Grumman Widgeon

[octagon]

Bought a GP ARF of a Widgeon from Simon Chapman at the Pilot Meeting swap meet the other night. Nice kit but man, getting all the wires from the motors in the nacelles through the wing and into the speed controls at the front of the fuse required at least 2 more hands than I had. With a combination of knees, elbows chin and both hands I got everything in there. I set up counter rotating, differential thrust props that are on a switch so I can put the differential on for taxi and take it off for flight. I had one of these planes a couple of years ago, but I now think I tip stalled it and broke the wing, but I still had all the parts to put it together. It has quite a short wingspan and the fuse is fiberglass so it is pretty heavy and has a high wing loading and no flaps to it is a bit of a lead sled on landing. I think I will angle both ailerons up so as to give it wash out and hopefully tame it's tip stall tendency. All that said, I love the looks of the thing and can't wait till next summer to fly it.

[davidk]

So pretty!

[Wingnutz]

Rob,
I have one of those NIB back home in the basement, so I will shamelessly pick your build.
Can you post details of motors and ESCs you used please?
Also this'll be my first shot at differential thrust for water steering, so if you could point me at some info on wiring that up/tx programming (I have a DX9) I'd be grateful...no gear, no flaps, so how many channels needed to configure for differential or balanced thrust?
Watching with interest!

[octagon]

Hi Bill,
Setting up differential thrust is not difficult, it requires either reading the DX9 Manual, or doing what I did and simply find it on Youtube. Here is the video I used and it worked perfectly.  Just copy and paste it and it should work.

https://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrEeJ4e_k5eRy8AUQYXFwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTB0N2Noc21lBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=differential+thrust+dx9&type=ANYS_A1EYC_set_bcr&hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs-SF01&param1=mT_Gzg17RzF0zuT9Kxa0SPbaAgUrm7f_n66Em7nEO5ASMDVfESXbhwJ_l02rqHbiZPLYWicqA5C2oBQ19uXv5zKfLAZvCedBwVItaNSyAjYw7qxuAX3gothb4Ihc3d0T0ntTOsgxqoTaX2HP9GpkCAXZOVsDwfE8ITdq62o0gMOokDzuJkSrj4PGQbqL46AoDRuWIuliCvkiPNeSL9eDwvyvwNcFVHEFN6OYnJadulQ3_0nplLLrJ2Q5_a5M1JX5rdwtEzT3S3k_LmUpaFc%2C&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01#id=1&vid=130b3d1ea2938f60c6e5b1e3100dc107&action=view

The motors used were Rimfire 400s. The harness that comes with the kit has the bullet connectors already attached so after you have fished them through the wing, it is a simple operation to attach them to the two 30 amp ESCs in the nose of the plane. With one hand you hold the wing with the dangling 6 motor wires and 2 aileron wires a few inches above the wing saddle. They are not long so you must hold the wing close to the fuse. Then with your other had you reach in and get ahold of one of the female bullet connectors on the ESC. Then with your other had, you pick up pliers and grab the male end that is dangling. Then with your other hand you get a second pair of pliers because there is not enough room to get your fist in to really hold the female connector. At this point you will find that the male connectors need to be slightly squeezed thinnner in order to fit. You will not figure this out until you have tried to force the connectors together, dropped the pliers inside the plane twice, called Great Planes, Widgeons and your idea to built this thing by names that you did not know you had the ability to think of. You finally will get it done and the aileron servos connected to the rx, and then you will read how easy it is to transport the plane by taking the wing off, and simply connecting everything at the flying site again. I am pretty sure I am just going to glue the wing bolts in, as I swear I will never take that wing off again.

You need a 5 or 6 channel rx, 5 if you just want differential thrust, 6 if you want separate ailerons. As mentioned, I did have one of these planes previously. You will find with the differential thrust that you will not need the water rudder at all. Just be sure to go the extra step and put the mix for it on a switch so you can turn it off before flying.

The plane looks great in the air and taxiing, although it taxis better with a little throttle on so it is on the step. It tends to plow through the water if you try and taxi too slow. I have used Corrosion X to waterproof everything. Also, the forward hatch is supposed to be held to the plane with an included rubber band. I replaced that with a short piece of cable as I figured the band would have a limited life span.

Let me know how you make out Bill. Maybe we can meet next summer in Port Perry one day.

Rob

[Wingnutz]

Thanks Rob,
I am particularly interested in learning how to do differential thrust as the Beriev beer bomber I'm building in another TEMAC thread will use it too. I'll post my progress when I get home.
Cheers!
Bill