hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

I am thinking about buying one for a nice scale project for my wife and I to do. Any one have one, who wants to share tips on building and flight characteristics. What are you using for power? We want to do all the scale options and such.

SDCrashmaster

Check mine out at
http://home.san.rr.com/aircor
Then check out
www.nextcraft.com
in the projects section you'll find construction pics there by a great guy named Mike James. After perusing these, feel free to e-mail me with questions you may have.
Paul Reese

robert

I know someone who has one. He said its a beautiful flyer, easy to build, and it looks very real. He seems to like it.
Robert.

hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

Paul, AWESOME plane, Great site. How do you have the motor mounted? I am trying to decide what motor to go with, and definetily want the in-cowl muff. I dont want to get as detailed as yours.....well I do but you know.......man that is a work of art!!!!!! I do want to add nav lights. I am thinking of using the os 61 fx. Think it will haul the plane ok?

Cougar68

I'm in the process of building one of these myself. I've had a lot of fun building it. Everything fit together extremely well for the most part.

From the research I've done, a .61 FX would probably be enough if you build it very light. I'm most likely going to put a .90 in mine just to have the extra power in case I need it.

Terry

SDCrashmaster

I would have to agree with Cougar68. Unless built very very light, I think a .61 might be a little shy in an emergency situation...not like that ever happens though. I've wished at times that I had a 1.20 in mine. Fly's very scale with the .91, just stay out of trouble. My plane is very heavy though.
Thanks for the compliments.
Oh yea, the OS.91 is mounted sideways with the head protruding. Do my best not to shoot that side of the plane. Doesn't look that bad though.
I think ya'll should consider the RCV engine for this kit.

Cougar68

The OS .91 didn't fit under the cowl? I definitely want to be able to keep the cowl as complete as possible. Looks like I'll be shaving some weight off and going with a .75. Could you tell me more about the RCV engine you mentioned?

Terry

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Pat:

I have one with an Enya 90-4c. You might want to order a spare
rear window so you'll have a back-up when you trim too much off
the original. Like the other posts have stated, the 61 size motor
will be too underpowered. On take-offs, make sure you have
plenty of ground speed and do a very shallow lift off. The Cessna
has a bad snap habit if you pull too much vertical at rotation.

SDCrashmaster

Here's a link to the RCV Engines site.
www.rcvengines.com/model_home_page_full.htm
No problem fitting one of these inside with room to spare.
The OS .91 head protrudes a little from the starboard side of the cowl but not to the point of ugliness. The rest of the model is so overwhelming that I don't think it's even noticeable.

Graham-RCU

The TF 182 has been my winter project. I installed a Saito 100 GK in mine, I inverted the engine, onboard glow starter. I think I will be ok for power. I have not flown this aircraft yet.. weather and field not quite there yet up here. Enjoyed the building very much, great kit.

hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

ok...no 61. I may go with the 91. Maybe a 120 4 stroker, but I would like to keep the cost down a little on this one. I will look at the RCV site.

Mental note::: Be careful with rear window::

w0mbat

My Feedback: (1)

Ok guys, I have a TF Cessna covered in monokote - final weight about 10 lbs. I use an OS91 Surpass with Pump. I have plenty of power and usually fly it at less than half throttle. I wouldn't even consider anything larger - and I like to overpower planes!!! I can't even use the flaps because it just floats forever. No bad stalls so far - it really flies like a trainer. I didn't build it but the guy who did spent a lot of time on it!

SDCrashmaster

Wow,
That has got to be the lightest TF 182 ever built. Wonder where he shaved the weight off? Built straight up according to the plans should put the weight right around 12 lbs. My beast weighs 15.5 with a pound of it being lead in the lower front of the cowl. Can you say heavy empanage boys and girls. Floats like a kitty just before it tip stalls like an elephant. Oh well, at least it provides an adrenaline rush every time she's in the air. She's pretty much a hangar queen now anyway, only fly's on special occasions.

