Official Black Horse Fairchild Model 24 Argus 2357mm ARF Discussion Thread

[James]

Well, my 24 is finally ready for her maiden flight, which will be Wed morning. My changes were to mount a VVRC 40cc twin with a polished T-6 style spinner/hub; move the cowl mounts to accommodate the spark plug wires and cylinders; detail the faux radial; add Dubro 4 1/5 inflatable tires (stock wheels were too hard I believe), painted the grey cliveses and horns to matching red; still had to add 16 oz to the front area to get close to CG. Flight report to follow.

Sounds awesome! Can you post up some pics or even video? Would love to see how show looks and sounds with the gas option

[catvman]

When will this plane be back in stock?

[Merry Boozer RC]

Absolutely loved flying this beautiful model at Joe Nall this year she was an absolutely beautiful flyer. Guys that enjoyed the videos from Nall ( I was The Pilot) amazing experience and a big thanks to Motionrc for the opportunity we did shoot a video with the model at Nall check it out. https://youtu.be/-LrT16kkuJg

[althepal88]

Finally, I took the 24 to the field yesterday. First time I put her on the flying table (2' x 6') and really noticed how wide the landing gear is! Almost didn't fit on the table. When I inserted the wings, I thought I had the 4mm pinch bolts, but low and behold, I couldn't find them. I found one of the wing bolts already installed into the fuse, but the other one was missing. Into the spare bolt box and I came up with one. Check your aircraft fuse to see if the bolts are already installed. After checking all the servos, trims and range check; I installed the canopy and fired her up. (I gave her a final "hanging CG test" before I loaded her up for the trip to the field. I did install two 16 oz lead bars. She is a little nose heavy, but will work on that next trip.) After taxiing out and lined up on the runway, I advance the throttle and kept neutral on the elevator; the tail did come up quickly and a little up elevator was needed because of the too much nose weight. She lifted right off the ground after a good ground roll, nice and straight, at about 3/4 throttle. The 40cc Valleyview twin not only pulls her very well, it sounds great, too. Once trimmed out, she flies rock steady. I don't use any rudder/aileron mix, but if you are not accustomed to using the rudder when you fly, I do suggest it. I flew her once, so I have her all trimmed up and did not try a stall test knowing that I was tail heavy anyway. I did a flap test. Hardly needs much elevator/flap mix, but there is some needed. After a few fly bys, I landed with full flaps and partial throttle (ready to add power if something didn't feel right. She has a nice sink rate, so as I cleared the numbers I got her lower and lower and pulled off the power and she dropped right down on a perfect three pointer. I am glad that I changed out the stock tires for the Dubro 4 1/5 inflatable tread tires. No bounce at all! This airplane is a keeper, for sure. We will use my buddies $300 weight and balance set up next trip to see how close/or far we are off compared to the factory supplies cg system. We have pics, but I have to figure out how to post them this week.

[Knucklebutt]

Alan good to make contact here: the Fairchild 24 is kinda special as I had one ready for cover when I had the stroke, so was never able to finish ( it was scratch built for Hostetler plans) so the black horse is next in line, see you soon


Denis

[slinky-1]

Hi guys, I have just got to the end of my build of my Fairchild 24 but have a problem getting the right size domed spinner nut.
The motor I have which I bought from Motion RC is the recommended Admiral electric GP26 6330-245KV brushless Outrunner
Which one is the right domed spinner nut for this engine?
This is my first ARTF and I could really do with some help!!
Just tell me which one to order with dimensions and that would be great
Many thanks

[althepal88]

The adventure continues. My primary plane for the USSMA Nationals in Clovis was giving me problems, so I loaded up the F 24 and took her into competition. With no practice time on her (and only one flight) I managed to squeak out a second place in ProAm/Sportsman. We had some blustery winds for two days which really pushed her around, but she flew great. Most noteworthy was she got Best ARF award, which I sent to Motion RC (hope you like it). Many people were interested and were amazed at the size and appearance of the aircraft. The following weekend, she went to the One Eighth Air Force Winter Fly-In outside of Phoenix and garnered a third place in Golden Age. Again, lots of attention paid to the Fairchild; she really stands out at the field.

[Twowingtj]

Congratulations!

Always nice to have a model that stands out in style and quality.

[bbolz]

Does anyone have a link or source for scale hardware for planes like latches, handles, hinges, small locks, etc?

[USMA-82]

I finally started work on this beautiful bird. Planning on going electric with a Tacon Big Foot 1.60 motor, 120A Gecko ESC and 12S. Going with my big bird favorite Hitec 645MG servos all around.

