On all of my nitro and gasoline-powered airplanes, I use zip ties to secure my fuel lines going from the fuel tank to both the carburetor and the muffler. When routing lines within your airplane, make sure that they can move freely and are not bent in any odd fashion. After all, you need to […]

At full-scale and RC airshows alike, watching aerobatic aircraft equipped with smoke systems adds greatly to the appeal for both spectators and pilots. Experienced pilots will make the aircraft all but disappear within the smoke during torque rolls, tail slides, and so forth. Simply put, SMOKE is a pure attention-grabber! I recently decided to upgrade […]

In the early days of aviation,  spins were often fatal because most pilots did not understand how to properly recover from a spin. While in an upright spin, the pilot would pull back on the elevator stick in an effort to save the airplane (and their life!) and only make the situation worse. Since the […]

For the extreme aerobatic enthusiast, there is nothing like performing hotshot maneuvers inches off the ground. One unexpected way to take the crowd by surprise is to add aerobatic moves to your landing. During a normal landing approach, the airplane is in upright level flight and flies downwind parallel to the runway, turns 90 degrees to […]

  When I first started aerobatic competition, symmetrical maneuvers that combined various elements were of the most complex to perform both precisely and consistently. Let’s take the loop, for example. While it may be fairly straightforward to perform a single loop, try flying a vertical 8, which is an inside loop followed by an outside […]

Even though this maneuver is intended for indoor precision aerobatic competition, the setup process for both an indoor aircraft and an outdoor park flyer are similar. Flying indoors usually requires more control surface deflection due to the obstacles that exist, which is acceptable for a 4.5-ounce foamie. (Photo by Xavier Mouraux)   Since we are […]

While putting together the October 2012 “Let’s Talk Giant Scale” column discussing Flying Wires and Wing Struts, columnist John Glezellis discussed the need for functional rigging with RC aircraft designer, Mike McConville.  Mike developed the very popular Hangar 9 Ultimate biplane which, unlike most biplanes, doesn’t require flying wires. Let’s see what Mike did during […]

  Behind every great flying airplane is a reliable engine with a smooth transition. To obtain this, you may have to spend some time tweaking the High and Low End needles that can be found on the carburetor. Personally, I always start with the factory recommended settings and run the engine first to see if […]

Some aircraft have built-up tail surfaces, which need tail bracing wire. The AMR 42% Super Decathlon shown in the photo, has a built up tail like the full-scale Super Decathlon, and tail bracing is needed! First, check with the instruction manual of your aircraft if tail bracing is needed. Otherwise, if you feel that there […]

When I build an airplane, I always spend extra time to ensure that all internal components are installed properly and well-secured, whether I am building a .25-size glow-powered model, or a 170cc giant-scale aerobat! This time, we will take a look at my ignition installation on my 2.6m Composite-ARF Edge 540. This is an all-composite […]

Now, let’s talk about proper linkage setup. Many advanced airplanes take advantage of ball-links to attach given pushrods to a servo arm, control horn, etc. Using ball-links in these areas guarantees to improve linkage geometry and allows a given surface to move freely.  While using a clevis works if servo and linkage geometry are correct, […]

In my 22 years of flying radio-control airplanes, I have learned that time must be taken when both building and setting up your aircraft. For example, let’s talk about control surface deflections. Over the years, I’ve seen some cases at the flying field where pilots simply “eyeball” various control rates and often blame their aircraft […]