Darklotus

My Feedback: (4)

Hello everyone,

I have been researching a large, heavy lift, airplane since the start of the year. I think the Senior Telemaster is going to be the best platform for my intended use. Maybe the Giant Telemaster depending on what I find out from people that own the senior. I have done quite a bit of searching, and haven't really come across some real good numbers. I would like to get some specs. on the fuse before ordering my kit. Some of the equipment on-borad will be a GPS/data logger, A/V down-link, and a lot of fuel!
Any help is greatly appreciated.


1. What is the length, width, and depth of the servo compartment?

2. What is the average over-sized engine used?

3. Guesstimating, what would be the max take-off weight?

4. What is the average fuel tank size?


If anyone has a comment or suggestion about the Senior Telemaster please share the info Also, if any of you might know where to get a hold of the senior and/or the giant manuals please let me know where to get it.

Thanks,

James

geo8498

I have a Senior Telemaster. I'm at work right now, but will measure the radio compartment this weekend, if someone else hasn't already done so by then.

I have a K&B .61 engine in mine. I'm sure the plane can take something considerably larger.

I can also do a static RTF weight check on mine.

I have a 12 oz tank in mine with some room to spare. In fact, if you balance properly, there's enough room in the radio comp for a larger fuel tank. It's good to keep everything forward though.

I just added a 2oz tank next to my 12oz just because I had one and they fit right next to each other nicely.

This plane has alot of lift, and has a very good reputation for hauling stuff. It has a good reputation all around as a matter of fact. I doubt you will ever hear anyone say bad things about the Senior Telemaster.

Darklotus

My Feedback: (4)

Thank you very much Geo! Hope to get your numbers soon

If anyone else could also tell me the details of your setup, that would really help me out...

Thanks,

James

tschuy

My Feedback: (1)

It would be helpful if you were to give some idea of the weight/load/dimensions that you are planning to lift and how long you would need to keep it airborne. With that info, I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions.

I did a project some time ago which required lifting an airborne metal detection system, GPS and auto-pilot which could fly pre-programmed coordinates for a 30 minute duration. Quite a challenge when considering that the aircraft also had to fit within an 6' long, 16" wide and 18" high box that could be checked in as baggage on a commercial airliner. I ended up designing my own and it turned out great.


Cheers,

bluebikerblan

I'm building a Senior Telemaster currently and like many others am leaving the spec'd "servo-compartment" empty and placing the servos elsewhere. This leaves the entire under the wing cabin area empty for a variety of uses (bomb bay, camera gear etc.) The area in my configuration is about 4" W x 6" H x 15" L. Assuming that one needs a fuselage former under each end of the wing, that's about the maximum size of such a compartment on the Senior Telemaster. Photo's on the Senior Telemaster Modifications To Be Thread. I'm able to fit comfortably a 24 Oz Great Planes fuel tank in the fuel compartment with plenty of room under that for the Rx and Servos battery pack. As to your cargo weight questions that pretty speculative. How heavy will the plane be built, how will the weight be distributed? How many control functions will be necessary? From the posts I've seen re glider tows, candy drops and such, payloads of up to 10 lbs are referenced ???? The Giant with the right engineering would be capable of more than that I would assume but wouldn't hazard a guess.

Power plant choices for both the Senior and/or Giant are numerous. Far more than I would care to guess at. I have a OS FX .61 2 cycle glow installed for my purposes. A .91 would fit easily but what's the optimum power for what purpose..............????

Not sure what you have in mind, how much you need to lift how high for how long but your search may wish to include looks at the Flyin King and Super Flyin King by BTE as well. Large high lift planes as well. More ruggedly built as well in my opinion.

A search will reveal a lot of information on a recent build of the Giant and a variety of others. One of the many virtues of the Telemasters is the simplicity and lightness of the original design. As to plans, they are available from RCM magazine and the supplier of the kits involved, Hobby Lobby.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

A friend has a Senior Telemaster with a Magnum 91 two stroke. It flies about the same as one with a 61.

