angry elvis

has anyone else checked these free plans out and considering a build? im going to give it a go, it will be my first balsa scratch build. ive done a depron full fuse build before and a bunch of arfs. the only balsa scratch build ive attempted was a guillows 16" stuka. got about 75% of the way through that and shelved it.
any tips and advice would be apreciated!

donnyman

Hello

I notice you received no responses! don't let that slow you down, GO FOR IT!

not many builders out here anymore. I've looked at the plans and it seems to be rather straight forward.

My suggestions probably are not unique but here goes.

Study the plans, read and understand the instructions, ask questions if you have any doubts. I have been scratch building for more than 40 years and still ask questions.
You will gain much knowledge, skill, and satisfaction from this plan that will see you through for years to come.

These plans are not complicated it is just unfamiliar territory.

buying your materials from the local hobby shop is the preffered method but can be very expensive so I recommend the balsa suppliers Like Lonestar balsa(my favorite) or balsa usa, SIG ETC.

Building from plans offers many rewards especially the first flight. I have enlarged a set of plans for a 90 inch version of this bird but have too many planes in my build cue to start it.

let me know what you decide and post as many pictures as possible so others can see how it goes.

Stay in touch.

DONNYMAN

DeferredDefect

I was looking at those plans as well - looks really nice!

Perhaps if all the modelling magazines included free plans more often, more people would build? I hate having to buy plans. Free ones are great, though - especially the ones found in RCM&E!

I was thinking of building the Shoestring from the plans, and another modified one as a Denight Special.

Have fun building it, and tell us how it goes!

prgonzalez

Go ahead and start. We are here to support each other.

kdc

What is the wingspan and power unit of this MAN plan?

PigHeaded

My Feedback: (8)

Hello,

I also wanted to scratch this plan. I emailed Pat Tritle [link=http://www.patscustom-models.com/]www.patscustom-models.com/[/link] who designed the plan to see if he had any build pictures or a build log for it. He said that it was done before he had a digital camera. I would love to see someone do a build for this plan.

It is a 30.5" wing span designed for a speed 400 setup.

Pigheaded

angry elvis

im definately going for it. i found a good local with good prices on the balsa, he has no tri stock, but ill deal with that somehow.
theres a couple of ambiguous bits in the plans...probably its just because im a rookie.
alans say attach the motor mount to front of the fuselage.period. im assuming thats former F-2 as thats the forward most point before what would be a cowl.
bn the tail assembly ther is a stab brace and it looks like its a seperate pice glued with opposing grains and slotted into the fuse....
anyway im cutting pieces and i hope it becomes clearer as i go...
thanks for the support, ill definately update as we go along..

...not to mention macgyver'ing a battery hatch for this baby ;-)

angry elvis

my word, my spelling is atrocious...

angry elvis

id like to put a rudder on it too...

kdc

At 30 inches it would be rather too small for me to see! Especially for a fast model.
Has the plan been updated for brushless motor and Lipo battery? Important to plan any modifictions before starting construction!

There is a Shoestring with different colour scheme in the Planes of Fame museum in Chino near Los Angeles. This is a photo of the full size at Chino
[img][/img]

PigHeaded

My Feedback: (8)

I sure hope you can prove some pictures of your build. I for one would appreciate a material list.

Pigheaded

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

From what I have heard, that green is the original color. It was a Cadillac color (car) paint that was stock GM. This was used to paint the original. I think I may like the green better than the typical yellow.

donnyman

The green color is the original color by the first owner, the text in the MAG. speaks of it.

We, Austin RC Association (A.R.C.A) have a electric fly in progress our first, and I purchased a Brushless 400 outrunner and a 20 amp e.s.c. without realizing the shoestring is powered by a 400 motor, so after Really reading the article it looks like a shoestring is in my build cue. I have enough scrap lumber laying around to build this tiny thing should be fun. anyway until my shop modifications are finished I won't have the space to build anything larger. Loving these free plans.

Free Bird

This model is available as a kit that Pat Tritle designed years ago. Check out the above link and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

FB

smoknrv4

My Feedback: (11)

I bought the mag when I saw that it had this plan inside! I love scratch building and have done my fair share, but this looks like a beautiful little thing to build, I love it also when they have free plans and I think they should do this more often, I think I would spend the money on the mag more often if they did.
This thing I think, would also make a good 1/2A powered model, I think thats what i'll do when I build it.
Keep us posted on your build Angry Elvis, thanks.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

The original color was Chartreuse. The old dope formula for it was 9 parts yellow, one part green.

fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, so why, oh why, does everyone make it yellow?
Was there ever a yellow Shoestring?
Closest available paint I have found is Testors Sublime Green.
If you make one, do the color right!
Dave

donnyman

Yellow is the Most famous of the colors for the shoestring! under those colors by it's second owner the plane really became famous.

My personal feelings is the yellow looks better!

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

Yellow is easier to paint. When you mix up a small amount of Chartreuse and see it you might lose your nerve.

As to a yellow Shoestring, yes, one called the "Yellow Jacket".

http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepShoestring.html

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

In an article written by his son, he listed the colors as Cadillac Chartreuse and Chinese Red.

