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Maverick Assembly Guide

Maverick F5K Electrick Glider Build Guide

Maverick is a 1.5-meter full-house balsa RC electric glider designed for thermal hunting and F5K competitions.

It features mainly wooden construction, reinforced with composite tubes and rods.

The entire design of the kit uses the idea of a simple build process that will make more people try F5K and thermal soaring. However, you will need to have some building experience already to finish this kit successfully.

Of course, make sure to prepare your RC tool kit before starting with the build.

For some inspiration, build tips flight reports, and more, check Maverick RCGroups Thread, and feel free to share your builds there as well.

Sharing is caring!

Below, you will find an instruction on how to build this model.

Let’s get started!

Video Instructions by BavarianRC

Video Instructions by Nick Chitty

Part 1. Vertical Fin & Tailplane

Before you start, prepare a flat surface and use a plan provided with the kit as a reference for building a fin and tailplane.

Pro Tip:

Cover the plan with some clear film or clear sticky tape to avoid the kit parts sticking to the paper during assembly.

Find all the “TP”-marked parts and place them on the provided plan
Use medium CA or similar glue to fix these in place. Optionally, taper the elevator to make the trailing edge around 1-1.5mm thick
Remove the film over the control horn slot on the bottom side of the elevator.
Position and glue your control horn in place
Use a plan as a guide for the fin & rudder parts position
Cut a 3mm CF tube to the correct length and glue it in place.
Make a nice fillet around the M3 nut to secure it in place
Sand the dried up parts to the desired shape
Find a rudder control horn and cut the covering film over the slot on the desired side.
Glue it in place with CA or Epoxy
Fine the torsion wire in the accessories pack.
Make a C-bend.
Twist the C in different directions and push the sides into the fin and the rudder. Insert spring as close to the control horn as possible.
Repeat the same actions for the elevator.
The spling should deflect the elevator upwards. Insert one side of the spling as close to the control horn as possible.

Part 2. Fuselage

Pro Tips:

  1. Use a flat surface to build your fuse.
  2. The bottom and sidewalls of the fuse are designed to be completely flat to make it easier to assemble.
Start with assembling the wing mounting plates
Then, follow a similar procedure to the tailplane mount
Glue tailplane pylon side panels to the fuselage parts
Glue fuse sidewalls together
Sides and a bottom of the fuse are completely flat, so you can build on a flat surface
Make a fin seddle inside the fuse
Add 6mm balsa fillers on all 4 corners of the nose
The hatch should be removable, don’t gllue it to the fuse 😉
Now, glue the bottom pannel together
Fit the bottom in place. You may need to sand the nose fillers prior to that
Temporary mount your motor, and add the nose sandblocks in front. Adjust F0 part depending on the prop spinner diameter you use.
For the 25mm spinner, use the inner ring only. For larger spinners glue both rings on instead. Soak the F0 part wit hthin CA before sanding. It will help keeping it in once piece.
Sand to a desired shape once dried up.
You can go deep into the corners as you have NF4 & NF5 fillers glued inside for support.
Trim the back side of the fuselage to match the TE of a vertical fin. When the last is installed it should form a straight vertical surface
Pro Tip: cover the front of the stab mount with a dedicated sheet of covering film.
Make an opening in the covering for the fin mounting bolt
Glue a plastic tube guide into the rudder pull cable slot
Cut it and sand the excess tube
Trim the plywood ring from inside in case you wish to slide your ESC from the front
Mount your servo w/o the servo arms
Make a loop for the Elevator
And a second loop that will form a pigtail that will prevent the cable from falling into the boom
Crimp the tube and put a drop of thin CA on both sides
Pull the other side of the cable through the boom
Make a C-bend on the end of the cable to pull it trough the F2 frame
Hook a loop you created by the elevator control horn and pull it to make the last touch the boom
Set elevator servo arm to the “full down” / “full forward” position pull the cable through the arm and crimp it.
Pull the rudder cable through
You can use short plastic tubes where your cable makes a steap angle
You can also use this plasic tubes to guide the cable around for seamless movememnt
Center a rudder servo and crimp the cable from this side first
Then, set the rudder to the central position, measure the length you need and crimp the cable from the tail side as well
This how the end result should look like
At last, install the motor, prop, and ESC
Make a slide-on O-ring to hold the hatch in place

Pro Tip: make an O-ring to hold the hatch in place

Part 3. Wings

Assemble your wing on a flat surface and use a printed plan provided with the kit for reference.

