JimRoss

I'm building an 80" Stinger 120 and in discussion with the distributor I was told that lots of their guys have built them with G-38's for power. Ok, so I'm putting my G-38 on it and it's so nose heavy that I'm gonna have to put a brick in the tail to get it to balance.
Anyone built one of these and if so what power plant did you use? Balance problems? Solution?
I'm considering putting a hatch in the belly toward the rear to mount the receiver and battery as far back as possible. Anyone got any other genius ideas I might steal? Er, I mean borrow. I even put the two elevator servos in the tail and it didn't help enough. Originally, it only called for one servo up in the front. Yeah, right.

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Quadra 35
2 - 625 mg and 1 - 1/4 scale rudder servo at tail.
1200 nicads 12" in front of rudder.
Balance was right on.

Try to reinforce fuse at front of wing saddle area next to No.2 bulkhead. Most 120's and giants have broken there on hard landings.

Randy

JimRoss

I am just about to go out and cut a hatch in the fuselage bottom so I can put the receiver and batteries back there. Right now I'm about 1 1/2" forward on the balance point so I gotta do something or this thing will nose dive even before I get it in the air.
Thanks for the info about the reinforcement in the #2 bulkhead area. Will do.

JimRoss

JimRoss

I don't make hard landings, I make soft crashes.

taildragger21

My Feedback: (197)

I had a stinger 120. made a hatch at the end of the tale for my battery pack. It woked out great.

JimRoss

That's all I had to hear. Got a new sharp blade in the ole knife and I'm a goin' cuttin'.

Thx,
JimRoss

walton

My Feedback: (24)

I had a Brison 2.4 in mine. I mounted two elevator servos in the back and the rudder servo in the back and put the rx and batt right behind the wing worked great. Yes you might want to consider reinforcing the wing saddle a bit.

whstlngdeath

My Feedback: (15)

Are these Stingers considered full-blown 3D machines or just wildly aerobatic? Also, will they spin and recover pretty easily? I have considered getting a giant Stinger for a while, but I have never seen one fly firsthand.

Jesse

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Jesse:

More like a 2D machine, being very stable and slow to tip stall. A great plane for a first big gas
like the G-62. I sold my first giant to a club member that could make it do tumbles and knife-
edge cartwheel. The 120 handles the same if you don't have the hauling space for the giant.
On all mine, I pitched the ugly cowl and put on an AeroPro G-Shark cowl (fits the 120 also). If
you're good at kit-bashing, a double taper wing will make it a little more agile like I had on my
120.

Randy

JimRoss

Ok, how in creation do you make an airplane do a knife edge cartwheel? That sounds like something I would like to learn. Would really impress the guys at my field.

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Jim:

Not being on the sticks, I can only relate as to plane location and rudder movement.
Come along flight pattern and in front of you, start a climb at 45/60 deg. and rotate 90 deg.
Hit full rudder while in climbing knife-edge (not full throttle). As nose drops down to almost
vertical, hit full throttle keeping rudder locked over. If you catch on to the throttle movement,
it should do two or three cartwheels. The rudder throw has to be max. near 45 deg. and a very
strong metal gear servo.

whstlngdeath

My Feedback: (15)

I installed a 3D electric plane in my FMS sim called a Southern X. It will do knife edge cartwheels all the way to the ground! It's the funniest thing to see. I wonder if the real one will do it. I enter the maneauver like a regular spin. At altitude, throttle back and steadily apply up elevator to initiate a stall. At the moment the nose breaks the horizon, keep full up elevator and kick in full left rudder and full left aileron and this Southern X will flat spin about once and then start to cartwheel in a knife edge! It'll hold this attitude while losing altitude. To recover, just neutralize the controls. Craziest thing I've seen. I'd be a little reluctant to try this with a real R/C plane and not be able to recover from it, if it actually did it at all!

Jesse

JimRoss

That's the coolest thing I ever heard of. You know I gotta try it. It should be impressive if it works with my planes.

Does the CG have to be far back for it to work?

Will report back as to the results later when the weather warms a bit. Beleive it or not, Texas is having an Arctic cold front right now and the temp is in the mid 30's. Brrrrrrr! Not used to this cold.Day before yesterday, it was 84 degrees. Go figure!

