DMehalko

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Good day fellow modelers, I am starting this thread to document a build of a semi-bash of a PT-60 to become a fun overpowered weekend flyer. I have built and flown almost everything, but going back to something simple this time around because I can

Looking to set it up for possible FPV flying, Glider towing, bomb/item dropping, night flying.

Planned mods, although I am sure more will come:
Cram a DLE20 into it
Tail dragger conversion
Swept tail
Larger control surfaces
No dihedral
No Wing Washout

flygilmore

I built one of these with my son and it is in the ARF stage now. It is setup for an XYZ 20cc. I also built it as a taildragger and enlarged the surfaces. Since it was mainly for my son (who is now 7), I kept the dihedral and the stock washout which is a lot IMO....a whole lot! Anyways, hopefully, it will fly as we are wishing. I will warn you to take a bunch of weight out of the tail....I cut circular lightening holes in the whole tail section and it appears as though the plane will balance perfectly with the gasser up front. I don't know how they expect a person to balance these with a tiny .60 glow. I have heard others talk about how heavy the wood in the tail is too so yours may very well be the same. Good luck and post a build thread!

DMehalko

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Nice! How was it fitting the engine and carb in there? I did notice the tail seems super solid and heavy, i think i will fully assemble everything prior to covering to get an estimated cg.

Also, I am trying to build the full kit in 2-3 weeks

Kit showed up yesterday, and here is my night one progress

DMehalko

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End of night two, got the fuselage just about all wrapped up, firewall prepped, and engine mounted, Super snug fit!

flygilmore

I mounted my engine inverted.....I just think a gasser looks odd mounted upright but that's just me. It fit tight side to side but will be mostly hidden by the fuse cheeks.....just a small portion of the muffler sticks out below.

DMehalko

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I agree, which is why i did it! This will be a fun silly airplane, and trainers traditionally always have had the engines mounted upright, so wanted to keep the theme and have the "big block" sticking out like that .

Got the firewall wrapped up, and is stock, so will toothpick pin it, and fiberglass the front joints for a little added strength. Also need to come up with a method for adding strength to the 'cowl cheeks' since the blocks the manual instructs to glue in wont fit anymore.

DMehalko

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Trimmed up the cheek plates to work out nicely

Also found the top firewall to be about 1/16" forward for some reason, even though everything has lined up. All the formers and fuselage doublers were glued in perfectly, bottom of the firewall is perfect, I had no fitment issues anywhere. Hopefully this doesn't cause any problems as there is already -4.5deg down thrust per the plan, plus whatever the additional 1/16" more its leaning down. :/

DMehalko

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This is one of the fastest building wings of all time, had both the left, and right wing framed in less than an hour. Also picked up a side dump muffler for the DLE, to hack less of the checks up.

DMehalko

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Today marks 2 weeks upon 1st opening the kit box, hoping to finish things up in the next week. Still need to sheet the wing, set up dual aileron servos, build new tail control surfaces, hinge everything (using Robart hinges), then cover it. Colors will be Monokote White, Medium Purple, and Fluorescent Orange. Decided to lop off the wing tips, will do 1/4" Hard balsa block tips for durability.

flygilmore

Did you use the washout jig when you built the wings? I think there was a trainer one and then you could cut it in half for less. I used the full washout on mine since it is for my 7yr old son (who was 3 when we first opened the box) and it is a lot of washout!!!! Hope it flies good. We just been messing with it on and off for the past 3.5yrs. It's in the ARF state now.

DMehalko

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I am building the "sport" wing, however took even more dihedral out, and eliminated all washout. ARF state for 3.5 years? Finish it up!! I havent even been spending much time on this one, and should have it flying in 3.5 weeks after opening up the kit :P

flygilmore

Lol yeah I need to finish it. My son has other planes that he flies right now so not in a real hurry. We'll get to it one day.

DMehalko

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Getting there! Looking to get it up in the air on week 4. Had a 3" carbon spinner in my parts pile, will be using it

DMehalko

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Always been a fan of the miracle switches, so mounted up another right behind the wing. Covering is almost wrapped up on the wing.

DMehalko

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Been busy, wanting to wrap this thing up, framed and sheeted a new rudder, 'added' to the stock elevator, started hinging with robart pin hinges, and began covering the fuselage.

flygilmore

Looking very nice and I love those colors!! Good call on the Robarts..........that's all I use on gassers.

DMehalko

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And Done! just under 6 weeks from opening box to maiden flight.

flygilmore

Turned out real nice! So, do you have a flight report and can you give a finished RTF weight?

DMehalko

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Needed 3 clicks of down trim at that was it! Balanced PERFECTLY with NO added weight, really surprised me here.

The servo tray is all the way back, and running 2 thunderpower 1350 lipos for the rx and ignition right in front of the tray.

Flew very well! Only got one flight on it, but will be perfect for the lazy beer days was intended for

DMehalko

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Put a few flights on it today, CG is perfect with nothing added to it, there is no way this thing would balance with a little 2 stroke glow it was intended for, but my 1.20 20cc its perfect!

Added 4" Sullivan aluminum wheels, and have a 15x7 3-blade coming for clearance, the 17x6 forces me to takeoff and land in a 3 point attitude

My buddy took a video of the 3rd flight, will post it shortly

DMehalko

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And the flight, was a windy day!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azs0in-bb9s

flygilmore

I was amazed too that GP expects people to balance this plane with a .60 2stroke glow engine.......amazing! If they didn't supply balsa that was as dense and heavy as basswood, I'm sure it would balance just fine. Like you, mine was spot on CG wise with the 20cc gasser in the nose- and this was with lots of lightening holes in the aft end of the fuse/tail!!!

DMehalko

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I know, totally crazy.

I will conclude this build thread with a cool shot of the rocky mountains in the background from a flyby . Now off to build a Top Flite Spitfire, then the Ziroli Turbinator

DMehalko

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Well, after a tiny prop strike, breaking one of the 3 blades while the engine continued to run, the airplane almost rattled itself apart. Tail section was cracked up a little bit, so decided to cut the rest of it off to tinker a bit more and build up a new tail

DMehalko

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Continued..