Before turning the rig over to my friend I
spent a couple hours playing with it using my Futaba 8UHP heli radio.
It does not have as many features for aircraft as the 8UAP, but there are
enough
mixes to have fun playing with it. I set up an
aileron/flap
(flaperon)
mix,
elevator/aileron/flap mix, butterfly (crow)
and ailervators (elevators mixed to ailerons) in a single model memory.
Now I want to build an R/C model that does the same thing.
The primary benefit of the rig is to help get
mixes set up properly. However, it will not be very helpful in setting up
mix percentages. The servos may also have to be
reversed from what you
use on the rig. But getting the mixes set up so they work properly is 90% of
the problem solved. The percentages should be set up on the actual
aircraft using the recommended control throws and some educated guessing.
The mixes get zeroed in during test flights. If you decide to build
something like this for club PR (mall shows, etc.) then you might want to
consider making a simple 4-channel version instead of or in addition to a
rig like this one. When a potential beginner sees a computer radio the
word "expensive" comes to mind. Taking the idea a step farther,
it wouldn't be difficult to put a gimble near the rig's
center of gravity and hook up pushrods from the control surfaces to the
base. In that way, moving the sticks could make the rig rotate about
its axis and demonstrate the effect of the control surfaces on flight
attitude. |