No doubt by the time you have got
as far as reading these instructions you will already have closely examined your new Pike
and will of course be eager to get it in to the air as soon as possible. Although the Pike
is very quick to assemble it is worth investing a few hours to get your airframe fitted
out in a manner that will ensure your installation is capable of withstanding the same
extreme flight loads that the aircraft is.
In purchasing the Pike you have
chosen an airframe that is capable of winning international competitions at F3F, F3B and
F3J. The Pike has already logged an impressive array of victories and as more people
throughout the UK get to discover it’s potential there is no doubt the list will get
bigger.
During sport flying you can rejoice
in the crisp responses and the way in which the beautifully harmonised controls allow you
to thermal effortlessly or string together a complex aerobatics schedule, whatever your
thumbs command.
These instructions are written with
the moulded virgin in mind. They are the instructions that should, but seldom do,
accompany every moulded model and aim to avoid mistakes caused through inexperience.
It’s a reasonable bet that
many builders will have put a moulded model together before but even if you fall into this
category a quick glance through these instructions is still recommended. You can always
use them to mix epoxy on if you know better!
Fuselage
As standard the model comes with a
ballast tube installed in the wing and with two similar tubes in the fuselage. In total
over 2kg of lead could be carried but in practise most pilots will choose to use either
the wing or the fuselage tubes, depending upon their personal preferences. Whilst the
airframe can cope with these unusually large amounts of ballast no performance benefits
are likely to be realised once the 1kg level has been exceeded.
The internal diameter of the tubes
is 15mm enabling the use of domestic central heating copper piping with molten lead poured
into it, more on this later.
The first job is to rout an oval
hole in the wing seat between the two bolt holes for the wiring harness. It is important
that the hole is oval or round, as sharp corners will concentrate any stresses from a hard
landing. The hole should be no larger than it needs to be to accommodate the wing wiring
connectors that you intend to use.
At this stage it is a good idea to
run a tube inside the fuselage for your RX aerial. Use a snake outer or similar and tack
in place with a small blob of epoxy/micro balloons inserted through the wing seat hole
that you have just made. When doing this do not allow the adhesive near the adjustable tow
hook.
Cut some thick ply to the correct
size to fit underneath where the servos will be installed. This will act as a tray to
screw the servos into and also act as extra reinforcement to stop the fuselage ballast
being pushed forward in the event of a sudden arrival. Use plenty of 5-minute epoxy and
micro balloons to glue the ply in place
Rout out the servo tray for your
particular servos and install. Connect up to the push rods and ensure that you have full
and free movement. In addition trial fit the outer nose cone to ensure that it does not
foul the servo arms. Use metal clevises throughout, no plastic! Pikes have used most of
the micro and mini servos on the market without the dimensions causing any problems. If
you experience any snags that you are unable to overcome give us a call.
Other than the wing wiring loom and
bolting on the V tail that’s the fuselage done. More on the wiring in a moment.
Wing
Until the time comes to assemble
the model for wiring and control movements only work on one wing panel placed on bubble
wrap at a time, leave the rest safely bagged. Ignore this and you risk finding out just
how small and how many sharp edges there are in your workshop!
Start with the boring bits first
whilst the enthusiasm is at its highest. Take each wing panel in turn and very carefully
and very lightly use 1200 grit (or finer) wet and dry (used wet, but not too wet!) on a
flat block to take off the already minute flashing at the leading and trailing edges. Only
use very light pressure and keep feeling the join as you go. It should take no more than
two or three light passes to render the join impossible to locate by touch. The problem
now is you’ll spend many minutes running you finger over and marvelling at the
perfect joint, be strong and move on to step two.
Probably the most tedious part of
putting a moulded model together is ensuring that the wing servos are mounted securely and
will serve well for years to come.
The wings will accept 15mm wide
servos although depending on the servos case design you may find it necessary to remove a
mounting lug.
When installing the servos in the
wing often overlooked is the need with all moulded planes to strengthen the wing skin to
which the servos will be attached. This means that if a servo is knocked off it wont take
your lovely wing skin with it, secondly it will reduce any skin flexing that can be a
cause of flutter. A square of medium weight glass, carbon or Kevlar cloth as large as you
can get to adhere properly applied with wing skinning epoxy to the area where the servo
will be glued will do the trick nicely. Whilst on the subject it is often prudent to spend
a few minutes shaping vertical grained balsa ribs to bridge the upper and lower skins of a
moulded wing thus spreading the mounting loads further. These can be worked in through the
servo access holes prior to the servo fitting, but after the aforementioned skin
reinforcement, and secured in place with some five minute epoxy. Some would regard this
skin bridging as overkill and they might be right but for the sake of half an hour’s
work why take the chance; you do want to go fast don’t you?
