pc55bomber

Hi Guys

The new 120" Austars Ag Husky(Cessna -188) arrived at my door last week.
This is a brand new model for 2010 with a fibreglass fus that is quite a bit bigger than the smaller 110" version with many construction improvements.
They will be available shortly at www.austars-model.com

This is the prototype and as such there will be a few small changes in the production models, nothing major at all,which I will list as the build continues.
I must say that I am impressed with the model, but I like the Husky.

This will be our new 100cc tug for the bigger heavier composite scale gliders, however the tug conversion will be done after the maiden flight.

The plane arrived in 2 large boxes with the wings in there own box as one would expect with such a large model.

The first pics show the difference in the size compared to the smaller version and the fact that the glass fus has some panel lines and rivets, even in the plastic canopy.

Far and away the best improvement in my book is the new hatch with a removable/replaceable canopy which is quite thick and flexible without that brittle feel.

Planned fitout includes the following;
TMM106cc gas engine
TMM canisters
Biela 24x10 3 Blade prop
HD 9150MG Digital servo’s
Smartfly power expander sport
2 x A123 4600 mah packs for RX
4cell 2000mah NiMh for ignition

Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Heres some detail of the fus.

1. looking forward showing the strut attachment point.
2. A generous tray thats goes all the way to the firewall
3. This cutout is where your hand goes in to attach the struts.
4. looking toward the rear showing internal formers
5. Engine mount box comes separate, easy to work on.
6. the redesigned hatch and canopy.
7. The fus wing fairing fit is another improvement.

pc55bomber

The canopy was the first part to be finished off, just waiting for the right pilot to come along.

Painted the inside and dash with flat black kids water based paint, I do all my canopies with this stuff, cheap and any colour you want, simply brushed on.
Attached the canopy with button head screws ensuring that the holes in the plasic are bigger than the screw, allows for the canopy to lay flat without bulging out anywhere.
I put all the screws in loose then tighten them in a circle pattern.

The canopy was a perfect fit no trimming required. It fits into the hatch recess and is the easiest canopy I have done yet.
My only concern here is the slight amount of paint bleed which has been brought to Austars attention.
Check the pics.

Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

The engine has been fitted to the engine box which is also very easy to do with the box as a single unit.
The fire wall has been offset allowing for the correct thrust angle and the alignment marks have been provided to allow easy location of the engine.

I beefed up the structure with some ¼ and 3/8” pine then epoxied the whole engine mount assembly for fuel proofing.

2 pieces of angle aluminium are provided which attach to the engine box and then the whole assembly is glued and bolted to the fus firewall.
Be sure to use the largest washers you can get on the inside of the firewall to help spread the load, secured with nylock nuts.

pc55bomber

The horizontal stabs are removable making for easy transport. They are attached by an aluminium tube and 2 incidence pins.
The stabs are held on by drilling and tapping a 3mm hole thru the bottom of the stab into and thru the aluminium tube where a solid block is located for this purpose which is visible thru the TE. Be very careful not to drill thu the top skin. I also reinforced inside the tube with some balsa to give the bolt some more meat to hold onto and then soaked it in CA and retapped it.

The TE of the control surfaces are another area of improvement being finished in laser cut ply making a sturdy attachment point for the hinges. All the hinge holes are precut and 2 small pieces of timber are attached to each end of the stab which is a “stop” for the control surface when you push it on.

The control surfaces are also rounded making a fairly clean line between the surfaces.
The TE therefore has a very fine edge top and bottom, but another improvement here is that a ply insert has been included in the skins giving a strong accurate TE to both skins

Thats as far as I have progressed.
Cheers
Paul

AirplaneMan04

This does look like a great improvement over the previous 110" version.
I like the fuse detailing, rivets etc. Will it be available in any other
colors? any idea on a rough price?

pc55bomber

Hi Airplaneman04

Agree, although I am very happy with the 110" one just the same.
Yes it will be available in other colour schemes, what? I don't know and price again I have no idea. You will have to contact Austars for that info.
I was lucky to be asked to review this model for them and its something I have been on the lookout for, for months, something scale that will take a 100cc that also doubles as a tow plane. The Husky fits that bill for me.
Austars offered me the review due to my very small involvement with aerotow advice with the smaller one and that this is right up my alley so to speak.
My son is the actual owner of the big Husky, I just get to build it and review it, although Trent will do a review for the magazines, shortly.
Let me say here that we are not employed by Austars in any way shape or form.
I will give credit where its due and likewise call a spade a spade.

