RICKSTUBBZ

brenthampton79,

Nice collection of birds. I have dropped you a PM.

brenthampton79

yeah pedro it really weighs that much,
now you've got me depressed with your light weight,
I have the stock linkages in mine with 5 standard bb futaba servo's I had to add some weight to the tail to get it in cg, I will probably look at trying to move the battery pack back as well, I also have the fiberglass cowl and wheel pants which added some weight im sure, i also have the rubber wheels and tires. I also put an alluminum spinner with adapter which that weighs something, i'll try to check how much weight i have on the tail to get in cg im guessing its about 11 of those lead squares which i beleive is .25 oz a piece 2.75 oz total so there's some of the weight i beleive if i had stuck with the stock cowl i could have done withought those weights though, I though that the 55 ax would have been light enough that I wouldn't need to mount the batt pack in the back, boy was I wrong
do you have any ideas how i can shed some weight off this thing with some reason in respect to money and complete overhaul.
well I don't think i'll get to fly it soon though My brother and I started spraying cotton here hot and heavy today and with repairs to the airtractor having to be done(right main went flat on landing tonight) in the morning thats just going to put us that much farther behind and I know one of our larger customers is porbably going to call and then we're going to be 3 to 4 days deep, no rc's for me until next week at best if that happens(not complaining though).

brenthampton79

rick got your pm and messaged back thanks

prgonzalez

Brent,

This is what I did to save weight:

1. Don't use wheel pants.
2. Replace rubber wheels for 2-1/2 foam wheels, I saved one full oz for $5.00
3. Cut the extra material at tips of the engine mount. I saved one full oz for free.
4. No dead weight anywhere.
5. Moved two elevator servos to the tail. This is to gain usefull weight at the tail for balancing.
6. Used pull-pull on rudder with servo at center of standard servo tray.
7. No balsa floor at the cabin, used monokote only.
8. Moved the heavy engine aft as back as I could. Did not follow distance as indicated in plan or instructions.
9. Used carbon fiber linkages with titanium ends. This is not that expensive as you might think and it is extremely light.
10. Removed former F5 and reinforced fuse at wing saddle with balsa.
11. Used contest balsa for front and turtle decks (SIG Balsa).
12. Removed some material from inside of instrument panel, F6, TD1, and TD2
13. Replaced 1/16" sheeting balsa with new stiff and light balsa (Balsa USA).
14. Use 99.9% carpenter's glue and keep epoxy to the minimum.
15. As I moved the engine aft, I had to cut the cowl too (make it shorter) resulting in saving more than one oz of ABS plastic.
16. Sand excess of every interlocking tabs.
17. GP light spinner, plastic tip with aluminum backplate with holes.

The frame is lite-ply stock from the kit. I have tons of pictures if you want to see more details. Just let me know or send me a PM.

Pedro