CAP232S

Hi everybody,

Just to update. I ended up cutting 3 3/4 inches of the nose to get the USL to balance at almost 5 inches from the leading edge. This still does not make sence to me because I have my servos in the tail and I still believe that it should have been way tail heavy which it most defenately is not.
Well I shall leave the CG where it is and see how the first few flights go. AUW so far is just under 10 pounds dry.
Hope that is light enough to hold the hover......

I am hoping to maiden it this week-end. I shall update on that as well. Including a few pics of the tail section. I put the elevator and rudder servos as far back as I could as you can see from the pics. I also used the quad flaps which I just glued together to make it a one piece aileron so that I could get the most wing area but still only use one servo per side.

trroscoe

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CAP232S

I have been flying mine for thae last couple of weeks and now have over 30 flights on it. I have mine balanced at 5 inches back from the leading edge and it flies great. I could probably move it back anothe 1/2 inch and still be ok. The plane will do anything that I am capable of and then some. I had a very interesting flight on Sunday. I did a control check and them range checked the plane with and without the engine running. While walking back to the plane I adjusted the aileron differential that I had nixed in and accidently turned on one of the pre-mixes on my 9C radio. I dont know how this happened but it did. I didn't check the throws again and taxied out and took off. As soon as the plane broke ground I knew something was wrong with it. Every time that I would pull back on the stick it would roll to the right. If I pushed on the stick it would roll to the left. I got the plane up really high and tried to figure out what was wrong. The wind was blowing pretty good so I was worried about landing I flew several circuts around the field and let everyone else land and then set up for a landing. The wind stopped blowing for just a few minutes so I set up landing from left to right and came in kind of fast. Every time I tried to slow the plane down with elevator inputs the plane would roll to the right. I was holding in left aileron and the plane hit the ground a little hard and bounce about 4 feet back into the air but I got it down in one piece. The landing was a little rough but it didn't hurt the plane. Once on the ground I checked the controls and found that when I applied elevator the left aileron would go full up or down. I learned a valuable lesson. If you mess with any settings on your radio you had better check the control throw before you fly. this could have been a costly mistake on my part but the plane handled it well. Even with the messed up mixing on the radio if I flew the plane with very small control inputs it was controlable. If I would have been flying any of my other planes I would not have it anymore. Fly the heck out of your USL I think that you will love it.

Rick

4 stroken ron

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CAP232S That is the best servo set-up I have seen in one of these Ultra Sticks yet. I will do my next one that way.
I did my servos like this.
Ron

bugleboy

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Any videos of flight performace (Stick and gas engine)???

trroscoe

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here is a picture of the way I did mine.

Rick

CAP232S

HI 4 stroken ron,

Thanks for the kind words! I can`t wait to fly this baby. Should go pretty well!!
Your setup looks very light weight. Must be a very secure setup. Are those carbon fibre rods you used?

CAP232S

4 stroken ron

My Feedback: (29)

They are fiberglass arrow shafts I had laying around left over from an another project.
I thought about making the rudder pull pull but I had this stuff laying here, so I used it.
I have a Saito 180 for power and it flys wonderful.
Works perfect.
Ron

tipstall1

Do you have any pictures of your throtle linkage on your carburator? Did you use the stock control arm on the carburator or did you have to put a shorter one on?

[email protected]

CAP232S

Hi everybody!!

Sorry for the late reply, but I went on a business trip last week and did not have acess to the internet while I was away. Anyway here is the report on the USL!
Well the maiden flight was just awesome!! I took off at half power and then went full power just as the wheels left the ground and then pointed the USL straight up.

I could not believe my eyes!! It went vertical like a home sick angel!!. The G26 is plenty power for the USL. I then tried the normal stuff, loops, rolls, ect. then started doing some 3D stuff. Started doing harriers and then parked the USL in a hover at half throttle!!! How cool is that? I never thought the G26 would actualy hold the hover on the USL let alone do it at half throttle!!! I must admit that holding the hover and torque rolling is a bit of a hand full and takes some getting use to. But with a bit of practice I should have it down to the deck in no time.

