Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
I originally learned to fly back in the 80's. I remember the first time I saw a pattern ship fly. The whole fast, smooth, "gear up and on the pipe" thing really grabbed me...but I never did get one built before leaving the hobby in about 1990. When I got involved again about 5 years ago I started flying mostly electrics, eventually gravitating toward high performance sailplanes and hotliners. Last summer our club got a new field. It's an abandoned airport out in the country with a nice paved runway and no noise problems. Well, it didn't take long and I was dragging out my old glow planes from back in the day, which lead inevitably to this...my first real pattern ship. I really don't care that much for the chubby, fixed gear, four stroke 2M pattern planes of today - which is why I was so pleased to find this forum. Anyway, thanks to one of our members here on the site I have acquired a really nice kit that fulfills all my requirements. I haven't seen a lot of these around so i thought I'd post a thread.
< Message edited by zeuglodon -- 2/28/2008 12:45:50 PM >
Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
This is what's going to pull it around. YS 60 FR with a pipe. I'm a short stroke guy. I think the whole deal with the long strokes was to get the noise down...and as I stated earlier, noise is not an issue where I fly.
Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
This is a really nice kit. Absolutely straight, flawless woodworking. I love ARC because it saves a lot of time but I can still decide on my own color scheme.
Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
Thanks, I know what you mean.
I'm still working on this and I've already bought a Calypso on the auction site.
Back to the Saphir: Retracts are Dave Brown - servo is a Hitec. This is my first go at mechanical retracts. The instructions both in the kit and with the gear are a bit sketchy, but I worked it out.
The rest of the gear going in consists of 6 Spektrum 821 digital servos (2 on ailerons, 2 on elevators, throttle and pull-pull on the rudder) JR R921 receiver, 6v 2000 mah pack.
< Message edited by zeuglodon -- 2/28/2008 4:24:12 PM >
Posts: 114
Joined: 11/5/2002 From: Burbank,
IL, USA Status: offline
Great plane, I built one in the early 90's (still own it). It flies great although at little heavy but there is a lot of wing area there so landing are easy. I powered it with a Ys. 61ar with a APC 13x10 prop. Tracking is good but it wants to tuck a little on KE with top rudder.
Posts: 845
Joined: 2/3/2002 From: glen allen, VA, Status: offline
I had one, too. Very nice ARF. I put an OS .61RF-ABC-P (with PS piston/sleeve) in it and it flew very nicely. Yep, a little pitch coupling in KE, but easily mixed out electronically. I monokoted the whole airplane as it was a bit heavier than I would have liked. I did have one wing panel that was significantly heavier than the other. Great flying airplane. Post some photos of the finished airplane.
Posts: 1023
Joined: 2/15/2003 From: Cartersville, GA, USA Status: offline
Excellant!! Welcome!! Will enjoy your build!!
I have a ModelTech Calypso ARC...One thing I noticed was the glue they used for the fuse doublers ect had apparently got brittle from age (I assume)...It was so bad just handeling the fuse during the build stuff would pop loose...I bought that kit new probably 20 years ago...I say this as I'd imagine your kit is at least 15 years old...You may want to consider running some thin CA or something around the fuse just in case??
I also noticed all my factory supplied fiberglass stuff had become hard and brittle...I'm 99.999% sure it's polyester resin and that is one trait of that material...I wound up making a new pipe tunnell out of epoxy/Kevlar...I just did the wing relief out of balsa which is glassed over naturally...
Have Fun!!
Chuck
< Message edited by navav2002 -- 2/28/2008 4:25:05 PM >
_____________________________
"A Superior Pilot uses his Superior Judgment to avoid using his Superior Skills." - astronaut Frank Borman
Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
The biggest problem with ARF-ARC in my experience has been that sometimes the installation of the control linkages the tail can be challenging. This is a long, thin fuselage and getting nyrods in is a pain. Had I built it, I would have installed them before I applied the sheeting. I hate elevator connectors and "Y" pushrods, so I'm using 2 elevator servos. I can't put them in the tail because I'm using a 2 stroke and don't want to have to ballast this already heavy plane. Anyway, here's the radio installation. Rear servo is for the pull-pull rudder, throttle is in the middle front. I would have liked to have my nyrods anchored more than 3 places but each is only responsible for half the elevator and they feel really positive.
Posts: 135
Joined: 11/9/2007 From: LP, LA, USA Status: offline
I've cut 'hatches' into the bottoms of a few ARCs to make pushrod installations/supports/exits easier. Just glue the hatch covers back over the hole and finish to suit. Also like the way ARCs allow for personalization with mods/color schemes. Thank goodness I still have a few unbuilt.
Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
I thought about that, but the Saphir has thick foam in the top and bottom so the only place you can really go in is thru the sides. The sheeting there was just so smooth and nice I just couldn't bring myself to cut it.
Posts: 77
Joined: 6/22/2004 From: Howland,
OH, USA Status: offline
Had to dig out the tuned pipe tunnel in the wing bottom. I cut out as much of the sheeting as I thought was needed and sanded out the channel with a piece of 80 grit wrapped around a pipe. I glassed it with West System epoxy. I've had this stuff for years and the hardener takes on a reddish tone after time.
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Modeltech Saphir Build - 
