BuiltWithNOF

Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
 

THIS GAVE ME THE PIP

by Keith Young

I obtained a plan from RC Model World, (I think it is from the Sep 05 issue – Ed) for a plane called “Pippin”, which has a 52” wingspan.  The plan came \and I settled down to build.  It went well, a nice slim fuselage was soon made, and I fitted a Tornado brushless 400-sized motor and ESC running on a 3-cell LiPoly battery.

The wings didn’t take long and when covered the model looked good, and I was ready for a range check.

I placed the plane on the grass in my garden (where have I heard this before?), switched on and with the aerial still down walked about ten paces, when suddenly the plane shot down the garden and then cut out.  It seemed to have a mind of it’s own!

So what did I do to find the source of the problem?

1. I changed the ESC – no difference.

  • 2. I changed the Futaba RX – no difference.
  • 3. I tried other crystals – no difference.
  • 4. I tried another TX – no difference.
  • 5. I tried a GWS RX – you guessed.
  • 6. I changed the motor – no difference.
  • 7. I changed the battery – again, no difference.
  • 8. I took out the servos – what do you think?

If I had any hair I would have been pulling it out, as I was starting to think I would never get this plane safely into the air, until:

    My friend Mike gave me a HiTec that he no longer needed as he had gone over to 2.4 gHz, so as a last resort I put it in the Pippin, and guess what, a successful range check and it took off and flew beautifully at Hordle Rec, with no interference whatsoever.

    My question is, why should a second hand HiTec RX do what other makes couldn’t do on a particular  model?

    I suppose the answer is in there somewhere, but tak about giving you the Pip!

    (Anyone with the answer can get in touch with Keith at 01425 612129 – Ed)

     

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