I recently obtained PA-12 ARF and wanted to provide a build thread. This
model is from their “Sportsman Series” of entry level beginners planes. The
PA-12 has similar looks to J3 Cubs. The PA-12 is a basic high-wing, tail-dragger
plane. Items included with the ARF are your basic hardware package with assembly
tools, pre-painted decorated foam parts, installed motor/ESC combination,
installed push-rods and hinged flight control surfaces. Also included with the
ARF is a 7-cell 650mah NiMH pack and 12v Timer battery charger.
The included image shows the PA-12 as shipped (minus poly bag for the fuselage). The vertical stabilizer/rudder and horizontal stab/elevator are located under the wing.
The hardware package contains landing gear, propeller/spinner assembly with a spare prop, a 10mm/8mm prop wrench, screwdriver, hex wrench and screws.
Items required for flying this model are a receiver and 2 servos. Recommended servos are a 9 gram size.
Specifications are as follows:
Wing span: 955mm/37 inches
Length: 730mm/26 inches
Wing area: 13.7 sq dm/222 sq inches
Total weight: 580 grams/?? Ounces (to be determined later)
Wing Loading: 47 grams/sq dm / (English measurements TBDL)
Flight duration: 6 minutes with included power system
The included instructions are simple enough to follow. However, this build walk-through should help with information not included with the instructions.
The first item to take care of is charging the included 7-cell flight pack. The charger supplied plugs into your car cigarette lighter socket to provide the twelve volt source. I decided to forgo using my car as it’s too cold outside and I don’t charge any batteries unattended. The included charger is a dial-timer style charger and I like to keep a close eye on this style while charging. It is never recommended to charge the included cell with this charger unattended. Please read the charging instructions included thoroughly before charging with the included charger.
I removed the cigarette lighter adapter and soldered banana plugs in place so that I can use my 12-volt power supply.
The flight battery should be fully discharged prior to using the dial-charger. To discharge the battery, temporarily connect the ESC lead located inside the fuselage to the throttle channel of your receiver. Power up your transmitter and set the throttle for “Off”. Install the propeller/spinner assembly. Connect the flight pack to the plug found in the fuselage battery compartment. Now move the fuselage switch to the “On” position. With all hand and body parts clear of the propeller, depress the small arming switch. While firmly holding onto the fuselage, advance the throttle stick on your transmitter to full throttle and allow the motor to run until it stops. Once the motor stops, turn off the fuselage switch, turn off the transmitter then remove the battery pack from the fuselage. Go ahead and remove the prop/spinner assembly at this time as well.
Allow the battery pack to cool down to room temperature before connecting to the charger and beginning the initial charge process.
With that being said, the battery is now ready for charging. The dial timer is spun to 20 minutes (dial face goes to 30 minutes, but the dial has a physical stop at 20 minutes) after the battery is plugged into the charger. A red LED illuminates below the dial showing charge in progress.
While the battery is charging the flight control surfaces can be installed.
To install the horizontal assembly, slightly lift the installed push-rods and nest the horizontal assembly (with the elevator control horn facing up) onto the tail section of the fuselage. Install 2 of the supplied Phillips screws; snug down just about finger tight.
The vertical assembly fits into the slot within the horizontal assembly. Fully seat this assembly into the slot then install a Phillips screw to secure it into place.
Leave the push rods unattached for now. These will not be locked into place until after servos are installed.
Once the flight control surfaces are installed, you will want to install your 9 gram servos.
There are 2 servo plates located within the fuselage. Remove the 4 Phillips screws holding each in place (set the screws in a safe place so you can find them without looking on the floor) and remove the plates.
Install a servo in each plate, and then reinstall the servo plates. The plates will need to be oriented with the servo output shafts more toward the nose of the fuselage. Install the servo plate screws.
Now it is time to attach the servo arms to the push rods. Reach into the fuselage and slide the push rods out for easier access. Slip the servo arm onto the “Z” bend portion of the push rod the slide the rod back into the fuselage until the arm is over the servo output shaft. Carefully push the arm onto the shaft and install the servo arm screw. I installed the arms facing away from each other to make sure there will not be interference with each other when operated.