JimRoss

whstlngdeath

My Feedback: (15)

Jim,
I hear ya on this cold front. I'm up in the Tulsa area and it was 22 this morning. Where's Dayton, Tx? I'll be heading south to San Antonio for Thanksgiving and some deer hunting, so I kinda hope it stays cold down there. There's nothing worse than deer hunting in late November and it's still in the 80's. [:@]
About the cartwheels, I suppose the CG would have to be a ways back to make the plane unstable enough to do it. Recovering from it is what would concern me. The method described above of entering it from a climbing knife edge might be safer than my cartwheel "spin", but I think the plane would tend to snap into a Lomcevak maneauver, which is a sorta-cartwheel.
Anywho, I'm sticking to the simulator for such flying, as I don't even have a plane that can attempt 3-D[X(]

Jesse

JimRoss

Hi Jesse, it's supposed to stay cold here for a few days so don't dilly dally. Get on down here and shoot a deer. Check the local weather forecast for the S.A. area. That should tell you what's gonna happen. If you can believe the weatherman.

Dayton it about 30 miles East of Houston on Hwy 90. Nice little community but I have to travel a million miles to get to my LHS.
We are going to be in Austin for Thanksgiving. Lots of food and football, probably not gonna get to do any flying. Oh well, there's always next week.

I can do the Lomcevak, no problem. It's just that I have never seen or heard of a knife edge cartwheel. It ought to be interesting. If I crash, so what, no plane lives forever. Like the guy said, all planes come with an expiration date, we just don't know when it is.


JimRoss

Dave Kovensky

My Feedback: (3)

Any advice or experience with a Stinger 120 powered by a Zenoah G26? I live in Albuquerque New Mexico and the altitude is about 6000 feet.

Dave Kovensky

JimRoss

Yeah, it's gonna be nose heavy so put all your servos as far back as you can. Elevator servos should go right in front of Stab. Use the battery pack to get it balanced. As far as the engine, you're gonna have to run it richer than we do down here at sea level but not too much. I run a 18X6 W APC prop on mine and it rips the clouds out of the sky.
I hope your G-26 runs as good as mine does. I love it!

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Jim:

How'd that hatch and balance work out ? We just got rid of the snow before Christmas, but every warm day has been windy and drizzle. Our New Years "Freeze Fly" looks like it might be just that.
I was just curious how the plane performed with the 38 on there.

JimRoss

Havent had a chance to fly it yet. Still working on an elevator problem. Using two servos and can't get them balanced as far as throw and speed. Getting two Hitec's one of which is reversed and hopefully that will cure the problem.
The hatch worked out fine. I cut out a piece from the bottom and glued small plywood tabs inside where I could put screws through the hatch to secure it. Made hatch from 1/8th lite plywood and covered it with black covering. Matches great.

Jemo

My Feedback: (5)

Jim,
When I did a Stinger 120/G-38. I set the firewall back by about 1-1/2 to 2 inches..

Dave Kovensky

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your words of wisdom. By the way, would it be a good idea to shorten the nose moment and move the firewall back about 1 1/2 inches to keep the plane from being nose-heavy? Also your views about:

1. Replacing the plastic turtle deck with wooden bulkheads and hard wood stringers?

2. Cutting out the foam areas between the wing capstrips to lighten the wing?

3. Reinfocing the fuselage structure at the wing leading edge area.

4. Beefing up the landing gear mounting area.

Dave K

Jemo

My Feedback: (5)

test

JimRoss

I also moved my firewall back 1 1/2 " reinstalled it, fiberglassed and pinned it. Shouldn't come loose now. Am going to reinforce the fuselage on sides as suggested, No opinion about removing foam. Don't think it will make much difference???????
If I were going to replace the turtle deck I would go ahead and bash it into something with the cockpit much further back. Gives it a real sleek look. Landing gear mount definitely needs a little beef but we gotta remember that everything done to strengthen the airframe adds weight and that's what we're trying to get around. Just make good landings.

Jemo

My Feedback: (5)

I had a post about this yesterday but it got knocked off for some reason, That's why you see test on my last one.

The fuse should absoloutely be doubled. I went from "F2" right back to the rear of the wing saddle. All stingers have this weak spot, but if doubled they are fine.

I never have removed the foam, but others have some say it was worth it others say no,?????>

I left my turtle deck the way it was and made it removeable, I had my batt. and rec. back there.

Landing gear block isn't really that weak, but that long gear really can put a lot of stress on it. I guess if we all greased our landings we would not have a problem with it...

I did brace the firewall, which I think was worth the effort. I will try to post a crude drawing, then again all my drawings are crude...

Dave Kovensky

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Jim,

Many thanks for your advice!

Dave K