FentonFlyer

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Hi all,

Here are some shots of my latest. it's a SPADstick(Thanks Kraut!) with H9 Ultra Stick style vert. stab and rudder. It came in @ 5.25 lbs and is powered by a TT46 w/ tower muffler. This plane flies AWESOME. The balsa guys at the field were so impressed that I got 3 orders for one. Thanks again for the great design Kraut.


F enton Flyer

FentonFlyer

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another

FentonFlyer

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last one

tileflyer

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Very nice job!! I have built 3 sticks and my newest is the best by far.I have a OS 46 fx swinging a 11x5 MAS and it has unlimited vertical and puts along a couple clicks above idle if you want.

ND_newbie

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Very pretty aircraft! I'm curious, about one thing. This past weekend, we had our annual fun-fly at our field, and I saw a number of flyers with Ultra-Stick airplanes. They are also very nice looking aircraft, especially the ARF .60 sized planes, with the transparent covering. I'm not sure if the .40 size has flaps, but the .60 size definitely did, some with spoiler and/or crab configurations on the flaps and ailerons.

Which brings me to my question:
Has anyone designed an actual SPAD Ultra-Stick lookalike, as was done with (for example) the Spadet? I think it would be great fun to show up at the field with a coroplast version of an Ultra-Stick, and knock the socks off of the folks flying the b@ls@ model.

Have a great one!

Mitchell Schaff
Williston, North Dakota

tileflyer

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ChriSpad has built one and Kraut is building a Gasser with a 31cc Ryobi.

Captain351

I actually own a b@l$a Ultra Stick .60 and constructing a Spad of it wouldn't be that hard except for the fact that it will weigh twice as much. If you've never picked up an Ultra Stick you might not know that these planes are built about as light a humanly possible so light in fact that there have been structural failures resulting from b@l$a that couldn't handle the stress of the hardwood glued to it.

I have know doubt that someone can build a Spad replica but I question whether it will fly as well

Quicker

Very nice plane!!! I really like the looks of the UltraStick, and this is a nice, near copy of it. I've been jealous of tileflyer's SPADSticks, and now I have to add you to the list

Quicker
http://www.rcsites.net/qcoldir/

ChrisSpad

My 40 sized Ultra spad stick weighed right at 5 lbs. Had the same wing size, and wing loading. Flew nearly identical to the balsa version.

codernaut

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wow, what a nice plane you build.

umm, which field are you going to fly at?

Baker field or Buell Lake field?

Andy from Brutus, MI.

Captain351

Your building techniques must be different than mine. Every time I build a Spad it weighs about twice what an equivalent sized b@l$a plane does.

My Deb weighs almost 8 pounds flight ready. It flies great an has really taken a beating but it is heavy. I believe most of the weight is coming from the wings. I use just CA and Lowes yardsticks when building so I don't know what I could do to lighten them.

beardking

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FentonFlyer, I have to commend you on your building project. I like your SpadStick. I'll be expecting mine in the mail any day now. ;-)

ChrisSpad

Thats because your overbuilding it. If you want to get competitive weightwise, throw the pvc out the window, or swiss cheese it til there isn't much left. It'll still be much stronger than balsa, and the weights getting there.
Take a look at Kraut's Spadstick, its light as well, but built out of all coro, with pvc for a former. If i were to build it again, thats how i'd do mine. But, i've built several that weighed the same or less than their balsa equivalents. It can be done, but, you gotta work at it, and build light, and use as little pvc as is possible.
Here's a pic of the fuse for the ultraspadstick.

Captain351

Thanks for the help Chris

I built a Spadstick and it actually came out the lightest of the Spads that I have built. I will try your advice!

FentonFlyer

My Feedback: (11)

Thanks for all of the compliments. this is definately my favorite plane to date. I've built 8 or 9 spads in the past couple of years and this is the best "sport" type plane of the bunch. It has a very precise feel during maneuvers and doesn't have bad tendencies at all.

Codernaut, I live about 20 min. south of Flint and fly about 25 min. south of Fenton in Hamburg or in my back yard.

ND_newbie

My Feedback: (8)

Chris,
After you do the swiss-cheese operation, do you then just cover the pvc with monokote (or a similar covering)? Man, you must have had PVC dust *everywhere*! Also, after you drill all the holes, how are you mounting your servos?

Mitchell Schaff
Williston, North Dakota

ChrisSpad

i cover the fuse in sign vinyl, and shrink it with a heat gun, just like monokote. The rudder servo was mounted on top of the fuse, just ahead of the tail, and the elevator servo on the side of the fuse. The holes back there are small enough that you just enlarge them a bit for the servo to fit into the pvc.
Throttle servo got zip tied to a powerpack, similar to the demon.

ND_newbie

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Great idea! Thanks for the explanation.

Mitchell

speckledbird9

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hay fenton flyer can you build me one of those spadsticks.if so let me know or if you know someone that builds nice spads for sale let me know.i live in west virginia and the spads are pretty new in this area i have been to spadtothebone but didnt see what i wanted.i would like to find a really nice fun fly or sport plane or a pattern plane in the spad.i also like your spadstick.let me know if you can [email protected]

FentonFlyer

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Speckledbird,

I'm flattered, but I barely have enough time to build my own planes.
You can do a search for SPAD arfs in this forum, Go to Spadtothebone.com, I know there are a few links there, or Ebay or build one yourself. It took me about 12 hours to build the complete airframe then its like putting a balsa arf together.

koopster

Awesome plane! How do you use to glue the pink foam to the pvc? I love the idea, especially the idea of covering the plane with sign vinyl. I am definitely going to make one of those.

Thanks for sharing with us!

Woodsy

"My Deb weighs almost 8 pounds flight ready"

your kidding... right.... realy you must be.

the only coro we get in aus is 3mm and 5mm,. when i built my very first SPAD (a Deb) it weighed 7lb made from all 5mm coro two 11/4x3/8 spars, formers, stickers, yada, yada, yada. i thought it MUST be the heaviest Deb ever built.

obviously not.

even using all 3mm (3/5 for the RNAF) i find it hard to get the DPS under 5lb (ready to fly) with 4 1/2 my best so far, although with the HOR type i'm getting closer to 3lb every time i build a HOR/DPS hybrid