Hear is a shot of the 'iron plane' which is a setup for testing all the control systems. 3 spare servos are used to simulate the motors and you can also see the VeeTail mixers. The wiring will be much tidier in the actual model!. Note that the pizo gyros are not included in the circuit but have been tested.

My original intention was to use a Hitec 6 channel transmitter, I needed an extra channel for the operation of the 'transition to hover' doors, so for my last birthday, everbody clubbed together and I bought the new Hitec 7 Ch programmable Tx. The model is aided in hover by three GWS PG-03 pizo gyros which control pitch, roll and yaw. Each gyro weighs 8g (4.6g if you remove the plastic case!).

The control system does not rely on transmitter computer mixing. Instead the model uses small electronic mixers in the aircraft and are built by VeeTail . They boast exponential and propirtional mixing in any combination through the use of adjustable pots. The units are very light and are of exceptional build quality. I also had a custom built mixer made for the mixing of the fan rotation servo (flaps control on the Tx) and the front motor. This reduces the front motor power in proportion to the amount of rotation of the rear fans to aid transition to and from hover, well thats the theory anyway.

Here's the schematic for the control system for the model. This is probably NOT how I will do it, the pitch of the model will be controlled by increasing/decreasing the front fan only, not a combination of front fan/rear fan as shown in the schematic. It makes the wiring easier and should give me better response...watch this space.

The front servo will control a small vane inside the front fan which is in line with the center of the model. This will provide yaw control and will also control the front wheel steering, linked through one of the pizo gyros.