beardking

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This is my newest toy. I got the kit from Stangel-Technologies on Ebay. It's called a Skylark Sport 40 and it comes as a short kit. Basically he supplies the wood and you supply everything else. The kit was pretty basic, all 1/4" balsa slab construction. Their are a few parts that are cut to shape like the fuse sides and the tailfeathers. The website says that you can complete the kit in just a couple of nights, and I would agree, as long as you don't do like I do and modify the heck out of it. I pitched the supplied rudder, elevator, and ailerons and went with my own built up ones instead (except for the ailerons, those were donated from an H9 UltraStick 40). I also pitched the wheel pants, I fly off of grass and didn't want to waste the time to build them just to see them ripped off on my first landing. It comes with a wooden cowl that yo can build, but as you can see, I just left the engine hanging out there. The engine is another of the changes. I emailed the Stangel guy (sorry, don't remember his first name) and he said that he wouldn't recommend anything bigger than an OS 40fx, unfortunately, I only had a 46FX. Oh darn. I flew it just this afternoon and for such an inexpensive and simple kit as this is, it flies wonderfully. Of course it would have flown better if I had remembered that it only had an 8 oz tank instead of the usual 10-12 that I'm used to. Deadstick on first flight, no damage. Very happy with this kit. Just had to show it off. Now lets see if I can get these pics to load. (oh, and no comments about my messy den)

beardking

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Here's another.

beardking

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Here's another.

beardking

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Man, it's hard to get these pics to the right size. Hope you guys dig these.

stuk_at_work

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This plane cam out nice!

I just started this kit last night (fuselage halves now glued). I would be interested in any building tips or "gotchas" you could provide.

I too was considering rebuilding the tail with sticks. My concern was that the plane would come out too tail heavy built with the solid surfaces, and I was interested in adding a tail wheel, which would introduce more weight in the tail.

I see from your pictures that you did one mod. I was thinking off, mounting the engine sideways instead of inverted as called out on the plans. The other thing I was thinking of doing was mounting a servo in each wing to drive the ailerons. I hate torque rods! I would be mounting the servos on their sides and probably be going to minis. Any thoughts?

beardking

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I have the exact same feelings as you do about single servo ailerons. Hate 'em, just hate 'em. I added a couple of pieces of bass wood to the (I believe) 3rd bay on either side of the fuse and attached my servos directly to that. I probably would have been better off using minis, but considering I built this plane as my cheap throw around, I didn't want to spend the extra money. One thing that I will warn you about doing the dual ailerons and the side mounted engine, be sure to divert your muffler exhaust as far away from the wing direction as possible. I'm trying to come up with some sort of cover for my servo right now to keep the nasty oil off of it, just waiting for it to short out.

As for the built up tail, I just did the rudder and elevator itself, but if I were going to do it over, I would do the whole stabilzer set out of sticks to save the weight. And I would make the rudder and elevator even larger. but that's just because I'd like to learn a little 3d eventually.

I would suggest that you make a hatch for the tank area because it's one HUGE pain to squeeze the tank in from the radio compartment. I did, all I did was take the piece of balsa that is supposed to be glued on the bottom of the fuse underneath the tank and just screwed it on. just be sure to reinforce the screw holes with CA. Also, about the tank, I'm attaching a drawing of what I did with the fuel lines. Makes it a lot easier to refuel and since the front of the plane is mostly taken up by the engine mount, there aren't many places left to drill holes to send the lines through.

If I can think of anything else that I did or would do differently, I'll post them. If you have any questions, feel free to post here or send me an email.

beardking

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Wow, that picture came out horrible. I'll take a picture of the actual set up tonight (if I can remember) and I'll post it. Or if you have Autocad I'll just send you the cad file that the pic came from.

stuk_at_work

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Good input!

Did you end up mounting the servos on their sides or just have them "stick out" a little further out the bottom? I am thinking that if I side mount them I can have the control arms come out the top of the wing instead of the bottom, and with a side mounted engine should not have too much of an exhaust residue problem, assuming the muffler exhaust ends up below the wing and I use a diverter.

Sent you a PM on the CAD file.

MinnFlyer

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With that color scheme, you must be a VIKINGS fan!!!

beardking

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Actually, MinnFlyer, no I'm not. Just liked the idea. Not a big football fan, hockey on the other hand is a slighty different story.

