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Engine Installation
The engine shown on the Standard is a Fox .19BB. With schneurle porting and
ball bearings, its power is hard to beat. Unfortunately, it's also hard to find
because this engine is no longer in production. We've shown it here to give you an
idea of how a big, .19-size engine looks on the nose.
The performance with a hot .19 is, well, phenomenal! Expect blistering level flight
speeds and vertical climbs that won't stop until you want them to. As great as it
sounds, this kind of power isn't for everybody. It takes a lot of flying experience to
safely handle fast model airplanes of any type. A pilot needs to be one step ahead
of his machine at all times, which can be difficult with a small hot rod like the
Wonder. Yes, with a throttle you can slow it down, but the temptation is to just let it
rip! Remember, the faster a plane flies, the more sensitive it is to control inputs.
Be smooth on the sticks!
Radio Installation
Like all of our Wonders, the receiver is installed behind the fuel tank in the opening in F-3. This Futaba R114H receiver is
pretty small, so it has lots of padding around it. Notice that the servo connection area is left exposed so that the aileron
servo can be plugged in easily when installing the wing.
Size-wise, the S132 servos aren't as big as standard servos, but they're bigger than micros. The throttle and elevator
servos are both attached with servo tape. The 250 maH battery had to be installed next to the elevator servo under the
hatch to offset the weight of the big engine. It's held in place by the servo on one side and a scrap balsa stick.
The aileron servo is mounted to the plywood aileron servo mounts (ASM). Notice the servo arm uses two offset spokes of a
six-spoke servo arm (the other four are cut off). This was done to counteract the slight amount of negative differential that
you naturally get from the swept-forward torque rods. Without getting too technical, what you're looking for is equal up and
down movement of the ailerons. If a straight servo arm doesn't give you equal movement, you can try an offset arm like the
one shown in the photo.
"RUSSIAN" VERSION
This version was styled like Soviet jet
fighters, which typically feature sharp
angular lines. The control surfaces on
the Russian are bigger than the other
versions, but it seems to fly about the
same. All of the Wonders roll and loop
plenty fast!
Covering the "Russian"
The color scheme for this version was loosely translated from a picture that we found of an aerobatic Russian Jet. The
contrastiing red and silver makes it easy to tell the top from the bottom during flight. The Soviets were never too interested
in decorating their airplanes, so the markings on this version were kept pretty simple.