not enough nose weight?

[karlwb]

hi i recently purchased parkzone p51 and a fw190,both are superb looking models, the p51 flies well with no need for trim adjustment from neutral settings and has proven to be a well balanced model.
the fw190 however pitches up steeply with neutral settings,well beyond the range of trim,unfortunately i crashed and wrecked the fw as a result.
both models are stock with the standard nimh battery.


if you check the centre of gravity of the fw with it inverted as per the manual,the model will pitch nose down rapidly,to get the model to balance at the specified point you'd have to remove nose weight.
if you compare the p51 and fw,the 51 has a longer nose so the engine weight has more effect plus the battery is in front too while the distance to the tail is relatively shorter,the fw has a much shorter nose and the battery is only partially ahead of the wing which would suggest weight needs adding to the nose making the c of g quoted misleading.

i'd like to get another fw, i'm impressed with the p51,but i need to resolve the balance issue before buying another fw,are the two prop nuts sufficient or is more weight required in the nose? it was beyond trimming and pitched up strongly under power trying to loop, impossible to attain level flight with the correct neutral settings without chopping the throttle right back.i could see no defect in manufacture apart from a slight twist in the fuselage which i managed to straighten.

i'd much appreciate the comments,thoughts and experience of other parkzone fw190 owners regarding this weight issue
thanks karl

[bullittrob]

hi,.i had the same probs with my fw190.,easy fix though,.add a pair of small washers behind the motor mount on one side as its offset from the factory to cope with the torque of the prop! you need to alter the offset a small bit,.that will cure the way the fw190 wants to bank into the ground,.wait untill theres a wind free day then fly it away from you in a straight line.,if it still turns into the ground a bit add another pair of small thin washers to the top - bottom mount on the same side.its hard to do this when its a bit gusty out as these light weight models get a handfull without messing about with prop alignment.,once done the fw190 flys so easy..i love bringing mine in about 10ft up about half power banked right over about 15ft away from me...ive added a pic..good luck.. ,hi i recently purchased parkzone p51 and a fw190,both are superb looking models, the p51 flies well with no need for trim adjustment from neutral settings and has proven to be a well balanced model.
the fw190 however pitches up steeply with neutral settings,well beyond the range of trim,unfortunately i crashed and wrecked the fw as a result.
both models are stock with the standard nimh battery.


if you check the centre of gravity of the fw with it inverted as per the manual,the model will pitch nose down rapidly,to get the model to balance at the specified point you'd have to remove nose weight.
if you compare the p51 and fw,the 51 has a longer nose so the engine weight has more effect plus the battery is in front too while the distance to the tail is relatively shorter,the fw has a much shorter nose and the battery is only partially ahead of the wing which would suggest weight needs adding to the nose making the c of g quoted misleading.

i'd like to get another fw, i'm impressed with the p51,but i need to resolve the balance issue before buying another fw,are the two prop nuts sufficient or is more weight required in the nose? it was beyond trimming and pitched up strongly under power trying to loop, impossible to attain level flight with the correct neutral settings without chopping the throttle right back.i could see no defect in manufacture apart from a slight twist in the fuselage which i managed to straighten.

i'd much appreciate the comments,thoughts and experience of other parkzone fw190 owners regarding this weight issue
thanks karl

[ralphp]

YOU NEED TO SEND THIS IN TO THE PAGE! looks really good, well done mate. I had suggested the "black bird" to the guys, and you've done it.

[bullittrob]

thanks.,glad you like it.,,.YOU NEED TO SEND THIS IN TO THE PAGE! looks really good, well done mate. I had suggested the "black bird" to the guys, and you've done it.

[karlwb]

thanks for the info bullitrob,actually i had no problem with the aircraft banking over,it flew straight under power,it was the weight balance,aircraft only wanted to loop because it was tail heavy in flight!
i telephoned the uk distributors, and sent them the damaged aircraft and they were good enough to send me a replacement,it just arrived today.
when i've tested this one i'll post here

[ralphp]

I found that mine was pitching up very slightly.....by pushing the batteiry forward as far as it would go resolved it. I only put the second weight on when flying in stronger winds (bad idea as I knife edged mine in while turning with the wind!)

[denali]

When my 190 was still all stock I used both nose wieghts to get the plane to substain level flight.

[karlwb]

finally got to fly my replacement fw190,this one flew fine,i added the extra nose weight and turned the battery around in the tray so the single cell end was to the rear. bit of a breezy evening so i made just 2 flights,used the full throw setting on the transmitter,and control arms still on outer holes.
think i'll move the aileron arm to the inner hole next flight,she rolled quite nicely but it could be a little faster and i may try with just one nose weight and see.
i think the original was fitted with a shorter engine mount,on this one the engine comes right up to the front grill which i don't recall seeing on the original,but without having it to compare i can't be sure.
painted to original colours and weathered a little:)

[ralphp]

think she would look good with some smoke 'n stuff on her!
Alas mine is no more.....but I thought she looked cool. After this shot I put winter white tiger stripes on and looked even cooler:cool:but didn't take a pic ho hum:rolleyes:

[karlwb]

took my fw out again,on a really still evening this time, i took off the extra prop weight,so it just had the single one.

the aircraft is more responsive to elevator input with only the single weight and more sensitive to airspeed in up/down pitch, with both weights on it feels a little sluggish but its more stable.

i can see why upgrading to lipo's is popular,she soon runs out of steam in a climb and scrubs speed quite quickly turning,a little more power would be nice for acrobatic flying,but the nimh give a good reproduction of scale flight and for this the two weights give a more realistic performance.

with the single weight the model balances level when supported at the c.o.g and with both weights it's nose down slightly.

[ralphp]

thats about right......as if you increase speed you increase lift!

