Many thanks to the ones in the various threads  that have given of their experience and time the latter often in short supply, so that Hog builders can ' Get what they want, cause others got what they didn't want' , to loosly parphrase Seamus. Also thanks to the folks at Fubar Hill for their support to the cause of keeping one of R/C's longest running design types going strong .

Recieved the kit a 6 weeks or so ago and have about 70 percent of the build done. Beginning to smell like bacon down here in S  AlabamaJ

 This is the first build i have done since way back, and my first biplane. I did several Sig and other off the shelf 40 and 60 size kits in the mid 80's and i would like to believe i have average building skills (which means i am getting better at hiding my mistakes). Started getting back in the hobby with arfs about five years ago and kinda dove in harder about a year ago.

Clocked a WM Super Sports 90 into a tree this past summer. I guess i made 3 mistakes with two mistakes worth of altitude   It rained balsa and the airplane came down in pieces. The crash aftermath missed the garbage bag mainly because i wanted to revive my fabrication skills. The building bug set in again while paying penance for my control error, and the SS is flying again with a 125 Saito installed. My nearly new Saito 100 twin was the major casulity of the crash which happened on the third flight of a new airplane and engine. Broke the carb mount pins(Yikes...new crankcase in order).  Will ship engine off for repairs when closer to being ready for it. Got that Italian desease’, ‘Funzalow’.and hope too fit new radios into the budget before the maiden flight also

Since the step by step thing has been covered in the above mentioned many resourses, the approach i plan to take is the major points and tricks i have found useful. That and to yell for help from those that can and will.  Will add pics and coments on them over the next few weeks now the major push of the build is over.

I took about 150 pictures while building  and will go through them and post the noteworthy ones over the next few weeks.  My main objective of this thread is an updated 'Clearing House' of mod and build tips and to help keep interest going in this R/C veteran in this era of ARFs and instant gratification.  If you are building, flying, or just have general comments on what you see. Please free free to post you mind. Like to hear friom any pig plane afectionados out there!

Current State of the project.

quote:

Nice covering job - what's the material?

Some general thoughts and observations on the project and materials used so far...... All in all it looks like Sig kits haven’t changed much over the years.  Most of the hardware is junk but serviceable if you want to use it. The  hinges were strange....they were either defective or different from any ca hinge i have ever seen. The outer layers would peel right off. Never saw that before that i can remember..  Installing great planes hinges..  The occasional piece of substandard major piece of planking.was there.  Seems almost to be Sig's trademark..Got bit by that one. Piece of soft planking that wanted to sand thin and punch through eventually had to tear half of it out. Should have took it all out. My fault, but it had been so long since i built, i made misjudgments (and there were a lot things i didn't learn in the first place). But all in all it appears to me one most ingenious and versatile airframe lay outs i have ever seen in a model. User friendly and that makes up for any minor weaknesses. 

One glaring error in the instruction sequence is installing the forward fuselage bottom before drilling the bottom wing dowel holes in lower wing leading edge mount blocks. This needs to be done soon as you have a framed fuselage and a sheeted bottom wing. If you follow the sequence in the instructions and the used the method described therein to locate the dowel hole centers, you will unnecessarily ‘Lock’ yourself out of the forward fuselage area by installing the FFB prematurely and have to accomplish the process of locating the holes for the leading edge dowels by Braille and pointed sticks as described on page 28 of the instructions. Thank you, Lord, for the threads. FBF was one of the last things i did before covering.  I would still trying to fix the missed drilled leading edge dowel holes. Too bad Sig won't issue an 'Airworthiness Directive', but i guess they feel that to admit the error would call for an entire rewrite of the instructions.

 One  thing i mentioned to Sig Master in a pm is one i missed about reversing the top wing cabane bolt direction and place the blinds in the top wing and run the mount bolts up from the bottom.. Eliminate the ugly bolt holes in the skin of the top wing. It would have  make it a bit cumbersome to put the bolts in.at the field. (Requires a stubby driver), but i can transport mine assembled so it would have been worth it to me. Should have read the threads more.

 In no particular order, some things added to my build:

Forward magnetic hatch. Plan to install magnetic switch cover in the cockpit when i get switches and charge plugs installed.

'Bird Cage' construction of cockpit walls using 1/8" dowels. Read too many horror stories of fingers stuck through weak walls.

Horizon Hobby has a Hellcat panel decal that looks decent, for a little over 3 bucks. Fit my build nearly perfectly. (will come up with  part number if anyone is interested).

Shaped balsa headrest. Lower and longer. Just say no to plastic

Lower wing leading edge and trailing edge fairings. 

Dubro composite gear and enlarged the landing gear plate. Stock position. Plan to run nylon bolts (forget what size....the ones up from 8-32). Hopefully on a bad day the bolts will go and the plate will stay.

Sullivan split elevator. Hope i  got the geometry right...My first there, and maybe my last.  and a subject unto itself. Hope it wasn't a bad idea, but i couldn't find much info on the subject.

Dubro rudder pull system and Hitec 645 servos

Homebuilt cam/microswitch dual glow system

Airtronics for guidance

Wheel pants, maybe, once through the shakedown period.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Steveibrc

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