BeauMiller

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Does anyone have any experience with the Midwest Star-Duster .40 kit? It looks similiar to the Sig 4*. A little more expensive though. I know Midwest makes great kits, but how does this one stack up? I couldn't find any info by searching previous posts.

Thanks,
Beau

lownslo

Hello Beau, I built the Midwest Starduster last winter. It was my first kit.... in my second childhood. (I did build a few kits when I was a teen, many moons ago). Because it was my first R/C kit, I cannot compare the construction to any others. All I know is it went together just fine. And MAN does it fly great!!!! I have a several construction pix, and finished plane. If you are interested I can email them to you. Email me and let me know. It does look a lot like a 4*. A guy saw one of my old posts on this plane and he contacted me. He ended up building one. He did run into a few "glitches" in building but he said it was well worth it! I have a picture of his finished plane I can send too .... lownslo...

BeauMiller

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lownslo.....

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a good project to get started on.

beau

BeauMiller

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Here is my completed Star-Duster. I cut one bay off each wing and modified the nose slightly. Also, used one servo for each aileron mounted mid wing. It flies great with the .40 SF I put on it. I highly recommend this kit!

Beau

BeauMiller

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Nose mods.......

BeauMiller

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......and the bottom.

lownslo

Howwwdy beau, I was surprised to see an old Starduster post come up in my email notification option. It it cool to see you followed through with the project after it was discussed a while back. AND FOLLOW THROUGH you did!! You did a very nice job!!! I don't know if I could see all the nose mods, but I did notice the "sweeping line" on bottom.......it looks MUCH better. The wing servos were a great mod too. YOU DID GOOD!!
Keep us posted on what you think about how it flys!! ......lownslo..

Bob

NCC-1701

I have one with an OS 46 FX. Bought it already built. I was very impressed with it's flying qualities. My only gripe is the lite ply firewall. The blind nuts pulled through when starting once. :boxing:

Unfortunately, it was seriously damaged by movers back in 99 when I moved to Guam.

So, if you replace the firewall with aircraft grade ply, it'll be fine.

Rob

larwrence

Iownslo

Perhaps you can help. I just bought a used Star Duster 40. After installing radio gear and new battery, I need to check CG. Can you tell me where the CG points are on the wing?

Larry

BeauMiller

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Larry,

I crashed the Star Duster pictured above way back in 2004, but have since bought another kit and it is partially built. Unfortunately, I am deployed for a couple more months, otherwise I could get the info for you off the plans or instruction manual. If you don't get the info before Dec...reply back here and I'll dig it out for you when I get home.

I really liked flying this model, but I got a little too aggressive and she went straight into the ground following a loop and high speed dive. I think the elevator rod bent under pressure or the servo didn't have enough force to overcome the aerodynamic pressure. Either way...it was a spectacular crash. Had to dig the Super Tigre .51 out of the hard Oklahoma dirt!

Beau

larwrence

Beau
Anybody

I started flying a Starduster 40 as my first low wing. Loved the plane. Just lost it when I was blinded by low December sun. I'm looking for another used plane. I have radio and engine so it can be a just a Starduster 40 body and wing. I'm in New jersey.

Larry

BeauMiller

My Feedback: (18)

Hi Larry,

Sorry to hear about the crash! I plan to finish my kit someday, so not really looking to get rid of it at this time. A similar kit to the Star Duster would be the Sig Four Star 40...which I think is offered as a kit and ARF. The Sig kit is laser cut and I hear is a breeze to build.

For future reference in this thread - the CG location for the Star Duster is directly over the forward half of the wing spar. That is about 2 7/8" back from the leading edge at the wing center.

Take care,
Beau

Papa51

My Feedback: (3)

Midwest Starduster very similar to Sig 4* with one main exception. The 4* L.G. Is really positioned too far forward making landings a little hard to do without "porpoising" unless you really grease the landing. The Starduster L.G. are swept back a bit to position the wheels under the leading edge of the wing making nice landings somewhat easier.

Swede520

I am in the process of building a Star Duster I bought off of Ebay..It is easy to build and has a great manual. I had to "clean up" the fuselage sides cause they were glued up then tore apart to ship for ebay..There is a Saito 80 going up front..I was wondering if there are any videos posted of it..I suspect it will fly much like my Bingo with a Super Tigre 75. Lots of wing on it and light. I am hoping it will climb like a homesick angel!

Swede520

Update on my Star Duster..Wow...What a relaxing sweet plane..The Saito 80 just purrs along and more often than not I am not much above half throttle..Except of course when I really want to climb! I added a bit of weight to the nose but it would have probably flew good without it..You can put it in just about any attitude or angle of bank and let go of the sticks and it just stays there..Low rates are gentle and the high rates makes it do just about anything you can think of...Stall just mushes forward..The only thing I did was to put shear webs on the spar all the way to the wing tips and beef up the top part of the fuselage up just a tad...Oh and put in a 10 oz. tank instead of the 8. Sweet plane..