Hi guys, need opinion  
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Hi guys, need opinion - 9/3/2008 3:30:06 AM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		Yea I know yall are Very opinion'afied.
Here goes. I have a Sig Staggerwing that my daughter is attempting to fly. We have had good luck with our Skyray 1/2A but the Staggerwing is giving us fits. One question, should I use the wire leads that come in the kit to attach the lines to or should I use something like braided fishing line (spiderwire) to attach the control horn to the control wires? It would be simple enough to tie the line to the horn instead of using the wire and I ask because we broke one of the wires.
I don't have a lot of experience flying in general but I am darn good with engines. That is a Norvel .061 on the front. We might be going back to the "Bee", it depends.

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Castor, its like Vitamin C for glow engines. I am not Dom from Airwolf but I do resemble him.......Unfortunately
       Post #: 1

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/3/2008 4:46:43 AM   
build light


 

Posts: 1483
Joined: 11/30/2005
From: Crete, NE, USA
Status: online 		The wire is the best choice for sure. The Spiderwire makes for pretty good line material so long as it is the really light stuff. Another thing about the Spiderwire is that it does not handle knots very well. It weakens the line tremendously so if you use it at all make sure you do a pull test on it before each and every flight.

The norvel may prove far too much for this plane. Only for the skilled flier. This engine is more powerful than a TeeDee by Cox. I don't hink this plane was designed for more than the traditional reedy engines.
The Tank location is iffy at best for good engine runs. You don't want it so far away and on top of that the engine will have even more trouble with its location so far to the outside of the circle. Might do fine on the ground but once airborn... If you feel you must use this engine at least use the tank in the mount.

A balloon tank mounted on the fuse just above the bellcrank would be ok.

Robert

< Message edited by build light -- 9/3/2008 4:48:04 AM >


_____________________________

Roll! Tide! Roll!
Go Crimson Tide!!!

(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 2

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/3/2008 2:41:30 PM   
mikeainia


 

Posts: 20
Joined: 12/24/2007
From: Madrid, IA, USA
Status: offline 		Hi Jeff -

The staggerwing will never fly as well as the 1/2A Skyray, but I do remember that it was pretty nose-heavy even with a golden bee on it. It must be REAL nose-heavy with that Norvel. I'd recommend going "back to the Bee". Have to agree that that tank location looks pretty far outboard of the engine - that is a long way uphill for the fuel to climb. If you stick with the Norvel, you will get plenty of run-time from the Norvel tank/mount and the engine will not go lean once airborne.

Good luck to you and your daughter

Mike A.
Mid-Iowa Control Liners

(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 3

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/3/2008 6:27:30 PM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		The Norvel was just kind of a "what the hell lets try this thing" . And the mount ended up completely different. (made it from scratch) . I never got a flight out of it due to fuel starvation and I am not familiar with balloon tanks at all. I think I could have made it work eventually but I have enough screaming Bees around here the we can use one .
I don't know if you ever saw the Skyray/Zero. I modified our Skyray to look like a Zero, even got it's photo taken by Sig. My kid loves it. I think the cowl has saved the engine several times from my daughters less than stellar landings.

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_____________________________

Castor, its like Vitamin C for glow engines. I am not Dom from Airwolf but I do resemble him.......Unfortunately

(in reply to mikeainia)
       Post #: 4

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/4/2008 4:50:33 AM   
gcb



Posts: 2473
Joined: 10/24/2002
From: Port Ewen, NY, USA
Status: offline 		jeffie8696,

Make sure the pickup on the NORVEL tank is in the correct place for CL...mine was setup for RC with pickup on bottom. I had to pull out the tubing, bend it, and reinstall it in the correct place. It works fine that way.

Lose the spinner. That is WAY too much weight up front.

If you still want to use that external tank, glue some standoffs on the fuselage so the tank will clear the bellcrank and mount on the side of the fuselage. In that case you may also want to use an RC radial engine mount to move the engine back some.

I'm guessing that you made that venturi for better fuel draw. Nice.

What size prop is that? The NORVEL .061 normally likes a 6x2 or 5.7x3 APC prop. It needs to rev to maintanin venturi velocity. Perhaps not with your venturi.

Of course, as someone mentioned above, switching to a Bee type engine is easier, and maintains a power range more suited to that plane.

Lots of choices. Good luck whichever way you go.




(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 5

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/4/2008 4:00:28 PM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		Actually the first photo was just a mockup. I did not use the Norvel tank mount . I use a self made beam style mount that moved the engine back to almost touching the firewall.
The .061 is completely unmodified, it was originally a car engine but it has been adapted for air use. Bought it at Sheldons. Actually I got several. LOL.
This engine was a hard starter so that was the reason for the spinner. It has been replaced by one of it's stablemates that has proven to be a real easy flip starter so the spinner is gone now.
The fuel tank is a work in progress, I am still learning about tank position etc. I think the biggest problem was our crosswinds , we need a lot of line pull to compensate and the Staggerwing was not cutting it. The Zero has a lot of engine offset to work well. Still I think the Norvel .061 is just TOO much engine . I am working on getting an .049 Norvel. But I think one of my better Bees will work OK.

