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Forza 2.5

Hi Myles, I don’t know your level of experience with full house gliders, and I don’t want to try and teach granny to suck eggs, but if you’d like some comprehensive advice about getting your Forza up and running properly I’m more than happy to help you out on here. If you’d say yay or nay that would be great.
Cheers
Jonty
 
Red and Hill Hobbit much appreciation for your advice. I always do this with a new build where some things I come across don’t immediately make sense and there’s always that overwhelming urge to do everything precisely as the designer intended. As and when I come unstuck such as with the linear movement question and the ridiculously large servo spline issue I will reach out if you guys don’t mind. I am a notoriously slow builder always finding that kids and life get in the way but I do want to get this plane finished by June so I can fly it at the Mornington Peninsula National Park in Victoria with some mates. I wonder would anyone be willing to forge me ballast or does anyone have some left over that I could buy? This part of the build is something I just don’t want to even attempt.
 
Hey Everybody, Ive got one wing buikt for my Forza but noticed something interesting on my flap. I seem to have 1 or 2 mm of free play in the flap drive system. Its not from the control horn, it looks to be from the servo output/LDS arm. It has the same amount of play with the servo powered as it does with the servo off. Any thoughts? Im using KST DS125MG servos and Tomas Liu LDS drives. Aileron has 0 play with KST X08Plus and Tomas Liu LDS drives.


 
Hey Everybody, Ive got one wing buikt for my Forza but noticed something interesting on my flap. I seem to have 1 or 2 mm of free play in the flap drive system. Its not from the control horn, it looks to be from the servo output/LDS arm. It has the same amount of play with the servo powered as it does with the servo off. Any thoughts? Im using KST DS125MG servos and Tomas Liu LDS drives. Aileron has 0 play with KST X08Plus and Tomas Liu LDS drives.
View attachment 22373

View attachment 22374
servo gearboxes changed through the innovation cycles (x10, x10pro). it looks like the slop isn't the linkage itself.
 
servo gearboxes changed through the innovation cycles (x10, x10pro). it looks like the slop isn't the linkage itself.
Yea, it looks like its either the splines or in the servo itself. I have a second one I was going to use on the other wing but Ill drop it in this one and see if its any better
 
Yea, it looks like its either the splines or in the servo itself. I have a second one I was going to use on the other wing but Ill drop it in this one and see if its any better
l'll stay tuned...u can check for other servo arms. maybe ccLiu studios does not recommend the DS125MG. yes servos tend to have sometimes more/less slop due to quality management/control or if not another
 
Might want to use the X10 instead of the 125. I thought they both used the same gears, but they may not.
 
Might want to use the X10 instead of the 125. I thought they both used the same gears, but they may not.
Yea Im considering doing that. I was pretty sure I saw that it was compatible with the 125 before I ordered the kits but dont see that info now. I had the 125's already and was trying to use what I had but looks like it might be better to just get the X10's
 
l'll stay tuned...u can check for other servo arms. maybe ccLiu studios does not recommend the DS125MG. yes servos tend to have sometimes more/less slop due to quality management/control or if not another
I tried it with the other 125 servo I was planning on using and it has the same play. Looks to be the arm on the splines or the servo itself, hard to tell. Considering getting some X10's to try and see if thats better
 
KST has changed the splines several times on their servos.. Never any warning about it either. We have sold KST longer than most anyone in the country... We have seen many changes.

The 125 and the X10 are the same dimensionally. The 125 was not high voltage, the X10 is. The X10 also has about 10 years of updating and upgrades it has received over the years. I don't think the 125 has had any updates other than common parts from the X10.
 
KST has changed the splines several times on their servos.. Never any warning about it either. We have sold KST longer than most anyone in the country... We have seen many changes.

The 125 and the X10 are the same dimensionally. The 125 was not high voltage, the X10 is. The X10 also has about 10 years of updating and upgrades it has received over the years. I don't think the 125 has had any updates other than common parts from the X10.
Thanks Wayne, I went ahead and ordered a couple X10's so hopefully that fixes it.
 
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A little bird is asking if you have checked that the play is in the servo arm to spline. If this is the issue he suggests that blue loctite might be a good solution to taking up the play. I must admit I like that idea.
 
A little bird is asking if you have checked that the play is in the servo arm to spline. If this is the issue he suggests that blue loctite might be a good solution to taking up the play. I must admit I like that idea.
That does appear to be where the play is coming from. The X10's show up tomorrow and Ill see if that fixes it. If not, I may try that. Thanks
 
Konrad wrote up a little article for you:

Good stuff. Yep, cross forum posting to the UK. LOL
 
Konrad wrote up a little article for you:

Good stuff. Yep, cross forum posting to the UK. LOL
Interesting. Thanks for the link Wayne. That does seem to be what I was running into. I received my X10's last night and tried fitting one to the flap. It seemed to cut the free play about in half if not a little better. It seems now the only play I have is very slight from the pushrod pin connections (LDS arm and flap control horn). There is no more play on the splines so I will be running the X10's for piece of mind.
 
I successfully maidened my Forza yesterday and she flies great :)

The lift was a bit variable and went from marginal to epic, but all was good. The thermal mode really helped in the lulls but she really came alive when the lift kicked in. I managed some very nice high speed passes, massive aeros etc. CG was initially at 96mm which is a bit forward, so that will be edged back a mm or two on the next flights.

The landing was great with no nasty moments at all, so was v happy.

Martin

IMG_20250413_163242008_Original.webp
 
I successfully maidened my Forza yesterday and she flies great :)

The lift was a bit variable and went from marginal to epic, but all was good. The thermal mode really helped in the lulls but she really came alive when the lift kicked in. I managed some very nice high speed passes, massive aeros etc. CG was initially at 96mm which is a bit forward, so that will be edged back a mm or two on the next flights.

The landing was great with no nasty moments at all, so was v happy.

Martin

View attachment 22614
That's good to hear, Martin. When you get the CG back a bit and spend a bit more time flying, you can really wring her out. As an all-rounder, I designed the Forza to be easy to fly, fast, agile, and without bad landing behaviour.

Cheers and happy flying with your new toy,

Doc.
 
Question for those flying the Forza, what tape do you use for the wings and tails? Anything special or just normal electrical tape or something? Assuming top and bottom of both wings and tails? This will be my first glider that doesnt have a mechanical connection for the wings/tails. Thanks!
 
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