One thing that is not that good on the stick are snap rolls, or at least not what I am use to. Still need to play around with some control throws so they might get better. Knive edge on mine is also not so cool but then again my CG is about 4 and 3/4 from the leading edge and I can see that I am nose heavy on mine. I shall try and put some weight in the tail to see what effect it has on the fllight performance and then maybe think of cutting more off the nose but I will more than likely not go to that extend and just leave it the way it is.

On the last flight of the day the tail wheel wire broke off. This is something I knew was going to happen but still I used the stupid thing. I did replace it with something decent and all is OK now. The G26 is now turning my 18x6 menz prop at 8900rpm which is lots of power!! and it is still only running in! I am having so much fun with this thing that I just want to fly it ALL THE TIME!

One thing that I would have changed on the design of the USL is to not have the wing as a one piece wing but rather two piece. Will make transport less difficult. But other than that the USL is tops!!

Regards
CAP232S

harleyboy61

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I just bought a usl i am running a g26 , i upgraded all the hardware but i am not sure what prop to pick and what brand i see the 18\6 seems to be the best , also i need some servo suggestions i was thinking about blue bird 620 there lite and fast , i don't want to spend an arm and leg for a better brand any suggestions would be great with that I'm just not sure of there reliability . i was thinking of running blue birds in the wing and some thing a little better in the tail any help would be great thanks

4 stroken ron

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The specs and the price looks real good on that servo. I hope someone answers you about reliability. I want to get some too.
Who has them in stock?
Ron

harleyboy61

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i found a guy on ebay that will sell me 7 for 200 about 28 a piece

harleyboy61

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i am need of help should i buy jr8411 servos or hitec 5945 iam useing futaba cap7 for reciever and transmitter ina an usl with flaps ? any help would be great

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Those servos will be total overkill in that plane. I use Hitec 645MG (analog cored, metal geared) for the rudder and elevator ($40 each) and I used 425BB (plastic gear cheapos $12 each) for ailerons. I have well over 100 flights on my plane and they have performed very well. The digital servos won't really add much to the precision as this is a really sloppy airframe as far as aerodynamics go - i.e. the wing design won't let it stall easily and spins / snaps are nearly impossible. I shortened my wings 8" on each side in hopes of getting a little more performance out of it... I can spin it now, but I still can't get it to snap!

Use the cheapos... save your good servos for something else.

DP

harleyboy61

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well what i was thinking was getting the good ones now so i have them for the next good plane iam just useing this plane as an introduction to gas but i wasnt sure what was better the 5945 or the jrs 8411 i heard the jrs use a lot of juice and dont last as long , then i heard the hitecs have glitching problems with pcm recievers .great thread by the way iam new to rc universe iam hooked . the other question i had is what extensions for servos due you prefer ? and what prop are the best for the 26 ? from what i read 18/6 seems to be what most usl guys are useing . thanks for the help

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

I still would not buy the good servos. You literally can buy 6 servos for the price of one 8411. Use the cheapos and fire sale them when you are done with them. Its better than wearing out a $100 servo on each surface. Honestly using high end digitals in this plane can be equated to putting a ferrari engine into a volkswagen.. .sure it might fit, but you will never, ever be able to take advantage of it.

Prop-
18x6W APC best prop out there for the G26. Watch your fingers though, it will take them off if you are not careful. I also like the Bolly 18x6 wood, but it does not make as much power as the APC.

Standard servo extensions are fine if you are using standard servos. If you use digitals, use the MPI (Maxx Products) extensions, they are cheap and very high quality.

A single 1200 mAh battery pack is plenty, I use a 2200mAh Li-Ion, but that requires a special charger, etc.

PCM is recomended, but I have seen FM run just fine.

DP

PS: The hitec vs. JR issues is pure BS There are no "glitching problems" with either if set up correctly and the JRs really don't use that much more than the Hitecs.. not enough to worry about anyway. Both the JR 8 series and Hitec 59 series are outstanding servos. I use a lot of both. Futaba makes some good high end digis as well. I just HATE their proprietary plug so I won't use them no matter what the cost or how good they are.

harleyboy61

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thanks alot i going to take your advice on the servos and the prop whats the w mean in 18/6w just wondering ? also is it worth useing a tuned pipe on the g26? and the fuel lines g26 has one feed and the other is vented out the bottom of the plane is this correct ? thanks for your help really appriciate it . last question what should i set the cg at ?thanks

famousdave

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The "W" stands for wide, it has more blade area and puts out more thrust while maintaining a low pitch (6") for a managable load on the engine.

