Official Nexa 1630mm Junkers JU-52 Transport (Balsa ARF) Discussion Thread

[david_clacher@yahoo.com]

The motors listed for yhe JU52 will work with some modification. I pressed out the shaft-swapped front and rear housings so I can now mount the metal engine plate. the shaft C-clip grove is still on the prop side. All thats required now is secure the rear bearing as it is not a snug fit and could back out. My oakie college degree let me use (carefully) epoxy around the outer race to secure the rear bearing. Ta-Da works rather nicely. Dont laugh-I have done worse to get a plane going.

[Twowingtj]

Oxotnik Congrats on success with the new Ju. Take off roll looked much more tame.

[Oxotnik]

Maidened my replacement Tante Ju today, plus 3 or 4 flights. This was the last Ju-52 flight today. I figured out why I'd been having so much trouble with the takeoff runs. I'd been letting the tail rise too early. I kept the tail planted while she gained a little more speed, and when I did allow her tail to slowly rise, she was rock steady!!! Now, I'll have to stop calling her my Bad JuJu-52. :-)

[Oxotnik]

I've finally got my replacement Splinter Camo Ju-52 assembled and balanced. I'd mentioned it on the last page, and everyone flying an ARF should know it, but be sure to balance you ready-to-fly Ju-52 before flight. I ended up adding another micro servo under the horizon stab, so that both halves of the elevator are controlled by a dedicated servo (I hated the U-bend piano wire for attaching the two elevator halves, on my first Ju); so, another 12g of tail weight. I ended up need 4.5oz of lead on the Center Firewall to pull the CG up to the center of the recommended CG band. Anyway, just a public service announcement... :-)

Oh, just thought of one other thing, relative to adding a second elevator servo... The rudder and one of the elevator servos will be on the same side and the control arms and push rods get really close together. I had to make a big S Bend in the Rudder Pushrod, to avoid the elevator pushrodd and control horn on that same side. Initially, I was a bit worried that the S Bend may flex around those bends, but the push rod is plenty thick enough that the rudder forces aren't going to deform that pushrod at those bends.

[Oxotnik]

Before I reattached the canopy, I snapped a photo of Fritz und Heinz. Fritz, the piloten, originally commanded a Tiger II before joining the Luftwaffe. He was allowed to continue to wear his Tank Commander uniform. Copiloten Heinz originally served in a Ju-87, before being reassigned to the right seat of the Ju-52. He doesn’t look too happy about the reassignment.

[airotroy]

I hope so! Will do one final check before maiden

Hows it going and any videos yet ? I'm still stuck on this alum tube strut not wanting to align when connected at both ends. Will require bending at the flat end and I hate doing that with what might weaken at that point .

[airotroy]

Any ideas on my gear strut and if you had issues .... Thanks

[Rmawer]

10x6x3 props. Very interesting. You'll have plenty of power. Take good video. :-)

I hope so! Will do one final check before maiden

[Rmawer]

I bought the Freewing 9G MD31093-300 servos. Hoping they work ok in the air. They all have centered ok on the table. I'm waiting some thin CA to finish the tail section. The rear wheel assembly came with a "horn" that appears to be too thick to insert into the rudder so I'll shave it down so its thinner and will fit into a slit in the rudder. Also I'v had a heck of a time with the gear assembly. The front and rear wire support channels werent cut deep of wide enough to accept the wires so I had to cut and dig them out. After doing that and using some of the "flat metal" hold down straps they sent me in place of missing nylons, I cant even get close to getting the Alum tube strut to fit in the front wire support after attaching the other end to the linkage device thats on the wing. Any advice would be appreciated. Thinking about painting the rudder and cowls yellow so I can see this thing easier in the air. Like others had to build a servo support for the rudder and elevator servos.

See if you can find these for the rudder attachment. They are called aileron horn hinges. I took one and cut it in half. Only requires an X-acto knife slit to install

[airotroy]

I'm going with the 9x7x3's Havnt checked on the meter yet

[Oxotnik]

10x6x3 props. Very interesting. You'll have plenty of power. Take good video. :-)

[airotroy]

Evening all. Just when I thought I was ready to think about doing a maiden flight, I discovered the servos I chose were absolute crap. Yes, I know I screwed up by taking the cheap way out (HK 922’s); the damn things return to two different zero positions and I’m guessing 2 degrees difference. Flaps seem to return to exact positions so the plan is to replace the aileron, elevator, and rudder servos. For everyone who built this plane, did anyone use the recommended Freewing Servos? If so, what do you think of them?

