simhatus

Hi

looking back at some of the previous posts this is a lot further back than others. Although it does seem to be fine except if the engine stops.

perhaps i'll gradually move it forward and c what happens.

Simon

gl2657

simhatus

Move it forward bit by bit...Youll find it gets a lot more stable in pitch and it will be better to fly

simhatus

Hi

will do thanks.

Simon

Strykaas

Awesome vids John. They tell a lot about the flying of this aircraft but also a lot of your engine setting up skills. Is that the Magnum .46 that we can hear singing ? First take off (version I) is pretty similar to the pink (4 stroker) one 's maiden too ... very unstable in pitch [X(]

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

I take it you mean the trailing edge. I would try it at an inch or inch and a quarter ahead of that and see how you find it. With mine it took three ounces in the nose to move it to that range from the forward end of the CG range shown on the plan. I rolled up some sheet lead into a cylinder, drilled the nose cone transversely and glued it in. It made a big difference in handling. For a temporary weight a good thing to use is electrician's duct seal. It's very sticky and can be used over many times. Glob it on the nose until the plane flies the way you like and then weigh it to see how much ballast to use. I got mine at Home Depot. Great stuff for trial balancing. Also seals things like hatches in float planes.

simhatus

Hi

watched the video of yours it looks like it flys and lands really nicely, i'll aim to make mine handle the same.

Simon

tsp27

My Feedback: (1)

To the person taking the video, I was at our field one of the guys had a home made device attached to his video camera it was a 1/4" dia. tube about 8" long I ask what it was for, he said" to follow to a plane in the view finder is to difficult , but looking thru the tube he could" I don't know if it works but he claimed it dose. Next time I'm at the field I will take a closer look a the device, maybe someone else had a similar device if so please post it

tsp27

My Feedback: (1)

Took off nose of my North Star on landing (my fault, came in too hot, hit boat wake). I rebuild nose back to wing on top and back to step under wing, Took airplane ply attached it to outside of old body then extended nose 6" increased step to 3/4", this took all the lead out of nose, this made front a little wider, kept CG in same place, helped in takeoff, also no splash on leading edge, now have rooster trails coming off wing tip, looks great on take off. Also for more control on water, inserted a scrap piece of plastic 11/2 x 3 or longer I had from a spad body, in the center of rudder. Have been flowed at our float flys for the past 5yr. and still going even made the local news twice.

simhatus

Hi

Flew my arrow yesterday. added some lead to the nose to move the cg about an inch forward. also set the airbrakes up to have about half the reflex for landing. Much improved floats in nicely now with no tendancy to stall.

Simon

mre2

I'm looking for full size plans for the jetco ( is this the correct origin?) Shark 45. I have one that was sevely crashed 30+ years ago. I'd like to redesign the front end and restore this awesome bird. I was 12 when a friend crashed it. It has been through a half dozen moves and now at 51 years old... I'd like to make restoring it my winter project. I just love to tinker with this stuff. This is my first time on the forum!! Hey guys...this airplane stuff is long term addictive...I have lots of stories from 40+ years of building, flying and learning. I think I found the plans in the RSM catalog
but want to verify them. I could not get them to open for confirmation. Since I'm over 50 this "click" stuff is hard for me... is it once or twice?

Strykaas

mre2,

I advise you to start a NEW thread instead of posting at the end of this current thread (which is totally unrelated to the Jetco). It will certainly yield many more answers. 51 yr old ? It's never too late to learn [8D]

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

The pink Arrow flew again. [link=http://rcalbum.machawk.net/video/Pink_Arrow_II.wmv]Video here[/link]

This time it it has 2 or 2 1/2º of down thrust and the CG is 3/8" ahead of the most forward point of the range shown on the plan. It had one ounce of nose ballast which the pilot removed to check the effect - which was not good. On cutting throttle it nosed up steeply. Down elevator had to be held to land and pitch was sensitive. These are the same things I experienced with the CG on the forward point of the range. Mine is balanced forward of his. It looks like there is a bit of range in there depending on individual preference.


