mogman

Congratulations!

Glad to hear it flies. I know what you mean about needing power for take off. Mine showed no inclination to fly with the 90cc 3 cyl

What was the total weight of the plane?

Dave.

acdii

51 pounds and change, going to remove the change and see if its less nose heavy.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I'm glad to hear in spite of your best efforts she flies!

acdii

Gee, thanks?

Captcrunch44

Well got mine done a few minutes ago. Off to bed and on to sig in the morning. Boy do i hate the little stuff.

Hydro Junkie

No maiden flight before taking it? I just hope to read it got home in four pieces rather than several dozen, if you know what I mean

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

In spte of what I said to pull his leg a bit I'm confident Acdii will show'em how it's done!

sgtmonte

Alright guys, my truck broke down on the way up there so I need to see some pics. Let's see those big beautiful planes in the air.

sgtmonte

Alright guys, my truck broke down on the way up there so I need to see some pics. Let's see those big beautiful planes in the air.

acdii

Well so far I got two very short flights, but Crunch has several, his flies good, mine had radio issues, so until I resolve it, no more flights.

mogman

What does Crunch have for an engine, and do you know the weight?

acdii

He has a 85CC and added 9 pounds to the nose, but claims 44 pounds overall weight. His engine runs pretty good too.

Captcrunch44

I checked the calculations again but I'll try and weigh the fuse one more time. it will have to be later though but I come up with 44 pounds for the airplane and it's being flown with a DJ 85cc

acdii

Put it all together and stick the nose on a bathroom scale. Thats what I will be doing to weigh it. I used the bathroom scale by placing the fuse on it and laying all the rest of the pieces on top of it prior to balancing to get the weight. A fish scale works too.

acdii

I think I figured out the issues I was having with the radio. I have the RX sitting on top of the landing gear, and the antennas are situated in such a way that they were getting blocked from the TX when the plane was at a certain angle. Going to move the RX back behind the wing and put the antenna at the vertical and horizontal positions that I normally use. I may switch over to the JR on this plane with the 1221 RX with three satellite antennas.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Figuring it out is 90% of the problem, you will be flying this big boy soon!

acdii

Have not had a chance to pull it out of the trailer and reposition the RX. I did setup the JR though, so should be close to PnP with just minor adjustments, mainly to flap and servo. I can say in the short time I flew it, it was docile. If you look at the video, the wind is why it bounced around and climbed like mad. Way too windy today, and yesterday was bugger all humid and nasty, so not touching it this weekend, maybe next weekend. I may just swap the RX with a Futaba 6208 and relocate it instead of the JR.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I'm parcial to Futaba myself but both are good quality products.

Captcrunch44

Well all i can say its a good thing that acdii put struts on his 168 rascal . I have determined that they are a must on this aircraft. No matter how you power it or how little it weighs.

acdii

That doesn't sound good. Did yours fold like the other one?

acdii

It's funny, but I have no inclination to pull the plane out to replace the RX. After hearing that two planes had the wings fold, even with the struts, I'm a little skeptical about the wing. That is a lot of area that supports the fuse, and this is one heavy ass bird, flies like one, a little mistake can end it quickly and I really don't wish to destroy a $1000 engine.

Going to wait to see if SIG has anything to say about it.

mogman

Did captcrunch's wing have struts when the wing broke?
I hear you, I'm in no hurry to try to fly mine, either. Too bad, I was looking forward to seeing it in the air, and as you say, I don't wish to break an expensive engine.
Dave.

acdii

No, his was built by the book, he even glued the tail on. As he flew I could see the wings flapping, there is a lot of stress at the fuse side of the wing. Kind of reminds me of that famous video of the B-24 that sheered the wing off when a bomb fell on its spar. Thats pretty much what happened from the looks of it(not the bomb falling on it, the wing snapping).

I'm getting back to building the B-25 that I put on hold for this plane now. Have it setup on my bench with the incidence meter on it, checking to make sure everything lines up before I glue the tail on. I have more invested in the Rascal than I do this bomber, and it has 2 engines and a dozen servos.

Hydro Junkie

So, you are saying that the wing needs to be built up for more strength and strutted for stability? I'm hoping that Crunch and his assistant didn't put that much work into the Rascal just to watch it auger in

mogman

None of us did.

I purchased the 168 based on my experience with the 110 and Sig's overall kit quality over the years. (plus I like big airplanes,lol)
Unfortunately, the 168 has turned out to be a bit of an issue, very heavy tail, wing struts required, a lot of weight needed to balance the plane etc.
It's too bad as the kit was basically very easy to build, some clever ideas and thought went into the design.
Sig needs to re-design the tail to be lighter, and either re-design the wing or supply struts.
I can't see this as being a 60cc aircraft, more like a 100cc at the weights they are turning out to be.

Dave.