What you have now is a strong and
sturdy base to which the servos can be glued. To protect your servo cases simply wrap a
few layers of tape around it, masking tape works well. Mix up a paste of top quality
five-minute epoxy and micro balloons and apply to the appropriate surface of the servo.
What we want is for the excess glue to be pushed away from the servo arm and creep out at
the other three sides. This is simply achieved by holding the servo by the servo arm and
applying that end to the wing skin first, as the rest of the servo is pushed down the
excess glue will be pushed out away from the servo arm. A wise precaution is to have a few
cotton wool buds on standby to get any unwanted glue away from the moving parts, you
shouldn’t need them but it might make you happier to have them to hand just in case.
Make sure the servo output arm is
perfectly square with the control horn and that it sits in the deepest part of the wing
servo shroud.
In order to attain the range of
movements necessitated by crow braking your aileron servo arms at neutral will be angled
slightly towards the leading edge and your flap servo arms will be angled towards the
trailing edge. A brief contemplation of the movements required and the geometry involved
should make the need for this obvious.
Once ready to glue you servos in
place it can pay to double check the linkage and servo arm geometry. Also don’t
forget to centre your trims, sub trims, brake settings and other gadgetry before screwing
the servo arm in place and securing the servo. Most have done this at least once and
experienced the less than blissful spectacle of plugging the servo into the RX and
watching in horror as the servo arm despatches itself to centre in a position that you
hadn’t catered for. If you do go wrong before ripping out the servo to realign the
servo arm try bending the head of a Christmas cracker screwdriver to 90 degrees, it works!
What you are left with is a firmly
mounted servo that won’t let go unless really clouted. When it does let go all that
will break is the glue joint leaving you with a pre-formed epoxy/microballoons cup to
receive the servo again with a light smear of epoxy and no loss of trim.
Some people use silicon sealant to
mount servos and there can be no doubt that it does work but be warned. If you need to
replace gears or the servo gets knocked off nothing is going to stick it back again except
more silicon sealant. Not ideal for a slopeside job.
Once the servos are in you’ll
need to connect them to your fuselage loom. Most people already have a favoured plug
system. Multiplex connectors work well as do 15 way solder bucket type D connectors. It is
possible to arrange the connectors so that the wiring automatically locates once the
centre panel is put in place. How far you want to go is up to you and the time available.
Experience has shown the free-floating connectors are secure enough. If you want to try
the auto aligning method but don’t know where to start give us a ring. As a guide
it’ll take about an hour; but call before you start your loom as it will effect the
way your wiring exits the plug.
Note that when routing out the
centre panel for the wiring exit you have to be careful of the main spar and rear bolt
fixing. As a guide start your hole 115mm from the leading edge. Make the exit oval to
relieve stresses and open it out as much as is required. Don’t worry once you have
made the original entry it will be apparent where the spar is so you can’t damage it
by accident unless you really have been drinking heavily.
Finishing Off
To make your ballast take one
copper 15mm pipe available from all DIY stores. Cut the pipe approx. 100mm longer than the
length of ballast required and crush one end in a vice.
Use an old saucepan with a strong
handle to melt a goodly amount of lead. Do not even contemplate doing this unless you are
completely covered including goggles, a hat and gloves. The lead will take a while to melt
but soon you will be able to pour the molten lead into the copper tube which is waiting
outside propped upright between some bricks. Work quickly as molten lead soon solidifies
once it’s off the burner.
Once done allow to cool for several
hours (lock the cat away!). When cool use a rotating wheel pipe cutter (DIY stores sell
them very cheaply) to cut through the pipe and lead at the points you have measured out on
the copper pipe. The cutter, although a superb bit of kit, will leave a few mm in the
centre that you will need to finish off with a junior hacksaw.
As you have the hacksaw out you can
now cut some dowel spacers.
You will make life easier for your
self if you wrap a length of tape around one piece of ballast allowing it to join adhesive
to adhesive leaving a tab to help you remove it from the tube. This is especially
recommended if you use the spring that is supplied. The spring will do a wonderful job of
stopping your ballast from rattling about but it will also make the ballast harder to
remove unless you have a nice tab to tug.
