Deadeye

Once again, that is as far as I am. The next step is to glue the tail feathers on. I will hopefully get a chance today to do that, but this thing called 'life' keeps interupting my airplane building.

mikenlapaz

Quick review of this thread and I will definitely be back to read in greater detail !!!!

I'm impressed...Keep up the good instructions and do not burn out.

Deadeye

Lets get them tail feathers glued on!

Prepare the hor stab by woodpecking like the picture below shows. Th pic shows the bottom of the hor stab, where it contacts the fuse, but the upper side will need to be peckered the same way, for the turtledeck. Test fit all of your pieces for straightness before glueing. Make sure you measure from wingtip to tail tip on both sides, so as to line up your hor stab to the rest of the plane.

You may need to cut some of the balsa at the very rear tip of the fuse , so as the Vertical stab fits good.

The rudder is self explanatory. The rear part of the fuse needs a notch cut in it like the hor stab, for the rudder joiner to slide through. Use a fair amount of water spritz and poly glue to join these three pieces together. Start with the hor stab and vert stab. Glue wherever they meet, and glue the bottom of the hor stab where it will meet the fuse. Use tape to keep the vert stab at 90 degrees to the hor stab. Use clamps to hold the tail assembly in place.

Make suere your wing is bolted securely to the fuse when you glue the tail in. This helps to line things up. Make sure the wing is lined up good with the tail when looking from the front. You don't one side of the tail hanging lower than the other.

Deadeye

OOPS! Forgot the rudder woodpecker detail:

Deadeye

When the tail is dry, give it a twist. Flexes a bit, yes? Don't worry. The turtledeck and the piece that fits under the rear of the fuse will elimate EVERY SINGLE SIGN OF TWISTING. I guarantee this, or your money back! I pride myself on a stable stable STABLE aircraft. This cannot be accomplished with a twisty tail.

Feel free to mount your radio gear in anytime. The next step will be running the wire for the tail surfaces. I use 4/40 steel rod, threaded on on side. I use no sleeve, but I do employ a blasa brace halfway in the rear fuse to keep the wire from flexing. More on that when I get a chance to do it on mine.

Oh, and as far as a canopy goes, it's up to you. I did use the 4* canopy on all of mine (except the red and white one). The canopy will determine your particular turtledeck, so your best off to have one now. Dubro makes a nice WW2 canopy that is almost exactly the same as the 4* canopy.

gr8johnson3

well deadeye i think i speak for everyone when i say excellent stuff. it is well appreciated. you have done a great job with the plane and the plans. thank you.

Deadeye

mikenlapaz, don't worry. It's just finding the time to do it. I've got another one in the works already with a slight modification. It will be a bipe.

gr8, thanks for the compliments. Makes it all worthwhile. I'm looking forward to flight reports when you get yours done. How far along are you?

upnflyin

Thanks Deadeye I really appreciate the work you are putting in here. My wife considers herself a SPAD widow now. This one is keeping me busy and not in her way. I really like your methods of construction. Different but I like em.
Thanks and keep em coming.
Al

cainebean

Thanks for making this such an informative thread Deadeye. I have a 4*40 waiting to be covered but I doubt that will happen anytime soon because I want to build this one. I think this should be a tutorial on a Spad Site!

cainebean

2thelmt

Great instructions!

gr8johnson3

[&o]well actually i am embarrassed to say that i have not even started yet. you would think that with all the questions that i was keeping up with your plans. but i just like to get all the plans and get a coarse of action going. i have most of the supplies. just got my woodpecker off ebay. $5.00. awesome. a lhs is going out of business. well moving from the area. its all on sale. getting all my stuff. plus my basement is getting remodeled so all that stuff is in my garage. no room to build. i want to have a good work area and take my time. i think it will be a winter project. i wonder how it would fly with skis. i will find out how my spadet flies with them. i just finished the spadet. hasnt even flown yet.

FlyBlueSkies

My Feedback: (2)

I'm also waiting to see the plans before I build!

They look very easy! I can't wait to see the turtle deck!

As I mentioned before, I planned to build the Sig 4*60. But, after seeing these plans, I think I'll build the coro plast version!

Thanks Deadeye for your time! This is the plane I want to build!

Jeff

torqmaster

My Feedback: (5)

I have started to build mine. So far things are going good. The plans and pictures are awesome keep up the great work deadeye.

Deadeye

I haven't posted in a few days because my digital camera took a dump. It will no longer write to the CF card. Good thing we are almost done! I think I can finish this thread with pictures of my first Cor-Star and some cheesy Paint drawings.

This shows my detail of the tail surfaces control rods. The exits for these rods are right behind the LE of the hor stab, and roughly an inch below the botoom of the hor stab. As mentioned before, use whatever you like, Gold-N-Rod, etc. If you use just 4-40 like I did, make sure you use something in the middle of the fuse to keep the wire from flexing. I used a balsa block, with two 2 inch plastic straws glued into it.

I also used regular Dubro control horns. Put these as close to the hinge point as you can. Your elevator control horn should have at least one hole drilled through the wood torque rod block. Be careful not to drill through the torque rod itself. Keep to one side or the other.

Deadeye

Turtledeck.