_____________________________

Castor, its like Vitamin C for glow engines. I am not Dom from Airwolf but I do resemble him.......Unfortunately

(in reply to gcb)
       Post #: 6

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/4/2008 8:51:13 PM   
gcb



Posts: 2473
Joined: 10/24/2002
From: Port Ewen, NY, USA
Status: offline 		Well, I guess we fixed a lot of non-problems.

George

(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 7

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/5/2008 1:28:20 AM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		My first question was about using Spiderwire to attach the bellcrank to the leads for the control lines instead of the factory piano wire and that was quickly answered . The rest is just us having fun.

_____________________________

Castor, its like Vitamin C for glow engines. I am not Dom from Airwolf but I do resemble him.......Unfortunately

(in reply to gcb)
       Post #: 8

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/5/2008 3:14:26 AM   
build light


 

Posts: 1483
Joined: 11/30/2005
From: Crete, NE, USA
Status: online 		You bet friend. Fun is where it's at.

All in all the Norvell might be fun to try but don't expect the airplane to fly in a fun manner. I encourage experimentation but often when such a project gets brought up, the lack of experience by some of the newer hobbyists can get their dreams dashed in a hurry leaving them with dashed dreams and a bad taste in their mouth regarding flying at all.

Another problem with this Norvell installed the way it was is that the nose moment of the plane has been lengthened severley beyond the planes original design. Also the CG can be drastically altered by such an arrangement.
If you were to seriously consider using the Norvell you would want to alter the nose length so that the propeller winds up close to where it is with the Baby Bee installed. A quarter to half an inch further forward would probably be OK but more than that could make the flying characteristics of the plane undesireable hence less fun in the long run.
This could cause clenching of teeth and other parts of the body!
Also consider small fuel loads for intial flights so that if indeed there were the undesireable clenching, you would not have to endure it for long.

Remember have fun but let us know how things go when you start experimenting!

Robert


_____________________________

Roll! Tide! Roll!
Go Crimson Tide!!!

(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 9

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/5/2008 3:30:30 AM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		My revised mount has the Norvel almost touching the firewall. But I still feel this is just going to be too much for this plane.

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_____________________________

Castor, its like Vitamin C for glow engines. I am not Dom from Airwolf but I do resemble him.......Unfortunately

(in reply to build light)
       Post #: 10

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/5/2008 5:19:01 PM   
gcb



Posts: 2473
Joined: 10/24/2002
From: Port Ewen, NY, USA
Status: offline 		jeffie,

That Big Mig .061 has probably twice the HP of a Babe Bee engine, so she's going to have faster lap times.

Also, when it's flying, the fuel draw will drop dramatically. You still might want to bring that tank closer to the fuselage. To check this, start it up and hold the outside wing down.

George

(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 11

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/5/2008 5:33:27 PM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		I think I will be saving this engine for something a little bigger , I am almost delusional enough to think I can scratch build a profile plane . (Almost ).
I have the parts. The wood cost is minimal and I can print out the profile of anything to any scale on my printer. Might be a little crude at first try.

Update. A good friend of mine has profiled a nice ME 109 for me. All I have to do is take it to the printer and have it made to scale. then I cut it out and glue it together. The .061 is going to be very happy. I hope it flies well.

< Message edited by jeffie8696 -- 9/6/2008 5:12:27 AM >

_____________________________

Castor, its like Vitamin C for glow engines. I am not Dom from Airwolf but I do resemble him.......Unfortunately

(in reply to gcb)
       Post #: 12

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/10/2008 7:04:32 PM   
tlrascal


 

Posts: 118
Joined: 7/30/2002
From: Lavaca, AR, USA
Status: offline 		I am real happy to read your posts. I think what you are doing is great and it reminds me of the way it used to be. Lots of experimentation, let's try this, I can make that myselfgood attitude. I am also happy that you have your daughter involved as it think modelling is one of the greatest character builders there is. I have known two young ladies that were into control line, one a long long time ago and one fairly recently and they are Dawn Cosmillo and Crystal King. What a span ther as one would be probably 65 now and the other about 20. Please keep up the good work.

(in reply to jeffie8696)
       Post #: 13

RE: Hi guys, need opinion - 9/10/2008 8:14:26 PM   
jeffie8696



Posts: 1283
Joined: 5/10/2007
From: coralville, IA, USA
Status: offline 		Thank You. I appreciate your words. I think I am doing a good job with my kid. She is a very accomplished young lady.