Accessory Reviews
Radio Carbon Art's F3 Building Clinic DVD
By Greg Smith
Oct 30, 2006, 23:23

Radio Carbon Art's F3 Building Clinic DVD

I got this 2-hour DVD on building/assembling a modern composite sailplane from Paul Naton at Radio/Carbon Art a while back and have referred back to it a couple of times after initially watching the whole thing.

Paul goes into detail about how to install radio gear, servos and receiver installation, push rods, linkages, ballast, and other building details that apply to most current F3F, F3B and F3J molded sailplanes.

As Paul mentions on his site: "Most of the kits you buy today have little or no instructions, and even though the basic building is done, there’s a lot of building still to do to ensure your plane flies at peak performance in a safe and reliable manner." How true! It is a bit, if not a lot, intimidating to cut into a $1500-plus F3F ship even though I've done a bunch of them and with just a couple of tips I picked up from the video, especially soldering, I feel better about assembling my models.

I strive to build well thought out installations so that the planes I fly will give many years of service, perform well and so that they will be worth more at resale. Nothing is worse than a cobbed up install job on a plane you really covet and it seems like everyone has their own idea of what a "good" install is. If you plan on selling me a used plane you'd do well to consider the information in Paul's F3 Building Clinic when constructing your moldie.

Paul uses a Trinity F3F model from SoaringUSA and the techniques taught can be applied to most composite or molded gliders out there. In fact, the Trinity is pretty tight, even for a big plane, so that Paul's tips are applicable for molded planes of 60-inches and up.

Once you have learned the basic and advanced building techniques     taught in this 2 hour DVD, you should be able to build any kit on the market with confidence.

Below is a more detailed account of what Paul covers on the Radio Carbon Art F3 Building Clinic DVD from the Radio Carbon Art site:

• 2 hours of detailed tutorials and instruction

• Learn how to build V-tails that work

• Prepare both carbon and steel pushrods that won't break

• Make your own trick wiring harness

• Build auto-mating wing connectors and DB-9's

• Build your own custom shaped battery pack

• Install servos like a pro

• How to add ballast and nose weights

• Learn how to solder wires and linkages

• Learn about proper servo geometry

• Install slop-free linkages

• See Paul do final detailing and flight prep

• Covers nose cone and keel type fuselage types

• Tricks for installing smooth working flying stab systems

• And much more!

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