RE: Hanger-9 Corsair ARF Mods for more Scale/ Accurate Appearance
Well, at long last, I am ready to continue this post. The nice weather we had in October is gone, so my flying season may be over for this year. I now have about 20 ~ 30 flights on my second Hanger-9 Corsair, the one which I intend to keep as stock as possible.
So, I'll add some thoughts on this one:
Flying it is unlike all previous Corsairs that I have flown: it does NOT have the hugh roll left tendency at hi power/ low airspeed situations as my previous Corsairs had/ have. This means that it is much less likely to perform the dreaded torque roll to the left if it becomes airborn too quickly. This is all probably the result of the very noticeable right engine thrust, which I guestimated to be about 2 deg. Mine has lifted off a few times earlier than I planned, and no problems were encountered.
The landing gear as modified (with the HD links from Hobby Lobby) is holding up well, but the servo and control rods are really straining to get the gear up and down. I have a solution which I will perform and tell about a little later.
The Saito .91, coupled to a Master Airscrew 3 blade 14 x 7 provides all the power I need/ want for this bird. I don't even use full throttle, EVER, not even on take off (it becomes airborn quick enough). That 14" 3 blade prop looks pretty darn good, not quite scale size but not all that far off either.
Like every Corsair that I have owned, there is a tendency for it to flip over on it's back when it encounters 'bumps' in the runway, and/ or 'varmit' holes, and/ or landing gear problems. Unlike my unmodified Top Flite Corsairs, the rudder had not been damaged in the 3 times this has happened to me (I am flying this one mostly from a softball diamond, which has not been rolled/ leveled). This is probably because the design uses a one piece balsa post, from top to bottom. The Top Flite design has the post NOT going all the way to the top of the rudder, thereby making a weak area which is where the breaks usually occur. The fin however, is a fifferent story, and mine has broke all three times at the base. I had hoped it would last thru this flying season, but after the third time I had enough.
At first I thought I would re-inforce it, but then decided to make a new one out of solid balsa. I had some Sig 3/8" sheet balsa which I belt sanded to the thickness of the original fin (5/16"), cut to the same shape, and added a slight amount of taper (bottom to top). Suprisingly, this new uncovered fin weighs only 2 grams (less than 1/10 oz) more than the original uncovered one.
Shown is a picture of it on my digital scales.
This is a mod which I highly recommend to ALL H-9 Corsair ownwers, and it is easiest to do if you do it before assembly, but can be done to an already built one as I have done. I have read where others have experienced problems with the fin breaking, so it would be better to do it now (rather than repair later)
And now, about my first H-9 Corsair (the one that this post began about, the highly modified one):
I have aquired one of those super scale cockpit kits from Luke (Dionysusbachus) which I will be installing in the 1st Corsair. I have already begun, and taken a few pictures which I will post in a few days.
Thanks, Luke, and I intend to make this Corsair very deserving of such a great looking/ scale cockpit kit.