That color scheme started out with my wife complaining about all of my planes that I build being black and yellow, so I decided to change it up a little, but I had a ton of yellow left.

beardking

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Stuk, no, I mounted the servos just sticking out. If you don't use mini's then you'll have to do that, the wing is too shallow to mount them on there side. That would have been the preferred method, but alas, you do what can with what you have.

beardking

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There are a couple more pics on this site of my plane.

http://home.attbi.com/~drafter/Skylark/skylark.html

beardking

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Well, I'm sad to report that the Skylark had a short and unhappy life in my posession. Because of it's extreme depression (guess it didn't like the color scheme) it decided it was time to take a dirt nap. I took it out to fly tonight after work and on the first flight it took off and immediately I knew it was doomed. As soon as it lifted off the ground it started pitching this way and that and the nose kept trying to shoot straight up. Next thing I know the wing seperated and it became the all too familiar lawn dart. After assessing the crash site and debris, I have yet to figure out exactly what happened. My best guess is that the battery wasn't as fully charged as I thought for some reason as the plane didn't act like it wanted to respond. I'll post pictures of the carnage soon.

William Robison

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BK:

Very sorry. Three weeks is not an acceptable life for any airplane.

I wish you more success with your next one.

Bill.

stuk_at_work

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Bummer.

Did you make a set of templates to build another? Seems all you really need are the fuselage sides and a rib template, since the rest is either stick or sheet stuff.

beardking

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Stu, I didn't make any templates for this kit, but I think that there is enough there that I can probably do a rebuild without too many worries. And for those of you who want to see how this thing looks now, check out my website.
http://home.attbi.com/~drafter/Skylark/skylark.html

stuk_at_work

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Double bummer.

Doesn't it seem that those O.S. remote needle valves are designed to sheer off that way? Fortunately it is a fairly inexpensive part ($10 @ T.H.), assuming you can salvage the needle valve assembly.

On Saturday I pretty much finished the framing of the fuselage of my Skylark 40. I know it is overkill but I ended up adding 1/8" dowels to secure the firewall, the rear bulkhead, and most of the joiners. The first set that I put into the rear bulkhead went in so easy I couldn't help myself and I did the rest.

Unfortunately(?) the weather cleared up here Saturday afternoon and for the rest of the weekend, so I spend my time at the field and not in the shop. I've taken pictures of the assembly so far and will probably start a new "construction" thread soon.

beardking

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Stu, yeah, it does seem like they design those needle assemblies to break like that, but at least I didn't destroy the crankcase like I did last time that engine was in a crash. And 10 bucks is better than the 40 bucks I had to spend on a new crankcase. Otherwise, the engine seemed to handle the crash fairly well.

beardking

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stuk_at_work, I just wanted to check on your progress with your Skylark. You should be about done with that thing by now, shouldn't you?

stuk_at_work

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As I write, I am glancing over at my framed up skylark that I am bringing in for "project night" that we hold twice yearly for "models in progress".

All major components have been assembled, and control lines run. I need to add the top and bottom sheeting to the rear of the fuselage and then I will do a trial balance to see where the battery and receiver will end up. The preliminary balance I did has the CG about 1" ahead of where it is supposed to be, and that is with the recommended 40 FP engine! I suspect I will have to move the battery behind the rear bulkhead, which I am not to happy about doing because I will end up having to build yet another hatch. Assuming I don't have to add a lot of lead to the tail, I should easily make it under the 4lb target weight.

I still plan on starting a construction thread with pictures, but since we've talked about it already, here is a "short" list of my modifications to the design:

• All bulkheads, cross members doweled for extra strength.
• Engine mounted sideways instead of inverted ... was going to mount engine upright, but I felt that the carb was way to high above the fuel tank.
• Hatch built on top for fuel tank accessibility.
• Wing mounts with (2) dowels through the leading edge, 1/4" bolt in the rear.
• Center Section of wing fiberglassed (not done yet).
• Single Full Size Servo for ailerons, but using Nyrod routed thru wing for control (way, way overdesigned!).
• Steerable tailwheel connected to rudder.
• Detachable rudder ... want to try flying with standard and oversized rudder.
• Cowl- The one on plans won't work well with engine mounted sideways .. looking for appropriately sized plastic bottle (soda) to make a radial cowl.

That is all I can think of for now.

beardking

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Sounds like it's progressing nicely. You'll have to throw some pics up there so we can see it.

William Robison

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BK:

How about yours? Putting it back together yet?

Bill.

stuk_at_work

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It was a good night last night. The Skylark 40 took second place for "sport models" at project night, and I took 3rd place in our indoor flying contest with my GWS Pico J3 Cub.

I'll start posting pictures tonight. What should the title of my thread be, "My new toy too"?

beardking

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Bill, no, I haven't started putting mine back together yet. I had just started an RV-4 kit the week before the untimely demise of my poor Skylark, so unfortunately it will be on the back burner for a little while. I do plan on putting it back together, it'll just probably be sometime this summer.

stuk_at_work

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I thought I was going to start fiberglassing the wing center section tonight, but with the rain forecast delayed several hours there is a chance I can sneak out at lunchtime tomorrow to do some flying, so I was busy prepping some planes tonight. I took this one picture tonight to show how the plane looks roughed out with some of my mods.

I am seriously considering rounding out the "canopy" area. I figure some 1" stock on both sides should give me enough to whittle.