Doug Brindle

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Ok Guys,
It's not my intention to provide a step by step photo-build thread. It's a little bit too late for that. I've got the plane about a third finished already. It's too cold in the garage right now to build... unless I let the kerosene heater work for about three hours first. But, the weather is supposed to warm up dramatically this weekend, so I'll be building more soon.

Here are a few photos of the build thus far... I'll add a few more photos as I progress.

This is a 12 or 15 year old Ace Super Pacer kit. I'm building it to fly in a local contest in July 2008. I bought the kit a LONG time ago, after flying a friends plane a few times. The kit, along with a half dozen others, has been sitting on the shelf waiting to be built. There's a second Super Pacer kit there too.... maybe someday.

The plane is what I call "1980's over built". In my opinion, the wood selection is overkill. In the "old days" of the 1980's, it seems 1/4" planking and plywood formers were used everywhere. I think we were building for crash protection, and not so much for performance. I'm going to build the kit relatively stock, but substituting some construction and wood in an attempt to save six ounces.

As you can see in the build photos below, the stock kit uses a 1/4" thick, solid horizonal stab and elevators. I chose to build up the stab. Was goin to build up the elevators, but the weight savings wasn't going to be as dramatic. I'll be using the hole saw to cut out a few holes later in the construction. I'm using the stock rudder right now, but may build one out of sticks later.

My goal is to remove the wood weight such that I can install some Hitec 255 servos in the tail, and avoid using long pushrods. Each servo weighs about one ounce each. So, if I can save three ounces in the tail, I'll be happy.

The front of the plane, and turtledeck uses a lot of 1/4 and 3/32 planks. I'm going to use 1/8" with a few extra cross stiffeners. I'm also removing a lot of the material from the formers.

In my opinion, the wing could easily lose three ribs and be just fine... but I chose to keep the wing stock. In hind-sight, I should have drilled some holes in the ribs... I may try that later, it will just be a pain with the wing half that is already built up. I'd like to install a couple of shear webs in the wing, but it's so thin, and has so many ribs, that shear webs most likely won't help any.

vintageflyer

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SWEET build!!
Thanks for starting this build. I love this plane, and your tail looks awsome! What are you gonna put in this for power? I see you're going fixed gear? Are you thinking of pants?
Keep up the good work, I cant wait to see this one finished.


DM

stg61abc

Hi Doug, very nice idea and very nice plane too...
Which engine do you intend to use?
please post more pics as you can...

cheers

eroc144

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The Super Pacer is on my list as a "possible" for a .25 FX, and I'm starting a "regular" Pacer in 1/2A size to get a feeling for how it builds and flies.

I'll be watching this thread closely!

EG

smitty400

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Nice job so far. I bet you can trim quite a few ounces out of the airframe and still retain all the strength.

Doug Brindle

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Thanks guys.

I'll post more photos as I progress.

I've got a Thunder Tiger .25 for power. Most likely I'll mousse-can pipe it.... but we'll see how she does stock first. I think it will fly just fine on a stock muffler though.

Remembering back about 12 years.... the buddy's plane I flew had a .28 in the nose on a stock muffler. It flew very well. Another guy jammed a .32 in the nose of his, and it was too nose-heavy, and flew terrible.

I've decided to frame up a vertical fin, rudder, and turtleback spine. It will be fun, and save a little more weight.

8178

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Nice work! I think you’re going to like that size plane. I’ve been flying a small pattern aircraft with a OS 25 in it for the last 3 decades and find it to be a fun size. Although it is pretty fast, unfortunately it doesn’t have the inertia momentum of the heaver 40 and 60 size aircraft but does pretty good. You tend to fly in closer and lower with the smaller aircraft. It’s on its third engine after all these years.

rv7driver

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That is one of the best flying planes in that size group I've ever had. bulit mine back in the mid to late 80's put an HB 25 in it it ripped!! lost it due to battery failure.[:@] ,still have one NIB one day I get to it. you will really like this plane, great job on the build.

