Phoenix DF F5J User manual

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS PHOENIX DF F5J (Revision 1)
1. Content
1.1 Overview
1. Wing panels (outer and inner)
2. Fuselage front
3. Fuselage boom
4. Vertical tail
5. Horizontal tail
6. Canopy
7. Wing joiners
1.2 Accessories
The accessories bag contains a lot of useful parts as connectors, links, cables etc.
The kit also contains IDS servoframes from Servorahmen.

2 Not included in kit
To finalize this kit, you need to add the following things:
-Pushrods
-Motor mount diameter 30 fit to your motor of choice (Applied is motor mount fitting to xxx)
-Spinner and propeller
-ESC
-Battery
-Ballast
-Wing servo connectors of your choice
3 Tails
3.1 Rudder horns
3.1.1 Stabilizer
Use a rudder horn supplied (if you think it works) or produce an own one according to your liking.
Mark the proper position with 1 mm spacing to the hinge line.
Cut the LOWER part of the laminate and widen the slot with a thin file. Check the fit with the rudder
horn. (Attention: Don’t cut through the upper part of the laminate)
Sand the rudder horn with a proper tool at the area that should be glued.
Glue the rudder horn into the slot.

3.1.2 Rudder
Option 1:
Use a rudder horn supplied (if you think it works) or produce an own one according to your liking.
Mark the proper position with 1 mm spacing to the hinge line on the rudder.
Cut the OUTER part of the laminate and widen the slot with a thin file. Check the fit with
the rudder horn. (Attention: Don’t cut through the back side on the laminate)
Glue the rudder horn into the slot.
Also cut a slot in the fuse part of the rudder, to make the pushrod allowance to exit the fuselage in a
proper way.
Option 1:
Put all linkage inside the fuselage the whole way.
Make a small horn for the rudder and then make a small hole on the front end of the vertical tail.

4 Wing
4.1 Preparation Servo Installation
Start with pushing in the cables in the wings.
Prepare for the installation of the servo frames. The servo pockets are milled in perfect fit towards
the servorahmen IDS Foam, but you need to adapt the frames on where the cable should enter etc.
4.2 Flaps:
Start by removing the small pin that keeps the linkage for front and back of Double flap. Make sure
that you don’t lose this part.
Mark on the wings where the linkage will go inside the wing.
Open up a hole to fit the horn for the IDS in the flap.
Insert a small rod to open up the slot for the pushrod in the wing. When the hole is made open it up
to make room for the IDS linkage, and make sure that there is enough space where the linkage will
connect to the flap.

Assemble the horn and glue it in. Here it’s possible to use a template that works well. (You can make
your own template from a 3D printer) with the template for securing the position (ad link where to
find the print file)
Fill the slot in the flap with some balsa or such, to increase the strength of the bond in flap.
Use the servo horn with the size xxx.
Use some lubrication on the spline before pressing the horn to the axle.
Choose the appropriate length of the pushrod. The pushrod should be a bit longer as the servo
should be a bit offset to the front of the wing, to maximize flap deflections for landing.
When everything is dry fitted and is working as it should assemble all parts of the linkage and glue in
the servo frame in wing.

4.3 Ailerons:
Option 1:
Use the exact same procedure as for the flaps.
Option 2:
Use the servo frames supplied with the kit, but instead use a normal steel pushrod and glue a normal
horn in the aileron and connect it as top drive system.
4.3 Plug and socket for the wing servos
Choose a proper plug / socket combination.
The MPX connector has been used with good result.

Solder and connect the servos in the wing panels. It could be clever to have the connector in place on
the servos, if there should occur an urgent need for changing the at the airfield.
For the aileron servos, chose the connector of your liking. I use the aileron servo lead as it is (it’s
usually more then long enough, to reach out of the wing tip), and then just use the appropriate
mating connector in the centre panel.

5 Fuselage
5.1 Preparations of the push rods for the tail set
Option 1:
Pushrods for gluing.
Start by making slots in the rear for both elevator and rudder.
Elevator use a drill and a Dremel to open up the slot in the pylon. Make sure that the opening is big
enough for the control horn.
For the rudder you need to make a slot both in fuselage as well as in the vertical. Mark on the
fuselage where to drill the holes and make the same on the fin. Make the width of the slot
accordingly to the outer housing of the pushrod.
Make sure that there is some play in the vertical, as this should be removable later on.
Prepare in front of boom where the servos should be placed. Place the servo tray as far forward as
possible.
Put in a steel wire in the push rod housing and use some small magnets for getting in in the right
placement.
Make sure to not have the housing for the elevator to far back, so there will be a collision between
the link and the outer housing.

