Dynam Tiger Moth

[wvrailfan]

Putting the finishing touches on my Tiger Moth.  I wrapped it with Oracal vinyl and lettered it as a plane displayed by the Portuguese Air Force at the 1996 NATO Tiger Meet.

[rc-eflyer]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Putting the finishing touches on my Tiger Moth.  I wrapped it with Oracal vinyl and lettered it as a plane displayed by the Pprtuguese Air Force at the 1996 NATO Tiger Meet.

She's a beauty, very different scheme then the usual. Did you do the graphics?

Steve

[wvrailfan]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Thanks.  It is a replica of a plane the Portuguese Air Force displayed at the 1996 NATO Tiger Meet.  The decals are from Callie Graphics.  She does great work at very affordable prices.

[wvrailfan]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

First flight with the TM was short and exciting.  It acted drastically tail heavy, pitching up uncontrollably.  I cut the power and managed a mild crash landing with no damage.

I took the plane home and when I took the cowl off to add some weight I noticed the motor alignment didn't look just right.  When I painted and installed the cowl I noticed the prop wasn't square with the front of the cowl.  I figured it was the cowl, perhaps because it was made of thin flimsy plastic.  But now looking closer at the motor, with the cowl removed I noticed it had a slight up and to the left angle, opposite of the down and to the right of most of my planes.

I took the motor and mount off, rotated the mount 180 degrees and re installed everything.  What do you know, now it has a slight down and to the right angle like the rest of my planes.

Took the plane back to the field today and it flies great.  Maybe a wee bit tail heavy but very flyable.

The next time something looks a little out of line I guess I will check it much closer;-)

Jim

[Loneflier]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

First flight with the TM was short and exciting.  It acted drastically tail heavy, pitching up uncontrollably.  I cut the power and managed a mild crash landing with no damage.

I took the plane home and when I took the cowl off to add some weight I noticed the motor alignment didn't look just right.  When I painted and installed the cowl I noticed the prop wasn't square with the front of the cowl.  I figured it was the cowl, perhaps because it was made of thin flimsy plastic.  But now looking closer at the motor, with the cowl removed I noticed it had a slight up and to the left angle, opposite of the down and to the right of most of my planes.

I took the motor and mount off, rotated the mount 180 degrees and re installed everything.  What do you know, now it has a slight down and to the right angle like the rest of my planes.

Took the plane back to the field today and it flies great.  Maybe a wee bit tail heavy but very flyable.

The next time something looks a little out of line I guess I will check it much closer;-)

Jim

Hi Jim,

One thing I did on mine is to add 2 old AA batteries as nose weight in the cowl. There is a ton of room in there, so I simply put some servo tape on each battery and stuck them to the floor of the cowl. That with a 2600mAH battery makes her balance just right for me, and she is a very docile flying plane. Hope that helps!

[Konrad]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

So I have to ask, is the CofG as stated in the manual misplaced? Or is it that it is difficult to get an accurate reading as to the placement of the the CofG?

Also what do you guys mean by tail heavy? Most of what I see at the flying field as being "tail heavy" actually comes down to being too much control throw (oversensitive).

Tail heavy to me is when a ship is divergent in flight (will not recover from an upset). It if flies without input from you but as soon as you put in a control it suddenly snaps or misbehaves this would lead me to think one has too much control movement.

Most of my model are balance way further aft that shown in the manuals. But the control throws are also often a lot less than stated in the manuals. This allows for nice slow flairs on landings (nose heavy ships need a lot of speed to lift the nose in a flair). Also since I don't carry much "up trim" there is little attitude change in the model as the flight speed changes (I don't have to hold up stick in slow flight or down stick in fast flight). My experience is that a further aft CofG with small control inputs makes for a much easier model to fly, more of a point where you want it to go type model.

Now I also like to have a model respond violently at times. So while my control movements are often per the manual I use a lot of exponential in my radio set up to get that smooth feel for most of the flight envelope.

