trpastor

Hey Guys

I think i'm going to get a sig four star 40. I saw a website where the guy made it look real nice by turtle decking the plane and putting a cowl on it.
http://www.tompierce.net/rcplanes/si...dex.htm#custom

Has anyone here done that. Do you have photos of the process?

Also, I've read you should reinforce the landing gear. I guess they mean on the fuse, hwere the gear connects?

Anything else I should do?

Thanks
Tim

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Raise the back of the turtledeck 1/2" at the beginning of the vertical fin to extend down each side of the vertical fin to add support to the fin and strengthen the fuselage in front of the tail.

Make the rudder larger by extending the bottom out like on a Extra

Attach the landing gear with Nylon 1/4-20 wing bolts so that on impact it will tear off and not bust out the bottom of your reinforced fuselage.

Use 3 1/2" wheels for ground clearance.

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

Tim, I have 2 of the fiberglass cowls for this plane to give it the look of ann extra if you would like to buy 1 or 2 of them.......pm me

saramos

Here's my 4* mods. Balsa sheeted and fiberglassed clipped wings. FliteSkin covered control suraces and fuselage. Custom fiberglass cowl. Air retracts, Cut down canopy. Custom made nav lights and strobe. Automotive poly metal flake paints and poly clearcoat.

Scott


Oh yea, I forgot about the rounded wing tips.

ChuckW

On that same site, he shows how to get a better looking canopy by modifying the stock piece, I would definitely recommend it.

On my last 4*, I did the turtle deck sort of like w8ye mentioned and sheeted it, did a built up balsa cowl and clipped one bay off each wing half. Actually I cut new wing ribs and built the wing with a sheeted LE and rounded tips too. I stick built the tail pieces and gave them a different shape too. Only problem with that is it made the plane even more nose-heavy than normal so I'd try not to remove any weight in that area.

trpastor

does anyone have one they are looking to sell? I'd be interested in buying a moded out one if so.

How long do you think this kit takes to build if you do the turtle deck and do the balsa cowl?

Thanks
Tim

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

There's another problem with the Four Star 40

They have a single aileron servo in the middle of the wing. The control arms for the ailerons must bend forward to clear the rear of the fuselage at the trailing edge of the wing. This causes the ailerons to have more down than up travel and creates adverse yaw in a turn.

Use two light weight mini servos such as the Hitec 225 mighty mini out in the wings for the ailerons.

vmsguy

I read in some thread(s) that the 4-stars were a little weak in the fuselage.. just behind the wing. A little reinforcement there is recommended...

May I suggest a little searching in the Crash and Rebuild area before starting construction....

mclina

I rebuilt mine earlier this winter and made a lot of the more common mods to it, dual aileron servos, wing tips, sheeted turtle deck, new canopy, larger control surfaces, stronger landing gear. You can see the rebuild thread here:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8232906/tm.htm

Not quite as radical as saramos - that thing is a work of art.

Good luck

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Your contrasting color scheme is nice

foodstick

Alot of people like the way they fly with one wing bay eliminated on each side.

jship

My Feedback: (4)

The easiest way to rune a great flying plane is to add a lot of extra weight. This plane was designed to fly light. I have all three of the Sig Four Star BIY series. I am in the process of finishing the 120 right now. If You are looking for a fast build, the 60 size is all laser cut and goes together very fast, straight and true. Not to mention that it is one great flying plane. Put a cheep ST 90 on it and have a blast. I recommend, if You have not built a Four Star build the first on by the book. Don’t worry, it wont be long before You will be building another, they are such a great every day flyer.

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

On planes like this I always make a hatch for the fuel tank. It makes it easier to hook up the fuel and air lines in the first place, and you nearly always have to get to the tank eventually anyway. A little extra effort in the building stage saves lots of hassles later. And it adds negligible weight.

A conventional tail-wheel bracket is a good idea, too. I know they say you don't need one, but unless your field is a lot smoother than mine, the tail will get bumped around a lot taxiing.

Tee Bee

I like the Sullivan tailwheels. They worked great on my Four Star 60s. Having built and flown a kit with mods and then owning a stock ARF in the 60 size, I recommend several of the common mods. Beefed up landing gear mounting with nylon bolts, some doublers and tri-stock behind the trailing edge bulkhead, clipped wings, and added surface area to the rudder(1" extension worked for me). These things fly great and are a blast with mods or without. They can easily be modified to suit your tastes. Seems like everyone at the local club field owns or has owned one and it's for good reason. Have fun.

rambler53

My Feedback: (494)

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXVXN8&P=ML

I prefer to fly this, $99.98, looks great, flies great, builds in only 3 hours, just an amazing SIG replacement.

andrew66

thats a nice looking little airplane. only prob is its an arf.

Alex7403

ARFs dont last that long as kits, ARFs are not built as well as we build kits.
if an ARf crashes you go and buy a new one right?
So in order to make you buy more airplanes they need to lower the building quality even more????


