder will develope a warp over time. I am ready to install the servos now and build up the Cabin area to accept the wing. I have been seriously considering making it a round cowl as seen in the photos I found of Fairchild 24's converted to radial engines, and I do believe that a low wing version will appear in the future as Fairchild 3.0

[davidchoate]

Bill, what type of receiver is in that picture of your Fairchild fuselage? I have had bad luck with the Parkzone/Eflite bricks as far as the ESC function burning out on the board after a few flights, and those things are not cheap. The 3 ch. one is around $50.00. They are light, but I do not like them.

[davidchoate]

I offset the servo arm in each wing 30degrees to limit the down movement of the ailerons.

[davidchoate]

AUW IS GOING TO BE ABOUT 100g

[davidchoate]

AUW IS GOING TO BE ABOUT 100g

[Bill Gaylord]

100 grams isn't bad for these planes. The Cub I flew recently was exactly 100 grams, and not bad at all. Paint is a real killer. Could have been lighter without it, but worth the looks.