Power Pack - For VMA-T210X Twin Otter - General Information
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Tips for Avoiding Common Problems

We have supplied thousands and thousands and thousands of model aircraft in the past 20 plus years. We're not bragging! We tell you this to give some credibility to our suggested list of tips that follow. In talking to modelers around the world, here is what we have found is the key to... 

AVOIDING 90% of PROBLEMS that can arise:  

  1. READ THE CAUTION ABOVE & READ THE LIABILITY DISCLAIMER.You are responsible for all aspects of any model you fly. You're It!
  2. READ ALL DOCUMENTATION before doing anything else! 
  3. INSPECT CAREFULLY immediately upon arrival!.
  4. RETAIN ALL PACKAGING until the checkout is complete! If you need to return anything you must have all of the original packaging.
  5. READ & LOOK! At everything! Do it once & then do it again.
  6. REMEMBER WHAT "ARF" STANDS FOR. ARF means ALMOST Ready to Fly with an emphasis on ALMOST! Some assembly and modeling skills are required.
  7. ALLOW ENOUGH TIME to enjoy the assembly process! Rushing into a 6 hour job with 3 hours to spare simply will not work. This is a Hobby... take your time.
  8. DRY FIT & TEST ASSEMBLE EVERYTHING before you glue anything!
  9. USE 30 MINUTE EPOXY when joining wings & installing stabilizers and other structural components but only after you have dry fitted and test assembled the components without glue! Once parts are glued together they cannot be unglued and they cannot be returned or replaced without charge.
  10. PLAN AHEAD! BE CAREFUL! If you get into trouble, DON'T PANIC. Review everything again, talk it over with an experienced modeler and if still in difficulty consult our Support Services.
  11. TEST TEST!!! TUG TUG TUG!!! EVERYTHING... BEFORE & AFTER EACH FLIGHT! Your model may have been largely pre-constructed and may have pre-installed control rods, hinges, control surfaces and many other essential components. Hinges may have been pinned after they have been installed. However, you must double check every control surface and component before and after each flight. You and only you are responsible for the integrity of all components and the integrity of the model itself. Check everything before and after each flight. Tug on control surfaces, control rods, mounting bolts, T-nuts, mounting plates... tug on everything!
  12. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN WING BOLTS or other fasteners. You want bolts and nuts snugly tight and if metal you can use a medium grade thread locker such as Pacer Z42 to help them stay tight. Fasteners must be snug and secure. However a model airplane is not a farm tractor or a garbage compactor. You do not need a pipe wrench or an electric drill to tighten up wing bolts or any other fastener. Leave your plumbing and power tools at home.. hand tools only and go easy on the torque... snug and secure... not stripped or torqued until they squeak or break.  Wing bolts can take tremendous torque before breaking... but when you over tighten them or use an electric screw driver on a set of wing bolts, long before the bolts break you can fracture the fuselage, crack the mounting blocks or pull the heads of the bolts through the wing... these problems have a nasty habit of revealing themselves when you least expect the wing to fall off!
  13. DO NOT OVERPOWER ANY MODEL! Stay within the recommended power range for the model. If you overpower the model you run a high risk of structural failure that will lead to loss of control and a subsequent crash that will destroy the model and may cause injury and/or property damage.
  14. ASSUME NOTHING! Remember the old yarn about what happens when you ASS-U-ME something. Check everything repeatedly and frequently and DO NOT FLY any model unless you are satisfied that everything is in good working order.