RustyTumbles

Hi all Just got my new Minicraft Cessna 182 Skylane, so I thought I would do a build and flight report on it for everyone to read......

I must say that the kit looks to be of great quality. The balsa looks to be great quality and the covering is absolutely awesome. There was only a few tiny wrinkles on one of the wing panels, which will be taken out very soon with the iron. The kit is very complete with everything you need except for the engine and radio gear. The fuse is huge and you could put a small animal inside it for a pilot..... (Lookout kitty cat!!!!)

It is a very scale looking aircraft and comes complete with wing struts.
I plan on adding some more scale detail such as landing lights and radio aerials as I go. So any hints or tips please let me know!!

Here are some photos of the major parts.

apalsson

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Bigsport - nice plane. What engine do you plan to install in it?
Where in Sydney do you fly?

RustyTumbles

I've got a OS50sx with slimline pitts muffler to put in it. I fly at the werrington park model club, good bunch of guys out there!

I joined the wing halves last night, went together really well! almost had no gaps at all on the join. I will post some more pics once the wing is finished.

apalsson

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Hi there - I am a member of SRCS. Live quite close to Werrington Park though. Have often thought of stopping by and clecking on taking up associate membership or similar.

RustyTumbles

yeah its a great club, we can fly any day of the week between 9am and 6pm. sundays our main day though!

RustyTumbles

Got the two wing halves joined, and the front lock down block together now. Need to make a trip to the hobby shop to get some thin CA and a couple of servo extension to complete the wing. I can't believe that this thing is going to be powered by a 50 size 2stroke. It looks big enough to be powered by a 60 or 90!!

The Airframe is fairly light though, and the box says all up weight of 6 to 6.5lb.

Here's a few more pics!!

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

looks like a nice ARF. I have one on my "to buy list" sooner or later. I like them with 63" or bigger wingspans! more pics please!

RustyTumbles

Here are some pics of the almost complete wing. Have not had much time due to work and a big weekend of flying. Will finish the wing and get into the fuse this week if possible. I have to fix up my glider soon as well!!! Summer is comming so fast and there are thermals to be ridden also.

RustyTumbles

I completed the wing today and glued in the tail feathers. Its really starting to look like a real cessna!! No real dramas so far. Have done everything according to the instructions except for the aileron linkage. I used some quick connectors instead of a Z bend on the servo end of the rod, I think you get less slop this way..

Everything in the tail lined up and no adjustment were needed. I think this is a real good quality ARF. Here are a few more pics.

RustyTumbles

Sorry it's been so long, just haven't had much spare time to put this thing together.... Anyway I now have all the flight controls on and hinges glued in. The elevator halves still require a little bit of trimming aroung the counter balance for a nice snug and binding free fit. The undercarriage is fitted up, but I haven't put the wheels on as yet. All is going very smoothly at the moment. Lets hope it stays that way.

I think when it comes time to setup the elevator pushrod, I will do away with the y rod supplied in the kit and use two seperate servos and pushrods. There is plenty of room in the fuse for the extra gear, and I don't think the little extra weight will matter to much.

The engine is also fitted up front and my god does it look small up against the big fat fuse, I did a trail fit of the cowl also and it just swallows that 50sx. I will only need a hole for the glow starter and exhaust outlets. Very neat indeed!!

Here are a few more pics......................

SBR_RV

nice arf, that motor sure does look small up front, but i guess you could expect it to fly simular to the real thing.

RustyTumbles

I have read another review on this model and they used a megatech 46. They say it flew quite well, so I expect the OS 50sx to be more than enough power for scale flying. The model also has a semi symmetrical wing so it will be capable of a lot more than the real thing.

Anyway back to the build. The undercarriage is now completed with the wheels and wheel pants fitted up. I did have a little trouble with the fittment of wheel pants as the hardware that was supplied was different to the stuff discribed in the instructions. No big deal though, I just modified it slightly to use the supplied gear. Which ment drilling a hole in the outboard sid of the wheel pants for the extra part of the axle to poke through. Also had to find some small screws and nuts to secure the wheel pants in position as the supplied screws were to short.

The nose gear has a shock absorber in it (Much to my surprise). It is a small but stiff spring that sits between the bottom retaining collar and the bottom of the mounting point on the firewall. It has a around half inch of travel up and down. This also creates a bit of slop in the mount fore and aft. I don't think it will be to much of a problem, but something to keep an eye on.

I have know begun work on the radio gear intallation. In which I have done away with the supplied pushrods, and instead I'm using Du Bro Lazer rods on the rudder and elevators. I'm going to run two elevator servos as I've had dramas with y rods before. There is heaps of room in the fuse for them and I don't think balance will be a problem as long as I put them as far forward as possible. I will post pics of the radio install once complete.

Here are some pics.

RustyTumbles

Hi guys,

I've almost finished the radio install, all I need to do is setup the control throws and fully secure the receiver and fuel tank. All is going well so far all that's left after the radio intsall is the fittment of the windows and cowl, and balancing. Then it will be off to the field for the test flight!!! Fingers crossed all goes well. I'm going to leave the scale details such as radio aerials and landing lights for later down the track. We've got a scale rally in a week and a half and I want to fly the cessna in it, so maybe after that I'll look at the scale detailing. I'll post some photos tomorrow.

RustyTumbles

Radio install is now finished and all control throws are set as per the book. I have also fitted the engine cowl, prop and spinner. All that is left to do now is fitt the windows and do a final balance check, which so far looks to be spot on the mark.

I am a little worried though about cooling air for the engine. I have fitted a slimline pitt muffler and very little cutting of the cowl was needed, so I'm a little worried there will not be enough coolong airflow over the engine. What do you guys think?