Dimensions for the turtledeck will vary depending on the canopy you use. The length can also vary, depending on how you balance out. You should have a good idea of balance by now, as your radio gear should be installed. The following measurements are for the 4* canopy. Make sure you grind the flutes flat where the first picture shows in the red (1 1/4" flap). These will lap onto the fuse and glue with 3m 77 or CA. You will also need to make a turtledeck foam former. This can be any design you want. Just make sure to make it 1/4 smaller on each side than the fuse width (second pic). If you use 3M 77, you HAVE to seal the edge with vinyl. Fuel will eventually soak in, and let the glue go. Wipe off any overspray with mineral spirits. The 3M needs to be applied to both the fuse and the t-deck flaps. The 3m does a nice job. CA is hard to work with here, but you won't need to seal the edge with vinyl.

Deadeye

Make sure you remove every other flute like the last photo above shows. This gives the turtledeck a nice rounded look. The pieces that go over the tail should fit the whole length of the hor and vert stabs. My measurements for the tail pieces are 5 1/4" long. The width can vary, depending on how you want it to look. I slanted my foam t-deck former, just like the 4*. That is what the blue line in the first pic above represents.

Deadeye

The bottom of the fuse is cut like the turtledeck, with the exception that you don't remove any flutes other than what folds over on the fuse. Use 3M 77 or CA to glue the flaps to the fuse. If you use 3M, you have to seal the edge with vinyl. You also need to make something to run the RX antenna through. My camera crapped out, so this crappy paint drawing will have to show what I mean.

Deadeye

Tail wheel.

You can use music wire and bend a tail wheel mount (red). Keep it simple, and keep it small. Make sure you have enough wire to go into the rudder. You have to use a U shaped piece of plastic or metal (blue) to hold the wire.

Fuel tank hatch:

This is the piece that screws to the bottom of the front of the fuse. Use whatever you like, but I used coroplast cut to fit. It screws to the firewall in the front, and the landing gear in the back. You need to shave the flutes to straddle the landing gear block. I will post a pic of this as soon as my camera is fixed.

Deadeye

I think that about does it. One thing I didn't cover was the aileron linkage. Use 4-40 rod, and make sure you cut out 2 exits for the servo leads behing the main spar near the center of the wing. The control horns will go right through the coroplast. No wood was used in the aileron.

BALANCE:

The Cor-Star doesn't seem to mind radical center of gravity placement. I have flown with it balanced 2 inches ahead and 2 inches behind the main spar. To start, you may want to balance directly on the main spar, or a tad behind. All up weight is 9 pounds or so. The Four-Star weighs in at 8 1/2 pounds with the same radio and engine. The weight is in the wings. They are a pound heavier than the balsa ones. The fuse builds 1/2 pound lighter than the blasa one. A hybrid with balsa wings and a coroplast fuse would be 1/2 pound lighter than SIG's Four-Star.

GRAPHICS:

Whatever you do, don't paint it (adds about a pound). Rustoleum is fuel proof, but doesn't stick to coro worth a darn. Vinyl is the best material to adhere to coroplast.

FLYING:

The Cor-Star flys like the Four-Star. Take-offs are short and smooth. If it pulls to the left after take off, use some washers between the firewall and motor mount to give it right thrust. Landings are slow and uneventful. Stall speed is 7-10 MPH. Flaperon is not necessary, but fun to mess around with. This plane is rock solid in the air, and penetrates the wind with ease. It can be used as a trainer, and the stall recovery is predictable. This plane has a HUGE flight envelope, and can be 3D'd with the right engine (Saito 100 on mine). I love doing cuban 8's with mine. Mine tends to climb in inverted flight, so a little down elevator is needed to keep it level. I also coupled a tad of rudder in with my aileron. This helps to keep the nose level in banks.

Any questions? Have I left anything out? Happy flying. I look forward to flight reports from you all.

upnflyin

Hey Deadeye "or anyone else for that matter" Has anyone thought about makeing a RNAF wing for the corostar. I have my corostar almost done and that wing really seems heavy. I wonder if I am missing something or is there a reason for only the 4 mil? I feel I would have gotten a better airfoil with the rnaf. All my other rnafs worked out great. I hope this bird flys as great as I am anticipating.
Al

Deadeye

Use anything you like. 2 mil coro isn't available around here, or I would've built the red and white one with that. I'm all open for shaving weight off of the wing. It is 1 pound heavier than the balsa 4*, while the fuse is lighter. Experiment away! Let me know how it goes.

Keep in mind, though, that this can be a gentle flyer, or aerobat with the best of em. It may be heavier, but you can't tell the airplane that. It doesn't notice. And it's strong as hell to boot.

hendrikm

Dear Deadeye.

Please advise whether a Thunder Tiger Pro 60 motor would be sufficient for this model.

Thanks

Hendrik Moolman
SA

MRX2099

WOW awesome plane I can see building one of these if nothing else for a winter time project to keep busy, I have 2 question though,
1) Do you have these plans zipped up anywhere we could just d/l somewhere or e-mail to us for better viewing to print faster?
2) On the ends of the wings you have the holes/ends covered, where does it show your technique of this as I am new and not seen a way to make this work yet.

thanks and keep building these great planes
BTW my e-mail is [email protected] in case you can e-mail to us

Deadeye

Yes. I originally had a TT 61 bushing on my first one. Plenty of power, but not unlimited vertical.

Deadeye

Nope, no other plans exist except the one here. I may post my own plans on my website this winter, but I'm all html'd out. So if it happens, It won't be until after Christmas at least. The ends of the wingtips are simply covered with vinyl. No real technique to it, other than I left about 1/4 inch overhang to adhere to the wing.