Hope this helps.
Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Guys

Fitting a 100cc class engine presents a problem with the cowl. The plug cap and lead stick out a bit.
Bummer, we are pressing on anyway and intended to make a slight mod in the form of a small bump in the cowl.

Have just heard that the factory will be producing an optional cowl to fix this problem, way to go, details on it when it arrives.
May slightly reduce the scale look, will have to wait, but will be of no concern to us.

The airframe is aimed at around the 80cc mark I guess which will fit in properly and maybe even be able to fit a canister if you wish as the formers will allow this with some small mods.
Its very hard to get a canister to fit a low wing model as the wing joiners are usually in the way.
Canisters are usually for performance increase but there are some around that are designed to reduce noise as there main purpose.

Check the picture for our planned canister mod, not for performance but for noise, which will take a fair amount of work but the end result will be worth it.
The idea is that the whole unit will be self contained and slide into and lock into the formers with a heat vent at the rear to vent excess heat..

cessna 188

I have been around Huskies and Ag Wagons for 36 years. My old man was acrop duster for 40+ yrs. My brother has carried on the family business. The only other detail that would be nice would be the fiberglass hopper door in front of the windshield. It doesnt have to be funtional. Regardless, I think I will have to buy one. It looks great a 10+ for sure.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

It's a fantastic looking model airplane. Nice build thread! [sm=thumbup.gif]

pc55bomber

Hi Cessna 188

40+ years is an outstanding record for this dangerous job indeed, I take my hat off to these guys.
It never ceases to amaze me how good duster pilots are.
Been watching some youtube videos of dusting in the dark, unbelievable stuff.

Agree, a hopper lid would be nice, I think this airframe is a very good starting point for those that wish to add lots of scale detail, not my cuppa tea but appreciate the skills involved in doing so.
A working hopper could be done without too much trouble.

The more I look at this model the more I like it.

Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Hi Tom
It sure is a nice plane, I like the fact that Austars have made other types of large aircraft available for the modeller that is not into aerobatics or 3D stuff.
There's not much around in this area that comes in the ARF form.

Having said that my 110 version is one very tough bird, you wont break it in the air and this new 120" one is even better.

Cheers
Paul

cessna 188

Thanks Paul, Dad flew for 40+ yrs and never had an accident. It is as safe or as dangerous as you want to make it. I chose not to do it because it is a dying industry in the USA. I have flown countless hrs in crop dusters as a child. I loved every minute of it.

apalsson

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Paul,

Excellent build thread and great looking plane!
Do you have the width of the cowl by any chance?
I have a 112cc engine that is quite compact and would most likely do well in this plane because it's relatively low rev and high torque. If I can fit it in the cowl, I might get one of those planes for myself.
Would make an awesome glider tug

pc55bomber

Hi Apalsson,
Thanks. See the pics for the stock cowl size. (Sorry about the drawing)
Our 106cc is plug cap to plug cap 285mm which means a small bump of 25mm each side of the cowl, this is too big, we requested Austars to make an optional cowl for 100cc engines. They have agreed to do so which is great.
See pictures for the optional cowl that will have a small tapered bump of 12.5 mm each side to accomodate the plug cap and HT lead.
This bump will be a tapering teardrop shape from front to rear.
This is achieved by making the cowl sides a little straighter, but will have a slightly reduced scale look, looking from above directly down, but I don't think it will detract at all.

The stock cowl will probably be used for the maiden flight with the optional one being fitted when its available.
First pic is the stock cowl.

Hope this helps.
Cheers Paul

pc55bomber

Heres some more pics of the hardware packs.
This does not include the 6" wheels, tank and a few other hardwood blocks for the servo's.
The tailwheel hardware may be changed to this more scale one http://www.austars-model.com/disprde...11270206393415
A revised complete pack will be with every kit.

