tuwood

I just picked up my Ultimate kit from the LHS today & will be starting on it tonight. This will be my second kit after my SSE & I will certainly have many questions for the RCU builders.
I will be posting my progress & promise to have lots of pictures. Digital film is so cheap!!

So far, I have purchased:
Kit
Saito 1.25
Futaba receiver with S3151 servo's for the aileron's & elevator
S3050 servo for the rudder

I can't wait to get this plane in the air! [8D]

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

Cool!
I have a few suggestions, if I can:
Make your own firewall of 1/4" 5 ply plywood.
Unbolt your carb and rotate it 180 degrees and bolt it back on so the needle valve is out the top.
After you get firewall in and the fuselage built, install the servo tray, servo actuators (what ever you chose-I used Sulivan), fuel tank, and horizontal stab...this is a lot easier to do than when you put the stringers on.

...just some ideas. Good luck, 'hope to see your build, Tim.

campbec

Hi Tony,

My lovely family gave me a GC Ultimate kit for Christmas (amazing how they worked out that's what I wanted). So far I have finisehed the tail feathers and the wings to the point of glassing the centres, one side of each is completed. I will finish them this weekend.

I have found the build very easy and quick to date although I did replace some of the balsa from my own stock and one of the ply wing braces was delaminated so I cut a replacement from lite ply.. I am going to replace the standard music wire U/C and have built hatches for the aileron servos in each wing although I used my own method rather than that suggested in the instructions.

I havent decided on servos yet and I plan on using the new Saito 125A for power. By the time they are released here in Australia the model should almost be finished.

Look forward to following your build. If you get stuck contact me and we can probably nut out any problems.

Cheers,

Colin

tuwood

Thanks for the tips guys; I need all I can get!

So far, I'm certainly going to upgrade the LG & probably the Cowl & wheelpants. I'm up in the air on the elevator setup, but am leaning towards using the wishbone with a single servo. If I have any issues, I'll tinker with the dual servo elevator. I will certainly use the dual aileron servo's.
I'm also guessing that with the Saito 1.25 I don't need to put any weight in the tail so I'll keep the tail servo's up front.

campbec,
I was a little nervous on the difficulty of this kit because the SSE was pretty easy & this kit design is a little older. I'm glad to hear it's been pretty easy so far.
For servo's I was pretty set on going with digital's and I figured that the standard digital's would be enough for the dual Aileron's & a higher torque would be needed on the rudder. If I go with a single elevator servo, I may upgrade that one but if I go dual's I'll probably stick with two standard's.
That stinks that you have to wait on the engine, hope it gets there in time.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

Tonight I'm making the servo tray out of 1/8 5 ply and I'll mount it so that it can be moved for CG if needed.

tuwood

Here is the obligatory picture of the box before I start.
My first impression of the kit was good; All of the wood seems to be in good condition & nothing is warped too bad or broken.
I will say that the ABS cowl & wheel pants are even cheaper looking & feeling than I expected. I am absolutely buying the fiberglass cowl & wheel pants now. hehe. If anybody wants the ABS Cowl & pants that came with my kit just PM me. If you cover postage I'll be more than happy to send them to you. I'll just end up throwing them away.

I see that www.stansfibertech.com has the fiberglass cowl, wheel pants, & alluminum landing gear. Does anybody have those and are they good quality? Any other recomendations?
Does anybody make CF landing gear for the Ultimate? I have always liked the look of CF.

I also took a couple pictures of my workshop for those that are interested. I built that workshop over 2 years ago & am glad that I finally have a reason to use it.

tuwood

I managed to spend about 4 hours in the shop tonight & completed the stab & one of the elevators.

The only issue I ran into was that the center platform piece that goes in the center of the stab was about 1/8" too long & was narrower than on the plans. I cut it to size & centered it on the plan's & I'm sure it will be fine.

toad32

Stan is the man...you are making excellent choices with his glass. All of my stans stuff has been superb over the years...wonderful glass work and almost no pin holes ever. Very good quality stuff.

