Official FlightLine RC 1600mm F7F-3 Tigercat Thread

[MesRcPilot]

Hi Ben , me think that you used flaps at the second perfect landing ? :Cool:and now... the stickers ;)

[Grossman56]

Interesting, mine is not the greatest in doing loops as well, although she seems to roll fine for me. I'm thinking of upgrading to the tried and true 650kv's, might be a better way to go to keep the three bladed props, what say you??

Grossman56

[Kencz]

Interesting, mine is not the greatest in doing loops as well, although she seems to roll fine for me. I'm thinking of upgrading to the tried and true 650kv's, might be a better way to go to keep the three bladed props, what say you??

Grossman56

Subscribed.

[Kencz]

OK, so I now have a total of 5 flights on my Tigercat, and I've got her dialed in right where I like her. I did not like the recommended throws in the manual (seemed like way too much throw, even on low rates), so I started off with what looked "right" to me. On the maiden flight, rudder, elevator, and flaps all seemed to be just right, but it needed more aileron throw (even my high rate setting seemed too little). So I turned up the rates on the aileron for flight 2. Still too little on low rate, but high rate seemed perfect. So on the third flight, I put low rate at what high rate was for flight #2, then upped the high rate another 20%.

So, that said, here's what I ended up with:

Flaps:
Take-off - 13mm
Landing - 29mm
(and I added 2mm of down elevator for each setting, so take-off has 2mm down, landing has 4mm down)

Ailerons:
Low rate - 20mm
High rate - 24mm

Elevator:
Low rate - 11mm
High rate - 15mm

Rudder:
Low rate - 14mm
High rate - 28mm

With these rates, rolls are just right, loops are nice and big and smooth, and enough rudder for nice presentation passes. And even though she'll turn just fine with aileron and elevator, I find she likes some rudder input to help get that big tail around.

I'm using Turnigy Graphene 4S 4000 45C packs in mine, which weigh 16.6 ounces each. The bottom pack slides all the way back as far as it will go, and the top pack sits as far back as it will go and still be under the battery strap. At these locations, my CG is right at 68mm, and she seems to fly fine at that CG even though the manual recommends 73mm.

Speaking of battery straps, I took the stock straps out and added my own. Since I'm using bigger packs (the Graphenes are thicker than normal 4000 packs), the stock straps were just a bit too short. So I replaced them with two-sided velcro tape. I cut them 9" long and they work great. I also pulled out the lower battery tray and moved it back 3/4" to get the strap further back. At this location I have about 3/8" of battery ahead of the strap.

Overall, this is a great flying bird! The guys at the fields were blown away by the quality and performance. Some were even shocked that it was foam and not composite. She flies in a very scale-like manner, but is no slouch at WOT either, and she climbs like a homesick angle.

I think I'm going to add 3 coats of Minwax (or Varathane if I can find it in matte), and then hit it with a coat of Testors Dullcote. I just tested this on the hatch of my Bearcat (which I unfortunately crashed yesterday), and it worked great. It had 2 coats of Minwax Gloss on it, and after hitting it with a coat of Dullcote spray, it looked great. No issues with bubbling foam.

Pat, Thanks for all the great detailed information. Just ordered my first and I know it will really simplify set up for me!

[benjack71]

Hi Ben , me think that you used flaps at the second perfect landing ? :Cool:and now... the stickers ;)

Nope. Did not use the flaps in any landings. Tried the flaps in the air and realized that some serious mixing would be involved. Have yet to do the mixing but will before this Sunday.

[lpcustom73]

Want a kick in the pants,

replace the stock motors and props with NTM EF1 motor on 4 Cell, CR props 10X7, or 11X7 3 Blades. The motor mount attached to the stock motors are inter-changeable with the NTM EF1 motors. They will extend slightly more (1 mm) than stock.

Watch your amps, it will be at the top end of the stock esc's range. Upgrade esc's if outside this range. Always measure current under actual load conditions. It now has some grunt to take it over the top, when needed. Have fun,

Of coarse you are on your own, as warranty will be void

[benjack71]

Question for spektrum guys. I mixed up the flaps and elevator.The problem is the elevator snaps down and the flaps are set at a slower servo speed. I dont want the flaps snapping down and up because that just does not look cool and not scale. So, what happens is my elevator snaps down..my flaps are slowed down some..so I am yanking back to keep the nose up until my flaps finally lock down. Wondering if anyone knows how to slow down the elevator on the spektrum DX9 mixing?

[xviper]

Question for spektrum guys. I mixed up the flaps and elevator.The problem is the elevator snaps down and the flaps are set at a slower servo speed. I dont want the flaps snapping down and up because that just does not look cool and not scale. So, what happens is my elevator snaps down..my flaps are slowed down some..so I am yanking back to keep the nose up until my flaps finally lock down. Wondering if anyone knows how to slow down the elevator on the spektrum DX9 mixing?

That's strange. When I do the mix on my DX8G2 (and G1), the elevator moves at the same slow speed as the flaps. Something is amiss.
The other thing worth mentioning, if you have the flap deployment speed slow enough (3 seconds or more), you shouldn't need any elevator compensation. As you come in for landing and begin to deploy flaps, your speed should already be starting to decrease. From that point, a slow flap deployment shouldn't cause "ballooning" to any significant amount and what there is, happens slowly enough you can manually compensate till the speed drops even more. I've eliminated elevator compensation on almost all my planes by increasing the flap deployment time.