Also a shot of the internal wing structure, light but strong.

Cheers Paul

pc55bomber

Found another diagram for the stock cowl.
Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Some people have a great childhood.[8D]
Cheers Paul

trent collins

Hi guys,
Dad (Paul) is away for a few days so im pressing ahead.

Just working on the wings and tails at the moment. I have epoxied all the control surfaces last night. The ailerons have the normal 5mm pin hinge which you see on just about every large scale model these days and the flaps had typical flat hinges.

Something I liked on this model was the effort on the trailer edge of the wing/leading edge of the control surface (same on the tail). As seen in the photos above the leading edge of the control surface has a rounded face and the wing has a recess. This hides the hinge line, promotes an aerodynamic flow and looks so much better than the typical 45 degree chamfer on the control surface. Also great to see the section of the wing that sticks back to create the recess is backed with ply to ensure it does not warp and will last.

I used all the hinges as supplied in the kit with 5 minute epoxy, had it all done in a single afternoon with the hot weather. Only concern is the flap hinges as I have not pinned them given they are the old school flat hinges. If I have any trouble I'll just cut them off and re-hinge with CA hinges, probably should have thrown CA hinges in to start with but didnt think about it till this morning.

trent collins

Got into the wing servos today, didnt take long with the supplied hardware, most of the hard work is done. Here's the steps:

1) Prepared the servo hatches. They are ready to go, you just need to cut the hole in the covering for the horn. You'll see in the closeup instead of simply cutting the shape of the precut hole in the ply I sliced it in the middle of the hole and then using the tip of the covering iron worked the covering through the hole to the back. This means there is no edge on the covering on the outside, less chance of it lifting in the breeze or getting exhaust under it.
2) Installed the 4 wing servos (2 flaps and 2 ailerons). The hatches are ply and already have the surround for the servos pre installed. No filing required, servos just dropped straight in, simply drilled the holes and screwed them in. Im using the HD9150 servos all round, have had great success with them in other models, best bang for buck servo I currently know of.
3) Wired the wings up using the green multiplex style plug. Using 1 pin per wire (works out well with 6 wires for the two servos and 6 pins on the plug). Remember to wrote down your wiring diagram so you can wire up the other side of the plug half later. Also added some yellow wire braid and a cable tie just to ensure it all stays is top condition during the life of the model and doesnt come apart from years of plugging/unpluging.
4) I used to cut all my servo leads and extend with wire, woe with the cheap twisted extenion leads available I simply go for the plug and play method. Remember to secure each connection, I always heatshrink the plugs that I want to stay together permanently i.e the ones inside the wing.
5) Started the tail servos as well. Given the thickness of the tail is the same as a servo the hatches do not have surrounds pre installed. Instead you get little hardwood blocks for the servos. While I basically build everything these days with some CA and kicker I still like to epoxy the servo mounts, gluing hardwood to ply just works better with epoxy.
6) I covered the bottom of my elevator servos with masking tape first (keep the epoxy off the servo), then I mounted the supplied hardwood locks to the servo, ensuring I mounted them level with the bottom of the servo. Next step is to make the location of the servo on the hatch, ensure you leave room around the servo to clear the lip in the tailplane when inserting the hatch.
7) Then using my knife I scraped the ply and hardwood mating surfaces in a cross hatch fashion to aid with the mechanical bond. A little 5 min expoxy and a clamp and then we wait.
8) Started putting some hardware on the wings tonight as well. Got a picture of the hardware for 1 wing. Pretty standard gear, 3 screws though the surface with black triangles, I'm sure your all familiar with them. Possibly could use a single bolt through style to make it look better on the top for scale looks but im using as much of the standard gear as possible to check it all out.

pc55bomber

Hi Guys
Back into the build now. Put in a big effort on Australia Day.
Completed the tail wheel mod by using the Austars 100/150cc tailwheel.
Rebent to shape by heating to cherry red and then air cool recut to length and fitted to the tail.
Epoxied some ply into the cutout (see pics) drilled a tight fitting hole for the wire to push into and some vertical pieces to hold the wire in place with some ali straps.
Drilled 2 exit holes just behind the tails LE under the fus for the tailwheel wires which also pass through some plastic tube glued into the fus to help the transition from inside to outside as it is not a direct straight pull. This gives smooth funtionto the setup.
Using 1 servo to drive both the rudder and the tailwheel with there own pull pull cables.