As for the CF gear...I have to believe someone is making em...the GB Ultimate has been around for a long time. Sorry I dont know off hand who to point you at. One suggestion...if I may. I know this is your first .60 size plane...and I am guessing your first bipe. I would recommend that you give the aluminum gear a go first. CF gear has a tendency to want to delaminate at the bends on hardish landings. The Ultimate...in my experience...is NOT a floater. I am sure you can handle it...just saying...I would expect a rough landing or two before you get greasy with her. Once you get the landing down on this...THEN worry about tossing on the CF gear. just my .02 cents. =)

tuwood

Thanks for the advice. I actually expect to bounce a few in and thought the CF gear would be the more durable choice. (shows how much I know) I'll stick with the aluminum. I'm assuming the Stan's aluminum gear is sufficient. (i think he gives a discount if you order it with the cowl & wheelpants)

I do have one other question on the Stans cowl. He has a regular one & one with muffler extensions. I'm not quite sure which one I should order. I have the Saito 1.25 & will side mount it with the exhaust coming out the bottom.

Thanks

tuwood

I was only able to spend about 2 hours on it tonight. I finished the other elevator half & the fin.
I did notice that both elevator pieces have a more acute angle than the stab, so I'll have to sand about 1/8" from the front outside edge of the stab. I double checked that I built it exact to the plans, but the plans are just slightly off.

I did call Stan's Fibertech to ask them about the two cowl options. They said the muffler extensions cowl was to fit a pitts style muffler & has a chin on the bottom of the cowl. I have the stock exhaust so I went ahead and ordered the cowl, wheel pants, & LG.

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

I think that was an origianal Goldberg issue because mine, being the older kit, is off as well. Good progress though

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

I fly mine with an ASP 1.20 and it goes like a rocket, your Saito should go like shuttle launch with full boosters. I look forward to seeing your maiden flights. Great thread.

fisher1648

Contact Ken McCaughin at Custom Composites ([email protected]) for a nice CF landing gear.

Tell him Eric from SV arizona sent ya -

tuwood

I hope so.

Thanks for the info. I do like the look of the CF gear so I'll probably order some & use the aluminum gear until I'm satisfied I don't kangaroo the landings too much.

tuwood

Kids had basketball practice last night so I didn't get to put any time in, but I was able to spend about 6 hours in the shop tonight.
I was forced to go a bit out of sequence because my kit was missing a piece of balsa needed for the rudder. I'll have to make a run to the LHS tomorrow & pick up some wood. I also noticed a couple of the basswood spar pieces were a little off true & one had a slight break in the middle, so I'll pick some of those up too.
I spent today working on the wing & I have to say that I'm somewhat impressed with how easy they're going together. The noched TE & the pre-cut webbings saved a ton of time. I have only built a SSE previously & I like the build on the Goldberg wing better so far.

As of now, I have one wing ready to be sheeted. I should also be able to get some quality build time in tomorrow.

BTW, It's a bit early but I'm trying to figure out what covering scheme to use. I'm not a fan of having a plane that looks like every other Ultimate so I'm certainly not going to use the stock scheme. I uploaded a picture of a real one that I'm thinking of copying. Biplanes just look cool in black & yellow!

Tony

**edit**
Scale Ult Pictures borrowed from http://moleski.net/ULTBIPE/n230pk.htm

Timthetoolman1

My Feedback: (6)

His prices are $35 each and $10 for shipping.
The specs of the gear size are:
5.5" across width of fuse
14.5" across width at base
5.5" elevation fuse/axle
width of gear is constant at 1.5"

tuwood

I just got back from the LHS and they didn't have anything in the sizes I needed. [>:]

They didn't have basswood spars longer than 24 inches so I bought some 36" spruce spars. One of the more experienced builders in my club happened to be there & felt that spruce was better. I did some digging on RCU and the consensus seems to be that spruce is a better spar material.
They also didn't have any 3/16" x 5/16" balsa (what I needed for the rudder) so I bought some 3/16" x 1/2" & will rip it to 5/16".

donkey doctor

Hello; i have built two Ultimates, one was from a kit that was in a flooded garage, and all the balsa needed to be repalced. i used the sodden balsa for patterns, and everything came out fine. After I built the first one I found I had to beef up the wing ribs that the interplane struts attach to. The first landing where the wing tips touch broke the tabs off the ribs (all four) causing a difficult repair job. The next one I built, I used aircraft ply for those ribs, and after many less then perfect landings, it's all sitll intact. Of course, i had to make new ribs anyway, so it wasn't such a big deal to do.

I used the abs cowl on both of mine, and after 8 years, they are still holding up pretty good. The stock landing gear didn't last very long, and I went to an aluminum gear. i didn't bother with the stock gear at all on the second one, went straight to the aluminum gear.

I started out with a Saito 120, but went to an OS 91, then a Saito 91 for the Ultimate. I found that the 120 made the whole plane too heavy to fly as I prefer, I have seen many other Ulti's with 120's and still prefer the 91. i have even seen a few with 180's, but those guys fly all their planes with huge engines, usually at full throttle all the time, not my idea of fun at all.

tuwood

Thanks for the tip. I already have mine glued in on the bottom wing, but I'll see what I can do to reinforce that area.

