flynte

I'm building this kit for my first plane/build. I installed an evo 61nt and 16oz fuel tank. The nose has a lot of weight on the front with the tail feathers placed on and servo cradle and battery just roughly pinned in place to the back of the fuselage and checking balance on the airframe at the cg point. Is it premature to try to keep things close to balanced now ( no covering, wings, landing gear, etc ) or should I keep building on and get as much on it as possible before worrying too much about it. I would like to get the servos mounted and push rods ran while there's lots of access before things start to get too tight. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

flynte

BillS

I sense the Senor Kadet is prone to come out tail heavy and would put the servos in a forward position. The range for battery placement is over 20� so you should be able to get it to balance by moving the battery.

I wish my servos were further forward.

Bill

oscar2005

right now mount the servos where indicated move the battery pack and recievere around after you finish to get the balance right.because of the tail moment it will not take much to balance out.

MikeEast

My Feedback: (3)

The Evo .61 weighs 25oz!? Compared to a .52 4 stroke that weighs 15 oz or a .46AX that weighs 17oz. 25oz is a lot of weight out there on the nose of that plane. If you are a beginner I would consider going with a smaller engine and save the Evo for your 2nd plane,,,,, or get help making sure that you get the cg right and the battery securely mounted. Just make sure that the mount is light and secure...
Why are you overpowering a Kadet SENIOR that much, just out of curiosity? I can see it on a LT 40 that is somewhat aerobatic but a Kadet Senior is made to be a big ol lumbering albatross.. I love the plane and I 1st learned to fly with a Senior but I think you will find the .61 to be way more engine than you need.

Papa_John

I've been flying a Senior for 1 yr. I have a Super Tiger 45 ABC in mine. More than enough power. To balance I ended up with 3.5 oz of lead in the nose. Very sweet flying airplane you couldn't have picked a better one in my opinion. Good luck you're in for a lot of fun.

2slow2matter

My Feedback: (1)

Mike--you are at SL, and he is in Canada--quite a bit higher in elevation. He may need the .61 to have the equivilent power of say a 50 or so here at SL.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

You can't begin to balance it without the wings, landing gear and covering. All these add substantial weight, and even if most of it is around the c/g, until you get all the plane's flying weight in place (minus fuel), you won't know what to shift where. The covering will have an effect over the weight of the aft section, more than you might think. If built according to the plans and instructions, you should be fairly close to proper balance unless you use an outlandishly oversized engine. If you wind up having to add weight somewhere to balance the plane, the Senior can handle a lot of extra weight without making it a difficult plane to fly. This is a very popular platform for aerial cameras, airdrops, towing, etc; they can be loaded up pretty good and still fly well.

flynte

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm working on the wing now, I'm adding barn door ailerons with dual servos in the wings, mabey build in some flaps ( but won't be using them initially ). I'll get all the control arms built in and setup a rail along the fuse to facilitate moving the servo tray and battery for balancing later. Thanks for the replies!

flynte

txaggie08

thats a massive motor on that plane....especialy when the could be flown witha a .32....or smaller

BillS

The Sr. Kadet will accommodate a wide range of engines and fly well.

I have flown my Sr. Kadet with an OS 91 Surpass. Many at out field use engines above 72. I have also flown my Sr. Kadet with a 46 when the all up weight was 10 1/2 pounds (wing engines were not started).

Bill

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

I fly at 5,000 ft ASL and the OS.60 that I'used in all three of my Seniors does very well at that altitude. A lower altitude would not require the larger engine. At SL they fly very well on a .46. If you have another use for your big .61 save it for that. Even at our altitude some tailweight was needed. Accomplished by moving all servos and battery as far aft as possible, plus some weights near the aft end of the fuselage. Not a lot just 1 to 1.5 OZ.

Rcpilot

My Feedback: (78)

I've had a 4-stroke 120 on a kit built Kadet Senior. I'll bet you could put a 150 on it--if ya wanted too.

We used to use them for long diatance fun fly events.

Put a 14oz tank in the stock location. Then mount a 40oz tank right on the CG. Piggyback the fuel tanks together. Plenty of room in the fuselage. Put a 120 4-stroke engine on it and overprop it. Something like a 16-10. (Thats WAAAY overpropped at 6000' elevation) This allows you to maintain 60MPH on the highway but only run the engine at about 1/2 throttle.

Put a 3000mah battery in it.

We would start off at one airfield and then fly to another field exactly 100 miles away.

You need a pickup. A driver for the truck. A navigator to read the map. A pilot and a co-pilot/spotter. Toss a luv seat in the back of the pickup. Grab your motorcycle goggles or your ski goggles. Sunscreen and some iced tea--maybe a couple sandwiches.

You take off and get it up in the air. Then hand the TX to your buddy who is already seated in the back of the truck. Hop in and sit down. The driver takes off and the game is on.

One guy spots for powerlines and bridges. The other guy flies. When you get tired of flying--pass the box to your buddy and then you become the spotter.

We could do the whole trip non-stop with this setup. Lots of fun.

Mine weighed 15.75 pounds RTF with full tanks. It took about 450' of runway to get airborne. Climb rate was horrific, but it would do it. Probably a scale climb rate.

I've also seen a 10 pound Kadet Senior with a YS 110 engine. That was a hover monster.

.30 or .40 size engine on a Kadet Senior? Not in my hanger.[>:]

B.L.E.

If you are putting barn door aillerons on the wing, consider taking most of the dihedral out of the wing or else there is not much point in adding them. With the stock dihedral, the adverse yaw that results from using the ailerons causes the dihedral to try to roll the plane the other way, partially cancelling the aileron's roll. This gives the plane a very sluggish aileron response.

blikseme300

My Feedback: (118)

My Kadett Senior started with a K&B 45 and was retired after flying it with a ASP 1.08 and floats! The best flying was witha Webra .61 Blackhead.

Aah, the memories!

Safe Flying!

flynte

B.L.E. I have reduced the dehidral by 50%. Don't know if it'll be enough or not. I'll cut into the wings starting tommorrow night for the barn doors and servo compartments.

flynte