ckreef

This past Sunday I ran 2 tanks of fuel through it to "Break it in". The main servos got delivered so I installed them. I used the supplied 2 x 56 pushrods but I did a "Z" bend at the servo arm and used a Gold-n-Rod clevis at the control horn. The only thing left to do is mount the battery in the aft section of the fuselage (for CG), make sure everything is tightened down and ready to go, and then (weather permitting) maiden her, this coming weekend.

Pictured here is the Rudder and Elevator servos.

ckreef

Here is an Aileron servo.

ckreef

The hardest part of this conversion I knew would be the battery location. It needed to be installed in the aft section of the fuselage in order to obtain the corect CG without adding any extra weight. Once I figured out where the location in the fuselage needed to be I started by cutting away some covering on the bottom side. I also cut two new bracing members that will get installed under the covering in the location as seen in the picture.

ckreef

Here is the cross members installed along with a piece of light ply for the battery to get velcro'ed to.

ckreef

I used a long, skinny, 6v, 1100 mah, NiMh battery. I installed it with some foam and a velcro strap.

ckreef

I then sealed it all up with some extra white MonoKote I had laying around. This wasn't exactly how I intended the battery to be installed but it worked out ok and the CG is now "Right on the money."

I sort of screwed up the MonoKote covering piece a little. Fortunatly it's on the underside of the fuselage.

All that is left to do is go through the entire plane and make sure everything is "Buttoned Down" correctly and then maiden her.

ckreef

Here she is, "Ready To Go". Will hopefully maiden her this weekend and will post a flight report afterwards.

ckreef

It was way windy at the local club field today but I packed up and went there. I normally don't like maidening on a windy day - actually almost too windy to fly but ........................... I flew the Mini Ultra Stick for a tank full to calm my nerves and went for the 25e maiden. It was basically uneventfull except maybe the landing. After calming my nerves again, I flew it for a second tank full. The landing in 10 - 15 mph cross winds was so hairy I decided to pack it up and go home with an intact plane (just barely).

Anywho the plane did good and should be a great all round flyer once the winds settler down and I can do a proper trim flight.

She had plenty of power on the TT Pro .36. Anything less and she wouldn't be an Ultra Stick, maybe just a slow poke stick

mike early

Congrats man. It's a shame that we have to convert electric planes to real planes these days. I love small glow engines.

P.S. Next time try ultracoat instead of monokote. It works so much easier..

ckreef

I understand. Unfortunatly all I had laying around was 15 year old Monokote (atleast it was the original formula) and I only needed a little piece.

Truth be told it was all my fault. I shrunk the edges and then before letting that cool down I shrunk the middle so it pulled the edges in and shrunk the entire piece. My bad - won't do that again.

Fortunatly it's on the underside so really only I know it, but I am my most critical judge.

ckreef

One issue I've had - I bought a new TT Pro .36 from Tower Hobbies - When I ran a few tanks for break-in and then another few tanks in flight mode the engine seemed really loud. I then took apart the muffler assemblly and realized that it did not have the muffler cone baffel inside. Wow should have checked that before even firing it up.

Anyway a lesson well learned but Tower Hobbies has great customer support and is shipping out another muffler assembly no questions asked. Untill I receive the cone baffel I'm sure the TT Pro .36 is rock'en extra hard without the baffel cone but dang is it loud.

Friday is looking like a nice day so I hope to pack up both the Mini and the 25e Ultra Sticks and go down to Hodges Hobbies for a nice day of flying. I'm going to do my Black Friday shopping at the best airplane RC shop in the South East.

ckreef

Way windy again today but flew another 3 tanks at Hodges Hobbies. After driving 90 mins to get there it's hard not to fly on that pristine putting green type runway.

Another issue I have is

I kept the original right thrust offset as built into the model and it is too much offset for the nitro engine. The plane tracks good for the most part but you can really tell when you attempt to go straight up/vertical. It wants to pull right and you need to add left rudder to keep going straight up. At some point I will remove the motor mount and install washer(s) on the right side of the mount to counter the right thrust.

This is the same with the Mini Stick and will also remove that motor mount and install washer(s) on that conversion.

ckreef

Last weekend I took her straight up vertical to see how far she wouold go. At around 400' she was still going strong but getting small so I cut the throttle to idle and kicked the tail over in a hammer head. Eeeek the motor died. Comming in for a dead stick I made a bad decision. With the altituide I had, going with the the wind, and running out of runway I tried to turn her 180 degrees into the wind. Not enough air speed to make the full turn - instead she could only do about a 90 degree turn and landed in the high weeds. She tumbled down. The secondary firewall broke loose. Fortunatly that was all that broke. Some epoxy broke loose and some wood broke loose.

I reattached the secondary firewall using epoxy and screws.

The reviews of this model said I would need to beef up the forward wing dowl area. I didn't do that mod initially, now I see why I should have.
The crack that formed.
I cutout some balsa -
Replaced with some plywood.;

Will fly her again on Sunday (weather permitting).

ckreef

Oh I forgot - Only one pic per post in the only forum the mods don't give a crap about.

ckreef

Maybe one day we'll get some respect and be able to post mutiple pics per post.

ckreef

For now we can call this the Rodney Dangerfield forum

ckreef

Got her all back together again. I added one washer to help remove some of the right thrust built into the firwall area. I also replaced my throttle servo with one that had a more robust servo arm. Weather forcast for tomorrow looks like a go, ____ highs in the mid 70's with 5 - 15 mph winds

ckreef

Well I no longer have my Ultra Stick 25e conversion.

Nope I didn't crash it. Iflew four tankfulls for the last time 2 weekends ago. This past weekend I took her to the Perry Swap meet and did an even up trade for a biplane w/ a 49" ws RTF minus Rx. It even had a brand new Saito .56 FA. A really sharp build. Both the biplane and my Ultra Stick 25e had price tags of $300. At the end of Saturday when neither had sold I suggested an even up swap and the deal was done. I think I got the better end of the deal but money wise it was a pretty even swap.

I still have my Mini Ultra Stick conversion which I actually like better then the 25e conversion.