Wing ribs have tabs that ease up the build.

Before the wing assembly, take all 1.5mm CF rods and place them on the plan to identify the places where they should go.

Note: the early kits used to have a 4mm spar in the central panel construction that was updated to 6mm in the most recent ones. This guide highlights the assembly of the early kit, so don’t be confused with the thinner spar in the pictures below. The rest of the construction is 100% the same.

Pro Tip:

After assembling the flaps and ailerons, use a drop or two of thin CA glue to «soak» the 3mm balsa ribs from the CF leading edge to approx. half of their length.

This will prevent ribs from cracking under the tension of the covering film and will produce a better covering experience overall.

Important!

Your kit contains ~130mm long twill 6x4mm carbon tube. This should be cut in half and used as a sleeve tube for the wing joiner where the wing tip connects to the central panel. A connection in the middle of the central panel should use a part of a pultruded 6x4mm carbon tube instead.

Make sure to use TWILL 6×4 tube for the outer tube of a wing joiner for ribs #16-19
Keep rib #19 unglued
Use a template to set the right angle for the rib #19
Angle stiffeners aren’t pre-cut, so you can make them from the excess material
Use a tape over the ribs while sanding a trainig edge to protect the first from the unnessesary damage
Keep a rib #20 unglued
Use template to set the correct angle for the rib #20 while glueing
Soak approximately 2/3 of the ribs with thin CA, starting from the trailing edge to add some stiffness to the thin balsa ribs

Part 4. Wing Servo Installation

Pro-Tips:

  1. The «default» servo installation uses small servo arms that hide under the wing covering. Drill the aileron servo arm as close to the horn basement as possible. In most cases, for the flap servo, you can use the first hole, closest to the center. 
  2. Make sure that the servo horn can move freely under the future covering.
  3. We recommend using Z-bend on the pushrods inside the wing and L-bend on the control horn side. 
  4. In case you prefer the «open servo horn installation» just cut the openings in the wing servo plates and install the servos sticking the arms through them. Servo clevises might be useful in this case.
  5. Hinge control surfaces with sticky tape or covering film. We also recommend gluing ~5x10mm mylar hinges spread by ~100mm to prevent control surface play and create a sustainable axis along the edges. 
  6. In case you will notice a slop between the servo arm, pushrod, and control horn, put a drop of CA on the hole while the pushrod is connected. Let the glue cure and move/spin the parts to “break” the glue and make the system move. Now you have a slop-free pushrod connection.
Center the flap servos and install servo arms at 90°
Cut the pushrods parts and make a twisted Z-bend on one side. The length of a CA tubing is ~62mm
Put the music wire inside the CF tube and fix it in place with a few drops of CA from both sides
IMPORTANT: Note the side of a servo arm where the pushrod is going
Pull the servo leads through the opening in the central section
Glue in the connector before the covering
Pull the other part of a servo lead through the opening in the ribs and central section
Set both flap servos tothe “full up” position
Fix both flaps in the max up position with some masking tape and dry fit the control horns
Mark the place on a pushrod where L-bend will be
Remove the horns for now
Make L-bends and trim the excess wire
Hook up the control horns and glue them in place
Note the servo arm and flap positions. This way you will maximize DOWN throws of the flaps keeping just enough UP for Ail>Flap mixing and speed camber settings
Center the servos and offset the control arms off the perpendicular line, so it creates perpendicular with the pushrod instead
Cut and bend the pushrod parts. For CF tubing, just cut in halves the piece that was left after flaps
Assemble the pushrods and fix the carbon tubes in place with a few drops of CA
Glue the servos onto the servo plates
(Optional) cut the unneded servo leads
(Optional) Crimp on the new connectors
Pull the servo connector through the opening in the rib #20
Make sure that the signal, pos/neg, wires are in line with the servo lead in the central panel and pull the connector slightly further through the rib
Pull the wing panels together and lock in the connectors first to ensure a proper contact
Now, pull the ribs #19 & #20 tight together, the servo connector will slide back a little. Fix it in a rib with a few drops of medium CA. Use CA Kicker to prevent glue from going too deep and reach the other part of the connector
Once the glue is cured, take the wing panels apart and make a nice fillet around the connector
As a result the connector should be in line with the wing joiner
Cover the outboard panels and hinge the ailerons
(Optional) Sand down the unneeded part of the aileron horn
Dry fit the control horn into the aileron, set the servo to the central position and mark where your L-bend will be
Make your L-bends and trim the excess wire
Hook up the control horn to the pushrod
Finally, glue in your control horns into the ailerons

Setup Tricks & Tips

Once done, you are ready to install your receiver, program your transmitter, and head to the flying field.