It reminds me very much of my Phoenix Stinson Reliant, which is about the same size and dimensions. If this Fairchild flies anywhere near as nicely as that plane, I'll be a happy camper!

Only issue I've had so far is with the upper gear support that runs from the gear junction up to the top of the cockpit area (black strut). It didn't line up properly with the pre-drilled hole and blind nut in the fuselage, so I had to "twist" the lower gear support strut slightly to make it fit. Also, the upper portion of that support (where it attaches to the cockpit area) is too thick to fit the carve out in the wing root. In order to get the wings to fit flush against the fuselage, I had to cut the relief area pretty deep into the wing. It fits now, and is really barely noticeable.

Will report on more as the build proceeds.

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[oldnewbie]

Have come close to placing and order for the Fairchild but in discussions with other flyers at the field about Black Horse models and the quality, all I get is blank stares. Seems Hanger 9 is the product of choice. Can anyone share with me their experiences with the brand and the quality of the product? My order finger is twitching.
Thanks

[OV10]

Black Horse has been around for quite awhile and the overall value of their ARF's are above average rated. They seem to use a better grade balsa/ply than say VQ in my opinion.
I'm sure you can find anyone to make negative comments about every model manufacture out there including Hangar 9.
So opinions are like A-holes and everyone has one so you can get the gamut of beliefs about any thing made. ( I like Fords and could care less about the others )
If the Argus trips your trigger than do it.

Best regards Oldnewbie and welcome to the Squawk

[oldnewbie]

Thanks for your insight, have just buried a GP Escapade for which parts are no longer available and was worried about quality and future parts availability on a product seemingly not that main stream.

[Alpha]

Thanks for your insight, have just buried a GP Escapade for which parts are no longer available and was worried about quality and future parts availability on a product seemingly not that main stream.

@oldnewbie

Welcome to Hobby Squawk! I personally visit our partner factory Black Horse frequently throughout the year, so let me assure you that their products and spare parts aren't being discontinued anytime soon. The Fairchild Argus is one of their more recent and more popular releases, and regardless, Black Horse has a good record of not discontinuing their models. Rather, they update them as feedback determines, such as our recent updating of the Storch's covering from satin to matte, and of revising the rear stab so the Storch requires less nose weight to CG.

[USMA-82]

Well, I pretty much finished up the build. Everything went well - very impressed with the quality of the components and the 62-page manual! The only problem I ran into was finding the correct mounting point for my motor. Unlike the plywood plates used to align gas/glow engines, the one for mounting electric motors does not have "keying" slots that match up with the protrusions from the firewall. The only visual alignment references were the etched mounting lines (vertical and horizontal) and the four "hardpoints" that were obvious on the firewall - see photo.

As a result, when I drilled the mounting holes on the "squares" the motor ended up being about 1/4" too low, and the motor itself could not be centered on the cowl opening. I could have tilted the front of the cowl downward to match, but that would look even worse. I'm relatively certain it won't impact the flying characteristics, but it looks a little goofy. I'd like to try moving the mounting holes up 1/4", but there's not alot of room to do that before running into the horizontal shelf above the mounting area.

We'll see - I hope to maiden soon. Stay tuned...

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[USMA-82]

Maiden Report:

Conditions were just about perfect today - hazy sun, low winds, above freezing - so I decided to hit the airfield. I brought along my Phoenix Stinson Reliant 30cc as my "warm up" plane and for comparison purposes.

After all my pre-flight checks, I ran a number of high-speed taxi tests up and down the runway. The plane tracked well, and the tail came up as expected with a touch of forward stick. On the third run I noticed the plane was starting to jerk to the right and soon found out that one of the wheels was locked tight. I reset and re-tightened the axle/nuts, and added some blue lock-tite to keep them in place. One thing I would recommend is that you change out the standard nuts for the nylon-insert lock nuts to keep them in place.

Once the wheel was turning freely, I felt I was ready for some airtime. Before the first maiden flight, I switched to my tried-and-true Phoenix Stinson Reliant for a quick flight. The plane is very close to the Fairchild in size and weight, and I am using the same basic power system (1.60 motor on 12S) for both. The flight was uneventful, and was a good warm-up.

Now the moment of truth. I ran the Fairchild down to the far end of the runway after double checking control surface throws and CG one last time. I use the Lemon 7-channel receiver with stabilizer for all my planes now, so I also checked that the movement response was in the right direction.

As with the taxi testing, the plane tracked well, the tail came up, I pushed the throttle stick all the way and off she went! Power was adequate on the climb out, but not nearly as brisk as the Stinson. All I could think about was all those landing gear struts hanging in the breeze and causing gobs of drag. I leveled out after the turn and checked for trim. Except for a couple clicks of up elevator, everything seemed right on the money. I set the timer for 5 minutes on this initial flight and planed to gradually increase time depending on how much battery was being used.

