hookemut

My Feedback: (3)

Hi,
From time to time I have written in regarding the build-up of my KMP Ju-87 Stuka. Lately I have been amiss in not posting some pics of the finished product. The Stuka is just a hoot to fly! It will want to pull left on take-off so you assert your mastery! Airborne, my YS-120FS is throttled back, the plane trims out easily. Rolls are brisk, loops large and true, fly-bys are really attention getters. Now landings, on grass, a bit of a challenge! It doesn't want to come down and when it does, it wants to do the infamous 'kopfstand'!
I've made one good landing and a number of 'kopfstands'. Quite scale-like! You really need to get the tail down, perhaps a carrier landing attitude might work. Will see. Meanwhile, here are some pics,enjoy>
hookemut

frank99

My Feedback: (29)

need one of these all time fav have a royla never flown what is a 'kopfstand'! thanks frank

hookemut

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Frank,
Kopf in German means head, the Stukas all had a bad habit of nosing over when brakes were applied too hard while taxiing, hence 'kopfstand' I'll post one or so from my files.
hookemut

From Stuka literature--"Since the plane was nose-heavy, its center of gravity was adjusted by altering the undercarriage angle with the intention to prevent tip-overs. The problem was never solved, so pilots tried to make a "three point landing" whenever possible to avoid the dreaded Kopfstand, or "headstand," with the propeller digging into the runway and tail sticking up in the air."

ProScaleRc

Can't wait to get mine... I've been told it should arrive in about 2 weeks.

nicostoffi

Hi Frank,

Jim declares to you, I will show you.

This is a " Kopfstand ", not a JU 87 only a KMP Me 109.

Greetings
Klaus

Evil_Merlin

My Feedback: (13)

Wow, nice looking Stuka!

meyere30

I have been looking at one of these along with the 109. They look great.

frank99

My Feedback: (29)

can you tell me a little about the canonpy looks different, watching the poland ww2 vids and bombing the rail yards was unreal can this one dive at that angle frank

MANFRED

My Feedback: (27)

Hookemut,
What happened to your broken wing? What did you find when you opened her up?

hookemut

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Frank,
I'll give part one of your question a try: The WW-ll Stukas came in a succession, A, B, C, D, and some sub-varients. The Spanish Civil War and early blitzkreig models were B models. These were the siren equipped dive bombers, with a very short and squarish canopy. My KMP Stuka is a Dora, or D model. The Doras had longer and more streamlined canopies, and were in the main not screaming dive bombers, rather many were equipped with 'kanon'pods . These pods, one under each wing, contained 37mm hi-velocity anti-tank guns and accounted for the ruin of many Russian tanks.
WRT part two-read the above and add, I don't know, am reluctant to try a 75-90 deg dive!
hookemut

hookemut

My Feedback: (3)

Hi MANFRED,
This kit joins the two wing panels with a center section. This center section is much like that of the Great Planes Super Chipmunk, with the exception that is does not have the massive aluminum dihedral brace carry-thru that the Chipmunk uses. Both have outboard landing gear, as a result, a hard landing causes a bending load to occur at the mid-line of the center section. Without the massive aluminum ( or any) carry thru, and with a very dumb-thumb landing, mine failed in tension across the bottom skin. It was easily reinforced, and flew in a War Bird event, see pics, it's a striking bird lol!!
hookemut

Whistling Death

Hey hookemut, I noticed you had two pilot figures in your Stuka. Where did you find them?
And isn't this plane roughly 1/7th scale?

Also what did you do to reinforce the wing section?

frank99

My Feedback: (29)

i think i am going to drag out the old stuka your info is great have seen the 37 mm guns. i guess it worked but the drag and shock from firing must have been hard on the wings thanks frank

FMCENG1

I just bought a KMP Stuka with gun kit. I am going to put the RCV 120 in it as recommended by Kondor. Has anyone done this and how did you cut the couling.

SCALECRAFT

My Feedback: (13)

Hi

Your model looks good. Could you tell us what its flying weight is.

Thanks

Steve

jmohn

Great looking plane! I have one on order. They (KMP) say it will be sometime in Jan. before the next shipment arrives. I am going electric with the plane. How would you strengthening the wing prior to assembly?

Jeff

Whistling Death

A few questions for you guys that have built the KMP Stuka.

How well do the small segments of the flaps work well with the little wire connector?

Did you guys have trouble with the aluminum wing tube for horizontal stab? Mine won fit at all.

Were you able to get the horizontal stab. incidence adjusted ok with just the tube as a guide?

Do the plastic push rods work ok for the elevators? Did you guys replace them with something else?

The holes for the rudder hinges were off by about 3/16". Was this the case for you guys as well?

I will have more as I go. Thanks ahead of time.

ProScaleRc

Hi BBOwen,

I have only just started construction on mine, so I can't answer all your questions, but here's what I've found.

My horizontal stab does not fit well either; in fact very poorly(the worst I've seen). I've held back from gluing it as I'm considering reworking this area so it fits correctly, rather than filling the large gaps.

