Top Flite TOPA0290 - Manual (Page 69)

B
ALANCE THE
MODEL
(C.G.)
At this stage the model should be in ready-to-fly condition with all of the systems in place including the engine
, propeller and spinner
, landing gear
,
co
v
e
ring and paint, and the r
adio system.
The fuel
tank should be empty
.
❏
1.
Use a f
elt-tip pen or 1/8"[3mm]-wide tape to
accur
ately mar
k the C
.G.
on the top of the wing at the
joint betw
een the center section and outer panels on
both sides of the fuselage
.
The C
.G.
is located
3-13/16"[97mm] bac
k from the leading edge of the wing.
❏
2.
With the wing attached to the fuselage
, all par
ts
of the model installed (ready to fly) and an empty fuel tank, place the model upside-do
wn on a Great
Planes CG Machine
, or lift it upside-do
w
n at the
balance point y
ou mar
k
ed.
❏
3.
If the tail drops
, the model is
“tail hea
vy
”
and the
batter
y
pac
k and/or receiv
er m
ust be shifted f
orw
ard or
w
eight m
ust be added to the nose to balance
.If the nose
drops
, the model is
“nose hea
vy
”
and the batter
y pac
k
and/or receiv
er m
ust be shifted aft or w
eight m
ust be
added to the tail to balance
.
If additional w
eight is
required, nose w
eight ma
y be easily added b
y
using a
“spinner w
eight
”
(GPMQ4645 f
or the 1 oz.
[28g] w
eight,
or GPMQ4646 f
or the 2 oz.
[57g] w
e
ight).
If spinner
w
eight is not pr
actical or is not enough, use Great
Planes (GPMQ4485)
“stic
k-on
”
lead.
A good place to
add stic
k-on nose w
eight is to the fire
w
all (don
’t attach
w
eight to the co
wl
—
it is not intended to suppor
t w
eight).
Begin b
y
placing incrementally increasing amounts of
w
eight on the bottom of the fuse o
ver the fire
w
all until the
model balances
.Once y
ou ha
ve
deter
mined the amount
of w
eight required, it can be per
manently attached.
If
required, tail w
eight ma
y be added b
y
cutting open the
bottom of the fuse and gluing it per
manently inside
.
Note:
Do not rely upon the adhesiv
e on the bac
k of
the lead w
eight to per
manently hold it in place
.
O
v
e
r
time
, fuel and e
xhaust residue ma
y soften the
adhesiv
e
and cause the w
eight to f
all off
.
Use #2
sheet metal scre
ws
, R
TV silicone or epo
xy to
per
manently hold the w
eight in place
.
❏
4.
IMPOR
T
ANT
:
If y
ou f
ound it necessar
y to add
an
y w
eight, rechec
k the C
.G.
after the w
eight has
been installed.
B
ALANCE
THE MODEL LA
TERALL
Y
❏
1.
With the wing le
v
el, ha
v
e
an assistant help y
o
u
lift the model b
y
the engine propeller shaft and the
bottom of the fuse under the tr
ailing edge of the fin.
Do this se
v
e
ral times
.
❏
2.
If one wing alw
a
ys drops when y
ou lift the
model, it means that side is hea
vy
.
Balance the
air
plane b
y
adding w
eight to the other wing tip
.
An
airplane that has been laterall
y balanced will
trac
k better in loops and other maneuver
s
.
PREFLIGHT
IDENTIFY Y
OUR
MODEL
No matter if y
ou fly at an AMA sanctioned R/C club
site or if y
ou fly some
where on y
our o
wn, y
ou should
alw
a
ys ha
v
e
y
our name
, address
, telephone n
umber
and AMA n
umber on or inside y
our model.
It is
required
at all AMA R/C club flying sites and AMA
sanctioned flying e
v
ents
.
Fill out the identification tag
on page 73 and place it on or inside y
our model.
CHARGE THE
B
A
TTERIES
F
ollo
w the batter
y charging instr
uctions that came with
your r
adio control system to charge the batter
ies
.
Y
o
u
should alw
a
ys charge y
our tr
ansmitter and receiv
er
batter
ies the night bef
ore y
ou go flying, and at other
times as recommended b
y
the r
adio man
uf
acturer
CA
UTION:
Unless the instr
uctions that came with
y
our r
adio system state diff
erently
, the
initial
charge on
ne
w
tr
ansmitter and receiv
er batter
ies
should be done f
or 15 hours
using the slo
w-
c
har
g
e
r that came with the radio system
.
This
will
“condition
”
the batter
ies so that the ne
xt
charge ma
y be done using the f
ast-charger of
y
our choice
.
If the initial charge is done with a
fast-charger the batter
ies ma
y not reach their full
capacity and y
ou ma
y be flying with batter
ies that
are only par
tially charged.
[97mm]
This is where y
our model should balance f
or the first
flights
.Later
, y
ou ma
y wish to e
xper
iment b
y
shifting
the C
.G.
up to 3/8"[10mm] f
orw
ard or 3/8"[10mm]
bac
k to change the flying char
acter
istics
.M
o
ving the
C
.G.
forw
ard ma
y impro
ve
the smoothness and
stability
, b
ut the model ma
y then require more speed
for tak
eoff and mak
e it more difficult to slo
w
f
o
r
landing.
Mo
ving the C
.G.
aft mak
es the model more
maneuv
er
ab
le
, b
ut could also cause it to become
too difficult to control.
In an
y case
,
star
t at the
recommended balance point
and do not at an
y
time balance the model outside the specified r
ange
.
More than an
y other f
actor
, the
C.G.
(balance
point) can ha
v
e
the
greatest
eff
ect on ho
w a model
flies
, and ma
y deter
mine whether or not y
our first
flight will be successful.
If y
ou v
alue this model and
wish to enjo
y it f
or man
y flights
,
DO NO
T
O
VERLOOK
THIS IMPOR
T
ANT PR
OCEDURE.
A model that is not proper
ly balanced will be
unstab
le and possib
ly unfly
ab
le
.
- 69
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