Balance the wing adding lead at the
servo box of the light wing until you achieve equilibrium. Secure the lead with 5-minute
epoxy to ensure it can’t rattle around or foul your linkage.
Balance the model between 98 and
102mm from the leading edge. No problems have been encountered with radio reception when
the aerial is run inside the fuselage (remember you put a tube in a few evenings ago?) but
you should of course do the usual radio check. Ideally you should get someone to wave the
airframe about at different attitudes to ensure that there are no dead spots. It is always
amusing to have your spouse wave the plane around in the back garden and walk off with
your TX. Knock on your neighbour’s door and tell them you’re worried about your
wife behaving strangely in the back garden. Should ensure you have more flying time in the
future! Now you’re ready to go but before your hurl your tackle into the car read
this.
Owning a moulded model
A few things worth bearing in mind
in the day to day ownership of your Pike.
Your Pike has had a lot of skill
and care lavished on it during its production, the result is flawless quality and a bit of
foresight will allow it to remain that way.
Never store your wing or fuselage
with ballast in it. In the event the component being knocked or banged you will be
stressing the structure far more than if it weren’t stuffed with lead.
Always protect your wings and tail
whilst the model is in storage and transit. There are several ways to do this. The
supplied single thickness bubble wrap bags. Wingbags from Westworld (see UK modelling
press). If you order Westworld wingbags ensure that you order the bags with plenty of
width so that once all 3 panels are in they wont be tight and under compression. No
moulded wing will benefit from being compressed, whether by fingers or storage bags.
If you want to make your own
protection you have several options, the favoured two are camping mat "covers"
or a Correx box. The camping mat method involves purchasing roll up foam bedding as
enjoyed by strange tent dwellers and cutting two sides to the slightly oversized shape of
the component to be protected. A hot melt glue gun is used to join the two halves leaving
you with a remarkably professional job that offers more protection than standard bubble
wrap. The Correx box route is by far the most durable but also takes the most effort.
Refer to QFI 35 for details.
Flying
When launching on the slope it is
sensible to grasp the fuselage just in front of the wing having first taped your nosecone
on. Do not hold the fuselage behind the wing to launch from the slope, if there is any
sort of breeze you run the serious risk of having the model torn from your hands.
The control settings given work for
the author and will at least provide a good starting point. The model is a thoroughbred
and you should experiment with you own settings so that the model is tailored to your
personal flying style. By the time you have progressed to a model of this type you will no
doubt have your own thoughts about the way you like your models to respond anyway.
The one area that is less well
documented and sometimes not so well understood is that of the appropriate snapflap to
use. For optimum turning at speed for F3F and F3B you will have to reach a compromise
between the tightness of the turn and the speed carried through the turn. Generally the
more snapflap that is used the tighter the turn but you will reach a point when the speed
will start to decay. The best way to set the model up to achieve the turn that suits you
is to take it to a quiet slope and spend some time turning the model directly in front of
you. If you have a posh TX you can programme different set-ups and compare them by turning
in front of your nose alternating between the different set-ups. Otherwise you will have
to land and change the settings, which unfortunately also makes it harder to remember
exactly what the last setting was like and making it more likely that there will have been
some slight variance in the lift conditions.
Whilst we’re on the subject of
landings a few words on the use of crow braking. This is such an easy, efficient way to
land a model it is possible to get carried away and allow the speed to decay too much.
Once you have gained experience you will find the Pike brakes exceptionally well, no doubt
due to the huge available flap movement. You will be able to slow the plane right down to
catching speed, but work up to this carefully as at these speeds you are risking stalling
the plane close to the ground, this is bad! Until you get a feel for the plane approach
fairly steeply with your crow applied and flare as you would with any other aircraft. Of
course don’t forget the golden rule of turning off the crow just before the touchdown
or you risk thwacking a servo from its mountings. Rather than just flick the switch to
turn the crows off use the stick to decrease them as you flair. If you turn them off in
one go and are a foot or two off the ground you may well experience a sudden sinking
experience as the plane tries to fly properly again but has no airspeed to accomplish
this.
Recommended movements follow but
note that the snapflap movements remain provisional at the time of writing.
If you want the Pike WR set-up info
e-mail me.
