Parkzone Citabria Maintenance

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Last couple of days I have been outside with my little RC wonder, the Parkzone Citabria. With wind just barely turning the whirlybirds on people's houses, it has been quite a bit of fun. Not nearly as smooth flying as in a school gymnasium, but good practice none the less.

With flying outdoors, comes a small issue of dust and grime. The odd tree being clipped, followed by an attempt to plant the propeller in the ground doesn't help. So after flying tonight, I noticed some extra grime by the air vents. As I turned the prop, I also felt the odd 'bump' as the gears meshed. Not good.

Upon opening the plane up, the white gear was actually quite dirty. So I used a small brush that came with an electric shaver and brushed out all the teeth. Actually, I went around a number of times because I could not get access to the gear on the motor, so I hoped the clean plastic gear would pick up dirt off the brass motor gear - which it did. I finished the cleaning off by using a cotton swab to wipe the loose dirt and grime off the gear. After a thorough cleaning, I added a couple drops of oil to the assembly. It turns much smoother now.
Cleaned_up.JPG
I ran both batteries completely tonight, and timed the second battery at 10 minutes and 38 seconds - I didn't actually fly the whole 10+ minutes as a couple approaching vehicles and a curious neighbour had me pause for a few seconds to show off the plane. I figure I got an easy 8 minutes of steady flying time at about 1/2 throttle.

I am still using the original packaging for storing and transporting the plane. Don't throw it out! There are a number of nooks and crannies to store things like the oil, scotch tape for field repairs and extra batteries.

boxed.JPG


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