Electric outrunnerCessna bird dog maiden flight issue

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flyboy1978

New Member
Hi everyone, I just found this website whilst browsing around on Google. I am 35 year old male from the UK who has just recently started flying RC planes again. I flew a few of them many years ago and learnt the hard way, lots of crashes.
I began flying again recently with the Hobbyking Bixler 1 and once I had done some small modifications as advised in many youtube videos/tutorials etc I have managed to successfully go out and fly confidently on a regular basis.
Looking to be more adventurous I just finished building my first plane from a plan using balsa wood. It is a Cessna Bird Dog L-19 and on it's maiden flight I had some trouble with it.....so much so that I am afraid to go out again and crash it. After take-off it seems to be very responsive to the controls although I am trying to be delicate with it. It seems to climb quickly and stalls when I try to fly at lower speeds leading to uncrontrollable dives. During landing it comes down very quickly also. I cannot work out if it is tail or nose heavy, if the motor needs repositioning, or if I am missing some other issue.

Cessna Maiden Flight/Bixler Fun - YouTube

Above I have posted a link to my maiden flight video, I have posted only the best bits when the plane was more in control. If anyone reading this has the time to watch and give me there opinion I would greatly appreciate it as my experience is not enough to solve the issue alone. :)
 
HeliDinoRC

HeliDinoRC

Senior Rc-Help Member
Welcome to the forum! I'm afraid I can't help you with the plane as I am a new pilot but I wanted to welcome you and I am sure you will find the help you need.
 
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flyboy1978

New Member
@HeliDinoRC Hi there, thanks for your message. Glad to know I am not the only beginner on here haha. What are you flying/building at the moment?
 
HeliDinoRC

HeliDinoRC

Senior Rc-Help Member
You're welcome! We newb's gotta stick together hahahah.....just kidding! Newb's are very welcome here. There are a lot of great experienced pilots/builders on this forum and they are great at responding and making sure you have the information you need to enjoy flying, building, settingup, etc.

I currently have a hanger full of helis (listed in my signature) with pics on my profile. I have three planes I haven't taken pics of yet but will soon. Hobbyzone Super Cub LP, E-Flite Apprentice S15e (both topwing trainers) and an ultra mini Corsair. I watched Ba Ba Blacksheep as a kid and the Corsair is my ultimate favorite scale model. I am saving up and building my skills to buy, build and fly one. I am currently building a Goblin 630 (build thread on here).
 
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flyboy1978

New Member
@Jamman Hi, I think the music I put on the video imust be copyrighted so that's why you cannot view it. Thanks for the link I will have a read now, I appreciate your help. :)
 
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Gerald

Member
Flyboy, Hi and welcome! I am still learning to fly also and have had my troubles with CG. Looking at the take off I say you are tail heavy, when ever you pull back on the stick and the plane just pops the nose up like a balloon it's tail heavy! A little nose heavy is better especally for beginners. If you have adjustable rates on your Tx back your rates down some and put some expo in it. I have been going 70/ 30 on my DR/Expo to start out then when I am comfortable I bump it up.
 
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flyboy1978

New Member
@Gerald Hi Gerald, thanks so much for your advice about the CG, I had my suspicions about the plane being tail heavy but didn't want to go ahead and experiment at the risk of losing my homemade plane. I think now with your advice and also with some other helpful tips from other members I will definately try and bring the CG forward more and give it another go as soon as the weather is right. I will re-post on here the results......fingers crossed lol. :D
What models do you fly/build?
 
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Gerald

Member
flyboy1978 said:
@Gerald Hi Gerald, thanks so much for your advice about the CG, I had my suspicions about the plane being tail heavy but didn't want to go ahead and experiment at the risk of losing my homemade plane. I think now with your advice and also with some other helpful tips from other members I will definately try and bring the CG forward more and give it another go as soon as the weather is right. I will re-post on here the results......fingers crossed lol. :D
What models do you fly/build?
Click to expand...

I am flying mostly Dollar Tree foamboard scratch built planes, I have a Hobby zone Mini super cub, I fly the Old Fogey and Speedster from flite test and the FT-22 Raptor, which needs rebuilt, stuck it into a tree at about 30mph! I have built and attempted to fly the RC Help trainer but banged it up pretty bad! I am currently finishing the Excelsior, I hope to complete it this week maybe even maiden it. I also built a trainer type plane using a carbon arrow it is a smooth flyer!
View attachment 10791View attachment 10792
 
Admiral

Admiral

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the form Flyboy, you seem to have isolated the C of G problem the only other thing I could see was that it appears very twitchy, do you have RD/Expo set in the Tx?
 
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flyboy1978

New Member
Hi Admiral, thanks for your message, I don't even know what RD/Expo is haha, I'm sure my Tx doesn't have that function though. It's a standard 4ch TX that comes with the RTF Bixler that I have. I will have a look on google now and see what RD/Expo.....gotta learn these things lol. I appreciate your help, cheers! :)
 
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Gerald

Member
It is DR/expo, Admiral had a typo D/R is Dual Rate expo is exponential. it slow down and limits your inputs to the plane to keep it from being twitchy and makes it a smoother ride.
If you have large control surfaces it keeps you from going out of control from a small movement, Like if you move the stick a 1/4 throw and the aileron moves 3/4 throw in response you need DR/Expo. Tony has great video on it.


 
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fhu667

Member
If you don't have dual rates and expo then you can make your adjustments at the servo and control horn. If it's too sensitive move the servo pushrods toward the middle of the servo and or move the control horn toward the outermost hole.

- - - Updated - - -

edit* move the pushrod on the control horn toward the outmost hole.
 
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flyboy1978

New Member
Thanks Gerald! My TX doesn't have this possibilty as I'm only at the beginning of this hobby, I will definately try and get one with this feature when the time comes to replace the one I have.
 
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flyboy1978

New Member
Hi everyone, hope you are all well and getting some good weather for your hobbies. I'd posted some time ago about some issues I'd had with my Cessna Bird Dog. All is well now and she's away and flying like a bird, I just wanted to thank the people who had left their comments and advice on how to solve the issue I'd had with it. Turned out to be the control throws needed adjusting as their was too much movement. Here's a link to a video I made of the build.

Cessna Bird Dog L-19 made from a plan. - YouTube

I have one other problem which I am unable to solve. I have a tx from hobbyking (i know it's nasty and cheap :) but it's all my budget will allow for right now) it's always worked fine and had excellent range etc. Just recently I tried to fly my foam bixler and couldn't understand why it was impossible to control and it crashed (luckily its like a brick so no damgae done). Turns out the servos and motor are working when I am standing next to the model but as soon as I move away from it like 5- 6 metres the signal goes completely. I have tried 3 different fully charged and verified batteries, on both the TX and the receiver, also I tried using a different model plane with another ESC and still nothing. I tried also to bind the TX to the RX and still no luck. Does anyone have any ideas what it might be?

Thanks again and I hope you enjoy my video.
 
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