Megatech Nitro Capitol Flyer: Quick-building .40-size trainer

Model Airplane News, Nov 2003 by Royer, Erick

MEGATECH NITRO Capitol Flyer Quick-building .40-size trainer It seems as though every week, I meet someone at the field who's interested in getting involved in RC flying, and his first question is always "What's the best plane for me to start with?" In my opinion, the best trainer you can buy is one that you can assemble quickly, requires very little skill to set up and is capable of growing with you as your flying skills develop.

The Megatech Nitro Capitol Flyer is the first trainer I've seen that fits that bill. It can be assembled in less than 1 hour using four common tools: needlenose pliers, standard and Phillips-head screwdrivers and an adjustable wrench. The plane comes with two dihedral braces-one with 6 degrees of dihedral for trainer mode and one with zero dihedral for aerobatic mode.

KIT CONTENTS

The Nitro Capitol Flyer comes with the wing halves, the horizontal stabilizer/elevator, the vertical fin/rudder and the fuselage completly covered. A universal engine mount is already installed, as are the fuel tank and the fuel lines. The landing gear comes with the wheels installed. The nosewheel is mounted on the firewall with the pushrods in place. All pushrods have been assembled and adjusted to the correct lengths. Two wing braces are included-one with dihedral and one without. The kit even includes the spinner.

ASSEMBLY

This is by far one of the easiest planes to assemble that I have ever seen (it's nearly as easy as a true ready-to-fly). The photo-illustrated manual is divided into 11 easy steps.

Engine installation. The aluminum engine mount is universal and has been installed in the Capitol Flyer's nose; it uses a bar-clamp system that doesn't require you to drill any holes. It should be able to accommodate any engine in the .40 to .50 range without a problem.

I used a Megatech .46 2-stroke engine. I simply placed the engine on the mount and attached the two metal clamping plates to both sides of the engine flange with the supplied nuts and bolts. The bottoms of the mounting rails have hex cutouts to secure the nuts, so you don't have to use a wrench. As I tightened the clamps, I was careful to torque the bolts gradually and did not tighten only one while leaving the others loose; in fact, I suggest that you snug them down as you would the lugs on a wheel-in a crisscross pattern. If you have some blue thread-locking compound, it's a good idea to use it on the nuts to make sure that they don't loosen in flight because of engine vibration. If you don't use thread-locker, be certain to check these bolts periodically.

After installing the engine, I installed the muffler and then connected the fuel lines. Two fuel lines are supplied and are already attached to the fuel tank. I simply connected the right-hand line (supply) to the carburetor and the left-hand line (vent) to the muffler's pressure nipple. be sure to push these lines all the way on.

Radio installation. I chose to install the radio before I installed the landing gear. This allowed me to lay the fuselage flat on my worktable with the nosewheel hanging over the table's edge. On the installed servo tray are three openings: two at the rear for the elevator and rudder/nosewheel servos and one at the front for the throttle servo. I installed three Futaba 3003 servos in their respective openings and secured them with the mounting screws that come with them. I installed the two rear servos with the output arms facing the rear of the airplane and the throttle servo with the output arm facing the left side of the fuselage (when viewed from the front.)

Then, I removed the output arms from each servo and temporarily connected the receiver and battery to the system. I turned on my radio and centered all the trims. I then reattached the servo arms and tried various spline positions until I found one that centered the arm. I secured the servo arms with the supplied screws and attached the correct pushrod clevises to every servo.

I wrapped the receiver with foam and installed it just behind the servo tray. Using double-sided tape, I installed the battery in front of the servo tray. I installed the receiver switch in the hole in the right side of the fuselage.

Tail assembly. Attach the tail surfaces by placing the horizontal stabilizer in the slot in the fuselage; then, slide the two long bolts attached to the vertical-fin assembly through the holes in the fuselage and stab. secure these bolts using two washers and two wing nuts. I also used a drop of blue thread-locker on them to prevent them from coming loose.

I finished the tail section by attaching the elevator and rudder pushrods. Since the servos were centered in the previous setup, I took the time to adjust the clevises to ensure that the elevator and rudder were mechanically centered. I was pleased to find that they were only one to two turns away from being perfect. Any other adjustments that might be needed in flight can be made with the radio trims. I was careful to install the safety-keeper tubing over each clevis to prevent them from coming off in flight.