Boeing P-12

[Grossman56]

I set my Great Planes CG machine to 78mm and added some more weight. Went rummaging through the parts bins and found this little nose cap which, along with the washer, weighed up exactly the same as the weight I was going to add, plus its a little more forward. Looks good and solves a problem, win/win!!
Plane without the spinner but with today's added weight:

With the spinner instead of the added weight:


Now, I may add just a bit more to get the nose down slightly but so far it looks good. I have to swap out the rx for the new one with the gyro so the final CG will be after that.
Rex, you said you adjusted your throws, what are they now?
I think I might move the aileron control rod position down two holes, the second from the top seems a little severe, more likely for 3D ing the plane.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Grossman56,
My high rate is 18mm, middle rate is 15mm and my low rate is 9mm up/down. Take-off will be on low and I can switch up if need be. I haven't moved any control horn setting yet. Rudder is per manual and felt ok. Using rudder with aileron made the turns more stable and smoother. I have the lemon 6 ch rec and haven't used a gyro yet. Never have used a gyro so maybe don't know what I'm missing.
Best Regards, Rex

[Grossman56]

I have to set my gyro up this weekend, I'll post a breakdown of how I did it. If usually have the gain set to the knob so I can increase or decrease it while flying, usually starting at about 25 -30%.
What I really wish is that the cowl ring was removable and not molded with the fuse. A plastic nose ring with sections like the Corsair had to add weight if needed would have been a much better way to go.
Now, we could 3D print a cowl ring designed to do just that but the surgery to get it on the nose might be an Elbee job.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Grossman 56,
I was thinking the same thing about the cowl. I'm going to measure it and if it gets torn up, I can make a new one from balsa or ply. A 3d printed one would be great too. May get to fly again Saturday to see if re-balancing helps.
Rex

[jetfool]

Guys I removed the weight I had in the cowl and it weighed 2.95 0z. Almost 3 oz. I am going to add a total of 4 ounces at the back bottom of the cowl. Ordered weights from Amazon and they will arrive today.
I roughly measured the cowl ring, OD 61/4", ID 53/8", width 17/8". This is a rough measurement and if I ever need to make another this will give me a starting point then I can TLAR the final finish.
Hope you guys are progressing on your planes.
At the weight I flew with worked well my buddy thought another ounce of nose weight would help, we shall see. He was able to observe a better view and taking his advice.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Guys I removed the weight I had in the cowl and it weighed 2.95 0z. Almost 3 oz. I am going to add a total of 4 ounces at the back bottom of the cowl. Ordered weights from Amazon and they will arrive today.
I roughly measured the cowl ring, OD 61/4", ID 53/8", width 17/8". This is a rough measurement and if I ever need to make another this will give me a starting point then I can TLAR the final finish.
Hope you guys are progressing on your planes.
At the weight I flew with worked well my buddy thought another ounce of nose weight would help, we shall see. He was able to observe a better view and taking his advice.
Best Regards, Rex

Thanks for the great reports, Rex. I'm delighted you were able to have a relatively safe maiden of this airplane, and your ideas are very helpful in sussing out how to get this airplane to fly the way we want it to. Dan is leading the charge on the rework of this model, and I'm hopeful we'll get a decent flyer out of her someday. Some of my most favorite airplanes have been biplanes, and they flew beautifully from the get-go. One is a Curtiss P-6 Hawk, which I think I had a glow engine in. Another was a Tiger Moth that also flew great and was a lot of fun. They were long-bodied aircraft that flew well, great in basic aerobatics, and took off and landed well and consistently. That's my hope for the P-12E, too.

Cheers

Davegee

[Randy H]

I went on the motion rc web site and looked at the comments on this model. Main issues are proper balance and also left pull on take off. It seems that this model needs some nose weight and they added a few ounces to the nose ring. Also one guy said he was going to add some down thrust to the motor. This definitely not a beginner model. I will try maiden next week.

[Grossman56]

Pulling to the left or 'P' factor isn't unusual in a tail dragger as we all know, excessive pull is just a pain, you can add a thin washer to the left lower and left upper attachment screws between the motor mount and the 'x' motor mount to shim the motor slightly to the right. I've done this on several airplanes and it doesn't take much to notice a difference.
That cowl ring should have been removable and allow us to insert weight if needed, I thaought that was brilliant on the Corsair.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

I received my 120 - 1/2 oz. weights today. Tomorrow I am adding 4 0z. to see if this helps. I can remove each 1/2 oz if needed. Mounted on the bottom backside of the cowl doesn't distract from the scale appearance to much. Matching green paint will hide it well. Rain forecasted for next week.
I can attest to the p-factor, pulled full power on take-off and it rolled to the left. Believe if we get the balance set, I can have a more scale takeoff and not pull to the left at lift-off.
I wish the cowl was removable also but it is what it is.
Best regards, Rex

[Grossman56]

Just finished installing the Lemon 7 ch Rx with the built in gyro. Forgot what a pain it can be if you don't have three hands! You have to hold down the 'C' button while plugging it in to initialize the gyro!
Once it's done however, it's pretty straight forward from there. I assigned the gain to the control knob and the off/on switch to my usual gyro off/on switch. I'm fairly confident I have the gyro reacting in the correct direction but I will take off, trim and then briefly turn the gyro on and off, watching for anything WRONG to happen.
CAUTION! this Rx/gyro JUST fits into the opening and I mean just! move all the wires out of the way when pushing it down to the deck. The back end is pretty well butt up against the plywood.
I checked out the angle of the motor and there isn't any deflection to the right so I'm going to add a washer to each of the left side motor mount screws.
4 oz eh, wow who da figured?🤔

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Grossman56,
I'm comfortable without the gyro rec for now but have the Lemon 7ch gyro rec in my P-47. I haven't set it up on gyro but will do that over the winter. New tech is hard on this old guy.
Not sure if I need 4oz. but my buddy is pretty good on setting up his planes to fly great so will try it. Wish Chris or Wes would chime in with advice would be a great help. As
team Motion members they may not be able to.
We will conquer this, Rex