minicrazy592

So here goes my rebuild of 2.5 Mini Ultra Sticks. Why 2.5, well there's 3 Fuses, 2 wings, 2 Elevators, 2 rudders, and one landing gear. The first 2 fuses I don't know what happened and lead to their crashes and the damage to the wing. The third I did see. An elevator control horn was fine, but the wood it was attached to broke leaving the pilot without elevator control. The previous flight, the elevator spilt in half, so I have a feeling this had a little to do with it. I got them from a nice guy at the field who didn't have time to rebuild them and really didn't think they were salvageable, so he gave them to me. Little does he know the Stick's unwillingness to die (it's simple and quick construction). I have had a MUS (mini ultra stick) for roughly a year and a half and it has been my daily flyer. I have seen what wears out, needs strengthening, etc. So I plan on building on that knowledge to make these the best they can be. My plan is for one to be glow and one electric. I am about to finish another MUS with parts of the game plan.

Here's the game plan

1. Double the elevator and rudder thickness. Both of those should not flex in flight!- a must

2. Landing gear rework. I have had 2 MUS fuses start fracturing behind the mount on the side of the fuse after many landings. Especially if you get rid of those cheap foam wheels and fly off of grass. I have had one fuse spilt in half after landing and taxing. It's shocking when it happens. [X(]

3. Fuse side reinforcement and thickening- a must

4. Larger wing dowels

5. Stiffer plywood formers on the forward section of the fuse

6. Remove all slack in the rudder control rods

7. More "bite" for the control horns- a must

8. Real wheels and steerable tailwheels, I hate stupid skids!- a must for me

9. I will come up with more as I go along that I can't remember now

I will give some info on all of the damage as we go along

PS: sorry about any bad grammar in advance

minicrazy592

Well I got another crashed fuse and wing today from the same guy (thanks again Faissal ), so I guess that's now 3 1/2 MUS's lol. I will start building tomorrow, today was just too busy.

minicrazy592

Well today I bought some wood and made some rough plans. I will post the plans after I scan them tomorrow. Night folks.

minicrazy592

PS: the plans are still in the works, I at least have them scanned into the computer

minicrazy592

Thanks goes out toWestCoastFlyerfor his idea of angling the landing gear to prevent roll overs upon landing on grass. I plan on using the idea on one of the fuses to give it a try for myself.
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WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

You're very kind for the MUS shout out. You'll find it makes all the difference in the world.

The only reason I thought of doing it was because I was on the phone with Graph Tech a month ago ordering carbon fiber gear for another plane and I asked if they could splay wheels and gear forward because I didn't want to go through the surgery of changing a landing gear mount position. Graph Tech said yes - I don't know if they already had the design or they whipped it up, but the gear was perfect. Graph Tech is great to do business with. Anyway, I fly my MUS at a school yard and sometimes parents and kids are coming and going from the school. Unlike flying at an RC field where flying is an everyday event, these parents and kids don't ordinarily see a model airplane flying, and so a plane in the air attracts attention.

People just naturally like to see something fly. And when the MUS would nose over on half the landings due to the gear location - well, it's a drag. No one likes to see that! Especially me. I'm sure you'll like this easy modification, the supplied landing gear bolts are long enough to accommodate a piece of tri cut hardwood - you'll notice the difference immediately.

minicrazy592

People do enjoy something about seeing something fly. When I use to live in the country, I just moved a few months ago, I flew near a road and every so often a little crowd of cars would line up and watch me as I flew. I know theembarrassmentof when the MUS would tip over and people are watching, you ego kinda gets tarnished. But anyway, here's this afternoon's progress. We now have something that resembles a MUS. I cut 1/16 balsa to make the new front. Later both sides will be joined with 1/32 balsa sheeting like I did on my other MUS, which is almost ready to fly . I also went and strengthened the rear section because I have started to notice quite a bit of flexing after some ground runs with the almost completed glow stick. So hopefully that will take care of that. And FYI I haven't sanded or filled anything yet, so it isn't perfect.

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Lookin' good MC.  You're going to be, if you aren't already, the resident MUS expert.  It's such a great basic design, maybe the most copied and most built RC plane in history, although the Cub may have that honor.  I'm sure you know the design heritage goes back at least to the mid '60s to the Das Ugly Stik, which was my 2nd airplane nearly 20 years ago.  The more I crashed my Stik, the heavier it weighed after repair and still flew nicely, which is what's great about the design - you can build the design heavy, such as you're doing with strenghtening modifications, and it will still fly great, although it will stall at a higher speed and therefore land a little faster.

Keep posting those pictures, I'm sure more guys than me want to see your completed fleet of Mini Ultra Sticks.

By the way, evidently it's more than people that like this airplane.  I was flying mine this morning on a straight line pass from one end of a school yard field to another and a little bird swooped in, checked it out, and flew in perfect formation with it the length of the field.  A few minutes later, three of his bird friends joined him, and on a pass down the field I had one little bird as wingman, and three birds flying along, also in tight formation.  Lol, I'm new to electrics, is this normal behaivor due to quiet motors?
  