It was an interesting article:

http://communitylink.reviewjournal.c...86860532278831

angry elvis

started today, have the fuse and doublers cut and glued, hope to have formers cut, doubled and ready to go tonight. im short 1 stringer and have no tri-stock so i cant get too far today...
i mayget industrious and make the 1/4" tri stock out of 1/8th balsa ply...ill try to get pics up later too

rebelabc

has anyone ever forgone the stringers when building the body"i cant spell fusologe[>:] and just used thin balsa wood that u can either steam or soak so as to bend it?? what u see in the pics is an example of whole pieces of balsa

pitts M 12

I think that this airplane will be my first plan build. I have 6-7 rubber band powered kits under my belt and I am building a guillows corsair to RC


JM

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Well,

a little late in joining this thread but suffice it to say that I started mine the day after I received the May issue of MAN. I think the build took me about 6 evenings to get to where I am. I actually stopped short of the second cowl cheek when I began on another project since I was missing the covering to finish it. A few more evenings to get the cowls finished and installed, then covering and the power install.

There are many little things that I discovered in the process of the build including, unfortunately, some mismatches in a couple of formers on the plan. Aside from the cowl cheeks which take a fair bit of sanding, trial fit, re-sanding to match the fuse, the rest goes together pretty quickly. The wing, as simple as it looks, actually is a little tricky as it is extremely light and applying the top sheet requires some patience. I actually deviated in the wing construction from Pat's writeup by making the bottom out of three sections of sheeting - two panels plus the center sheeting. I joined the panels to the R1 ribs on either side of the center section by using the jigs and blocking up the panels. I think this proved easier than sawing through the sheeting and then relying solely on the jigs to build in the dihedral when applying the top sheet. I found the jigs themselves are not enough to prevent the sheeting from "flexing" back resulting in a warped wing when sheeting the top. In short, the three panel approach proved to be easier.

Pat also builds the aileron servo into the wing top deck making it inaccessible. I think the main reason he did this was because he couldn't fit his 7 cell NiMH pack under the wing with the servo protruding through the bottom. Since I set mine up with a 28mm brushless inrunner (I can provide details. I actually started with a Rimfire outrunner so either can be used), 18A Thunderbird ESC and 3s 1250 mAh lipo, space in the fuse was not an issue. In fact, as someone mentioned in the thread, I went ahead and installed two servos - one each for elevator and rudder in the fuse with the aileron servo in the wing center inverted as is done commonly. The tiplet fit side by side without issue. I used $3 9g servos from HobbyKing which are rather impressive for the price.

The ESC goes in front of the wing LE ahead of the ply/balsa former laminate with the 3S lipo under the wing in the main radio compartment - there is no need for a separate hatch for swapping out batteries - the wing removes with a single 4-40 bolt accessed from the bottom of the fuse. Pat actually rigged up a nice wing retention system by screwing the wing down from the bottom through a paper tube thereby making the wing mount "invisible".

The motor mounts to a 1/16" ply plate which is epoxied on to the front of the airframe. You then will likely have to glue on a balsa ring ( ~3/16" - 3/8" ) on this ply mount to bridge the gap between the mount plate and the spinner backplate and fair it in nicely. I actually made my ply mount a little larger than the 1.5" DuBro spinner which I chose so as to fair in the nose a little more nicely.

In order to scratch build it, I found it easier to scan the plan and draw it up in CAD so I could print these CAD plans and make my "kit". This is the first RC model I've built with 1/16" formers (at least that I can remember) and I can say that it poses its challenges ... Actually, it was a fun build.

If anyone is interested in my CAD plans, just post here and I'll direct you to a link. I should mention that I modified the design a touch and stretched the wing span to 32" to reduce the wing loading even further and to account for the couple of extra ounces I would likely build into the model due to the rudder control and slightly heavier motor. I was enjoying the idea of a larger one already so I began to scale the plans up for a 46" span, 500-600W version. The fuse top front has held me back as it would be ideal to design a hatch into the front section so that batteries and motor can be installed and accessed easily. With the 32" (30.5" per Pat's plans) span, access to the motor is basically nil one the mounting plate has been epoxied on to the front. One can always unscrew and remove the motor from the wing saddle but re-mounting the motor could be a challenge. To alleviate the problem, I switched from the idea of using a 1600 kV 28 mm GP outunner to a 1400 kV 28 mm HiMax inrunner. In either case a 7x4, 7x5 will be spun.

I took plenty of photos during the build so if you need to see something, just ask. As a warm-up, here are some low res pics of my plans as well as the graphics I made up for the decals. I'm still missing the Van Nuys NeoAir fin logo in a decent scale and quality that I can use as a template or simply for printout. I asked on the GP Shoestring thread for a photo of the included decals to no avail.

I look forward to the next scratched Shoestring!

Cheers, David.

PigHeaded

My Feedback: (8)

doxilia,

Thanks for the info. I would love to get a copy of your cad files. If you ever finish the 46 inch version I would love to see that one too. Have any pictures of your bird? Any pictures of your build?

Thanks,

Jerry