connects to the pushrod.
Spinner
– The nose cone which
covers the hub of the propeller.
Sport Airplane
– A model
which possesses some attribut-
es of many of the specialty air-
planes and are best for general
flying as they are the most ver-
satile and durable.
Switch Harness
– The on/off
switch for the
flight pack
which
is mounted in an accessible
location on the
fuselage.
Tachometer
– An optical sen-
sor designed specifically to
count light impulses through a
turning propeller and read out
the engine RPM.
Tail Wheel
– The wheel at the
tail of the airplane on standard
landing gear or tail dragger
type airplanes. Steering is typi-
cally coupled to the
rudder
for
ground handling.
Threaded Horns
– Small nylon
horns which thread onto the
threaded portion of the
aileron
torque rods
and connect to the
clevis
of the aileron pushrods.
Torque Rods
– Rigid bent wire
rods inserted into
ailerons,
running along the wing trailing
edge and bent down to connect
to the aileron
servo
push rods.
Trainer Airplane
– A model
designed to be inherently sta-
ble and fly at low speeds, to
give first time modelers time to
think and react as they learn to
fly.
Transmitter (Tx)
– The hand
held radio controller.This is the
unit that sends out the com-
mands that you input.
Transmitter Modes –
Mode I.
Left hand stick controls
elevator
and
rudder.
Right
hand stick controls throttle and
aileron
.
Mode II.
Left hand stick con-
trols throttle and rudder. Right
hand stick controls
elevator
and
aileron
. Mode II is by far
the most popular in the United
States.
Mode
III.
Left hand stick con-
trols throttle and
aileron
. Right
hand stick controls
elevator
and
rudder
.
Single Stick.
A special
trans-
mitter
with only one stick.
Elevator
and
aileron
are con-
trolled with the stick. Rudder is
controlled by twisting the end
of the stick. Throttle is con-
trolled by a lever on the top or
side of the transmitter. Note:
Single stick equipment is no
longer being produced by most
of the radio manufacturers.
V-Tail
– An airplane which has
two tail surfaces in the shape of
a V, in lieu of a vertical stabiliz-
er and
horizontal stabilizer
.
The control surfaces on a V-tail
are called ruddervators and
function both in the same
direction as an
elevator
and in
opposite directions as a
rudder
.
Vertical Stabilizer – The non-
moving surface that is perpen-
dicular to the horizontal stabi-
lizer and provides lateral stabil-
ity. This is the surface the
rudder attaches to.
Wheel Collar
– A small, round
retaining device used to keep
wheels from sliding off an axle.
Wing - The main lifting surface
of an airplane.
Yaw Axis
– The airplane axis
controlled by the
rudder
. Yaw
is illustrated by hanging the air-
plane level by a wire located at
the center of gravity. Left or
right movement of the nose is
the Yaw movement. Many air-
craft are not equipped with
ailerons
and the roll and Yaw
axis are controlled by the rud-
der. This is due to the larger
amount of dihedral in the wing.
This is why most trainer aircraft
have a larger amount of dihe-
dral.
Z Bend
– A simple Z shaped
bend in the wire end of a
pushrod which is used to
attach the pushrod to a
servo
output arm
.
Z Bend Pliers
– An inexpensive
plier type tool used for easily
making perfect
Z bends
.
34
Words shown in italics are defined elsewhere in this glossary.