At the four minute mark I set up for my landing. I have the flap throws set according to the manual (as were all throws), but I wanted to see how she came in on 1/2 flaps initially (I also had zero elevator response mixed for the first landing, but I ended up adjusting that later). I set the 1/2 flaps for the downwind leg, turned on to base with plenty of power still on, then cut the throttle to about 1/4 on the final. I kept the nose down until reaching the end of the runway, flared at about 3 feet above the grass, and slowly continued to decrease power until the mains hit the ground. Perfect landing!

The two 6S batteries were my all-time favorite Gens Ace 4000mAh 60C with an EC5 plug. The prop is similar to the one I have on the Stinson - a sliver Xoar 18x6 wood prop. In my initial power testing I was developing over 2000 watts of power with this set up, so I reduced the throttle curve to just 90% at the top. This was still about 1800 watts and 42 amps (or so). After the third flight I had 30% battery remaining after 6 minutes of flight time. Not nearly as much time as I'd like, but it is close to winter time, and you would expect times will be reduced. I think the amount of gear drag is fairly significant.

The other two flights I completed today were very similar - I did increase the elevator and aileron throws slightly for a little better control at landing. The max elevator throw (from the manual) made it a little difficult to complete a nice round loop. But once the throws were increased, the loops were great. CG at 54mm from the leading edge at the fuselage seemed right on. I did have to add about 16 oz of lead to the firewall to get there.

One of the most interesting parts of the flights was the stall testing. After flying to "three mistakes high", I cut the throttle completely, and slowly maxed the up elevator. The plane basically remained motionless, and seemed to come straight down as if on a slow-motion elevator! There was no tip stall, or other reaction - it just floated until I increased throttle and resumed flying.

In summary - great maiden flights. The plane is everything the boys at MotionRC say it is, and I highly recommend it. I will continue to experiment with throws and report back as the New England weather allows.

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[USMA-82]

Three more flights today. After seeing the mild stall characteristics the other day, I really felt comfortable flying around at half-throttle. Even though it slowed quite a bit, it still maintained altitude at this speed, and I only increased throttle to climb. With this routine, I had as much as 39% battery left after 6 minutes, so I'd be pretty comfortable at 7 minutes. I will switch out a couple of other props on my next outing to see what I get.

Increased the aileron throws even further - just not comfortable with the slow rolls from the previous flights. It was much better this time. I still had to add some down elevator during the inverted phase to keep it flying level, but that's fine. Loops were great, and the stall turns - although vertically-challenged - were fine as well.

Still having problems with the axle/nut arrangement - need to pick up those nylon lock nuts.

Other than that, takeoffs were smooth and predictable, and landings (full flaps) were very straight-forward and gentle. I think the portability and ease of set-up and take-down are a big plus for this model. Arrive at the field, slide the wings on the tube, connect the servo leads, tighten two screws, insert four strut pins, connect the batteries, do a quick control test, and off you go! Five minutes from pull up to takeoff.

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[Twowingtj]

USMA-82 Congratulation on the maiden and subsequent flights. Well done on the flight reports. It's nice that we have models of classic aircraft, to choose from, that not only look good, but fly well.

[Alpha]

I too enjoy hearing about your shakedown flights, progress, and findings. "Five minutes from pull up to takeoff" is impressive, considering the size of this bird. 'Goes to show that Big can still be Easy!

[USMA-82]

The day looked right for a nice morning of flying today, so I brought my Fairchild to the airfield. The day was cut short, however, when one of my landing gear wheels jumped off the plane during climb out. The scene would have been hilarious if it wasn't so serious. It looked like something that was staged for YouTube.

I did my best to bring her in gently with full flaps, but still ended up nosing over on landing. The wheel-less side dug into the ground, and ripped out of the fuselage. Later inspection determined that the supplied hex nut holding the wheel to the landing gear strut (with lock-tite applied) had fallen off - followed quickly by the wheel and wheel pants.

DO NOT USE THE SUPPLIED HARDWARE ON THE WHEEL ASSEMBLY! Replace the hex nuts with 5mm nylon insert lock nuts, and avoid my headache.

I repaired the landing gear this afternoon (epoxy the base, create a new balsa former, re-skin with balsa), and will be ready for our New Year's Day Frozen Finger Fun Fly. Fortunately, the ugly repairs are all along the bottom of the plane (including some cowl damage), and are not readily seen from above.

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