The push rods can now be connected to the elevator and rudder control horns. With the servos centered, rotate the plastic clevis in or out until it can be attached to the hole in the control horn. The flight control surface should be centered when making this adjustment.
Once satisfied with the position of the clevis, carefully snap it into place and slide the small rubber band toward the end of the clevis. This rubber band helps prevent the clevis from opening up and popping off the control horn while in flight.
Next you should install your receiver. Connect the servo lead for the rudder to the aileron channel and servo lead for the elevator to the elevator channel.
Reach into the fuselage and connect the ESC lead (black, white and green lead) to the throttle channel. I added a small piece of foam tape to the bottom of the receiver and pressed into place within the fuselage.
My receiver is a 72 MHz unit, so I made a small hole in the bottom of the fuselage to route the antenna along the bottom of the fuselage. The antenna was then taped into place.
Now is the time to check the radio equipment installation. For this part, don’t have the propeller installed yet. Prop installation comes later.
Open the battery compartment on the bottom of the fuselage and connect the flight battery pack to the ESC battery connector. Reinstall the compartment cover and turn on your transmitter. Now switch on the receiver by flipping the fuselage switch to “ON”. (If you throttle control on the transmitter happen to be in any position other than “OFF” no worries. The motor doesn’t come on unless the “arming” switch is depressed.)
Operate the elevator and rudder (aileron) controls and check for proper operation. Now is the time to make sure the elevator moves up when the stick is toward you and that the rudder moves left and right when the stick is operated left and right. If these controls are working opposite, use your radio servo reverse functions to correct this.
Check the throttle function. First make sure the throttle stick is down or “OFF” and depress the small red arming switch next to the fuselage power switch. The motor should stay off until the stick is advance upward. If the motor comes on immediately when the arming switch is pressed, your throttle function need to be reversed on the transmitter (Switch off the fuselage and use the servo reversing function on your radio to correct this).
With the radio still on, check the flight control surfaces for centering. Look down at the rudder and see if it is center and even with the vertical fin. If not, check that your radio trim is centered. If the trim is centered but the rudder is still not centered, disconnect the clevis from the rudder and rotate it clockwise to move the rudder left and the opposite to move it to the right.
The elevator is adjusted in the same manner. Turning it clockwise will move the elevator up, counter-clockwise will move it down.
The landing gear is installed next. These are a two piece system. Install the left and right gear legs, the gear retaining plate and finally the four Phillips screws (snug tight).
The wing has two locating pegs on the front. The pegs key into corresponding holes of the fuselage. Two large Phillips screws are installed at the rear portion of the wing.
The PA-12 comes with two wing struts. These are marked left and right. Hook the wing struts into the eyelets on the underside of the wing. Two Phillips screws are then installed through the struts into the anchor points on either side of the battery hatch cover.
At this point there are only a couple of these left in the assembly.
The propeller/spinner assembly is now installed on the motor shaft. Prior to installing, make sure you have turned off the fuselage switch and your transmitter.
Use the supplied hex wrench to snug the hex screw tight onto the motor shaft. The best access to the screw is with the fuselage sitting on the landing gear and the prop assembly hex screw facing up. Snug the hex screw down.
View the propeller from the side. It should be angled downward. When viewed from the top, the propeller should be angled to the right. These angles help with level flight when the motor is powered up. This doesn’t mean the motor shaft is bent.
Finally it’s time to check the balance. There isn’t a balance point listed in the instructions. With a 6″/150mm wide wing, 1.5″/38mm as measured from the leading edge of the wing will be a good starting point. This will set up the balance at 25% of the wing cord (width).
To achieve this balance, I move the flight pack as far forward in the compartment and checked how the plane balanced. At mark was placed 1.5″/38mm back from the leading edge next to the fuselage on the bottom side of the wing. I then balanced the plane on both index fingers at these marks. The plane balanced out level with the battery all the way forward in the compartment.
