New Tail Feathers for my Tiger 2
08-30-2010, 04:44 AM
#1
Thread Starter
New Tail Feathers for my Tiger 2
The stock tail on the Tiger 2 was always a tough fit in the trunk of the car and I thought I would build a Mooney style tail to help fit it in. When building the kit originally, the tail feathers also seemed a bit light to me so I wanted to go from 6mm to 8mm stock to make it stronger.
Here are some photos. It reduced the overall length about 5 and 1/2 inches making it a much easier fit in the trunk now. I like removable tails and you can see the 4-40 blind nuts and screws. The new tail is much stiffer torsionally, and somehow it actually turned out lighter than the original tail. Haven't flown it yet and I expect no difference there.
Here are some photos. It reduced the overall length about 5 and 1/2 inches making it a much easier fit in the trunk now. I like removable tails and you can see the 4-40 blind nuts and screws. The new tail is much stiffer torsionally, and somehow it actually turned out lighter than the original tail. Haven't flown it yet and I expect no difference there.
08-30-2010, 12:12 PM
#5
RE: New Tail Feathers for my Tiger 2
Is a tiger with a 5-1/2" shorter tail any less tiger?
Don't forget to rebalance the plane and to adjust the location of the main landing wheels if needed.
Don't forget to rebalance the plane and to adjust the location of the main landing wheels if needed.
09-07-2010, 07:29 AM
#6
Thread Starter
RE: New Tail Feathers for my Tiger 2
Flight report on the new tail:
First flight was more sensitive on the elevator as the new tail has a full span control surface and no fixed vanes on the outside. Landed and moved the control horn to the outer-most hole and the second flight had the same pitch, roll, and rudder feel as the original tail.
After verifying normal control on the second flight, I tried some snap rolls. The original tail was very hard to get to snap, but now, from a climbing right turn at half throttle, I get a nice fast snap when the sticks go left at stall. Recovery is immediate. Snaps to the right are harder to come by which I think is due to my normal (not so straight) wing building process! The CG is in the same exact place so it has something to do with the rudder moment being further forward. Except for the snap rolls, I noticed no difference with the new tail at any speed. Great fun today.
I like the look of the Mooney style tail a lot more than the original, especially on an inverted pass. It was worth doing.
First flight was more sensitive on the elevator as the new tail has a full span control surface and no fixed vanes on the outside. Landed and moved the control horn to the outer-most hole and the second flight had the same pitch, roll, and rudder feel as the original tail.
After verifying normal control on the second flight, I tried some snap rolls. The original tail was very hard to get to snap, but now, from a climbing right turn at half throttle, I get a nice fast snap when the sticks go left at stall. Recovery is immediate. Snaps to the right are harder to come by which I think is due to my normal (not so straight) wing building process! The CG is in the same exact place so it has something to do with the rudder moment being further forward. Except for the snap rolls, I noticed no difference with the new tail at any speed. Great fun today.
I like the look of the Mooney style tail a lot more than the original, especially on an inverted pass. It was worth doing.
11-23-2010, 02:24 AM
#8
Thread Starter
RE: New Tail Feathers for my Tiger 2
Here's a short video of some flying with the new tail. Several fun days so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvWvzBaTnQQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvWvzBaTnQQ
