Forza 2.5

[Wayne]

James and I were talking about the advantages of a lighter Forza a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Guys, just for info the second half of the Aufwind Forza review - Electric and Glider versions is in the July/August issue of Aufwind Magazine English version.
LOADS of building/trimming/fling control setup etc info.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Doc James Hammond]

James and I were talking about the advantages of a lighter Forza a couple of weeks ago.

Yes in fact "L" versions of all Aeroic models can be made to order, but are not generally stocked 'on the shelves' as we normally deal with rough tough slope models that are generally light enough for what they are designed for. Talk to Wayne if you want one.

Cheers,

Doc.

 

[Outlander51]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick question which will help me along with the placement of my fuz ballast tube and servo tray. Is it intended that the servo tray and ballast tube meet together in the same way as I have placed them together in this picture? Is this best practice? If so that’s great and will help with the degree of sanding on my servo tray… ( Geez, the servo tray is tough as nails on my sander blocks). Would anyone be able to post pics of the insides of their fuz?

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick question which will help me along with the placement of my fuz ballast tube and servo tray. Is it intended that the servo tray and ballast tube meet together in the same way as I have placed them together in this picture? Is this best practice? If so that’s great and will help with the degree of sanding on my servo tray… ( Geez, the servo tray is tough as nails on my sander blocks). Would anyone be able to post pics of the insides of their fuz?

You have to place the ballast tube in a position that will put the center of ballast in the 100mm CG position. If there is enough tube to fit into the slot then great

 

[MartinH]

Hi Myles,

Here’s a photo of my tube / servo tray installation. As James says, get the tube in the correct position for 100mm cg and the tray then goes back to help support it. I trimmed the tray to give a nice snug contact with the inside of the fuz and then used slow epoxy to fix it well in place. The tray adds loads of extra strength to the fuz, so spend a bit of time to get it fitting nicely.

Hope this helps, martin

P.s. from your photo it’s looking good, but remember the tube position is the most important and the rest follows from that.

 

[MartinH]

I had to open up the battery slot in my tray for the 1600mah LIFE pack and added a tab of Velcro to keep it in place.

Seems to work nicely

 

[MartinH]

One other tip, make sure that the tube plugs are well bonded into the tube before installation.

 

[MartinH]

At the front of the LIFE pack, some hard foam for cushioning…. Just in case

The taped on lead on the battery pack and behind the lead slug are for cg trimming at the slope.

Martin

 

[Outlander51]

A bunch of great advice there Martin - thanks very much.

I did see one other comment in this thread stating that the fuselage ballast is supplementary to the wing ballast. So, if I’m understanding that correctly the wings should be ballasted before the fuselage and only fill the fuselage if even more weight is required?

 

[Doc James Hammond]

A bunch of great advice there Martin - thanks very much.

I did see one other comment in this thread stating that the fuselage ballast is supplementary to the wing ballast. So, if I’m understanding that correctly the wings should be ballasted before the fuselage and only fill the fuselage if even more weight is required?

You can use either 'or' in both cases, Myles, as I have told you, but if you fill everything up and try to fly, you might be in trouble unless you have a wind speed of 50 mph or more and a lifty slope.

Why?

Because I designed the model to have fuselage ballast, which works fine as long as the ballast tube is well bonded in and the landing angle does not exceed 89 degrees.

Then I discovered that many people prefer wing ballast, so I adopted that approach.

Then I discovered that some people only want fuselage ballast, so I included the ballast tube in the kit, allowing you to use either or both.

The easy way to put it is that you have a lot of choice and can use whatever you like in any combination, as long as it's not too heavy for the conditions.

Doc.

 

[Outlander51]

Well I may be somewhat geographically isolated here ‘Down Under’ but the wind never fails and mail never fails

 

[MartinH]

Regarding the weight issue…

It’s a balance between toughness and weight and I think the std layup is about right. Assuming the weight is used to create extra strength in the right places and not just heaviness

There is a strong case for the light build if you want to electrify it using a decent power train (1Kw+) as it definitely doesn’t need to be so rugged. My 2m Alpha 2.0 with geared hacker B40 on 4S only weighs about 1.7kg and it’s plenty strong enough.

If you just want a get out of trouble motor setup for the slope, a few hundred watts setup should be great with std layup and you may be able to keep to the average 2.2kg weight ready to fly.

Martin

 

[MartinH]

Hi all,

Near perfect conditions today at the slope meant that i could finally give the Forza a good thrashing. 25mph wind on a 40 degree slope meant plenty of strong lift. No ballast required, but managed to remove a fair bit of lead in the nose to get the CG back towards 100mm. Could go back a bit more maybe

I really like the way she flies, stable and predictable with great performance - the designer must be an an absolute genius…

Forecast is the same for the next few days too

Martin

 

[Hill Hobbit]

Hi Martin, we had great conditions here at Malvern today as well! Great slope lift in 25 to 35 mph wind plus ridiculous thermals meant I had a good amount of ballast in the Toccata, and allied with yet another move of the cg further back (haven’t checked where it is yet as it’s still in the car) it was really, really getting a move on.
I hope your holiday’s going well.
Cheers
Jonty

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Quote: "The designer must be an absolute genius… "

You are, of course, absolutely right, Martin.

I have heard from many sources now that the Toccata just might be the fastest 2M available today, so you'll get a buzz out of that one too.

Nothing like a little calculated weirdry...

Doc

 

[Outlander51]

Well I finally bit the bullet and installed the ballast tube. Fillet worked out better than expected and center of ballast is right on 99mm. A big thank you to all of you that have provided advice on this (well for me) - monumental step… Now to the nose weight casting

 

[Outlander51]

The End Result

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Well I finally bit the bullet and installed the ballast tube. Fillet worked out better than expected and center of ballast is right on 99mm. A big thank you to all of you that have provided advice on this (well for me) - monumental step… Now to the nose weight casting

Just get a paper cup full of wet Plaster of Paris or wall filler etc, and push the nose of the plane into it and let it set.

That will give you a great lead mould.

Make REALLY sure that the plaster is dry before you pour lead.

I put mine in an oven toaster for an hour before I do any lead pouring.

Doc.

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Remember to use less lead than you need so you can add small amounts to trim.

Doc.