cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

I must be nuts but I never built my kougar and decided its time to get it done.my question is can I build independent wing servos rather than use the old fashion horns that typically came with the older kits??

Can I even use tail mounted servos one for rudder and the other for elevator..I dont want in the worst case scenario to use balsa sticks as pushrods..I built many a plane that way when I was younger but technquies change and there has to be a better way.if forced to I will use arroe rods or a composite rod.


sure would appreciate everyones advice.I see the plans called for a thirdline back then due to closed cowl.that will be easy and I'll just use a fueldot.man this should be a great plane when done.yeah I know there are arf's and I have them too, but building is part of the fun too and I just feel the need toget this one out there..

XTOL

The Kougar is a terrific plane. Mine has a nearly 20 year old
airframe and looks pretty ragged. And it flies like a dream.

I see no advantage is going with wing mounted dual aileron servos
in this plane. The torque rods work fine.

Mine has the hard balsa pushrods and they work just fine
despite the hard flying I give this plane. And I plan on
flying it in our club pylon race thats coming up soon.

However you decide to build it you will really like it.
Flies and tracks straight as an arrow and has no bad
habits. Ive put hundreds of flights on mine.

Mike Hammer

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I agree with XTOL 100%. Don't complicate a simple, wonderful model airplane.

This one is built bone stock, and flies as good as you could ask for. The modifications you are contemplating will add weight/complexity and give you very little, if anything, in return.

Save all that stuff for a larger plane. The Kougar is a simple little sport plane designed to teach aileron flying back in the days when ailerons were viewed with suspicion by the rudder-only "old heads"... It doesn't need any sprucing up or modifying.

And the balsa pushrods are quite sufficient. Dude, this is a 4.5/5 pound airplane. Built as intended, it has all the performance you could want. Yeah, you can put a larger engine on it, do retracts, dual aileron servo, etc.... but, IMO, you will destroy most of its great characteristics in the process.

I built this one for my grandson, and he flew the wings off it before he lost interest. Now that he has moved away, I bring it along with my big gas aerobat for a change of pace, since it slips in neatly in the cramped bed of my S-10 alongside that 27% Extra.

As designed, the Kougar is a pure, simple fun plane. Doing all the "modern upgrades", etc., while possibly interesting from a technical standpoint, defeats the purpose for which it was intended.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

you guys are absolutely right! I started working on it today as its raining and looks like it will be crappy outside for a few days.so I am building it and its a fast build and I will build it exactly to specifications..oh maybe lite wheels and the celastic might go but beyond that I will keep it simple.I cut my theeth in ona sig kavalier god too many years back to count.then progressed to the cougar.most of the adanced pilots had 50's with some sort of tuned pipe to make it a rocket.

of course I am looking for a jet pilot you guys know where I can get one inexpensive..?

not sure I like balsa rods but have done it over the 25 years many times..and your right why spoil the joy flying this sweet plane.I am installing a os 46fx .I almost bet I could get away with a 52 or 56 fourstroke .nahhhhhhhhhhhhh .I will make it look like the pics.yeahhhhh just right.thanks guys for bringing me back to reality lol..

blw

My Feedback: (3)

I flew my Kavalier yesterday. I have a Saito .56 on it. It is still an extremely well flying plane.

I recently retrofitted a pattern plane to dowels for push rods. It flies great with them. Using dowels isn't much of a weight gain if you don't like the balsa.

On the Kav, I was tired of the single servo and torque rod system. You can modify yours like I did the Kavalier and actually save .1 oz over the Futaba 3004 servo and have dual servos. I enlarged the servo hole by 1/8" and put in two Hitech HS-81s. One for each torque rod. They fit side by side and I didn't have to do any other mods to the plane. It does fly much better. The servos run around $18 each.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

See photo in second post of this thread.

I found this little guy at Toledo last year. Don't remember the firm, but he is a direct copy of one offered by Hobby Lobby in Tennessee. Kind of pricey, but he really spruces up the cockpit...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_28...tm.htm#2986084

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I looked into that. The front end/cowling is simply not "right" for a four-banger. You could certainly get one on there; but it would look hokey as hell, and you would have serious prop clearance issues.

I have been wanting to build a Kadet MK II for some time. I want to put my 52 Surpass on it, but the same reasons not to apply. The Kadet actually has more "room" up front, but the necessary 12 inch prop would be too long.

A .46 is 'way more engine than you need, unless you make lead sled out of it. The plane was designed for the light .40s of the day (K&B. etc.). My .40 SF is too heavy; while the plane's performance doesn't suffer, it is still slightly nose heavy with the battery back as far as I can get it.

FYI...

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

my first kougar had a os fsr.still have it as good as new but am still going with my 46..some of the kougars I flew along with used os 50engines with pipes.can you say rocket??? but my 46 will be ok with a std muffler.. its have done .hoping to find pics of kougars to get ideas for covering.

XTOL

For what its worth my old Kougar has a GMS 47 in it with the
Tower tuned muffler. It swings an APC 10 X 7 at around 13800
rpm and hauls the old Kougar around with authority.

The only other plane as fast in our club is a Direct Connection
F-20 with a YS45 on it. And I can usually keep up with him.

Here is a pic of mine. Its not too pretty but flies good.

Mike Hammer

Roary m

My Feedback: (67)

Please dont do the four stroke thing; RCM did a review on the King Kobra years ago with a Saito 120; it flew o k if I remember but what a slug of an engine in the front if the plane; I think it worked pretty good as an airdam as well.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

looks great XTL...hey got a question .I cut out the piece of plastic to attach to the main landing gear.The celastic looks lame .probably not woth the extra effort to find a better way.maybe fabricate a copy out of lite ply or the heck with it lol.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I too left off the gear doors.

