HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

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HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby quarry44 » Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:19 pm

I,ve always liked twins,and float planes,so I thought I'd try this model.First impressions were good.It's bigger than I had imagined,and the quality is as good as I expected for this sort of money.
The instructions are virtually useless,so it's perhaps better suited to people who have built a few models.
Accessories provided are fairly complete,though the rudder pushrod was missing from my kit.
I'll be using 2 of HK's AX2306N bell motors,20A esc's,and 2200 lipo.I 'm also going to put in a ubec,as I don't want to end up with a dead model in the middle of a lake.
I've started putting it together:
Image

The engine pods were already glued together in the kit,though the instructions show them in 2 halves.This means a bit of juggling is required to insert the motor wiring.I also want the esc's inside the fuse,so I've extended the wires to run along the bottom of the wing.Curiously,there are no channels in the wing to run the cables from the pods,so I'll just tape them in place.
Image

I've read a few reviews of this model,and they all mention the lack of rudder authority on the water.This is not surprising,as the rudder throws are fairly limited,and the water rudder just doesn't cut it.
I had thought of shaving the front edge of the rudder to increase the throw,but some people have used differential motor speeds to steer on the water.I may go with that,if I can figure out how to program it into er9x.
Back to the batcave.
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby aidan284 » Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:18 pm

looks good. keep updating
If you don't know it, Look it up
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby quarry44 » Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:50 am

Did a bit more today,mostly soldering all the plugs,etc.Glued the servos in the wing with a dab of hot glue at each end.
Image

One slightly off-putting item,neither the servo covers nor the tip float brackets were painted.Tut-tut,Guan Li :mrgreen: .Luckily,I have some enamel that's a close match,so no biggie.
Image

More tomorrow.
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby cynr100 » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:24 am

Very much interested quarry, keep them coming please.
Not enough time in the day for all my crazy ideas, I'm not slow, I'm just pacing myself
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby quarry44 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:10 am

Spent most of the day in the shed,and here are a few pics of progress.
The engine pods glued to the wing:
Image
I sanded the wing surface a bit to improve adhesion.Some pressure is required to hold the pods close to the wing,so i stuck them in my workmate.I would have used old phone books,but I threw them out last year.
Here's the 2 wing halves glued together,and the wiring taped to the bottom.
Image
These are the esc's and ubec I'm using.Esc's are 20A,and ubec 3A.Servos are HXT900's.(4)
Image
Instead of cutting the red wire out of the harness,I simply removed the pin from the plug,and taped it back on the cable with masking tape
Image
I fitted the ubec to the side of the battery compartment with velcro.Wonderful stuff! :D
Image
Next pic shows the esc's velcro'd in place just forward of the wing opening.
Image
However,I've found the cg is a bit too far back,so I might move them further forward.Every little bit helps,right?
It does mean I might have to extend the cables a bit more though.I hope that won't affect performance.
And here 'tis in all it's glory.
Image
Image
Altogether I've probably spent about 8 hours putting it together,but if you're a fast worker,you could probably do it in four.
Now to find that info about differential steering,using the motors separately.I'm sure it's possible by using some sort of rudder mix.I'll be using the Turnigy 9x with Frsky and ER9X.
I left off the water rudder,as I think it's so small ,it will be next to useless.
I will add fiberglass tape to the bottom of the hull so I can land on grass without making too much of a mess of the foam.Tomorrow I will test run the motor,and correct the cg.
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby pldb64 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:24 am

Here is a starting differential thrust mix for ER9x you can start with:

http://9xforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=119

Credit goes to Gyro Gearloose on 9x forums.
Turnigy 9x, FrSky 2-Way/Telemetry DHT DIY, Smartieparts BRD, ER9x FW
AXN-Floater (stock esc, motor & prop, HK orange 9g servos)
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby cynr100 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:30 am

That is a really cool looking piece of kit :mrgreen:
Not enough time in the day for all my crazy ideas, I'm not slow, I'm just pacing myself
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby quarry44 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:39 pm

To quote Dick Dastardly,drat,drat,and double drat!
I realized,after looking at pics of the real thing,that I've got the tip float supports mounted back to front.
The floats are supposed to sit at an angle of possibly 15-20 degrees upwards.Now we'll find out how good that hk glue really is,as I used that to glue the floats to the supports.They're glued into the wing with epoxy,so I'll leave them in there.Once I get them off, i'll saw a piece off the bottom of the support to get the angle right.
Another thing that bothers me a bit,the wing bolts are quite difficult to engage into the t-nuts mounted in the fuse.
Haven't decided what to do about that yet.
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby quarry44 » Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:35 am

I removed the floats without too much trouble or damage.
Image

Image

Cut the support at a 20 degree angle.Sorry'bout the rubbish photo:
Image

Re-fitted floats at a better angle of dangle:
Image

I made some new wing bolts,using 3mm threaded rods,with nuts soldered at one end,and a pointy bit at the other.Still not the best,but one does what one can:
Image

Another thing,the spinners are the worst pieces of crap i've ever seen.They are horribly distorted,and would no doubt shake the motor out of the aeroplane!Throw them in the bin.;
Image

I'll look around for some better ones,or maybe make some aluminium ones.

Did a test run with a watt meter connected.290-odd watts at 25.4 Amps.I did notice that both engines started slowing almost immediately.Is that normal?I'm using the HK recommended motors,and 20A HK esc's.2200 mah-3cell battery,3A sbec.
I'm starting to wonder if those motors have enough power to fly this plane.
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Re: HK Guan Li Canadair CL-415

Postby cynr100 » Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:09 am

Can't believe you haven't had an answer yet from Bruce or Bill or egocentric so I'll throw some limited knowledge in.

Is that 25Amps per ESC or measured at the battery (assuming you are only running one), does your battery have C rating higher than 25. How warm were the ESC's after the test run, anything above comfortably warm then they are underrated and your power loss could be due to overheat. I have a SS25-30A ESC in my AXN (the original 20A I destroyed just in bench running) and even it gets warm.
I have no personal experience but mulling through the posts (here and on their own web site) reveals that HK generally under equip a lot of their ARF and RTF models.

Sorry mate, unless someone comes up with a definitive answer you could end up being (after expending some more money) the go to guy on the HK Canadair.
Not enough time in the day for all my crazy ideas, I'm not slow, I'm just pacing myself
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