Solid vs. Cable leadouts?

[Dennis Toth]

Guys,
I am working my way through a rebuild of an Olympic and am replacing the old aluminum bellcrank and need to make a choice of solid or cable leadouts. Years back everyone used solids, with the bigger ships the standard length 36" music wire didn't give enough overhang so cable was the easy replacement. Since this ship has a 52" wing the solids would work and are a little easier slip through the sheeted wing. Any reason not to use solids from a performance view? Are the solids any problem with the leadout slider?

Best,             DennisT

[Tim Wescott]

I asked this question myself a few months ago, and the best that I could pick out from all the expert's opinions was that it boils down to personal preference.

Solids have the length problem, and if you knock the wing against something they'll bend.

Cables have a perceived problem with not being as rigid as solid leadouts, and I've seen comments that they wear bellcrank holes more than solid leadouts do.

Beyond that -- wait for more answers.

[Howard Rush]

If you used solid leadouts in your youth, the rattle of them on the way to a contest will be pleasantly nostalgic.  If you didn't, the rattle will be annoying, and you may throw the airplane out of the car.

[wwwarbird]

If you used solid leadouts in your youth, the rattle of them on the way to a contest will be pleasantly nostalgic.  If you didn't, the rattle will be annoying, and you may throw the airplane out of the car.

 Use only braided cable leadouts. Solids were used way back in the "olden" days.

[Dick Pacini]

The "olden days" method isn't exactly not acceptable.  I always built with solids.  The ends were much quicker to finish off and you never had to wonder if they got crossed in the wing.  My adjustable leadout method was a a row of holes split by a saw blade that allowed eyelets to be moved from hole to hole.

My current plane, a P40 ARF has the current style of leadout slider burried so far into the wingtip that you can't even see to adjust it without a flashlight.  It is very easy to get the cable leadouts crossed.  I do not like it and would never build a plane set up like this.

[Andrew Tinsley]

All of my c/l planes have had solid leadouts and that covers 50 years of building. Never a failure and yes I like the rattle! Can't think of one good reason to use flexibles and plenty of reasons against.
In all the models I have had, there has only been one occasion when I bent a leadout accidently. That was when I was 24 years old. I am now 66 and I still have the plane and fly it. I simply straightened out the kink with a pair of pliers. OK you can all scream at me, but it has held up for over 40 years and probably around 1200 flights.

Regards,

Andrew.

[Air Ministry .]

Scientists have discovered that if you put a rubber band at the wingtip with solid leadouts . . . they dont rattle .

[Chuck Feldman]

Dennis,

I have asked myself that same question. In recent times all my ships have cable leadouts. However in the OLDEN days they where solid. I liked working with the solids because they are easier to get right and I never had a failure with solids. One complaint I heard on this (SH) was that they rattle when the plane is moving. If I where you I would use solids. I am switching to solids because they have a construction advantage. You do not have to put ca or solder or do anything to the solids just make them correctly and they stay that way forever.

Chuck

[Bill Little]

Either or....

Tom Morris' bell cranks come with braided already finished off at the bell crank so I don't change them.  If the plane is a ".35 size", or smaller and I have to make up the lead outs, I will often use solids.  I like .032 on anything using a .20 and up.  Have used larger on .60 size stunters.  A dear friend/brother was once using ,025 solid LOs on his "big" planes.  Had one failure at a very inopportune time and stopped that practice then and there.

Windy used to sell .032 solids long enough to use in his "big" stunters so the stuff is out there.....

As to mixing up the lines, I always color code the "wrapping" on the wingtip terminals.  Red for UP.  When I first make up a set of lines, each line gets one red wrapped terminal.  After a while, I swap the lines end for end and still have a red line end terminal for up to match the UP lead out.  After Aaron once hooked his brand new Ares backwards, out came the Radio Shack red wrapping wire.  When I am thinking of it, I use the green on the down.  Red shrink wrap is becoming my choice for covering the end terminations on the UP line (gotta keep up with "modern technology"! LOL!!).

Big Bear

[sleepy gomez]

Would someone post a photo of the correct method of termination for solid  lead outs?

[dennis lipsett]

I'm always amazed at the use of the color Red for Up control. I always seemed to think that it was better placed on the down line and green on the up. But now I have black shrink and if I want to color code i guess a marking pen will do. But then I might be tempted to get it wrong and I'll hook up the controls wrong. Ah the pressure.LOL. I thought that i gave up decisions when i retired..  LOL
dennis

[Steve Helmick]

Clipped off flush with the leadout guides! The "music wire" we get in the LHS is not nearly as good as the stuff we got in the olden days. I don't trust it one bit. Just my opinion.  Steve

[Tom Niebuhr]

I stopped using cable leadouts when a very high time airplane (close to 2000 flights) started to change handle settings. More recently I am again using Tom Morris's cable leadouts and they are great.

The biggest disadvantage of solid leadouts is the bending that usually occurs from hanger rash in the car. Also with the solids it only requires one flaw in the wire to lose an airplane. I know people who have had that happen.

As to color coding, I use Green for up and Red for down. (I agree with Dennis) I wrap the external leadouts and the lines to match using 26 gauge enamel coated magnet wire. They used to be available at Radio shack in both colors but now I found the same 26 Ga wire at the bead area of fabric stores. By matching the leadout and line colors it is much easier to avoid mistakes.

[Tim Wescott]

When I fly CL, I always check that up is up -- and I've recently saved airplanes that way.  When I fly RC, I always check that up is up, right is right, etc. -- and I've saved airplanes that way.

The safety coordinator at my RC club (who leads by example -- he's the one with the most injuries) crashed a plane recently because he had the transmitter set up for the wrong plane.  Five seconds of wiggling surfaces on pre-flight would have had him taking off with the ailerons set the right way, and an unbroken plane.

[wwwarbird]

 To each his own, I'll usually say to just do whatever let's you sleep at night.

 Personally over the years though I have seen more failures with solids than with cable type leadouts. I do also agree with the comment made about the average music wire quality nowadays not being as good as the "olden" days stuff. Years ago I always made up and used solids only because I didn't know any different. I only ever had one failure myself. I plan to keep using the cable type, never had a problem yet.

[John Sunderland]

Do the cables.

[john e. holliday]

Wrapping wire is available from  MBS Model Supply.    Melvin has both coated and non coated.  I have some of both.  You will have to ask him what gauge it is as I don't know.  I just know it is easy to work with.

[RogerGreene]

Sleepy,

I used soilds in the "Olden Days" and in the "Present Days". Photos attached. 04 is newer plane and 07 was built in 1961.

Roger

[Ward Van Duzer]

Even easier! Could be prettier, (this was a quickie!) but always use a round nose pliers...

W.

[Lauri Malila]

 ..or best of both. L