As for mods, i did 1/4-20 T-nuts to hold the wing, dubro composite landing gear, composite push rods, sullivan tail wheel, bolted and covered with monokote fuel tank hatch.

rambler53

My Feedback: (494)

I agree on the longevity issue of kits over ARFs, assuming you never crash, and relax taking it out on windy days like I do in an ARF. I've got a Dalotel I won't fly except on near perfect days, not wanting to scrape up wing tips or crack the cowl should a tropical gust of wind get her on landing. It's happened. I can care less when it's an ARF, so I fly an ARF better, flying it like I don't have so much invested, and I fly them more often, so maybe that's why they last longer? Should a crash occur for any reason, the emotional/labor investment is a fraction of the 40-1000 hours spent in rekitting the plane. You can always peel the wing covering off and reinforce where you see fit, and it's easy to go through an ARF fuselage and tweak the bulk heads and firewall, wing mounts/landing gear block, to my standards, as most ARF builders should routinely do. If I fly a plane a few years, it just ends up being given away or sold on RCU, because it became stale or like vanilla ice cream to me. I want a new flavor often. Time doesn't allow for kit building either, although I have two partially built kits slowly being completed now over the last 2 years...
I finished two of these Minnows, fiberglass fuselage, flies faster than a Four Star, lands as gracefully, costs about the same, in the .60 size. How would I improve on a glass fuselage? The whole wing is sheeted and holds up great. The rudder is molded into the fuselage. I'm confident it will outlast many kits. It took 15 hours to complete and I could never paint and cover this scheme as good as Great Planes does.

A Shoestring .60 ARF one of my flying buddies has is still going, it's almost six years old and he flies every weekend, and only that plane.

The Four Star might be more interesting if you clip it's wings. Maybe SIG ARFs are the issue. But there are a select few out there I wouldn't throw into the low quality category, not anymore. Lanier went out of business.

Alex7403

i believe its the top end few ARFs you are talking about, i read sometimes on ARF & RTF forum and get scared and amazed from the low quality airplanes and its not that cheap...

also what you have described is a correct lesson learned over several ARFs as i did too (2 ARFs...[&o])

and its not the brand name any more that makes it a better airplane, lately i saw some twin engine (GP?) arf with cheap retracts which didnt fully opened, it wasnt beautiful nor cheap.

trpastor , what w8ye wrote on the second post with the nylon bolts i learned the hard way that its the best mod.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Some ARF's are better than others.

Some ARF's are just trash. Others may last you several years.

trpastor

well I got the kit. now I have to start building. There's been a lot of suggestions. I guess I'll go through and see which ones I want to do. I do like how it looks with the rounded turtledeck. And cowl.

thanks for all the help and suggestions
Tim

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Your primary goal is to build the plane and get it finished.

Do not plan so many mods that you never get it finished

saramos

I agree. The two mods that I think are a must are to add triangle stock behind the bulkhead behind the wing. Also, add extra hinges one bay in from the wingtips even if you build the wing standard. That way, they're already there if you decide to clip the wings later. I've read quite a few posts about strengthening the landing gears. I never had a problem with the stock. Only problem I had with the stock gear was trying to add toe-in to improve ground handling. The 4 * pictured above is my second. My first I build stock, then clipped the wings after a season.

Scott.

Andrewmc

The sheeting of the turtle deck will only add one extra evening to your build time and that only to wait for the glue to dry and is very easy to do. Adding a balsa cowl takes a bit more time but I am really happy with the results, maybe it could be done in 4 or 5 evenings. I have a set of instructions for doing this if you would like them.

I also reinforced the fuselage behind the wing and the landing gear block, both simple mods which do not take much time.

If it was me and the choice was to do the above mods and have agreat looking model or to not do them and get to fly a week or two earlier, I would do the mods.

Other mods I did with my kit are:

side mounted 56 four stroke
du bro tail wheel
rounded tail plane
rounded wingtips
sheeted leading edge
dual aileron servos - (flaperons!!)
du bro heavy duty landing gear
wheel pants (in progress)
cut back canopy

I chose not to clip the wing as others have done, while the plane does tend to float in a bit on landing the roll rate, even on standard rates, is about 1 to 1.5 per second - do like Saramos says and add a extra hinge point - but I don't think I would clip my wing I like it the way it is, but adding the hinge point does allow you to clip one bay without major surgery on the covering.

On the kit vs. arf saga, my 4* had a bad landing at the weekend (pilot had a momentary lapse of concentration) it didn't so much land as come into contact with the ground. The plane bounced and cartwheeled, the only damage was a scuff mark on the covering. Would an ARF have been so robust?

Enjoy the build - definitely my favourite plane at the moment (out of a choice of 6)

Andrew

Photo's:
1. Rounded wing tips
2. Balsa cowl
3. Shaped rudder
4. Sheeted leading edge
5. Finished plane side view
6. Finished balsa cowl
7. On approach

rambler53

My Feedback: (494)

Nice kitchen.