For the stick - a std muffler is fine, the tuned pipe adds power, but that plane really does not need it. The stock G26 will RIP that plane around.

I have my CG set at 5.25" back from leading edge... this is quite tail heavy if you follow the manual. I believe the manual says 4"

I like the further aft CG, but many would not, especially first timers, so I would just follow the manual to the letter.

DP

Antique

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A Macs Products tuned pipe adds 1000 rpm to an otherwise stock G26, glow fuel with a modified carb adds another 600.....Costs $$$$$

harleyboy61

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thanks for the help i think iam going to use 645s for the tail and 625s for the wing . did you guys here anything about blue bird servos there cheap but have good numbers ? aslo the fuel tank is the one line just vented out of the plane ?

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

The Blue Birds are cheap knock offs.. Korean ?? Vietnamese?? Not sure. I have them on my foamie, they work great but the stakes are not high on that plane. I would not be putting them in any of my gassers though.

DP

CiprianGugu

My Feedback: (17)

Desertpig,

I want to put a Ryobi 31cc on a USL and I am trying to figure out how much to cut off of the nose. Can you, or someone else, tell me how much a G26 weigh? That is complete, with muffler, prop, spinner, etc.

Thanks a lot.

C~

Torqued-Up

My Feedback: (16)

Well guys,

I've been following this thread for awhile with some interest... My story is a little different... I picked up an old (original) US 120 at a swap meet late last year with the plan to make it my first gasser... The airframe was pretty beat up when I got it, so I had to heal some of the more obvious problems prior to rebuilding her... With the airframe squared away, I began accumulating parts to get 'er done...

I picked up a used Brison 2.4 w/Pitts muffler here on RCU for a decent price... In another RCU ad I picked up some used HS-645's & HS-625's for the flyinging surfaces... The rest of the hardware I just pulled out of my own inventory...

I debated on whether to chop the nose off as DesertPig illustrated, but after some test fitting / balancing, determined that I could leave the nose alone and still get her to balance... A prior owner of the airframe had added an additional 1/2" aircraft ply firewall to the already beefy 1/2" firewall from the factory... So with a 1" firewall, I started assembly...

I moved the rudder / elevator servos to the tail and made up some CF linkage... I used the HS-645's in the tail and for the ailerons... I used HS-625's on the flaps... Mounted the fuel tank & batteries on CG... Swinging an APC 18 x 8W... Had to use a set of TALL Tetherite gear to get any kind of prop clearance... AUW is a piggish 13.2 pounds... CG is right on the spar WITH NO ADDITIONAL WEIGHT...

A few other projects got in the way of finishing this beast and I just finished her last week...

This past weekend I got to maiden her and what a blast... After an initial trimming flight, I let the big dog eat... Do the words "unlimited vertical" ring a bell??? This thing will climb out of sight if you let it... Rolls are very axial... Loops a very balanced and symetrical... It will hover better than ANY of my profiles, and that's saying something... Hovering at less than 1/2 throttle, plus it will launch vertical out of a hover like a scalded dog... It also lands at a walking pace without the flaps... With the flaps deployed and a 5 knot headwind, I could parallel park this thing if I had to...

Just thought I'd put in "mis dos centavos" and thank you guys for this thread, and the other USL gasser threads as well... This plane is alot of fun and much more affordable than some of my smaller airplanes... Not to mention $2.00 a gallon for gas as apposed to $18.95 for YS/Saito 20/20 for my 4-strokes... My total investment in this airplane is just under $650, using all used parts... This is a great way for someone to break into gassers without having to drop a bundle...

If anyone is interested, I can post some photos, but mine looks like the rest of the ones already posted...

Happy Trails...

harleyboy61

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do i actually need longer gear when useing 18/6w

flatlandmike

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oops wrong thread