RustyTumbles

here's one more pic

RustyTumbles

Well it turns out the holes in the cowl were to small indeed. After completing the model I ran the engine in the back yard. After 2-3min of flat out operation the engine suddenly dropped a load of rpm and began what sounded like pinging. So I shutdown and pulled the cowl off and made the hole around the head and muffler abit bigger. This seemed to cure the problem as the motor would run continuously at high rpm, not that this bird will need bucket loads of rpm.

So with the model completed it was off to the field on sunday to see how she flys. I got to the field and setup the cessna while checking and double checking everything was right to go. So after about half an hour of checks I fuelled up and started the engine. After a quick tune it was time to taxi.

The cessna felt very good on the ground, but then it hit a small hole and the nose wheel turned around and the prop nosed into the ground. So it was back to the pits to fix her up. Off came the cowl and the steering arm was realined and retorqued. Once back together the engine was restarted and I taxi back toward the runway. I managed to get the cessna to the runway and I lined up for takeoff. I check the controls once more and slowly opened the throttle. The cessna pulled down on the nose and begun rolling. It got about 6 feet before the nose wheel turned on the arm and the prop hit the dirt. So it was back to the pits again!!! A few guys at the club said that it looked to be sitting to far nose down and after seeing what had happend I also agreed. So I pulled the cowl off again and remove the spring from the nose leg, which is there to aborb any bumps that the plane encounters and I lifted the bottom collar to give as muck ground clearance as possible. I also filed a flat spot on the top of the leg to stop it slipping on the control arm.

So once it wasback together again I started up again and taxied out. This time although still being slightly nose down it taxied ok and I lined up for takeoff. I check the control again and advanced the throttle. As she accelerated down the runway I held in some up elevator to get the nose up. The nose rose slightly but I had to really pull on the elevator to get it to rotate. It jumped about 10ft into the air with about 3/4 elevator throw. I then let the elevator go to let it build some speed, which it did quite quickly. I then proceeded into a gentle climb to get some height to trim her out. She only needed a few clicks of up elevator and a few of right aileron.

At full throttle she flew like a bat out of hell, so the throttle was reduced to about 1/3 where she flew a little bit faster than scale but very comfortable. After a few circuits I gained so height and tested the stall. She slowed right down to a crawl before she stalled. However when she stalled she dropped the right wing very fast, and entered a righthand spin. A quick burst of throttle soon had the cessna flying again though. A few more circuits and it was time to land. The approach was clean and as per usual, although it was a little fast mainly because the idle was high. So a quick trim adjustment and she slowed down a little. A nice flare saw her greeze onto the mains, I helled her there for as long as I could to save the nose wheel stress. However once the nose came down it turned on the control arm again and the prop hit the dirt and she slowly rolled up onto the nose and onto her back. Which was followed by a OOOOOHHHHHH and a clap from the crowd.

No damage from the roll over was incured. So it's back the the hanger to fix the nose gear and then back to the field for some more flying.

RustyTumbles

here are a few pics taken before the first flight!

RustyTumbles

sorry lets try thats again

RustyTumbles

Well I've ordered a new nose gear leg, which will be about an inch longer than the original one. I also ordered a slightly bigger wheel for the nose. Once these are on it should rise the nose about and inch and a half, which should be enough to stop the problem. I think it will also give the cessna a more scale stance as all the ones I've seen either sit level or with the tail slightly low. As for the control arm slipping I will file a nice flat spot on the new leg when I get it, hopefully this combined with some locktite will stop that problem. Anyway thats all for now. Will post some more pics once the nose gear is fixed.

RustyTumbles

I installed the new nose strut yesterday. It has raised the nose be an inch and a half, now the cessna sits flat instead of nose down. I have left the nose wheel pant of for now just to see how it goes this weekend. Hope fully it will be ok.

SDCrashmaster

Nice. Congratulations on your successful maiden.

Rod Robbins

Nice plane! [8D]

I've been following this thread with the vague feeling of deju all over again, and it just suddenly hit me! This plane appears to be a knockoff of the old Hangar 9 Cessna 182. I used to have one until an midair a few years back.

Here's a photo of mine (notice the registration number on the side: "N3953C")

http://www.jr45.com/rc/toybox/images/C182-002%20(2).jpg

I wonder if Hangar 9 discontinued this plane and maybe sold their remaining inventory to someone else who's selling them on Ebay or ???

As I recall, tt was a nice plane but very fragile. It seemed like I was always having to repair something or other every time I took it flying. It eventually became one of the those planes where I actually didn't mind losing it...

Here's a link to more photos (including the crash photos) and a short writeup about it that went on my personal website.
http://www.jr45.com/rc/toybox/c182.htm

Hope you enjoy your project! [sm=thumbup.gif]

Regards,
-- Rod

darrden

Rod,
I am not sure if H9 sold their stock or licensed the rights out, but here in Australia Minicraft seem to have the same planes. Last week I bought the 73" Cap which is also the same as the H9 Cap except the H9 decals have been cut out from the decal sheet. Great looking plane which I decided to buy after seeing another club member (Bob) flying his a couple of weeks ago.

Dash

Rod Robbins

Interesting... Maybe Minicraft was the original manufacturer or supplier all along for these C182 ARFs and simply sold them to H9.

Regards,
-- Rod

hosam

My Feedback: (121)

Actually Minicraft is who supplies Hanger 9 with most if not all their planes. They are the designer and manufacturer and H9 just buys from them, usually covered in a different scheme. If you want a H9 plane that has been discontinued then check minicraft, check out the minicrat taylorcraft.