Please also take care to have the outer housing as straight as possible, to avoid any possibility to get
a linkage with high friction, especially the one for the elevator that needs to be in a curve to end up
in the pylon for the elevator.

When you are satisfied with the placement of the outer housings, the carefully drip in some super
glue along the housing, and let it slowly creep along the housing towards the back of the boom.
When it has moved enough back, the give it a shot of accelerator.

Prepare the back of the pushrods with links or just a bend wire. Make sure to have a tight fit towards
the control horns, to avoid play.
5.2 Fuse servos.
Prepare the servos and servo frame, so it all fits together proper. Decide where to place the servo
frame.
Do some grinding on the place in the fuse, to get a better bond when gluing the servo frame.
Prepare as much as possible for the pushrods prior to gluing the servo frame. This means mark and
cut the length of the outer housing of the pushrods.
Glue the servo frame in place and then adjust the length of the pushrods.
When everything is in place and the pushrods are the right length, the set the servos and the moving
parts (elevator and rudder) at zero position. Use some links (preferable M2.5, so the fit towards the
pushrods are quite tight. Use some links (preferable M2.5, so the fit towards the pushrods are quite
tight, then push the links to the desired place, and the add some drops of superglue to fix the to the
pushrods. Be careful with the amount here, so the glue doesn’t run into the pushrod itself.
Adjusting the length of the outer housing.

Add some drops of superglue here to fix the links to the pushrod
As latest point, fixate the top of the servo frame and fix the servo cables with a drop of glue.

5.3 Opening for the wing connector at the fuselage
Mark the shape of the opening on the fuselage. Mill the hole with a Dremel / Proxxon roughly and
use a file for fine tuning.
You can choose to have the cables loose in the fuselage or you can also glue them in place like below,
to get an even neater look and quicker assembly.
5.4 Installation of motor and equipment
Decide where you want to put your receiver. Fix all cables connecting the fuse servos as well as wing
servos and ESC. (How to route this and how to make these cables is not described here)
Use the supplied motor mount if this is fitting to your motor of choice. Otherwise buy a motor mount
of you liking. Glue that in place and mount the motor.
How to prepare the ESC and connectors for motor etc is not described here.

5.5 Ballast
As this is a high performance F5J competition model, you surely need to have the possibility to add
ballast. This is not prepared in the kit, thus you need to do it yourself.

Option 1:
Make some ballast weights as the same way as in F3K (lollipop style) and make some kind of fixation
in fuse for the weights.
Option 2:
Glue a tube in the fuse and use ballast weight fitting into that. This is a better solution but adds some
extra weight for the model.
Option 3:
Find someone who can produce a centre wing joiner in aluminium or steel, so when you need to
ballast, just switch to the heavier joiner.
As a start, you should at least be able to ballast your Phoenix up to 1800-2000 kg flying weight for
windy conditions.
5.5 Canopy
Option 1:
Make a slip-on canopy holder from some shrinkage film or from some tape (as in picture)
Option 2:
Take some piece from a carbon pushrod or similar. Make this part a bit longer than the total length
of the canopy. Round the ends of the carbon pin, and glue it in place in two places (like the picture
below)
The you can slide the canopy forward and then backward, with the carbon pin securing the canopy in
place.

6 Final assembly
6.1 Vertical tail
Carefully make sure that the end of the pushrod slides through the hole in the vertical tail. When it’s
clear through the hole, the push the vertical tail to the stop on the boom. Connect the pushrod and
secure the vertical with some tape to the boom.
6.2 Horizontal tail
Just connect the link to the control horn and then screw the 2 screws to the pylon, and that’s it
6.3 Boom to front part of fuse
Connect the servo leads between the servos and receiver. Slide the boom into the fuse. Make sure
that the guiding on the side is in position, and the push the boom to the stop.
Secure the boom with some tape.
6.4 Wings
Put the wingtips together with the inner panels, Secure with some tape.
Put then the wings to the fuse and secure with some tape.

7 Basic-Setup
7.1 Setup Philip Kolb
The following settings is the standard set up that is provided by Philip Kolb, use this as a start for your
settings.
7.2 Setup Stefan Hertz
The changes I have done compared to Philips initial settings is:
C/G 102 mm
Aileron throws increased to +/- 15 in all conditions.
Otherwise, I use the initial settings.
Stefan Hertz 2023-02-16