Posts: 268
Joined: 1/31/2002 From: Las Vegas, NV, USA Status: offline
Well, guys..here is my little contribution to the Forum: The fuselage & stab was recovered by a very good friend of mine...Gerry Carrick...since my covering skills are not the best...I still can silk..but monokote, I am very poor. Well the model came out at 12 lbs..on added weight...maybe it is because it is powered with a YS-140...way to much power...but it will do anything you want it to do...knife edge's great. The model and markings are the same as it's Big Brother...the owner of the NS2-3..was tickled pink when he saw the model... I have been very fortunate to fly the Big Brother....the owner wants the model to hang in his hanger....maybe when I get tired of the plane, I will let him have it.
Posts: 6
Joined: 5/31/2006 From: Taylors, SC, USA Status: offline
Men, I have read every word on this forum. Great info! Have ordered this plane and wondering if there are any new ideas or issues. Will change the colors and markings. So many to choose from. Will use Saito 125 and ST125MG servos. Any advice on set up? Have heard about lowering the fuel tank due to inverted engine flooding. 5" wheels? Pull pull? Connecting elevator halfs? Propeller size for this plane and engine?
Posts: 469
Joined: 8/31/2002 From: Jacksonville,
FL, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: bbake
Men, I have read every word on this forum. Great info! Have ordered this plane and wondering if there are any new ideas or issues. Will change the colors and markings. So many to choose from. Will use Saito 125 and ST125MG servos. Any advice on set up? Have heard about lowering the fuel tank due to inverted engine flooding. 5" wheels? Pull pull? Connecting elevator halfs? Propeller size for this plane and engine?
Can't wait to fly this bird!
I'll share some modifications I made to mine.
I powered my PT-17 with a geared brushless electric motor, so I can't help you with engine recommendations. As for a few of my airframe mods:
I stripped and re-covered everything in Cub yellow that wasn't already, excluding the rudder. Navy Stearmans just look better all yellow, IMHO.
I ditched the steel joiner wire for the elevators, and the steel pushrod setup. I made independently operating elevator halves and used small carbon fiber (.074 IIRC) rod as pushrods, with a pushrod to each half. The CF rods were joined with Kevlar thread and CA to a single regular threaded pushrod inside the fuselage--a basic Y pushrod. This is both lighter and stiffer than the included arrangement, and allows for easier trimming of the elevator.
I did the rudder as a pull-pull arrangement, using steel fishing leader and crimps. Again, lighter and more accurate than a single steel rod. More scale too.
I popped off the tail block and hollowed it out. It's a big solid block, and I needed to get all the weight out of the tail that I could.
I installed false ribs on the top half of the stabilizer before re-covering. Strictly for scale appearance enhancement. The ribs look nice under the covering.
I had TNT Landing Gear make me a custom landing gear. The included one is too thin (everyone complains that the plane bounces a lot on landing) , the gear stance is way too wide, and they needed to be shorter in order to compensate for the more correctly sized 5" Dubro wheels I used. The included wheels are way too small for scale, and too hard. I made gear fairings up from thick balsa sheeting and glued them to the custom gear, using the provided one as a guide for shaping. After shaping, glassing, and painting, you can't tell they are homemade. Heads up--the landing gear mounting block is not glued in well at all, nor is the fuel tank support piece.
I painted the interplane strut fittings and mounted them with the bends facing inboard for better looks. I used button head socket screws for fastening them, instead of regular socket head screws. It makes working with the screws much easier, as the heads don't interfere with each other. The screws go in from the outboard side for a neat appearance. I JB Welded nylon locknuts onto each fitting for the horizontal screws. It keeps me from fumbling with so much small hardware at the field.
I made my own dummy engine from 1/6 scale Williams Brothers Pratt & Whitney cylinders, on a homemade fiberglass and balsa crankcase. It looks a whole lot better than the piece of crap they give you in the kit.
I carved and mounted a carburetor inlet pipe for the forward cowl. GP shamefully completely omits this detail.
I made functional flying wires with clevises. I plan to redo these with some flat chrome colored jewelry lacing I found at a craft store. The wires don't need to be functional, and the flat stuff will look better.
I had some vinyl graphics made by Callie's Custom Graphics. The roundels included were the wrong color blue, the side numbers are too large, and the US NAVY markings were the wrong font and too closely spaced. The vinyl graphics go on and smooth out much better than stickers, too.
I have added cabane and tailplane rigging, and a few more scale bits since these photos.
Hope this helps.
Rick
< Message edited by ElectRick -- 3/6/2007 6:35:09 AM >
Posts: 6
Joined: 5/31/2006 From: Taylors, SC, USA Status: offline
Rick,
Thanks, that is great informatoin. I will follow your advice and want to take time and do this right. What are your thoughts about the fuel tank being higher than the carb. I also plan to do some recovering !
Posts: 469
Joined: 8/31/2002 From: Jacksonville,
FL, USA Status: offline
There is room to move it down in the fuselage, but I haven't read anything in three different magazine reviews of the plane that indicate this is necessary.
It would be a bit difficult to get in there to do it anyway. I opened up the nose of my plane by making a top access hatch for the batteries, so I had full access to the entire nose area inside. I am using the fuel tank shelf as a battery tray for the motor batteries. That's how I discovered the shelf wasn't glued in well. I casually pulled on it to test it, and it popped right off in my hand.
I would think that a uniflow tank arrangement would solve any tendency for fuel to siphon out through the carb. In the olden days I used to pinch off the fuel feed tube between flights with a hemostat to prevent this.
Posts: 76
Joined: 1/31/2006 From: Walnut,
CA, USA Status: offline
After couple of months flying this plane, it is one of the best on my hanger. However, I do have one major complain, which is the landing gear. I had replaced two so far. And if I don’t do anything about it soon, I probably have to keep on replacing them. The problem is the fiberglass keeps on cracking/splitting. I admit I had couple of not so prefect landings. The plane bounces quite a lot. Does anyone have remedy for this problem? I tried to call Robart see if they offer any landing gear for this plane and so far, no reply.
Posts: 129
Joined: 3/17/2003 From: Glendale,
AZ, USA Status: offline
Electrick, I am in the process of electrifying this plane myself. and have been tossing the idea of a hatch up front around.
Could you post or e-mail somepics on how you put in the hatch?
I have also considered placing a hatch on the side for final battery connections and switches only, and installing the batteries once we arrive at the field, and leaving them in the plane until we tear down to go home, or to re-charge the batteries.
Any help you could provide could save me from having to purchase another fuze for this plane.
Posts: 233
Joined: 4/24/2003 From: Spring Valley, CA, USA Status: offline
Hey Ghostrider, I dont know if your tires are the same as the GP super Stearman or not but if they are there are alot of guys have complained about the same thing on the Super Stearman thread.Some of them changed to 4in Dubro air filled tires and they say it helps alot.I bought them for my SS but it wont be ready for a couple of weeks.hope this helps.
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RE: Great Planes PT- 17 Stearman ARF - 
