Manual

11
❏ 4. Apply the remaining hook and loop material to the
inside of the fuselage at the approximate location for the
motor battery. The closer to the top of the wing the better.
Attach an opposite piece of hook and loop material to the
battery. Trial fi t the motor battery in the fuselage and recheck
the CG. Once you have determined the correct location for
the motor battery, mark the location with a fi ne tip marker.
Balance the Model Laterally
❏ 1. With the wing level, have an assistant help you lift the
model by the motor propeller shaft and the bottom of the
fuse under the TE of the fi n. Do this several times.
❏ 2. If one wing always drops when you lift the model, it means
that side is heavy. Balance the airplane by adding weight
to the other wing tip. An airplane that has been laterally
balanced will track better in loops and other maneuvers.
PREFLIGHT
Identify Your Model
No matter if you fl y at an AMA sanctioned R/C club site or
if you fl y somewhere on your own, you should always have
your name, address, telephone number and AMA number on
or inside your model. It is required at all AMA R/C club fl ying
sites and AMA sanctioned fl ying events (except when fl own
indoors). Fill out the identifi cation tag on page 15 and place
it on or inside your model.
Charge the Batteries
Follow the battery charging instructions that came with your
radio control system to charge the batteries. You should
always charge your transmitter batteries the night before
you go fl ying, and at other times as recommended by the
radio manufacturer.
CAUTION: Unless the instructions that came with your
radio system state differently, the initial charge on new
transmitter batteries should be done for 15 hours using
the slow-charger that came with the radio system.
This will “condition” the batteries so that the next charge
may be done using the fast-charger of your choice. If the
initial charge is done with a fast-charger the batteries may
not reach their full capacity and you may be fl ying with
batteries that are only partially charged.
Balance Propellers
Carefully balance your propeller and spare propellers before
you fl y. An unbalanced prop can be the single most signifi cant
cause of vibration that can damage your model. Vibration
of props on small models can cause a loss of power, but
vibration may also damage your radio receiver, battery and
possibly the motor bearings.
We use a Top Flite
®
Precision Magnetic Prop Balancer
(TOPQ5700) in the workshop and keep a Great Planes
Fingertip Prop Balancer (GPMQ5000) in our fl ight box.
Ground Check and Range Check
Always ground check the operational range of your radio
before the fi rst fl ight of the day following the manufacturer’s
instructions that came with your radio. This should be done
once with the motor off and once with the motor running
at various speeds. If the control surfaces do not respond
correctly, do not fl y! Find and correct the problem fi rst. Look
for loose servo connections or broken wires, corroded wires
on old servo connectors, poor solder joints in your battery
pack or a defective cell, or a damaged receiver crystal from
a previous crash.