[Anthony]

The other day I noticed I had the radio gear, motor, pilot etc from a crashed Spitfire so I decided to buy the spare parts to make an FW190 on the cheap... it's all been going well until I came across the nose weight; I don't know if it's supposed to be there but in my nose weight there is a bolt that I can't get out, so I can't fix my weight onto the thread holding the prop on. I was just wondering if I'm going about this the wrong way and i'm supposed to use the weight in some way without taking the bolt out of it, which is in so tight I cant make it budge, even with a spanner.

[Anthony]

Also are the gear boxes the same in the three planes; Spit, P51 and FW190... I've currently got a gearbox from a Spit in the 190 I'm making and the prop is quite clearly angled to the right, so much so that it doesnt even come out in the centre of the cowling.

[Radweld]

The gearboxes are the same but I believe the prop shafts may be different. The P51 has a shorter one than the Spitfire, I am not sure about the FW190

[ralphp]

I believe the shaft on the P51 is the same as the FW190.
Some of the "wing" have added washers to the back plate to possision the prop to the center.....but if you go lipo this will need to be alterd further (if you look...i think....under the custom page you'll find photos of this)

Pip Pip!

[Anthony]

Ohh thanks, that's ok then! Will my 190 still fly properly with the prop off-centre?

[ralphp]

on full thottle no....she will tend to lead 90 degres to the rotation of turn....IE if the nose is pointing up in the 12 oclock poss, the turn is anticlock wise, the plain will tend to turn to the sarbourd (right) (will seem to "float" with starbord "right" wing down slightly) turning you to starboard (right) BUT only on full throttle.
You should see no real differance on normal un-lipo conversion flight....hope thats not to Geeky for you!:D

If you wish to add some washers (quite simple) this will also make it look straght.....

"Pip Pip young man, cockpit open, pipe to manual, cravat straght....up we go!"

sorry had to edit and put right.....I had the turn direction wrong!!!!!

[karlwb]

the prop weight you have is the extra one,it's the same with a screw fixed in it so it will screw into the first. possibly the screw is glued in place,so it maybe impossible to remove it.what you want is the weight without the screw.

[ralphp]

The other day I noticed I had the radio gear, motor, pilot etc from a crashed Spitfire so I decided to buy the spare parts to make an FW190 on the cheap... it's all been going well until I came across the nose weight; I don't know if it's supposed to be there but in my nose weight there is a bolt that I can't get out, so I can't fix my weight onto the thread holding the prop on. I was just wondering if I'm going about this the wrong way and i'm supposed to use the weight in some way without taking the bolt out of it, which is in so tight I cant make it budge, even with a spanner.

Sorry I didn't see this higher up the screen!....you shouldn't have to remove anything (from memory that is) the weight should srew straight in, then the next if needed and replace the code over the top?

[Anthony]

the prop weight you have is the extra one,it's the same with a screw fixed in it so it will screw into the first. possibly the screw is glued in place,so it maybe impossible to remove it.what you want is the weight without the screw.


Thanks! I assume that parkzone think that you already have a nose weight, but as I'm cobbling my 190 together from spitfire workings I didn't already have a weight, It's OK now though cos I managed to remove the bolt from the weight, although now I find that it's perhaps supposed to have two weights in it? :)

[karlwb]

see earlier in this thread,one or two weights have been discussed,it'll fly with either,depends on your preference.

[ralphp]

Also condisions! I tender to think" if Im throwing it aroung in windy weather x2 bolts" and then procided to knife edge in out of wind! Remember your never to old to CRASH! LOL

[karlwb]

i prefer 2 weights,it's a little slower to respond to up elevator than with 1however it still rolls as quick and doesnt pitch up/down so much according to airspeed with 2 on

[denali]

The 190 comes with the nose weight on and an extra one n the kit(the one with the screw).You may need to add the extra wieght to get the proper CG as the 190 is fairly tail heavy.You will be able to fly with one.
The gearbox and shafts are the same for all three planes.

[Anthony]

Haha yeah well I had a go with my 190 built from spare parts using just one bolt and straight after launching , it climed to about 10 feet quite violently then tipped left by about 90 degrees and then knife edged straight at the ground... I managed to get the wings level and cut power to protect the prop and lose as much speed as possible before meeting the ground and had a fairly light landing with no damage. I dont know if it's a common problem with 190's but the back section of the underside of the wing doesnt fit close to the fuselage where it screws onto it... theres a gap there of about 5 mm or so where daylight shines through, it cant get any closer because of the plastic centre bit of the wings that extends back partly around the underside of the foam fuselage.

[denali]

That souds wierd.All my FW wings fit fine.You better doubl check something is wrong.

[ralphp]

check you haven't got the cable for the aileron servo trapped! I did this and after putting a small amount of tape against this the wing went on close as you like!

[Anthony]

Nah It's not the aeleron servo, it's at the back of the wing...

I perhaps didn't explain very well, in order for the top of my wing to fit the fusulage the plastic bit underneath is pulled out of position. I was wondering if this is normal? :)

[ralphp]

Ah...I see! The tail edge is pulling away from the belly plastic former....
This dose happen some times. If you tighteen the back screw (centre on it's own from memory) this will close. The same happens some times on the spit mid joint.....

It's not ideal but works.....

If you don't like the idea of tightening the screw right up you can place apoxy rasin between the joint wing and under former (not body!) and clamp with a cloths peg until dry!

If it's brand new you can speak to SQ Leader about it (if purchased from them!)

[Anthony]

Thanks, very helpful! :) Yep I bought it as parts from Squadron Leader. I tried tightning the screw which did pull the wing up slightly but mostly what it did was cause the belly plastic former to bend down where it meets the foam fuselage and that looked really wrong.