I bought the Freewing 9G MD31093-300 servos. Hoping they work ok in the air. They all have centered ok on the table. I'm waiting some thin CA to finish the tail section. The rear wheel assembly came with a "horn" that appears to be too thick to insert into the rudder so I'll shave it down so its thinner and will fit into a slit in the rudder. Also I'v had a heck of a time with the gear assembly. The front and rear wire support channels werent cut deep of wide enough to accept the wires so I had to cut and dig them out. After doing that and using some of the "flat metal" hold down straps they sent me in place of missing nylons, I cant even get close to getting the Alum tube strut to fit in the front wire support after attaching the other end to the linkage device thats on the wing. Any advice would be appreciated. Thinking about painting the rudder and cowls yellow so I can see this thing easier in the air. Like others had to build a servo support for the rudder and elevator servos.

[Rmawer]

Progress ? How or what did you do to get some cooling to the ESC's ? Found a Co. that makes connectors for just about any RC application. Very satisfied and saved me the aggravation of bad connections which I'm known for. Have all my parts now - ready to do some testing. 3 blade prop test to follow.

Finally got the plane finished but I need to change the aileron, elevator and rudder servos (see post on page 6). Cooling for the ESC’s, was thinking about drilling a few cooling holes in the center firewall but still looking at that. I did test the motor with a 4 cell and a 10x6 3-blade prop and it’s running at about 30 amps at full power. I like to fly scale so 45 amp ESC running at about 60-75 % power should keep the ESCs at a reasonable temp. Without external cooling. I did get an Rx with telemetry and can monitor esc temp on the first few flights.

right now, I need to replace the servos. This is too nice a plane to risk it with inferior servos.

[Rmawer]

Evening all. Just when I thought I was ready to think about doing a maiden flight, I discovered the servos I chose were absolute crap. Yes, I know I screwed up by taking the cheap way out (HK 922’s); the damn things return to two different zero positions and I’m guessing 2 degrees difference. Flaps seem to return to exact positions so the plan is to replace the aileron, elevator, and rudder servos. For everyone who built this plane, did anyone use the recommended Freewing Servos? If so, what do you think of them?

[Oxotnik]

Tony, our house has a detached garage (no girls allowed!), I keep a bunch of planes stored in the attached garage. All of the kids have moved out; so, I have the upstairs to myself, other than one room that is the guest room and totally off limits to me. The nerve of her, making me stay out of one room!!! LOL

[Twowingtj]

Lucky indeed Chuck. Looking forward to getting into the new house so we can get the building back on track. It's got a 14' x 30' build shop and another 15' x 15' for hangar storage. She really wants to get her Ju together.

[Oxotnik]

Yeah, Tony, and you have a wife who's also addicted to model aviation. Life can't get any better than that!!!

[Twowingtj]

Oxotnik And THAT's how it's done Chuck. Gotta love those wives that support our crazy addiction.

[Oxotnik]

Thanks, Tony. In this hobby, there are flyers who have crashed planes and there are liars. LOL
I've always said that if you can't handle destroying an RC airplane, you're in the wrong hobby. I was pretty pissed when I smashed up my Bad Juju-52, but I got over it pretty quickly. My wife had be lying down taking a nap. I walked in the house with the pieces and tossed them on the bed, and said, 'Hey, I've got room to add another plane to my collection." My wife actually felt sorry for me and told me to go buy another plane. Gotta get sympathy whenever I can, LOL. So, yesterday, I picked a NIB 63" Hangar 9 Bf-109F-2 at a swap meet (for a crazy low price) and a few minutes ago, I bought a replacement Splinter Camo Ju-52 from VQ/Legend. And, I'll now have plenty of spare parts.

[Twowingtj]

That's a bummer Chuck!

I know how you feel when you have no pitch control. When the entire horizontal stab, elevator and rudder departed my 1/3 scale Fokker D-VIII and it went in, you get that sick feeling in your gut. Nothing like seeing several paychecks take a permenent dirt nap.

Good thing we have thick skins and just keep throwing more money at the hobby we all love .