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Step 1.
Elevon servos. Mount the servo horns on the
two elevon servos and cut off extra arms if present, leaving
only one arm for each servo. The arms on the two servos
should extend in opposite directions. Enlarge the
outermost hole of each servo arm with a knife blade as needed
to accommodate a supplied DuBro E-Z connector. |
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Snap the connector body in place and secure with a black nylon
washer. Thread a screw into the connector body. |
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Place a servo on the top side of the right wing portion aft of
the propeller well, flush to the carbon member, so that the
servo arm extends outward, and its outermost hole is
approximately 50 mm (2.0 in) from the body. Mark the
servo location. |
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Cut out the slot to accommodate the servo body. |
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The servo slot adjoins the carbon rod. |
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Mount the servo in the slot with hot melt glue. |
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Repeat for the left wing portion. If your servo leads
are very short, you may need to install the servos closer to
the body in order for all servo connectors to reach the
receiver (see receiver installation below). |
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Step 2.
Elevon pushrods and control horns. |
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Use a knife blade to flare the
mounting holes in each control horn and its back plate.
This will make it easier to thread the mounting screws into
these parts. |
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The pushrod hole used in each
control horn will be the one closest to its base. You
may opt to cut off the unused remainder of the control horn. |
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Insert a pushrod into the E-Z
connector of an elevon servo. With the servo arm in the
neutral position, mount a control horn on the Z-bend of the
pushrod and place it on the corresponding elevon, with the
pushrod parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, and
with the Z-bend positioned at the level of the hinge line. |
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Mark the position of the
mounting holes on the elevon. |
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Use a knife blade to poke screw
holes in the white foam. |
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Secure the control horn and
back plate with a mounting screw. |
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Cut off excess pushrod at the
E-Z connector. |
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Tighten the set screw while
maintaining the control surface at its neutral position.
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Install the control components on the other elevon similarly. |
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Step 3.
Rudder servo, pushrod and control horn.
Use the same method as above to install the rudder control
components. Mount the rudder servo with the servo arm on
the left side of the body, and the control horn on the left
side of the rudder, opposite the bevel side. As above, make
sure that the pushrod attachment hole in the control horn lies
at the level of the hinge line with the rudder in the neutral
position. |
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Step 4.
Receiver, ESC and battery. Mount the receiver at
the rear top left junction of the body and wing, adjacent to
the elevon hinge line. The receiver may be secured to
the two foam surfaces with either hot melt glue or
double-sided foam tape. Lay the antenna outward along
either the top body portion or the left wing portion, and
secure it with transparent tape. Connect the three
servos to the receiver, using the through-holes in the foam
parts for safe passage of the servo cables. The channel
assignment for the two elevons and the rudder depends on your
particular radio setup. Refer to your radio manual. Similarly mount the
electronic speed controller on the body at the front top left
junction of the body and wing, adjacent to the nose guards.
Connect the ESC to the receiver with a 30 cm (12 in) servo
extension cable routed around the propeller well and secured
to the top body portion with transparent tape. You may
prefer to use the through-holes and position this cable on
the right side of the body, clear of the servo moving parts,
rather than on the left side as shown in the illustration.
Connect the three ESC motor cables to the three motor leads.
At this time, these lines can be matched at random. Any
two of these may be swapped later to achieve correct motor
rotation.
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Affix a strip of Velcro
hooks to the body at the front bottom right junction of the
body and wing, extending from the motor mount to the tip of
the nose. Affix a strip of Velcro loops to the battery,
and mount it to the Velcro hooks strip, in an intermediate
position. The battery may be relocated later to achieve
correct CG placement. Use the neighboring through-holes
to bring the ESC battery connector to the vicinity of the
battery, leaving it unconnected at this time. |
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Step 5.
Tyvek belt. The belt is a Tyvek strip 40 mm (1.57
in) wide by 1200 mm (47.24 in) long, with 2.5 mm (0.10 in)
deep V-notches at the midline and at 279 mm (10.98 in)
intervals. It maintains the perpendicularity between the
body and wing planes and protects the propeller. Thread
the belt into the slots surrounding the propeller well, with
the belt notches mating with the slot ends. |
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Secure the belt ends with either transparent tape or thin
double-sided tape. |
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Fold the decorative paper sectional belt covers over the belt
and secure them with adhesive tape. These paper covers
may appear to be optional, but they actually add rigidity to
the Tyvek belt and prevent it from bowing in toward the
propeller under high airflow conditions. |
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The supplied covers may be substituted with similar sheets
bearing custom colors and patterns. |
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Step 6. Kevlar string.
The Kevlar string protects the feet in side impact by
distributing the load among them. Its use is optional
but recommended. Its tautness, although aesthetic, is
not necessary for proper function. Over-tightening will
lead to deformation of the airframe and poor flight
performance. The carbon cross nested within the notch at
the lateral edge of each foot serves to anchor the string. |
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Tie a knot at one foot. |
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Loop the string around the cross at each neighboring foot in
turn, then tie it back at the initial foot. |
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Use a drop of glue at each tie point to prevent shifting. |
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The Atmopod™
VTOL is now completely assembled and ready for pre-flight
setup. |