Mike James

Paul Reese's outstanding C-182 was the inspiration for my friend Greg Weeks and I to each build one of these. We both glassed ours, (lightly) and Greg's is painted. (Mine's still in Primer)

Greg's came out right around 13 lbs., with an OS .61 and one pound of lead in the nose. (This includes the flaps, the Top Flite cockpit kit, and a complete RAM lighting system with batteries.) He was talked into switching the engine on his to an OS .91 (2-stroke) before he even flew it, and there's not much weight difference.

Once I heard that everybody was adding a pound of weight to the nose, I decided to detail my cockpit a little more. (!) Since I have the same cockpit kit and lighting system going in mine, my finished weight should be about the same as Greg's, at 13 pounds.

I've attached a photo of Greg's plane... Really nice.

hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

How well did the corrogated surfaces build up? What are your techniques?

Mike James

Well, about those corrugations...

Top Flite supplies approximately 7000 feet of little plastic strips, which you then must cut to the proper length and glue on... individually.... all 80,000 of them. All of us who have built that kit can tell you it was soooooo much fun...
... NOT!

I would've preferred the "easy way"... Say, a small piece of fiberglass sheet, with all the corrugations for each surface already molded in. But nooooooo.
Ok, I've vented enough. But this wasn't the most fun part of the kit.

Seriously:
Be careful! If you're glassing your plane, these have to go on after the glassing and priming. If you use CA, watch for runs! If you're Monokoting it, same deal. Use thick enough adhesive, so it won't run out from under those strips, because it's hard to get in between the strips and fix it.

Paul applied his over his fabulous styrene plastic scale skin, and was able to use solvent to attach them, since it was "plastic to plastic".

It's a big pain, but adds tremendously to the scale effect.

hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

sounds like I will be busy for a while with the control surfaces.

Bob Yeager

My Feedback: (5)

delete

hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

OK, I bought a Cessna. I am going to go with monokote, lighting, and cockpit kit, flaps. Was looking at the Magnum XLS 91. Anyone know anything about this motor yet?

Paul, What muffler are you using with the 91? Wonder if the os muff will fit the new magnum eng??

SDCrashmaster

My 182 has a Slimline Pits style in cowl muffler. Very nice. The dual exhaust stacks exit out the bottom rear of the cowl. I have a fake stack exiting the scale location. The bottom exiting stacks require the OS .91 to be mounted sideways. You can always alter a muffler to work, if your so inclined. Visit Mike's site at nextcraft.com in the projects section. You'll see how his buddy Greg altered the topflite muffler to work in his plane. Also be sure to keep abreast of the King Air B-200 project that Mike and I are working on. You can find info in the CAD Design section on this site.
Thanks to all for the nice comments and Mike, you continually outdo yourself!
L8,
Paul

hawkpilot

My Feedback: (7)

that b-200 is going to be NICE!! I would like to have something like that. Would like to have the skills to build something like that also.

mtudu98

I was just wondering if a Surpass 70 would work in this plane. I'm sure that the 91 is ample, but it seems like it would be a shade too much in terms of scale flight. 2nd question: Where id the folks that glassed this plane buy their glass. I'm going to be putting one of these guys together and I have no experience with glassing, priming, and painting a plane.

Thanks,
MTUDU98

Graham-RCU

I did not glass mine.. glassing I have never done.. but it just sounds like it would make it heaver yet. I would reconsider the 70.. I know the 91 would be adequate..but the low end is a 61 2 stroke.. which is noisy but powerfull. I have a Saito 100 in mine...and feel very comfortable that I can get out of trouble if I need too... especially after all the work it took to build this beauty.

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

depending on how you build it, mine was built heavy, i have a g - 23 on it, now going to a g 38 yes a g-38 on this top flight cessna , mine was covered in silk, doped, then automotive paint. full cockpit, so it is heavy, and the g 38 will do a nice job,

mark
pa fun flyers