radioflyer9

Hey Guys,

I recently received my Final's Touch EP and wanted to share a bit more about the plane as I assemble it. Also, thanks to Mike Mueller and Yang at Oxai for replacing the first FT that was damaged in shipping. The airplane was replaced without any issues.

As usual the quality and finish of the plane is outstanding and fairly light for a fully painted biplane. Can post weights later if anyone is curious. My last Oxai biplane was the Acuracy that came out RTF at 4850, and I am guessing this one will be about the same.

I have been using the Pletty advance for the last two seasons and wanted to try something different with this airplane. I finally was able to get ahold of the OS belt drive motor and am excited to test it out. It is a little heavier than the pletty at 600 grams without the stock mount and rear support. It is advertised as 620 grams, but this includes the stock OS soft mount and aluminum front mount plate and rear support. The stock soft mount is very stiff and some have been removing it or adding an addition soft mount. For now I'm going to try Ralph Schweizer's soft mount. It only weighs 22 grams complete with rubber grommets, titanium screws, and aluminum nuts and is worth every penny for those considering his soft mounts for other motors.

Here's the equipment I will be using:

-- Futaba BLS 173's (X4 ailerons) 28 grams
-- Futaba BLS 171 (rudder)
-- Futaba BLS 9670 (X2 elevators) These are new car servos from Futaba and thought I will try them out at 24 grams. They have plastic gears and are not as powerful as the 173's, but for elevator they should be fine.
-- Futaba 6208 receiver
-- Dual digi switch
-- TP 430 packs X 2
-- Falcon spinner
-- Falcon 21.5X13, for now. I think Suzuki uses this on his setup, but interested to hear from others using the OS motor.
-- OS 100 Amp speed controller
-- Going to try S. Bus as well for the servos in the tail. The S. Bus 1000 mm cable is 17 grams vs three standard extensions to the tail weighing aprox 12 g each.

Right now its basically still winter here in New York, so will be taking my time until the fields start to open...hopefully SOON!

PIcs to follow,

Mike Caglia

radioflyer9

radioflyer9

flywilly

My Feedback: (121)

Great looking airplane! Not the massive fuselage seen in the current monoplane designs. Looking forward to the flight report. Good luck this season!

ltc

My Feedback: (3)

Did you get the OS F3A motor out of RC Japan?
IIRC, Tower Hobbies was special order only here in the US

radioflyer9

I actually purchased it from Rob Clark in Australia that owns F3A Australia.

You can also get one from World Hobbies in Australia. They have extra belts, gear sets, and motors in stock if needed. I ordered some OS speed controllers and I received them 1 week later since Tower hasn't had them in stock for a while. The USD to AUS conversion also makes it more reasonably priced. Shipping was under $20.

http://www.worldhobbies.com/product/...f_cat_id=DUBAA

Hope you can make it to our pattern primer in April or contest in May in Haverstraw, NY.

Hope this helps!


Mike Caglia

AmericanSpectre505

Sweet Mike,

Can't wait for a flight report. I had considered using the O.S. drive in a new project, interested to get you're feed back on it.

Bill H.
Dist-2

ltc

My Feedback: (3)

Thank you very much.
I plan on driving down, but likely won't bring an airplane. I'm happy to just sit and watch and learn.

Henning

I have been experimenting with the OS and differen rubber mountings and back supports. With 500-600 flights on the motor (three motors and three different pattern planes) I have found a combination that at least works well for me. In addition to noise reduction it saves weight and is cheap. The motor mount by RS looks nice but it can be done lighter. 4 rubber dampers at the front and 4 at the back. They are 8 mm in diameter and 6 mm long. Male/ female mounting and 50 Shore hardness. Thread type is M3 and of stainless steel.


Another way to save weight is to use a fire wall made of 1 mm fiber glass cut as a donut.




Regards,
Henning

radioflyer9

Henning,

Thank you for your input. I am glad to hear that you are liking your OS motor!

I have been staring at the motor and have realized that the front plate is not really functional or needed. Also, I think Suzuki mounts his motor the way you have yours with 4 3mm isolators and cuts out the Oxai firewall and makes a new donut firewall further aft.

I first want to try out the OS motor before I commit to cutting out the Oxai firewall and will use it to mount the RS soft mount to. If I like it (I think I will) I can easily cut out the stock firewall and remove the RS mount as you have done.


Regards,

Mike

radioflyer9

I first started out with mounting the gear and wheel pants. I did notice that the gear and wheel pants are lighter than previous gear sets from Oxai. The wheel pants are each 10 grams lighter and each leg 10 g lighter!! The gear seems to be now made as a carbon ply sandwich as apposed to solid carbon and the wheel pants are now fiberglass with carbon reinforment as opposed to all carbon.

Mike

radioflyer9

I used seacraft washers and axles. The larger washers were used to prevent crunching the carbon ply laminate plate.

radioflyer9

I decided to give the new oxai tail wheel a try. I normally replace them with an MK tail wheel assembly but these seem to be light and of nice quality.

radioflyer9

I measured all the screws and nuts used for the entire plane and put in an order for replacement titanium and aluminum screws/nuts. I'm still waiting on some final lengths for the motor mount screws and will use aluminum ones for the front mount. On my last bipe I was able to save just under 20 grams by replacing every screw, nut and bolt with Titanium and aluminum ones. It's definitely not needed but makes it more interesting to try and save weight everywhere.

radioflyer9

Some more pics!

radioflyer9

Building in a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan can get a bit interesting once and while!

radioflyer9

Added an EDF heat sink to the OS motor.

radioflyer9

Added some carbon fiber to the battery tray.

shannah

My Feedback: (5)

That's awesome Mike!! I thought I had it rough cramming my build space into my empty garage stall. You rival the Japanese in dedication. Nice build thread. Do you think you really need the heat sinks on the OS motor? I want to try the belt drive but also wonder about cooling.

radioflyer9

Hey Steve! Hope all is well.

I figure if the Japanese can build a wood kit in those small shops I can't complain about building an ARF in my NYC apartment. I have to do all my wood cutting and carbon cutting in the tub of the bathroom so I don't get wood dust and carbon all over the place. Makes it easier to clean up too.

I only have one more year left here in NYC so hopefully I don't have to build any more planes in the apartment.

I had no personal experience with the OS gear motor prior to this and went off other peoples recommendations in terms of cooling. I spoke to some of the Australians that are running the motor and they did not mention any issues with cooling the motor, however, Henning from Norway had posted in the past that the motor was running a bit hot and added a heat sink that solved the problem.

I figured it would be easier to add the heat sink now than to worry about it later when it starts to get hot up here. The heat sink was 6 bucks, fits perfect, and took 5 min to glue it on the case.

Mike

HerbK

Hi Mike
Heard you were out flying the plane. How did it go and what are your thoughts?

Herb

radioflyer9

More pics!

radioflyer9

radioflyer9

radioflyer9

Here's a quick run up of the OS Belt Drive on the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRHmDGpZ16o