My wings were also a poor fit. I joined them with Super Strength Epoxy and had to fill the 2-5mm gaps with epoxy and micro balloons.

I found that the flaps and ailerons are very stiff. I spent some time making sure these aligned perfectly, but the actual hinges are very tight which will put unnecessary strain on the servos.

When drilling the wiring access holes in the wing mid-section, I found the fiberglass to be very brittle which is a massive concern.

All in all I'm rather disappointed in the quality, but I'm sure once I'm finished it will be a nice model. Verdict: not a model for the beginner builder, as it needs a lot of modifications.

flapper

Mmmmmm.....................Maybe the glassing of the centre section wasn't a bad idea after all? I would hate to see your model destroyed as a result of the problems you have highlighted here..............

alanc

i am putting mine together, but, wife illness has it on hold till the new year, up to now, i have fitted the tail tube, and mounted the wing to the fuselage, and sorted out the hinges for mounting to the wing, and ailerons flaps, so, where i can

i found the hinges stiff, and found it to be th stamping that had left burrs on the edges, and slighlty buckled the plate, so, i simply ground of on a belt linisher the first (guess work here) 1/2 mm from either side of the hinges, and de-burred them, problem sorted, took me an hour

the tail on mine didnt fit, i had it there on one side, but not the other, i had a 1/8th gap at the L.E., i tried being lazy here, and paid the price, i tried mounting the tail, and bending the tube, result? after a fair bit of force, i ripped the tube out--oh dear, i managed to re-glue the tube, and sanded the root to fit, the sanding took 20 minutes, i sanded equal off the fuzz, and the root of the tail

i havnt drilled any holes for the wiring, but i would think that nasty balsa stuff must be no stronger than the glass, and arex used in the constuction of this model, i have no fears about any flying i am going to do with this model, i may use the cannons i have, but i really fancy some screaming dives and sharp pull outs, to be scale, i should black out when the model is at the bottom of the dive, and have someonelse pull it out, full size did, they pulled out by automation, not humanation

apart from these few niggles, i have no complaints i will recommense the build in january, but, i will check the fit of the wings tonight, and report back oh, i did forget, i dont like the wing join plywood, i have better in stock, this i will renew, 2 bits of scrap ply, and 20 mins with a band saw, not the end of the world

Whistling Death

Ok I have gotten furture with my plane.

The flaps and ailerons work just fine now. Once I got them installed I put thin oil on the hinges, worked them up and down. They are no stiffer than CA hinges.
The wire for that joins the flaps works pretty well. I put graphite powder in the tube of the main flap. It slips in and out very well now. The high torque servos will have no problem working these flaps and hinges.

As for the elevator tube, I emailed KMP about it, they are sending a new set of elevators and a new wing tube.

The push rods for the elevators aren't plastice but fiberglass. I squirted graphite powder down the tubes and they work very well now.

As for the rudder, they (KMP) are sending me the new composite tubes to glue the hinges into. So I would have had to redrill the holes anyway.

I did notice how thin the surface is where you cut the holes to bring the servo wires out of the wing. That is the only place that seems really thin to me. I hope that wing collaps thing doesn't bite me but we will see. The guy from KMP, Paul Morrison, said that I did get an older version of they JU-87

I have to say VQ Warbirds and KMP have excellent customer service. They seemed to be bending over backwards to help me out. So I am sure if I have anymore problems, they will take care of me.

I am at a hault till my parts arrive from Canada but it will give time to get my RCV 120SP broken in.

ProScaleRc

Glad to hear all's working out and it's great you are getting fantastic customer service... it's a pity it has taken so much effort. I might try your graphite powder fix; I have bottle of it which I use for tight wing tubes.


For the price it's a joke that you have to go to so much effort to make this into a nice plane. I've owned quite a number of planes from DPM, Great Planes, Top Flite and some nice Chez custom gliders and none of these have needed this much attention; if any. I hate to say it, but to be honest this will be my first and last KMP plane. (

I think we are lucky there is a fantastic forum like this to help us work out difficult models like this. [8D]

Whistling Death

Yes it is true about what you have to go through to get flying and my email to KMP said as much. What you pay for this plane it should be much easier to get it built and going. It is almost like a relationship with a beautiful girl. You want to pissed about it but it looks so good it makes you forget you were mad. The only reason I am not so freaking mad is that I know this plane is and will be a flying piece of art.
Also I was really spoiled, the lats plane I put together was a Great Planes 1/4 scale RV-4. It was so easy and quick to build I thought I did something wrong. All arfs should be that easy.
Anyway, trying to have a good attitude about this one, I look at it as a pseudo kit build.
The damn thing better fly like a dream.

FMCENG1

can any tell me what they reommend for sevos on the stuka

ProScaleRc

I'm using JR 539 MG for the flaps and ailerons, and HiTec HS-5475HB Digitals for the rudder and elevator.... but you could use standard servos all round, the flying surfaces aren't that big.