AFAIK, Celastic hasn't been available since, like, before time began... It was designed to be softened with dope and molded like putty.

My plan was to use itty-bitty screws and 1/2A landing gear straps to attach those plastic pieces to the gear legs. But I goofed and painted the gear legs BEFORE fitting the plastic pieces. Fitting them after the paint would mess up the paint; so I just bagged the idea.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

oh I know that celastic garbage is ancient which is why I wont put the langing gear on most likely.however if there was a way to strap them on with little fuss it would be nice but its not necessary. I wonder if I made them out of lite ply and used the landing gear straps secured with screws .

XTOL

I got my Kougar used from another club member. The airframe is
pushing 20 years of age. It came without the gear doors. And I
have never missed them. I'd leave them off. Just something
you will end up removing later on.

About 4 strokes on a Kougar...dont do it. The Kougar begs
for a screaming wide open 2 stroke. Speed is what its all about.
It will probably fly with a 4 stroker but it just wouldnt be the same.

Mike Hammer

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

XT..I am using a os 46.was even thinking about a small mac but I agree with you it cries out for a 2 stroke.I love my four stroke engines but not on this never.and I fly other planes with two stroke I have a nasty supre tiger 61 that loves going fast..

JimInCA

I agree with everything said about the Kougar. It’s one great design. It looks good, flies great, it’s great in the wind, can come in slow or it can come in just about as hot as you can handle it, and when it touches down, it’s as if the wheels have Velcro. I get more complements about how great my landings are with this plane than with all my other planes combined. But it’s not really me, it’s the plane.

Sense everyone else is posting photos of their Kougars, here’s a recent shot of mine. I won this kit in a raffle back in ’83. The engine is also the same vintage being an O.S 50FSR. Perfect engine/plane combination.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Nice model, Jim.

How'd you balance it? I put a 50 FSR in a 40 size Super Kaos and had to get a special battery pack made (two cells end-to-end and side by side, IOW, narrow) to fit in the tail.

The 50 FSR is a heavy sucker. But, gawd, the power...

JimInCA

Steve,
Thanks for the complement. I balanced it as called out in the documentation. I believe that it was 1/2 inch back from the leading edge as measured at the wing tip. The difference could be that the Kougar is not a light bird. I believe that mine weighs in at around 6 pounds. But that 50FSR has more than enough power for that heavy of a plane.
Jim...

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

6 pounds???

Wow; mine weighs just under 5. You must have some heavy wood back in your tail...

BTW, you do know that Sig has discontinued this puppy? Once the available supply is gone, we'll be paying scalper's prices. I almost picked a NIB kit up at a hobby shop the other day; until I saw he had it marked at list price.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

great looking kougar.I had thought about doing the plane in blue as well then went ahead with the T2 buckeye copy.I am starting covering this weekend.I havent built a kit in almost 10 years but it all comesback.I am a little stumped about the wing fillets.anybody got a simple foolproof method. did a lot of sanding and was careful so I am estimating a flyinfg weight a bit more than 5 pounds..I got some lite wheels etc we'll see when its done.

now that I am using alldove gray with the missle red not sure what to do about bottom wing.gotta have some differentiation so I know top from bottom lol..

JimInCA

Steve,
I just checked and yes, my Kougar weighs in at exactly 6 pounds. As I remember, most Kougars were a bit on the heave side. I amazes me that you were able to bring in your Kougar under 5 pounds. My hat is off to you and your building skills.

To get back to the original question, my only recommendation for the ailerons is to make sure that you use enough hinges. Use as least four if not five hinges per aileron. I had problems with flutter with mine because the wood used in the ailerons was a little too soft for the number of hinges that I was using. I had to remove the first set of ailerons and replace them with ailerons made from harder wood and add more hinges (aileron augmentation, larger and firmer).

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

hi jim..

funny you said 4 or 5 hinges..I just completed that phase and am using 4hinges on each wing hoping to avoid potentially any flutter.theres not much of any open seam but I guess if need be use some transarent covering to tape what seam is exposed on the bottom as added insurance but with a stock 46 and no pipe I cant see the need.I also used better hinging material as well.I am swapping out the balsa pushrods and going with nyrod material .I;ll stiffen it up by bracing in the fuse.when its done much much less slop.beyond that its going to be standard issue.lol.I found in my inventory a pair of 2.5 inch old unsed vecco wheels.they look like military wheels.did anyone use bigger wheels??and I looked for a small jet pilot figure.I know why I never had one ..its expensive .any ideas? today I am making wing fillets.that will be interesting as I have only done it 2x before in the laST 20 some years.

really looking foward to finishing it in time for a fun fly in a couple weeks.I'll have that and my new funtana to fly .whew two new planes in one summer lol.

dennis

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

[quote]ORIGINAL: JimInCA

My hat is off to you and your building skills.

[quote]

Thanks; but I imagine it had more to do with the excellent, light wood in my kit than anything else. This one had the best wood I've ever seen in a kit. Also, I have a tongue muffler than weighs next to nothing, as opposed to the usual "can" muffler. Nice and light, but obnoxiously loud, and messy.

Dennis, while I agree with the extra hinges deal, sealing the gap will do more to prevent flutter than anything else on a plane this size. Assuming, of course, your ailerons are sufficiently sturdy, as Jim mentioned.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Oops; screwed that up. My reply is in the "quote" box...

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

building aside where can you get military decal sheets.man, I just thought they existed everywhere.looking for navy or airforce.bummer.oh and did find a inexpensive pilot lol in singapore .nooooooooI didnt go there.