Great Planes CG Machine and AccuThrow tools for Pre-flight set-up

Great Planes CG Machine

Great Planes produces not only some excellent RC aircraft, but they also have a nice line of must have tools for every modelers workbench.  Two of these tools include the CG Machine and the Accuthrow tools that are great for setting up your next model for flight.  Many of us are so eager to hit the field with our new ARF or even balsa model that we don’t take all the time we really should to protect the time invested in building the model to make sure it is ready to fly well on the first try.  Time on the bench equals a better chance of success at the field on that maiden flight, and with the CG Machine and Accuthrow tools, Great Planes helps you succeed.

CG Machine

CG Machine ready to use

Designed to help you check your models Center of Gravity, the CG Machine comes ready to use with just a few simple assembly steps.  Once assembled, the model as shown below is placed on the stand with foam pads near the recommended C.G. of the plane (as per most plane assembly instructions).  Then you simply add weight or move the internal components, like a battery pack, to get the proper balance front to back for the model.  Some nice features are the built in scale on the pads to move the index bar, which has a red tip, the proper distance from the front of the wing as well as a small balancing vial so you don’t have to rely just on your estimation to make sure the plane is level.

Easy to read scales and nice foam pads for your model’s wing

AccuThrow

Great Planes AccuThrow

The AccuThrow is designed to help you adjust your control surface throws to the proper distance as recommended by your instruction manual for your model.  It has two nice foam pads which are spring-loaded onto each side of the wing or rudder surface that is fixed.  The control surface is then tested and you have a scale to now see the amount of travel for the ailerons or rudder, whichever you are testing.  The tool comes with a good instruction sheet and is assembled quickly.  One of the most basic mistakes of most beginners is to have too much travel in their control surfaces.  This works against them as this requires more skill to keep your radio controls steady.  Too much travel leads to erratic and unstable flight which could be tough for a beginner to recover from during their training flights.

AccuThrow comes with instructions on the box