I then used hook and loop tape to the battery to keep it in this position. Fortunately additional weight was not needed in the nose to achieve balance.
This article from website!!!
The included image shows the PA-12 as shipped (minus poly bag for the fuselage). The vertical stabilizer/rudder and horizontal stab/elevator are located under the wing.
The hardware package contains landing gear, propeller/spinner assembly with a spare prop, a 10mm/8mm prop wrench, screwdriver, hex wrench and screws.
Items required for flying this model are a receiver and 2 servos. Recommended servos are a 9 gram size.
Specifications are as follows:
Wing span: 955mm/37 inches
Length: 730mm/26 inches
Wing area: 13.7 sq dm/222 sq inches
Total weight: 580 grams/?? Ounces (to be determined later)
Wing Loading: 47 grams/sq dm / (English measurements TBDL)
Flight duration: 6 minutes with included power system
The included instructions are simple enough to follow. However, this build walk-through should help with information not included with the instructions.
The first item to take care of is charging the included 7-cell flight pack. The charger supplied plugs into your car cigarette lighter socket to provide the twelve volt source. I decided to forgo using my car as it’s too cold outside and I don’t charge any batteries unattended. The included charger is a dial-timer style charger and I like to keep a close eye on this style while charging. It is never recommended to charge the included cell with this charger unattended. Please read the charging instructions included thoroughly before charging with the included charger.
I removed the cigarette lighter adapter and soldered banana plugs in place so that I can use my 12-volt power supply.
The flight battery should be fully discharged prior to using the dial-charger. To discharge the battery, temporarily connect the ESC lead located inside the fuselage to the throttle channel of your receiver. Power up your transmitter and set the throttle for “Off”. Install the propeller/spinner assembly. Connect the flight pack to the plug found in the fuselage battery compartment. Now move the fuselage switch to the “On” position. With all hand and body parts clear of the propeller, depress the small arming switch. While firmly holding onto the fuselage, advance the throttle stick on your transmitter to full throttle and allow the motor to run until it stops. Once the motor stops, turn off the fuselage switch, turn off the transmitter then remove the battery pack from the fuselage. Go ahead and remove the prop/spinner assembly at this time as well.
Allow the battery pack to cool down to room temperature before connecting to the charger and beginning the initial charge process.
With that being said, the battery is now ready for charging. The dial timer is spun to 20 minutes (dial face goes to 30 minutes, but the dial has a physical stop at 20 minutes) after the battery is plugged into the charger. A red LED illuminates below the dial showing charge in progress.
While the battery is charging the flight control surfaces can be installed.
To install the horizontal assembly, slightly lift the installed push-rods and nest the horizontal assembly (with the elevator control horn facing up) onto the tail section of the fuselage. Install 2 of the supplied Phillips screws; snug down just about finger tight.
The vertical assembly fits into the slot within the horizontal assembly. Fully seat this assembly into the slot then install a Phillips screw to secure it into place.
Leave the push rods unattached for now. These will not be locked into place until after servos are installed.
Once the flight control surfaces are installed, you will want to install your 9 gram servos.
There are 2 servo plates located within the fuselage. Remove the 4 Phillips screws holding each in place (set the screws in a safe place so you can find them without looking on the floor) and remove the plates.
Install a servo in each plate, and then reinstall the servo plates. The plates will need to be oriented with the servo output shafts more toward the nose of the fuselage. Install the servo plate screws.
Now it is time to attach the servo arms to the push rods. Reach into the fuselage and slide the push rods out for easier access. Slip the servo arm onto the “Z” bend portion of the push rod the slide the rod back into the fuselage until the arm is over the servo output shaft. Carefully push the arm onto the shaft and install the servo arm screw. I installed the arms facing away from each other to make sure there will not be interference with each other when operated.