Enjoy,

Jim

geo8498

radio compartment measured 3 5/8"w X
13"l X 6"d

waterloged

Hi James

I have a senior and the servo compartment is 14x3& 3/4x7" deep
I have a magnum 91 4 stroke on it and i believe i could put a 120 on it. I have a 12 oz tank on it but i have added a 8 oz with that. (i like air time) I also have floats and ski's for mine. I mounted my 34 oz camcorder on it which slowed it down just a little but not enough to worry about other than worrying about the camcorder. . Hope this helps

Darklotus

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks everyone,

This airframe should be pefect for my intended use. Thanks

James

merril

I just built a telemaster 40. Everthing seems normal under power. With dead stick landing it will not respond to left control. But right control is still normal.Everything appears to be straight and balanced correct. Any ideas of what to look for?
merril

tschuy

My Feedback: (1)

It almost sounds like the fuselage is slightly twisted. Is the horizontal stab and wing parallel with each other when sighting down the fuselage from the rear of the airplane?


Cheers,

merril

I cant find any twist. Wing and stab are parralel. Virtical fin is a degree or two tilted to the right. Could this cause the plane to not turn left without power?
merril

wingnutinc

Darklotus,

Have you concider the BTE Flin' King? I can tell you that the quality of the kit can't be beat. I'm overpowering mine with a OS 91 FX. The pay load it can handle is in the 5 to 6 lbs range.

pete913

My two cents on powering a senior telemaster is that this airplane has been arouind for a long long time. It's a very good design or it wouldn't have survived this long in the marketplace, but you have to remember that when it was designed, it was a .60 size airplane, which at that time meant a non schneurle ported K&B or something similar. That's about the same power as most modern day .46's or even a tad less, and it was all the power the plane needed to lift some pretty heavy loads even way back when. A modern day .91 2 stroke IMO is just plain extreme overkill. That plane will float forever when it's lightly loaded, and I think you'd just about have to kill a .91 in the air to land it unless the thing was built heavier than all get out.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

The old loop scavenged K&B 61 will hold its own power wise compared with the modern day schneurle ported 61.

A friend has a Telemaster with a 91 two stroke. It is not over powered by any means. I suppose all that wing area absorbs the power?

The plane is a floater on landing.

But granted, a 91 better be tuned up good so the engine will not load up at low throttle settings. Otherwise, there will be a lot of dead stick landings.

Deerslayer

Here's another Senior Telemaster question:

I am building one (it's only taken me about 20 years and perhaps 50 other aircraft to finally get around to building this classic). I made the stab and fin each detachable, partly for transportability and partly to possible experimentation in the future.

Has anyone built one with a symmetrical horizontal stabilizer? If so, what difference did/would it make?

In a normally configured aircraft, the tail has to product downthrust. So, I have to wonder why the Telemaster has a "lifting" tailplane, instead of a neutral (flat) surface or a symmetrical section.

Superspook

My Feedback: (16)

I have had several s.t. alllare gone mostly due to umb thumb. I now have another kit and am getting ready to start on it. all of mine had lifting stabs. But I have been told by some real pros that its not at all necessary and flies just as well without it. Go figure Am also building a giant but finishing that is down the road. tail feathers look bi enough to fly by themselves

Bill Rademacher

My Feedback: (77)

I had a Senior Telemaster.

My mods:

Bombay
bolt on wing
.60 two stroke, then .91 four stroke
balsa USA 46" edo floats
Aluminum struts.
Tail bracing wired

I even had a Zenoah G23 on it briefly, and a Maloney 100. The G23 shook it too much. (hey, I had to try!)

If I had to do it again:

1. Flaps, to get really really heavy loads off the ground. (but it probably isn't necessary)

2. Aileron differential, and couple it with rudder (especially flying with floats) makes the turning much easier.

3. I would definitely sheet the fuselage, to get ring of the twist/flex possible.

4. Servos behind the payload compartment.

5. Less dihedral in the wing.

This is probably one of the all time best rc aircraft ever produced, the 72" version included. One day, I set the throttle back on the .91 four stroke, and trimmed it for level flight, and did circuits for 10 minutes just with the rudder.

great plane

Billrad

jbarnes

I've built the senior and am now building the giant. Do the bolt on wing mod and you will for sure need to do something with the gear. I put a bomb bay in mine and the landing gear repeatdly bent. Get a a good 3/16's aluminum gear. I've put 3lbs in my Senior and it didn't seem to notice it much with a OS61 for power. My kit built suffered the broken wing and stab problem mentioned in several topics. I think if you are using it as a lift you might consider adding support for the wings and beefing up the stab. Mine folded when pulling out of a sharp dive. The kit built plane has no struts, next time I'd add them.

BTW, the Giant has a bomb bay of 18 X 6 X 6 with room for the servos above the bomb bay area.
Thanks, Jerry

jbarnes

Oh sorry forgot to mention one other thing. Sheeting the fuselage is a must, there is way too much twist in that fuse.