Set up the rudder as a torque rod drive so everything is hidden in the tail cone.
Mounted the tail cone by adding some ply each side so the screws have more then just the glass thickness to hold onto.
Used some 1/8" piano wire bent to shape epoxied full depth into the rudder with a steering arm attached for the pull pull wires.
Be sure to line up the rod with the hinge line to achieve symmetrical movement.

Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Hi Guys
Sorry for the delay, been extremely busy.
OK , have fitted the engine box to the fus with some aluminium angle bracket to help spread the load, did not glue it at all so this will work either way, glued or just bolted to the fus.
This airframe had to be proven airworthy as soon as possible so most of our mods have to wait until after the maiden flight.
Refer to picture.
Pic of engine and prop combo as well.

Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Guys
FYI
The Husky is now in production with the upgrades mentioned here and is expected to be available in April.
Preorders are being taken http://www.austars-model.com/disprde...02031505438081
Cheers
Paul

pc55bomber

Hi Guys
Had another big build day and finished of the control surfaces, the wiring and installation of the radio gear.

1. Used the included hardware on the control surfaces with an extra 3mm nyloc nut under the plastic fitting that the clevis locks onto to make sure it does not move. Usually skepitcal about supplied hardware but it looks sturdy enough for the job, even for the extra work of aerotowing large gliders.
The pushrods are Aluminium and the nylon clevis is such a good fit that I had to hold the pushrod in a vice and use a shifting spanner to screw the nylon clevis home. Have not seen this type of clevis before, it has a molded part that actually locks into the plastic keeper at the pivot point and then a small screw holds it all together, really strong. Pretty confident they will hold up fine.

2. Detail of the tailwheel setup which is a mod from the original design using the 100/150cc size tailwheel.
The original was far too stiff and the mod works extremely well providing a good amount of suspension which I like to do on all my models.

3.Closeup of the multiplex connectors I use on just about everything, before the final heat shrink is finished. 1 plug to plug in both wing servo's, quick, easy and practical.

4. The radio installation showing tank location (on CG) a Smartfly power expander sport to handle all the power for the HD digital servo's powered by 2 x A123 LiFe packs. All wiring has been protected by wire mesh guard, great stuff.
An RCexel opto ignition cutout switch and an Assan 2.4 8ch receiver. Have been using these Rx's without any problems at all.
This is how we setup most of our gas models.

pc55bomber

Hi Guys

Added 1000grams of lead to the engine box for balance, sounds a lot but the 110" version took 900 grams to balance and it flies fantastic.
Cut out the cowl to suit the 106cc engine, bearing in mind that a new cowl is being made to suit 100cc engines with the production model.
Its finally up to flying standard only, not finished with the mods we are going to make but due to pressures of life and the factory production schedules we maidened the Husky.

The maiden was interesting, took off and immediately obvious it was tail heavy, but with Trent at the controls, it flew quite well anyway but was not a comfortable flight at all. We took some pics, did a couple of passes and landed with quite a hard landing, nothing bent or broken, which confirms that the undercarriage is capable of taking a hit without problems. This was an area of concern in the 110 version with Austars sending out replacement heavier duty gear.

The airframe flies, everyone is happy, so now all our mods will be done and the plane completely finished properly.
We will add canisters, something that is not required but being done for noise mainly and a little more power will help pulling big gliders.
A video and magazine reviews will be completed in the next couple of weeks.

The production model will also have a new revised cowl that will suit the 100cc class engine and also be a bit longer to enable engines to be moved forward to help balance without having to add a lot of lead.

The plane will be at the Grand Southern Cross Model Aero Rally end of March completely finished including the new cowl redesigned wing strut fairings and hopefully the tow release fitted as well.

You will notice from the pics that it is not complete, no fus wing fairings or corrugated control surfaces etc.

Will continue to post the mods and airframe completion, future flying etc as we go.

Cheers
Paul