  

 

minicrazy592

lol I'm not sure, most birds flying around fly in fear, espicially when I'm coming full throttle at them. But sorry for the long gap in progress, I've been very busy with graduation and such, which is tomorrow, I am verynervous. Hopefully I won't trip on stage like my sister did. It has really made me neglect this build and my Cessna's build.

Anyway, here is todays progress. I finally made one of the formers. It is beechwoodsandwichedbetween balsa with opposite grains. It's a little thicker and hopefully will be able to take a few beatings. I also made the bottom front section. I attempted weight reduction! It's a big thing for me lol. Also Iscroungedup a firewall that I didn't use originally and made a template out of it.

minicrazy592

Oh and I was out at Bomber Field today and saw this, I thought it was pretty cool.
bomberfieldusa.com

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Congratulations on graduation.  Be yourself and have fun.

You'll have some great flying airplanes, they'll do better in the wind than out of the box stock. 

The last picture shows a guy that likes carbon fiber gear, nice.  He's got the eyes of an eagle with the camouflage and prop clearance.   By the condition of the airplane he drops it on a dime.
 

minicrazy592

Ok I got the former I made the other day in. It turned out great. I will post some pics later.

minicrazy592

So I plan on finishing the fuse tomorrow hopefully, so some good news there. Is it just me or is life chaos?

PS:Sorry about the still lacking pic, I will be sure to post it eventually

minicrazy592

Lots of progress today! Gentleman we have a fuse . Today I made a firewall which I still need to drill for the mount ( I need to go by the LHS) and glued it in. Same goes for the bottom of the plane. To conquer the flexing from the torque and vibration of the glow motor, I put basswood strips going along the side to the cut off point I built earlier. Hopefully this will work.

minicrazy592

The landing gear mount is now reversible for varying conditions.

minicrazy592

The semi finished fuse, it still needs some filler in some places, but is done On the hatch I'm on the fence on either to make it removable or not. This one is going to be glow so, I guess I don't need it? On a side note, I just realized how dusty I am.

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Lookin' good!  I didn't realize you were going glow with one of them, a great idea.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd glass behind the firewall, but obviously you'll coat all this area and the front of the firewall with expoxy.  What size glow?  I flew mine in 20 mph gusting winds on Sunday (checked local weather exchange when I got home) I could have used some extra power lol.  Fun plane in the wind, it holds it's own pretty good.

 

minicrazy592

Yup this one is going to be glow, a 25 size if I can get the spare one running. She should haul. If all else fails and I can't get that spare engine running, I will pop my AP Engines 15 on there. As for fuel proofing, I plan on using my Sig clear coat. It's fuel proof and just a little of it does wonders without all of the weight of epoxy. Although the engine mount will be glassed to the rest of the plane for a "just in case" measure.

I think its safe to say this one will be a Super MUS. I think I have never built something out of wood that does not flex like this fuse. Honestly you can twist a normal MUS fuse in your hands. This one, nothing! I forgot to add that the front of the plane is about 1cm longer because of the thicker plywood for the engine mount. You can't notice it though unless you put two MUS side by side.

The stick surprisingly takes wind quite well for its size. When use to fly it in Corpus, many times I believed it flew better in wind then my Ultra Stick 40. Add a little extra power with that and you have a awesome little plane. :thumbup:

minicrazy592

Side by side with the .15 MUS and yes my desk is keeping it from tipping over. However, with the wing, battery, fuel tank, tail feathers, and a few servos, it's fine

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

You've got yourself a rocket ship going on!

What about CG? Even though the tank will offset some of the issue I think you'll need weight in the tail to maintain it's flying characteristics. A little weight in the tail won't hurt it, it'll just stall sooner and land faster, all the more reason for the triangle piece splayed forward gear concept if you fly it off grass.

Definitely a great build, I'm looking forward to hearing about a 70 mph MUS! :-)

minicrazy592

I've tried it with the modified tail feathers and their weight seems to equal it out. I mean it's not perfect, but none are my planes are. She should be good, but only time will tell.

I think I will hit 70+. I saw a Ultra Stick 25 with a .45 glow and tuned muffler and it was pushing 110mph! [X(]

minicrazy592

So tonight I covered the fuse to get ready for an engine test run tomorrow or so. There's still no trim on it yet so it looks kinda plain. And yes it's clear It will make it easier to explain my mods if the guys at the field can see them.

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

As I composed my prior post I wrote 70+ mph, then removed the plus because I wasn't sure, but I think with the right prop and wind you could push 80.

Whatever it does. it will undoubtedly be faster than any other random thousand Mini Ultra Sticks, maybe the fastest of all time. So get that .25 running good and keep us updated on your progress.

minicrazy592

I shall and I sure hope so.

minicrazy592

Right before I go to bed I decided to strip the tail feathers to get ready for their buffing up tomorrow. I saved the MUS labels for future design manipulation .