Pete

vintageflyer

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I was sitting on my thrown in my "library" [:@] and stubbled on an Ace ad. Check out the pic!
BTW the magazine is an old MAN from '75. I'm reading more old mags now than I do the current ones. Present magazines are filled with pretty much the same things....ARFs, Giants, Warbirds and Jets. I can't remember the last time I saw a review with building involved. Man, Art Schroeder really promoted the pattern scene back then.


DM

Doug Brindle

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Wing sheeting is t-pinned and glue is drying.

I love the sight of wood plane shavings on the floor... dont' you?

Doug Brindle

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Wing is done. Except for final sanding and final fit to fuselage. I'll get the fuse back out and start working on that. It's been rather warm here the past few days, and I got a lot of building time this past saturday. It's supposed to get cold here again, with a high of 18 degrees by Saturday.....

I'll have to get both kerosene heaters out and running now....

I'll post some more photos soon.

The stock wing is way too heavy, IMHO..... far too many ribs, fully sheeted leading and trailing edge.... it's solid as a rock. I guess I'll see how well it flies, and I can always build another wing, making it much lighter, if need be.

Here's what I'd do if I built the wing again:
1. replace the basswood spars with balsa. No need for spruce spars in this wing.
2. remove two or three wing ribs from each wing half, and
3. make the cap strips a little wider
4. remove the carved up blocks of balsa on the wingtips, and put a simple anti-vortex plate out there
5. replace the aileron stock with built-up 'rons
6. Cut the length of the landing gear in half. There's 7 inches of steel wire buried in each wing half. I think I could have made my own new gear, and cut that length in half.
7. Added a mini sub spar ahead of the main spar, and cut the sheeting in half... basically, sheet only the very forward leading edge of the wing, both top and bottom.
8. reduce the amount of sheeting in the center section
9. increased the size of the dowel in the leading edge (that holds the wing on the fuse) to the next larger standard size.


ahhh well... maybe if I build another....

salimgildeh

can you please post more pics of your work in progress

mred33

My goal is to remove the wood weight such that I can install some Hitec 255 servos in the tail, and avoid using long pushrods. Each servo weighs about one ounce each. So, if I can save three ounces in the tail, I'll be happy.


Why don't you use the Blue Bird servos from BP Hobbies. I use the 380MAX and have never had a problem with them. They are also less weight then the others.
Ed

puttputt

Doug- I am finishing up a rebuild of an SP I did in the mid eighties and never flew. It was way too heavy and ugly- no paper just epoxy finish and 25 fsr. I scraped off all the goey epoxy, sanded it to within an inch of its life and used silkspan and dope. The tail surfaces are just thick enough to use the smallest Kletts. I haven't touched the wing-still monokote. But your wing ideas sound good. With ST.23 and NiMH and HS81's its going to come in way under the plans weight. Bluebird 306 for throttle. I may leave the old standard servo on the ailerons. On the other hand, I'm using an old aluminum bullet nose veco spinner one size bigger than plans- new nose ring and recontoured the whole nose, looks really nice. First time I have beaten the weight, the new tech is rad! Its been a few weeks, but I think it was something like5 or 6 ounces under. I do know its 16oz/ft loading, which I know I can handle on that span. It will be months before I can fly it in Vermont. Can't wait.

Don

Doug Brindle

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Been tied up with other builds, foamies, work, and flying.....

I'll get back to this build soon....

Safebet

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You're excused, this time. Be intentional, post lot's of pictures, and we will be happy. Great, so far!

Doug Brindle

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Ok Guys,
Wing is framed, pretty much complete, less final sanding. I still need to install the wingtips.
Fuse is pretty much done too. Note the two holes in the right side, those are for the fuel lines.
Tail surfaces are complete.
Canopy is cut and fit.
Fuel tank is built, and partially installed.

