stevehord

My Feedback: (1)

I am rebuilding a wrecked Sig Four Star 60 and I have decided to sheet the turtle deck with 1/64th lite ply. I have seen pictures of this done in one of gputt33's picture albums and really like the idea. However, I am not sure about what type of glue to use for this. I was thinking of contact cement, but I would have to be right on the money when laying the sheeting down as it wouldn't leave room for error. Does anyone have suggestions and tips?

Thanks in advance,
Steve Hord

Connery

I used 1/16 balsa on my 4*40 and slow cure CA to attach it. With the 60 you probably don't have to worry much about a little extra weight with the ply, but after I got the balsa on mine, it's plenty strong.

stevehord

My Feedback: (1)

Connery,

I was wondering about the benefits/differences between using thin balsa or ply and then I saw the thread by gputt33 in one of the forums and he listed his website with several albums of pictures showing a Four Star 60 being built. He had used the lite ply so I figured I'd do the same on mine. Plus, I added heavy duty landing gear in front which I am sure will add more weight to the nose of my plane. The 1/64th ply is virtually light weight so I don't think it will matter. Also, the way I've been flying lately I need all of the additional strength I can get <grin>.

Thanks for the reply,
Steve Hord

Tomcat_104

My Feedback: (42)

I agree with Connery, I used 1/16th Balsa on my son's 4*60. It turned out fabulous. I too used slow cure CA some masking tape and more patience than I'm normally know to have. Spend a little extra time sanding on the stringers to round off the edges it will give a more curved flowing finish. Good luck, it is worth the effort. A balsa cowling is next. It is amazing how many 4* owners can't recognize their own plane when you add the sheeted turtle deck and a cowl to the plane.

Connery

Here's a current picture of my 4*40 with sheeted turtledeck, cut down canopy and balsa cowl.

stevehord

My Feedback: (1)

I like that cowl, and your turtle deck sheeting really looks nice. I hope that the sheating on mine will look half as good.

stevehord

My Feedback: (1)

I went ahead and used the 1/64th ply and 30 minute epoxy to sheet the turtle deck. I then spread wax paper over the sheeting and used one of the cardboard patterns I had cut to cover the top - then wrapped tape over it all like a candy cane. I let it cure for 24 hours and when I removed the tape, cardboard, and waxed paper it sure looks good. I lucked out as the sheeting touches all of the stringers and formers so it is on to stay <grin>.

I'll be re-covering this rebuilt 4 star 60 in the next couple of days and if I can find my camera I'll post a picture when I finish. Hopefully I can put it back in the air by next weekend.

Connery

Did you steam or soak the sheeting to get it to bend more easily? Hurry up with those pictures!!!

Cappy69

I recently built a 4*120 and sheeted the turtle deck with.....I think it was 3/32 balsa. I just soaked it with water, formed it over the turtle deck, held it in place with tape till dry and then attached it using thick CA.

Heres a before covering and after pic.

kensmithjr

I love those 4*'s great pics, I have a 4* 60 that I won at a club event... i love it.. it is starting it's 3rd season as my primary low wing... I was curious about two things I saw in this thread - first of all you had a wood cowl - how did you make that? is there plans for that somewhere that I missed?

Secondly another person here indicated that you are working on a 4* 120? I wasn't aware that such a kit existed. How is it to build? How soon till you get it flying?

Thanks for the info.

Swarr665

Im building a four star 60 right now too . Ive only finished the wing, but i already have a plan to build the cowl, which wasnt part of the original design, kensmithjr. I plan to mount the engine with the spinner, putting 1/8 pieces of wood behind the spinner as spacers. Then ill put a balsa ring slightly bigger than th spinner on the back of it, and use triangle stock balsa to connect the ring to the body. After that you just sheet around the triangles and sand the triangles down in the corners to get the nose to flow with the spinner.



I have a question about sheeting the turtle deck though... The stock turtledeck pieces are flush with the side of the plane, so when you sheed the turtle deck it will add some with that will protrude off the side of the plane. How did you get it so the side of the turtle deck was flush?

Connery

On my 4*40, I built the balsa cowl using tips from Tom Pierce's excellent website on modding the 4* http://www.renderwurx.com/rc/sig4star/

Connery

When I built my cowl, I used 3/8" sheet to make the "box" and then reinforced the joints with triangle stock after I pulled the engine and engine mount. I also used a lite-ply ring that I had left over from my high powered rocket days that was the exact size to match the spinner.

To sheet the turtle deck, added some balsa strips in between the formers to give the 1/16" sheeting something to attach to and also trimmed the base of each former enough to sheeting to fit flush with the fuse sides. I then took a piece of poster board and cut it to the exact fit for the turtle deck and then traced the shape onto the two sheets of 1/16" that I had previously glued together. Once I cut out the sheet, just sprayed it with windex w/amonia and formed it to shape and held it with rubber bands until it dried. Then glued it in place

Cappy69

The 4*120 builds easy....much like the 40 and 60.....just larger. Its rated for a .90-1.20 2 stroke or a 1.20-1.50 4 stroke with a stock wing length of 81". I say stock wing length because I actually shortened the wing one bay on each side, which is about 4-5" per side. It's a common mod and the reason is to cut down on its tendency to really float on final and to increase its roll rate and really wake it up. It doesn't hurt it's slow speed characteristics as it's still a "puppy dog" when you want it to be without any bad tendencies. I also have a Super Tigre G2300 which is a 1.40 2-stroke in it. I actually flew it for the first time this past Saturday and have about 10 flights on it now and it flies great. Very gentle when you want it to be..... and when you want to really "ring it out" it more than complies.


Adam

stevehord

My Feedback: (1)

I did not need to steam the thin plywood. In fact, it is so thin that I cut the curve for the cockpit with a pair of scissors. It lays over the complete turtle deck with the ease of the cardboard from a case of soda pop. In fact I used this type of cardboard for my initial pattern to cut the plywood.

I've looked everywhere for my camera, with no luck, so I don't have any pictures of the finished turtle deck sheeting. I started covering it today with Coverite, safety yellow and midnight blue. I will cover the bottom of the fuse & 3/4 up the sides with safety yellow. The whole one piece wing is midnight blue with safety yellow on the ailerons and each wing-tip. I will finish the top 1/4 on each side of the fuse, along with the top and turle deck in midnight blue. Maybe I can track a camera down by the time I have this ready to fly.

rjbranchii

Just a note, my four star .60 with film covered turtle deck came out 2 ounces tail heavy with both a ST .75 and .90. Just a thought before you add more weight to the tail. I do however have the larger rudder mod that has been recommended on various forums (1 inch additional width and one inch counterbalance on top.) It totally eliminates any tuck under in knife edge. Flew very nice with the ST. 75 and would not have changed from it until I flew my next plane a VectorFlight 58 in (.60 size) Extra 300S with a Super Tigre .90. The unlimited verticle was very nice so I have just changed out the ST .75 to a ST .90. The motors weight the same. Am awaiting recovery from pneumonia before I can fly it.

bob branch