The push rods can now be connected to the elevator and rudder control horns. With the servos centered, rotate the plastic clevis in or out until it can be attached to the hole in the control horn. The flight control surface should be centered when making this adjustment.
Once satisfied with the position of the clevis, carefully snap it into place and slide the small rubber band toward the end of the clevis. This rubber band helps prevent the clevis from opening up and popping off the control horn while in flight.
Next you should install your receiver. Connect the servo lead for the rudder to the aileron channel and servo lead for the elevator to the elevator channel.
Reach into the fuselage and connect the ESC lead (black, white and green lead) to the throttle channel. I added a small piece of foam tape to the bottom of the receiver and pressed into place within the fuselage.
My receiver is a 72 MHz unit, so I made a small hole in the bottom of the fuselage to route the antenna along the bottom of the fuselage. The antenna was then taped into place.
Now is the time to check the radio equipment installation. For this part, don’t have the propeller installed yet. Prop installation comes later.
Open the battery compartment on the bottom of the fuselage and connect the flight battery pack to the ESC battery connector. Reinstall the compartment cover and turn on your transmitter. Now switch on the receiver by flipping the fuselage switch to “ON”. (If you throttle control on the transmitter happen to be in any position other than “OFF” no worries. The motor doesn’t come on unless the “arming” switch is depressed.)
Operate the elevator and rudder (aileron) controls and check for proper operation. Now is the time to make sure the elevator moves up when the stick is toward you and that the rudder moves left and right when the stick is operated left and right. If these controls are working opposite, use your radio servo reverse functions to correct this.
Check the throttle function. First make sure the throttle stick is down or “OFF” and depress the small red arming switch next to the fuselage power switch. The motor should stay off until the stick is advance upward. If the motor comes on immediately when the arming switch is pressed, your throttle function need to be reversed on the transmitter (Switch off the fuselage and use the servo reversing function on your radio to correct this).
With the radio still on, check the flight control surfaces for centering. Look down at the rudder and see if it is center and even with the vertical fin. If not, check that your radio trim is centered. If the trim is centered but the rudder is still not centered, disconnect the clevis from the rudder and rotate it clockwise to move the rudder left and the opposite to move it to the right.
The elevator is adjusted in the same manner. Turning it clockwise will move the elevator up, counter-clockwise will move it down.
The landing gear is installed next. These are a two piece system. Install the left and right gear legs, the gear retaining plate and finally the four Phillips screws (snug tight).
The wing has two locating pegs on the front. The pegs key into corresponding holes of the fuselage. Two large Phillips screws are installed at the rear portion of the wing.
The PA-12 comes with two wing struts. These are marked left and right. Hook the wing struts into the eyelets on the underside of the wing. Two Phillips screws are then installed through the struts into the anchor points on either side of the battery hatch cover.
At this point there are only a couple of these left in the assembly.
The propeller/spinner assembly is now installed on the motor shaft. Prior to installing, make sure you have turned off the fuselage switch and your transmitter.
Use the supplied hex wrench to snug the hex screw tight onto the motor shaft. The best access to the screw is with the fuselage sitting on the landing gear and the prop assembly hex screw facing up. Snug the hex screw down.
View the propeller from the side. It should be angled downward. When viewed from the top, the propeller should be angled to the right. These angles help with level flight when the motor is powered up. This doesn’t mean the motor shaft is bent.
Finally it’s time to check the balance. There isn’t a balance point listed in the instructions. With a 6″/150mm wide wing, 1.5″/38mm as measured from the leading edge of the wing will be a good starting point. This will set up the balance at 25% of the wing cord (width).
To achieve this balance, I move the flight pack as far forward in the compartment and checked how the plane balanced. At mark was placed 1.5″/38mm back from the leading edge next to the fuselage on the bottom side of the wing. I then balanced the plane on both index fingers at these marks. The plane balanced out level with the battery all the way forward in the compartment.
I then used hook and loop tape to the battery to keep it in this position. Fortunately additional weight was not needed in the nose to achieve balance.
This article from website!!!
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