speedy72vega

Hi all, I thought I might post a build log about this plane. It is the one that is advertised on Nitro Planes, Easy Tiger Models, and Toysonics, as well as E-Bay. It comes in dark green, or silver.

I want to start by saying, even though it's advertised as an ARF, it took quite a bit of work to get one actually airborn. Definitely not a beginners ARF.
If anyone out there is in the process of building this plane, PLEASE be aware that the stated CG is VERY wrong. It is listed at 146mm from the L/E. I attempted to fly my first one at this CG, and it was extremely tail heavy, and only lasted about 15 seconds in the air.

I ended up ordering another kit, because I really liked the look and size of the plane, and I was determined to figure out what it would take to get it airborn. First though, I decided to piece the wrecked one back together and try to fly it in order to figure out the balance issues.

I ended up running the wing dimentions through an online CG calculator, and it came up with 107-114mm, 25% and 30% of the MAC. I decided to make it a bit more nose heavy for the first flight after repairs, and set the CG at 102mm. The plane flew, but the excessive weight it took to balance at this point made the AUW quite a bit more than the 5 lbs they advertise. It turned out to be closer to 8 lbs when all was done.
The plane flew, and I managed to get 2 1/2 good flights out of it. The higher than expected wing loading required higher airspeed than I anticipated, and it ended up stalling in a turn, and went in hard during the 3rd flight. It wasn't a total loss though, I learned alot about what it would take to fly this bird.

I ended up putting the new kit together, and maidened it this past Sunday. I will say, WHAT A BLAST! Once it's set up right, and the airspeed is kept up a bit, it really is a fun plane to fly.

I made several modifications to the stock setup, and I will explain as I go through the build log.

Is anyone interested in more on this? Here's a link to the plane on NP.http://www.nitroplanes.com/nitromode...tarf-kit-.html

speedy72vega

Ok, sorry about that link, it doesn't go directly to the plane. Here's a pic of it though.

speedy72vega

The first step was to unpack it and make sure everything was there. It was packed nicely, in 2 levels.
My first kit was the green version. The second kit is the silver one, they were sold out of the green one when I reordered it.

It is a fiberglass fuse, with balsa wing. The vertical stab is molded into the fuse, the Rudder, Horizontal stab, and Elevators are balsa. it comes with plastic mechanical retracts.

speedy72vega

The control surfaces all come pre-slotted, but not glued.

speedy72vega

First step according to the manual is to attach the Rudder. THIS IS WRONG! The tailwheel must be installed first, but it doesn't show it until step 8!
Holes need to be drilled in the fuse for the wire. The wire then goes up through the fuse at the Rudder hinge point, then a 90 deg bend is made where the Rudder attaches.
I made a notch in the Rudder for the wire to sit in, so it wouldn't push the Rudder away from the fuse when installed.

speedy72vega

Next was the Horizontal Stab and Elevators.
The controls were typical cheap Chinese ARF style, wire pull-pull Rudder setup, and wire fork-and-dowel Elevator linkage.

Here was where I decided to make the first modifications. I ended up fabricating my own single pushrod setups for both the Rudder and Elevator. I made a joiner wire for the Elevator halves out of some landing gear wire I had laying around. I then attached pushrod guide tubing in the fuse, and made an attachment plate in the fuse, at the rear of the servo tray.

speedy72vega

With all the pushrod tubes and control surfaces in place, it was time to hook them up and mount the servos.

speedy72vega

Next was the wing assembly. This was the most complicated part of the build. Lots of wiring, retracts, Ailerons, etc.

I decided to install the ESCs in the fuse on top of the wing, and run extended motor wires through the wing.
The landing gear linkage required some clearance holes in the wheelwells, because they wouldn't lock in the full down position.

speedy72vega

The motors mount to mount boxes that attach to the front of the Nacelles. The plane is designed to have all of the props spinning clockwise, and the mount boxes already have the right thrust angle built in.

Another note: The Nacelle spacing given in the instructions was wrong also. If they are mounted at these measurements, they cover the wheelwell and retract mount opening. What I did was to align the edges of the Nacelles with the wheelwell opening and L/G mount opening.

They gave no motor cooling provisions, so I cut cooling holes in the front of the cowls, and mounted the cowls with a bit of a gap where they meet the Nacelle. The cowls install to wood blocks that you have to glue to the Nacelles. I glued them on so that the cowl would sit about 1/16" away from the Nacelle all the way around. That way, the cooling air can exit the cowl.

speedy72vega

Next, the landing gear.
Another modification was in order here, as the servo mount was completely ridiculous.

With the retract servo installed the way the kit intended, the servo arm was a full 1/4" above the wing sheeting. The instructions show a bunch of elaborate bends that need to be made in the wires to facilitate this.
I decided to mount the servo BELOW the rails, with additional 1/8" spacers, to lower the servo arm to below the sheeting level. This made the linkage installation so much easier.
I also enlarged the servo bay opening, because there wasn't enough room for the servo arm to rotate.

speedy72vega

With the servo arm below the wing sheeting, the linkages only required 2 simple bends.

That's all for tonight, I will continue the log tomorrow if anyone's interested.

I-fly-any-and-all

My Feedback: (1)

what are the nacelles made out of? fiberglass or plastic?

Texastbird

It doesn't seem like it would have been much harder to make the landing gear in a more scale fashion. It is an interesting build, keep going.