Darklotus

My Feedback: (4)

Well, I have finally got the wing framed up on the ST. The build is going very well, can't wait to get this plane in the air. I was wondering about the weight? With all the different engine/airframe setups everyone uses, I'm sure the weight range is quite broad. Was wondering if I could get how much some of your planes weighted in at? Also, if anyone knows what the seniors' (per instructions) target weight is?

Thanks,

James

skyhawk172n

My Feedback: (3)

I'm at work so can't give exact weight, but a good guess would be 8-9 lbs. Mine has an OS 120 4 stroke soft mounted, 16oz. fuel tank no wing or tail bracing, but never flies at full throttle unless the nose is vertical up! 25 min. flights are where I usually give up, and with the bracing mods talked about, it should lift another 10 lbs of payload and still not cruise above 65% power. The fuse flexes, twists, and generally does everything a plane isn't supposed to do, except be loads of FUN!

Gonna build one someday with twin .91 4 strokes just for giggles...


Roy

rryman

My Feedback: (2)

Don't know it it's been mentioned elsewhere, but it you are carrying a big payload, you might want to consider adding functional struts to the wings. The wings are capable of carrying considerable weight, just a thought.
Randy

Previous Telemasters:
1-Mini
3-.40's
2-Seniors (1 currently flying)
1-Giant. (currently flying)

Al Wight

Hey guys, check out the ARF version. According to the guys that have experience with both, the ARF one is much stronger and is cheaper in the long run. It has wing struts. They recommend a few mods, such as:making new wing joiners with less or no dihedral, using nylon wing bolts and quick detachable struts, flapperons or spoilerons for more landing control and put larger wheels. I just ordered one and it will be electric powered. Apparently it can be configured to get up to an hour of flight on one charge and be able to do mild acrobatics and haul a real load. Al from "The Edge of Nowhere"

do335a

Senior Telemaster is ok as it comes out of the box. It can be imporved immensely with several mods.

On my first one, built almost to plan, the vertical find & rudder were enlarged and the wing was converted to bolt on with functional struts. Power was a Fox 74.

When I was finished with it, I gave it away.

Second one built last year was inteneded to correct the faults of the original and improve the performance.

Major mods were to the wing:

1. clip 20% off the span since it's much bigger than necessary,
2. reduce the dihedral to 1/3 of that shown,
3. retain and improve the the bolt on feature used originally,
4. make a two piece wing,
5. use a solid, 24" long oak wing joiner inside a box spar with continuous 1/16" ply shear webs on each side of the spars the length of the wing joiner to be the box sides,
6. add center section sheeting for 2 bays,
7. add cap strips to all ribs, top and bottom from trailing ecge to front turbulator spars, top and bottom,
8. keep ailerons same length as original,
9. double up thickness of trailing edge every other bay for Robart giant scale hinge points - 6 per aileron,
10.add funtional wing struts,
11.use individual serovs on separate channels for ailerons to allow for flaperons

The vertical tail was enlarged again and shaped like a Cessna 180. This added at least 10% more area and improved the looks more tha 100%

The fuselage has its share of mods as well:

1. replace wood engine mounting system with aluminum engine mount for simplicity
2. cover front of lower fuse from LG mount forward with light FG cloth & epoxy resin
3. face all bulkhheads with 1/16" ply on each side
4. add diagonal cross breacing to top, bottom and sides of fuselage from rear of wing to stab to prevent twisting
5. add float support block to fuselage bottom
6. replace landing gear with that from Hangar 9 1.20 size Ultra Stick
7. install scale styule spring tailwheel assembly

Other than changing the shape and size of the vertical fin and rudder, the only change to the tail was to add interrnal diagonal bracing in the stab between the ribs.

Very little extra wood was required sinc in most cases whatever came in the original kit was able to be used or modified for use in a loctaion other than where originally intended.

No kit hardware, such as it was, found its way into the modified plane.

A few other little items include using Du-Bro inflatable 1/4 scale Cub wheels, a 500cc fuel tank and an OS 1.08 swinging a 15-8 Zinger wood or Master Airscrew prop.

It flies much better than my original Senior Telemaster. And even with an all up weight of just under 12 pounds, glides forever. You must be very conscious of airspeed and rate of descent on landing.

In the air, you cannot kill the airframe whatever you do. I've even tried terminal velocity dives with 180 degree pull out with not structural failure. So I'm certain that this plane can also carry a few extra poinds in payload.