[rifleman_btx]

I have mine set to 3 seconds, I've never had an issue

[benjack71]

That's strange. When I do the mix on my DX8G2 (and G1), the elevator moves at the same slow speed as the flaps. Something is amiss.
The other thing worth mentioning, if you have the flap deployment speed slow enough (3 seconds or more), you shouldn't need any elevator compensation. As you come in for landing and begin to deploy flaps, your speed should already be starting to decrease. From that point, a slow flap deployment shouldn't cause "ballooning" to any significant amount and what there is, happens slowly enough you can manually compensate till the speed drops even more. I've eliminated elevator compensation on almost all my planes by increasing the flap deployment time.

How are you mixing? I messed with the system settings and got to the flap menu but that just caused more grief than it was worth. I am pretty sure our software is pretty close to the same.

[Grossman56]

Hey Ben, here's how I have mine set, I just made sure that the wing type is correct, then set it like this....

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Had her up yesterday, one thing I've noticed is that you can't just drop gear and flaps at the same time like we usually do. The gear has quite a delay before deployment, so I hit the gear switch to deploy and wait until I can see them retracted before deploying flaps for landing. As you can see, the full flaps setting is the only one I have any mix on.

Grossman56

[xviper]

How are you mixing? I messed with the system settings and got to the flap menu but that just caused more grief than it was worth. I am pretty sure our software is pretty close to the same.

In "wing type", do you have "1 AIL, 1 FLAP"? This is the first step. Otherwise, the flap switch (AUX1) just goes to default. Once you do the wing type selection, then you can go to the "flap system" and program from there. See Grossman's picture.

[benjack71]

In "wing type", do you have "1 AIL, 1 FLAP"? This is the first step. Otherwise, the flap switch (AUX1) just goes to default. Once you do the wing type selection, then you can go to the "flap system" and program from there. See Grossman's picture.

Let me check. I did mess with the wing type and it caused me to lose gear, flaps went to half etc. Maybe I had it on the wrong setting. I will look at it this evening. I am going to start the decal work and airbrushing on it tonight. I got the come here kitty from Callie package

[benjack71]

Hey Ben, here's how I have mine set, I just made sure that the wing type is correct, then set it like this....

Grossman56

Dude I dont ever recall seeing that in my menu options. I will def have to look and mess with it more. Thanks Grossman, a picture is worth a thousand words. Man I am so stoked up about Rend Lake Warbird fly-in this coming weekend!

[xviper]

Let me check. I did mess with the wing type and it caused me to lose gear, flaps went to half etc. Maybe I had it on the wrong setting. I will look at it this evening. I am going to start the decal work and airbrushing on it tonight. I got the come here kitty from Callie package

If you lost gear, it's likely you did something in the port/switch assignment menu by accident. Flaps going to 1/2 just means something defaulted. Like I mentioned before, the flap switch always works and is defaulted to AUX1 but that doesn't mean they are "set up". See below for an explanation.
Whenever you set up a plane for flaps, after selecting wing type, you must always re-zero the flaps so they are level with the wing when on the first position. Notice how on Grossman's picture, the percentages don't make sense? You must go into servo menu, flaps sub-trim and dial it as close as possible to level with all flap % at zero (so you don't over-drive the servos accidentally). Then start with position zero to get it more level if necessary. Then go to position 1 and dial in as much 1/2 (or take off) flaps as you want, then to position 2 and dial in full (landing) flaps.
If you have never seen the menu page as in the picture, then you have not selected the correct settings to begin setting up the flaps. I'm not sure how you managed to get a delayed deployment without that menu page. It's likely you went directly to the Mix section, which is not the correct way to go when dialing in flap settings and elevator compensation. Doing it that way, you won't get a direct correlation between flaps and elevator compensation.

[OV10]

Question for spektrum guys. I mixed up the flaps and elevator.The problem is the elevator snaps down and the flaps are set at a slower servo speed. I dont want the flaps snapping down and up because that just does not look cool and not scale. So, what happens is my elevator snaps down..my flaps are slowed down some..so I am yanking back to keep the nose up until my flaps finally lock down. Wondering if anyone knows how to slow down the elevator on the spektrum DX9 mixing?

You mix the Flaps and Elev via the Flap function menu and not the Mixing function menu in order to get the time(speed) control on both surfaces.
On the Mixing function, speed only controls the primary(first designated control).

[benjack71]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Xviper good call on wing type. That was my first mistake. Grossman, your picture was the icing on the cake. It did look a little different in my menu, but was the same thing. Everything mixed, will fly it Friday to see how it does. Honestly though I have no need of flaps with this plane. It is one of the best flying planes yet, its still underpowered imo on the stock three blade set up, but now that I am up to the fifth flight on the new batteries there has been some performance improvement.

[Grossman56]

Be, make sure you have the 'wing type' set for 'Wing: 1 ail 1 flap tail: normal"
When you switch channels on a 1 Gen DX8
Scroll down through the system setup menu to wing type, then scroll down to what I posted up above and select it.
Go back up and go into main screen and it will take you to the , main screen, :Silly:

Hit the scrill bar and go down to 'Flap System, select that and you'll get the screen I posted.
Boy, did I go red faced when CB showed me that last year.:Sweating:

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Cool you got it!!
Mine may be a little different because of the paint job. After the first flight where she was a bucking bronco til I got the gear and flaps up, then she flew like a dream, so I landed her for the first time, with no flaps, she ate up a chunk of runway, removed all the mix and tried again, half flaps were perfect, but full were still not right, so landed again, this time with half flaps and rolled in some elevator mix. I played with it a bit to find the best spot for me and she's been great ever since, hey, not a nick in her so far, touch wood!!!!!

Grossman56