Pico Stick F

I have a Pico Stick F (fuselage version) that I have been having problems with (this is my first RC plane).

I built it with everything that came in the box, except I glued a couple of carbon push rods to the underside of the wing to keep it from folding.

After hand-launch, it seems to want to pull to the right, even though the rudder is at dead center. What else could be wrong that would cause this?

Thanks, Dan

Reply to
dan.hoffard
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How much pull? When it's going slow? When it's going fast? Only after hand launch, or when you take off from the ground?

Any warps or inaccuracies in the airframe will make it pull one way or another. Check that the wings aren't twisted, with the left wingtip pointing up or the right wingtip pointing down. Check that when the wing is on it isn't canted with the left tip farther forward than the right. Check to make sure that the horizontal stabilizer really is horizontal with respect to the wings. Check to make sure that the vertical stabilizer is straight in line with the fuselage, and not giving it right "rudder" all he time. Make sure that you don't have _too_ much right thrust on the motor (up to 5 degrees of right thrust is desired -- check the assembly manual to see what it has to say). Finally, check the balance from side to side, to make sure that the right wing isn't heavy, making the thing drop at low airspeeds.

HTH

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

Did you do a lateral balance ? Support the plane by it's prop and the end of the plane (if necessary insert a pin in the end of the fuselage).

The wings should be level. If a wing dips (drops) add some weight to the opposite wing.

If the wings are level, make sure you do not have a warp in the wings or tailfeathers. If you have a warp, depending on what the plane is made from you can do the following to get rid of the warp.

  1. Shim the offending surface in the opposite direction and weight it down overnight. This may have to be done several times as the surface will "spring back" to a certain degree.
  2. Using a heat gun for modelers (NOT A HAIR DRYER - too hot), CAREFULLY heat the offending surface and twist in the opposite direction of the warp.

#1 and 2 normally work very well on conventional (balsa) airplanes.

#1 may work on the foam planes.

If the plane is foam and #1 doesn't do the trick, you will need to fashion a brace from balsa/lite ply and while holding the surface in the correct position (shims and weight come in hamdy here) CA the brace in place using FOAM SAFE CA. Remember to do a lateral balance afterwards.

Reply to
Ted Campanelli

Tape a stick onto each wingtip, in exactly the same manner on each side. Try to make it from the point at the front to the point at the back of the wing, then sight the sticks looking at one tip along the length of the wing to the second stick. They should be at the same angle, and if not, they will cause the plane to bank.

Reply to
Morgans

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