I'm sure the ABS would be just fine, but after the kit showed up it looked like $30 bucks for a fiberglass one would be much easier than trying to put that together.

I'm sure there are a lot of good engines for this plane & it probably depends a lot on ones flying style. I was originally planning on the Saito 100 but when I saw the 1.25 for close to the same weight I just had to get it...

tuwood

I was able to sneak in another 6 hours today. You guys are probably figuring out that I don't have much of a life so I get to spend a lot of time in the shop!![8D]

I have to admit that there are some areas that are a little confusing on the wing because the pictures in the manual stink & the directions are pretty weak in some areas. I just noticed that the online manual has much clearer pictures, so I think I'm going to have to start using that.

There was another old manual problem; I cut out the template to cut the hole in the sheeting for the Wing rib's to protrude through. The wing was longer than the template, so it left a gap at the end of the sheeting. [:@] I could just fill the hole, but wood is cheap so I'll run to the hobby store tomorrow. They also shorted me 2 of the LE balsa sheets, so I have to go pick some of those up too.

I had hoped to get more done today, but I spent a lot of time reading ahead & laying several steps out before glueing. I wasn't real confident in the ply center supports ability to keep the wing level when doing the bottom sheeting either so I used my incedence meter & several straight edges & weights to make sure everything stayed straight. Better to be safe than sorry.
I did manage to get the bottom wing completed with the exception of building the Servo bays.

formerlycrashes

Does anyone know a fool-proof method to solder the brass linkages onto the tiny pull-pull cables? (Yes, another Ultimate build!) I've tried several methods and I just don't trust the connection.

tuwood

I can't speak of the specific connectors yet because I'm not that far, but I was a certified 2M solderer in my Navy days so I can give some general soldering advice.
The key to getting a good joint is to use flux on your soldering iron, on the cable, & on the metal your trying to solder it to. To overly simplify things the flux allows the solder to cleanly bond to the metal & remove residue's that hamper a good bond.
1. Tin your soldering iron by dipping it in flux after it's hot & then putting a little solder on the tip, it should be nice & silver now.
2. with plenty of flux on your cable & metal piece your soldering it to touch your iron to it & the flux should start melting & smoking.
3. touch a little bit of solder to the spot where your soldering iron is touching the metal & it should form a bond between the two. This will allow the heat to fully transfer from your iron to the cable.
4. touch the solder to the opposite side of the cable from where your iron is. The whole assembly should be hot enough for the solder to wick into the cable completely. You know you have enough solder when a drip starts to form on the bottom. At that time you can lightly tap the assembly so the drop falls off.
5. remove your iron & lightly use it to melt away any solder burs or blobs & let it cool.
6. inspect your work & ensure that it's a nice shiny joint without any dull rocky looking areas.

Your biggest enemy to strength is to have what's called a cold solder joint (which means you didn't get the metal hot enough & it looks dull & rocky) or you don't get enough penetration(not using flux).
If you have trouble getting it hot enough make sure you don't hold the pieces in a pair of pliers or a vice because that will suck the heat out of your connector & not allow it to get hot enough to melt the solder completely.

I used to solder a lot of stuff in the Navy on electronic stuff & used the above technique on my Sig Somethin Extra & it worked great.

Hope this helps & good luck. Feel free to post pictures of your Ultimate & any problems or comments you have on the build.

Tony

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

Good advice Tony. Another thing that will help is to bend the tip of the cable over on itself, to double its thickness over a length of about 3/8" to 1/2". That will hold it inside the brass fitting better/straighter when you solder it.

tuwood

I was able to spend about 1 hour last night & 2 hours tonight & it's amazing how much faster the wing build goes after you've done one already.
I finished setting & glueing all of the rib's & the LE, & TE pieces of the top wing.

After struggling with the pictures in the manual & my template being the wrong size I dowloaded the pdf manual from towerhobbies & it's much clearer. I printed out a new copy of the manual on a laser printer & it's much clearer & the template is actually the correct size. I took a picture of the original manual template compared to the ones in the pdf version I printed out. I'm glad the blueprints are the right size.

David Cutler

I will be starting to build mine soon too.

I have the choice of a Saito 100 or a YS 110. I am torn between the attractions of a light, great engine against a more powerful but heavier, great engine.

Any comments would be most welcome.

-David C.