I really like the servo installation in the tail. I counter-sunk them into the fuse sides. Nice and clean install.

She's ready for servo installation. Then covering, then final assembly.

I'm building this for a Senior Pattern contest coming up this summer. If ANYBODY has some old (pre-1976) magazines, and could search thru a couple and find an advertisement for this airplane, do a high-quality scan of the advertisement AND the magazine cover, and email to me, I would really appreciate it.

Here's some photos....

mred33

My plans show a 1975 date. Don't know when it was designed, but that's the date on the plans.
Ed

Roguedog

Nice. More pics, more pics. Keep the pics coming. Hey what size engine did you put in it?

Bryan

mred33

If you still need a scan of the date on my plans, let me know and I'll send them to you. The date on the plans should be enough to satisfy anyone. They may have it in their data base and you may not need this, but I can send you the information is you still need it.
Ed

Doug Brindle

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Photo of my Super Pacer, landing at my first SPA event. The caption isn't quite correct - I wasn't the winner. The guy who took the photo, and photo-shopped it, got the information wrong.

Plane flies very straight and true, just like a pattern plane should. It's a little underpowered with a .25 in the nose. A .32 with a pipe would pull it along much better. It flies OK with the .25, but requires full throttle nearly all of the time, except on the down side of a loop, etc...

Hitec 225 servos in each wing, and nestled into the fuse sides for the tail feathers. Hitec 205 on throttle. By today's standards, the plane is a little (or a lot) heavy. I could build a second one an easily knock six to eight ounces off the weight. I built it pretty much per the plans, only changing the tail feathers to sticks instead of planks. Could take half the ribs out of the wing and be fine. Replace the spruce spars with hard balsa. The fuse sides could be lightened considerably. Use built-up 'rons instead of solid stock, reduce the length (inside the wing) of the landing gear wire by 3". There's like 6 inches of wire buried in the wing, and 3 inches sticking out. Use lighter wheels.

I would make the wing peg, in the front of the wing, a little larger in diameter, and a little longer, and locate the peg slightly higher in the wing. Fitting the canopy wasn't fun. I think if I built a second one, I would glue the hatch on the front, and not make it easily removeable. I don't see the need, honestly. Would make the canopy fit much better. I used chrome spray paint inside the canopy, but it turned out a primer grey color. I was a little disappointed by that. I wanted the chrome look.

I love the looks of the plane. I covered it in the 1960's scheme, trying to duplicate the box cover. The bottom of the wing is what I call the classic "dave brown" checkerboard with three large red and three large white checks. Very visible, good looking in the air.

What was cool, though, is that I met the guy that built the ORIGINAL prototypes of both the Pacer and the Super Pacer. I wish I had gotten a photo of him, and his name.... but didn't have my camera, and didn't think about it until later. We talked for a good 20 minutes about the airplane, etc...

I had a great time flying SPA. Would like to try it again, if there is an event closeby.

Doug

Roguedog

Success! Wow! Great looking Super Pacer. Congrads on a successful build and able flying machine.

Thanks for tip about using a larger engine. Not that it matters, but weren't these designed for wide open throttle anyway. hehe

Got any pics of it in the Air?

Now I want to build mine. Time, time, I just need more time.

alcarafa

That canopy on your plane doesnt look like the original Super Pacer, I like it better the original way besides it will give the fuselage more surface to hold on knive edge and help it not to sink.

It was an Owen Kampen design for what I know, the one I build was originaly for a .25 but if you put a OS 32 the plane will do marvels.

Here are some pics of the original model, may be you' d like to build the fuselage & cabin that way !!!

rainedave

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Great looking plane, Doug.

I finally got my kits after a long delay. I will start a build thread in a day or two.

I made laser-cut ribs for a built-up wing, but I've been talking to Dan Hines about getting foam cores cut, too.

David

Roguedog

Hey rainedave, where did you get your SP kits cut and can I get one cut for me? I would like to hold ono the original SP kit as its MIB.