All the best,
Konrad

[wvrailfan]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

In my limited experience, tail heavy planes tend to want to pitch up.  If they are only a little tail heavy they can be controlled but are very sensitive to elevator input, even slight elevator input.

It took three ounces of weight added to the nose to get this plane to balance at the prescribed CG of 115 -120 mm from the leading edge of the top wing.  Once the motor mount issue was corrected and the plane balanced, it flies just fine.

[Konrad]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Only "pitch up"? This leads me to think it is a trim issue. So with the very sensitive elevator you can get her to pitch down? This sounds like a narrow margin of stability issue with too much control throw. What I'm getting at is that far too many tail heavy models actually are models that have too much control throw particularly the elevator.

Now I don't recommend one maiden with an aft placement of the CofG. I do in my flight test régime push the CofG aft until it gets a bit sensitive. Then I cut down the throws, or add expo to the radio. I do this until I get a model that doesn't change its pitch attitude as a function of speed.

It is good to learn that the model is stable at the described manual location of 120 mm for the CofG.

Placement of the CofG is as much an issue of personal preference, as it is a critical component to the margin of stability.

Sorry to learn it took 75g (3 oz) in the nose to balance. Can the battery be moved forward? Can a larger battery be fitted? I hate to add dead weight to my models. If I need to I like to move the battery or use a larger battery to aid in my balancing of models.

[Flygirl]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

First flight with the TM was short and exciting.  It acted drastically tail heavy, pitching up uncontrollably.  I cut the power and managed a mild crash landing with no damage.

I took the plane home and when I took the cowl off to add some weight I noticed the motor alignment didn't look just right.  When I painted and installed the cowl I noticed the prop wasn't square with the front of the cowl.  I figured it was the cowl, perhaps because it was made of thin flimsy plastic.  But now looking closer at the motor, with the cowl removed I noticed it had a slight up and to the left angle, opposite of the down and to the right of most of my planes.

I took the motor and mount off, rotated the mount 180 degrees and re installed everything.  What do you know, now it has a slight down and to the right angle like the rest of my planes.

Took the plane back to the field today and it flies great.  Maybe a wee bit tail heavy but very flyable.

The next time something looks a little out of line I guess I will check it much closer;-)

Jim

Those are beautiful flying shots WV!!

[jiggz]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Hey all .. jim ..just joined and been searching the content ..glad to see there's a tiggy thread
Regards
Jeff

My all time fav model in my hanger ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic2_hpfiaiM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[wrongroad]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

G'day Jeff,
Just got on here as well, good to 'see' some old faces.

Regards and respect
Daryl

[jiggz]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Hey Daryl .. good to see u here also ..
Looks like I'm gonna be intrigued all day searching and browsing the forum ..
Regards jeff

[Flygirl]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Welcome fellas!

[OV10]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Hello jiggz and wrongroad,
Welcome to the Squawk, had monitored multiple threads that you both were highly active in over on RCG and look forward to your contributions here.
Have been seeing more RCG'ers coming here ever since the Shirty incidence. Just add Bronco to my user name here and that was me over on RCG.
Best regards,

[olwarbirds]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Hi guys and Lauren :) ... glad to see my buds made it over here. I put out an invite....
WV thats some very nice looking work you have done with your TM....

[jiggz]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Thanx for the welcome ..glad to be here ..
Regards
Jeff

[Iowa54]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

I was going over My yet to be maiden Tiger Moth and when I picked it up by the upper wing. One of the Cabane mounts is loose in the wing. Looks like I need to run some glue/epoxy over them. Better to find out now than 100ft up !! I was hopeing to get it up today but, looks like we have some weather closing in .

[jiggz]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

Hey l54 ..did u do the gear rake mod yet ..it makes her a *****cat on grass ..

[Iowa54]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

No I haven't I fly off a hard surface so I,ii wait and see how that goes 1st Still messing around with painting it. Note to self.... Paint before assembly !!!

[jiggz]

RE: Dynam Tiger Moth

What scheme r u painting?