Ok so last night I took pics of my easy star that I eventually plan to use as a drone but for now, since I have zero flight time, I am going to just get it to the point that it runs as a plane so I can fly it first. These pics are to be used in hopes I might get some help on figuring out what else I need for parts. One thing that isnt shown in the photo is that I may use, for now, my step sons cheap JR RX and TX. I do know I need some more parts for the prop/motor, just not sure what. Well here are the pics and any help on figuring what else I need to get this thing flying would be greatly appreciated.
Any help with this would be VERY MUCH greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Replies
Here are the pictures I said I would upload.
Wayne
Interesting. With the long boom, the motor behind the CG and most of the battery weight there too I would have thought the CG would have be well aft of what they recommend as the appropriate position - 78mm from the leading edge if memory serves.
There should be an extra tube in the box and that's for holding the antenna for the lower frequency systems. Again from memory it goes out of the hole in the bottom of the canopy space and into the tube and the tube gets glued into that space that runs along the boom. It protects the antenna from being abraided when you land. At least that's where I put the antenna for my AR500.
Good luck with the NexStar. I learnt to fly (on the Realflight simulator) with a NexStar - while I put my Condor 40 together. I thought she was a sweet trainer - or at least Realflight's implementation of her was. :-)
Hi Wayne. Hope your Easy Star build is going okay.
The plane's CG is a bit of a balancing act. You'll need to try and redistribute weight to maintain the CG of your plane. For the Easy Star that's not necessarily easy (no pun intended) and as you suggest you may have to add some weight to the back
But first try moving whatever you have in the canopy section closer to the wings. You might also look to put the heavier components towards the back. For mine I have the battery at the back, the ESC sits above the batteries (velco'ed to the top of the inside of the canopy space) and the receiver is way at the front. I assume if its only slightly nose heavy you wound up not putting the battery where your photo indicates you were going to put it.
Your local hobby store should be able to supply you with a stick of lead weights which you can select the right amount and stick somewhere aft of the CG mark. How far back and how much weight required depends on how nose heavy your plane is. With my Easy Star I have 5g of lead stuck into the foam at the very rear of the tail boom. I've just temporary attached a Flycam Eco to my plane and to balance it all out I need another 5g about half way down the boom. I've got a CG machine so its pretty straightforward, I just keep moving the weight back until the plane sits level in the machine - if you're doing it by hand it might be a bit more frustrating.
I have a Swallow EQ AC/DC charger. Its probably overkill for what you need, but I also fly nitro planes so it does me fine for the three different types of batteries I have.
Your hobby shop should have something you can use to replace the missing parts. You might want to check out the Du-bro or Great Planes components in the store until you find something. If you're referring to what I think you are have a look at the E/Z Connectors.
I tried to leave a reply last night but it doesn't seem to have taken. Anyway, my field is a bit windy and the stock Easy Star seems to struggle a bit turning into the wind. If where you're going to fly is windy you might want to check out some of the numerous rudder modifications you can do. Aileron mods seem to be the fancy at my club. I've only done the rudder on mine. Its about three-four times the size of the original, I have no troubles with the wind anymore and I had a fun dogfight with a aileron mod-ed Easy Star the other week.
Also you might want to map the rudder controls onto your aileron stick. If you get into trouble and you are used to an aileron equipped plane you'll probably instinctively try to use the ailerons to get yourself out of trouble.
Well last night I decided to try and do more work on getting this together. I have it together and have tested it and so far just as a plane. How ever I have noticed that from the original marks I put under the wing for CG it seems it is now just slightly nose heavy. But I do have a few questions and maybe some of it is that I don't understand some of the dynamics.
1) I found the planes CG but how can you put all sorts of equipment up in the front of the plane without the CG changing?
A) How to you counter act a new CG?
B) Do you some how add weight in the tail to counteract a nose heavy plane so you can maintain the original CG marks?
2) I don't have a lipo charger. What is a good charger that I can use that would also work with other lipo packs of varius types? (I play airsoft to and would like a charger that works with those packs also is possible)
3) I noticed I some how managed to lose the washer,nut, and......the thing that clamps onto the wire that goes to the servo for the flap to move. Would I get something like that just at my local hobby shop?
I have however moved to the more traditional approach of lots of glue as the destruction ruined my playtime with me having to "rebuild" it all. You can see my initial build pics on my blog and once I've done my first flight on the new code I'll post pictures of my complete new setup as I'm focusing on CoG.
Wayne, RCGroups has a wealth of Easy Star information here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1363621
I had some questions on building, and they are a super friendly and helpful bunch. The first couple of posts are pointers to build guides, etc, everything you will need to get up to speed for your first build.
My own modest contribution to the EZ* world is a nice looking rudder made from two store cards:
http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2011/04/easystar-rudder-mod.html
As others have mentioned, you will want to put your battery up front to keep the proper CG. Good Luck!
A bad servo. I wrote about it here:
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/shame-on-you-servo
The funny thing is that it worked fine with RC setup but not when the APM was connected. I got some valuable feedback about using metal gear servos etc.
The EasyStar only got a bent nose even when i had the bathtubmod with the top part of the EPO fuselage cut off.
I am currently on my third version of the wooden thingy on top of the bathtub. Will make a blog post about it soon
Here is two blogs i made about my EasyStar
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/easy-star-bathtub-mod
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/building-my-uav
Wayne,
Given the battery location, I assume that you do not plan to glue the fuse together? Otherwise you cannot see the physical condition of the battery after many charge/discharge cycles nor remove it without taking the fuse apart.
Just a thought.
Regards,
TCIII
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