Cardinal ARF Controls

I'm building a Cardinal ARF. I installed the flap to elevator rod, middle hole to middle hole per instructions and it just doesn't appear to have enough elevator. No binding or anything. Flaps have full deflection. Elevator has 1" of throw, up and down. It just doesn't look like enough. I'm wondering if others are running the rod middle to middle or have you tried the inside hole on the elevator horn for more deflection? Thanks in advance for your replies.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-25-04 AT 00:45 AM (CST)
 
Just last night I hooked mine up, middle to middle, and I have the same opinion you do - not enough elevator. I'll go with the top elevator hole and maybe less handle spacing.

>I'm building a Cardinal ARF. I installed the flap to
>elevator rod, middle hole to middle hole per instructions
>and it just doesn't appear to have enough elevator. No
>binding or anything. Flaps have full deflection. Elevator
>has 1" of throw, up and down. It just doesn't look like
>enough. I'm wondering if others are running the rod middle
>to middle or have you tried the inside hole on the elevator
>horn for more deflection? Thanks in advance for your
>replies.

Steve.... Bell crank middle or inside hole to flaps. At the flap control horn the rod should be on the top hole. Flaps to elevator should be as follows. Flap horn connection should be one hole down from the Bell crank to flap. The Elevator connection should be at the closest to the pivot point or top hole on the horn. For starters

LAST EDITED ON Nov-25-04 AT 02:18 PM (CST)
 
Thanks Scott. I'm gonna go to the inside hole on the elevator. Another note. I was shrinking the Monokote on the fuse and things got real crappy. The open bay below the stab. is about 10" long without bracing. The more you shrink, the more it distorts the bottom of the fuse. When you shrink one side the other sags and finally pulls away from the stab slot. It would not stick to the fuse either. I have installed a lot of Monokote and knew something was up, so I pulled it all off and discovered the whole fuse is laminated with very thin plywood. I had a hell of a time re-Monokoting it because the Monokote will only stick (worth a #####) to the balsa at the top and bottom. It came out nice though. I also put three balsa braces in the open bay to keep it from distorting during shrinking. I have some Sig "Sticks-It" and in hind sight, should have put a small amount around the wing and stab openings to help the Monokote stick to the ply. My buddy is building a Cardinal kit and says the fuse is the usual all balsa. I wonder why the ARF's are laminated. Thanks again Scott.

I believe the reason is to add stiffness. I think it is recommended to fiberglass the profile fuse of the Brodak kit version, just to make that stiffer. Otherwise it flexes too much.
I agree that the ply doesn't help the "?"kote to stick (the ? is because I think the arf uses some Chinese version of Ultracote).

I thought it might be Ultracote or Oracover or whatever also. If it is, guys should be very carefull with shrinking the wing covering. I have little to no experience with Ultracote, but have heard it keeps on shrinking with a heat gun and guys have actually imploded wings with it. Some R/C kits like the Diamond Dust require it because it is very strong and holds the thing together at 200 mph+ speeds. They sound like a snare drum when they fly-by. I have seen one explode when the covering let go in a hard 200 mph turn. Sounded like a bomb. crap flyin' everywhere. Awesome!