Hello,
Welcome to Fly-Right RC and the Fly-Right jig for the Xicoy CG Meter! I’d like to introduce myself and Fly-Right RC. My name is Ben, and I have been an avid RC hobbyist for over 25 years. I started this hobby with my first plane when I was 14 years old; it was a Dura-Plane. Many of you may not know what that was, but it was basically a square piece of PVC tube with an aluminum channel out the back holding the tail, and some rubber-banded wings were attached to the top of the PVC. It worked; I crashed it many times but eventually learned how to fly it.
One thing I learned early on was the importance of having your center of gravity correct. With the wise adage that a “nose-heavy plane flies badly but a tail-heavy plane flies once,” it’s critical to understand this last and most important balancing procedure before you fly the amazing creation you spent countless hours creating and building. Not to mention the large investment some of these models represent.
With that preface, I have been building what I would consider larger models, some cresting 40 lbs. and with wingspans pushing 12 feet. Balancing these becomes tricky, to say the least. I started using the Xicoy CG meter and thought that was a wonderful tool to get this job done and get it done accurately; however, using the tool proved to be very cumbersome. It’s hard to line up, get the correct measurement, transfer those measurements from the air frame to a mark on the ground, et cetera.If you have used the Xicoy CG Meter or the SkyRC CG Gauge, you know what I’m talking about.
I went through all the same things as you have: using laser lines to transfer marks, tape on the floor, etc. I think you get the idea; it’s an amazing but very clumsy tool to setup and use.
That is where the idea came to build something that eliminates all that hassle and make a jig that would take all the pain out of using the Xicoy CG Meter and allow you to accurately balance any model of basically any size in literally minutes. The Fly-Right Jig and the Fly-Right LITE came to be.
I’d love for you to take a look at what I came up with. I feel it’s a very intuitive, easy-to-use tool that will hopefully find its way into many modelers shops and help them accurately and easily perform this last critical measurement! I believe a tool that is easy to use will be used more often. I want all pilots and builders to be confident that their plane will be perfectly balanced every time and Fly-Right
Ben, Fly-Right RC