The SoarOTX F5J template may come in handy here.

CG Position

For your convenience, we have “marked” a starter Center Of Gravity position on the bottom of the wing sheeting.

These 2 smaller round holes located right under the servos, close to a spar in the picture are the spots where you can put your fingers and check your CG position right at the field.

Maverick F5K CoG Position

Use it as a starting point, and adjust your CG afterward depending on your preference and flying style.

Please note, that different CG positions will work differently with various camber settings, so there is a wide field for experiments.

Wing Camber Settings

Since the airfoil used for Maverick allows setting up different flight modes, let’s take a closer look at how to set them up.

Usually, there are 4 main camber settings or flight modes which are the following:

  • Speed
  • Cruise
  • Thermal
  • Brakes

Speed mode is often used during the launch on the motor, so there is no need to configure a dedicated mode here unless you need it.

Also, the SoarOTX template has all the flight modes pre-programmed, and you just need to set them up. There are detailed video tutorials on this topic.

Note: Camber settings usually apply to both flaps and ailerons. The only exception is the Thermal Mode, where in some occasions you can add more flaps and fewer ailerons if you feel that the glider starts tip-stalling at lower speeds.

Maverick F5K Control Throws and Camber Settings
CG 85-87 mm from wing leading edge
Rudder +/- 15mm
Elevator “Touch-the-boom” down, ~13mm up
Ailerons 12mm up & 12mm down
Ail-to-Flap Mix 6mm up & 6mm down
Launch & Speed Flat bottom of the wing airfoil
Cruise Flat top of the wing airfoil
Thermal 1 3mm down from Cruise
Thermal 2 5mm down from Cruise
Brakes (Flaps) 60°-80°down
Brakes (Ailerons) ~45°down/20°up for crow
Brakes (Elevator) 5-15°down

Speed Mode

In general, Speed Mode means that the bottom of the wing is completely flat. Use a ruler as a reference or check this video to learn about a “reflection method”.

Speed Mode Serrings

Cruise Mode

In Cruise Mode, make the top surface of the wing flush with the flap and ailerons, making for a smooth line. This will add some angle to the bottom increasing efficiency of the wing with a little drag and as a result speed penalty.

Cruise Mode Serrings

Thermal Mode

For Thermal Mode, set your flaps 3-5mm lower than in Cruise Mode, measured on the fuse. We don’t recommend moving lower than this as the glider stops flying then. But you are free to experiment.

Then, align the ailerons with flaps to have a consistent airfoil throughout the whole wing span, or adjust them to a slightly smaller angle to have more roll control and a more stable wing.

Thermal Mode Serrings

Brakes

There are various options that you can use for braking to slow down your glider.

Some of them are:

  • Crow Brakes – Ailerons Up, Flaps Down
  • Flaps only – when the Ailerons stay untouched
  • All down – Ailerons and Flaps move down simultaneously

All methods usually require some down compensation settings on the elevator, as the glider usually starts ballooning up as soon as you apply brakes.

This is one of the reasons why pilots usually prefer to control brake application with a throttle stick. It provides easy and adjustable control depending on the flight conditions.

Our preference is the third option, when all wing control surfaces move down, while Ailerons travel around 1/2 of the distance that Flaps do.

This helps to keep the glider “flying” but at a drastically reduced speed and stay controllable for a precise hand catch.

Brakes Settings

One last thing, all the above are our recommendations and you are free to experiment and develop the settings that work the best for you.

Get Ready For Maiden!

Choose the right weather and head to the flying fields.

Take your RC mates with you in case you need help or just company to cheer you on your first flight with a new glider 😉

Maverick RCElectric Glider

Note, we do not recommend flying Maverick in winds over 8m/s (or 15 knots). Considering that a build-up construction is less rigged compared to the composite models, you can do this at your own risk.

For some inspiration, take a look at this beautiful flight video by BavarianRC

And please, share your build and flight report in the Maverick thread on RCGroups.

Happy flying!