I flew mine as well and we put quite a bit of time on them. My transmitter showed an hour and a half of on time and not much of that was on the ground. The airplane requires quite a bit of attention and I found that amount of concentration tiring. It was an overcast day and with the plane getting away so fast and not being very big visibility was a problem. I lost orientation many times and had to hold on until regaining it. The most difficult part of flying the Arrow is to keep it from water looping.

Strykaas

Congratulations John for these flights and for sorting out a bit more these cg / downthrust issues.

Take off looks a bit scary though, you were not far from digging the left wing tip during take off [X(]. Did you have troubles getting it level ? That looked very fast, maybe too fast, to get under control anyway...

I will start mine very soon, I'm making some room in my workshop by finishing some ARF kits that have stood there too much time. I was reading the RCM issue yesterday evening, they advertise '35.-.60' regarding the engine, what a joke... Would it fly on a .35 ? I guess it would be an underpowered beast.

As far as disorientation is concerned, I always use white covering on the bottom of the a/c and a very different color on the top of it (dark colours in general), I can tell you it DRAMATICALLY improves visibililty.

Oh and you seem to fly on the seashore ! I mean do you fly on salted water ? This must be a pain for electronics... I wouldn't dare ! Do you think it's doable without major issues ?

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

The pink one is a friend's. Mine is the white/teal green one shown in previous videos. He flew while I took the video. I noted the near dig in of the left wing tip. He may have been favouring left aileron. I had quite a bit of trouble keeping straight on the take off but I found out later that enough water had gotten into the left wing to create a lateral imbalance. The only place I can see where it could have leaked is through the hinges. The leak is very obvious as I used clear covering (laminating film) over the open structure on the bottom of the wing.


The pink one uses a YS53. Mine has a Magnum 46 mounted. Either one seems like plenty of power to me. As it is you don't have much time from one end of the circuit to the other before you have to turn and vertical appears to be unlimited. Both planes weigh a couple of ounces over five pounds.


Generally I cover light on bottom, dark on top too but on that particular overcast day I don't think it would make any difference when you got far away. Vision was very difficult. Once the plane got small enough it was just a blob.

Where we fly there is a lake on one side of a gravel bar and the ocean on the other. I have never flown on the salt water but friends do frequently at another location. They have doing it for years and don't seem to have much trouble. Here is a picture:

The lake looks lower than the ocean but it is actually higher. Storm surges can top the bar at times though.

Strykaas

Ooopps sorry yes it wasn't yours but the original first Arrow video entry we saw here on RCU . Glad he finally rebuilt it.

Strange sighting ! Actually flying near salted water (in sea 'air') is just as corrosive as flying directly on water. I guess the trick is to isolate properly all the electronics.

And yes sealing the hinges, especially on this aircraft whose trailing edge is constantly underwater, is a real challenge. Using tubular hinges and oracover / ultrakote, might not be enough. That will leak sooner or later. Dope & paper covering shall be the only permanent effective protection in my opinion...

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

The last little clip in the video of the ocean stirred up was taken from my deck the previous week. After a storm our windows are covered in salt spray. We go through a gas barbecue every two to three years due to corrosion. It sits on a deck towards the ocean. Vehicles rust more quickly here too. The brakes often get grindy from rust after a few days of sitting. I haven't had any particular problems with planes though.

werlec

Has anyone done or seen a Northstar with an electric motor? I have a NS that I built & flew (& crashed) 15 years ago. It flew very well with an OS46SF & a 10*6 prop. I would like to rebuild it as an "electric" but I am at a loss as to what electric motor to use due to the limitation of a 10" prop. The electric motors that can handle a 6+ lb. plane need 13-14 inch props which won't work on a NS. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Erle

jrf

My Feedback: (551)

What you need is a direct drive, brushless "in-runner" that will turn a 10x6 at 15,000. I wouldn't know what it would be, but I'll bet the electric forum guys could point you in the right direction.

Jim

werlec

Jim,

Thanks for the reply. I never even thought of an inrunner. I'm new to the brushless motors & have only been thinking in terms of outrunners. I'll do some investigation to see if any inrunners can give me enough rpm's. The old glow motor spun the 10x6 at abt 13,000 as I recall. So your est of 15,000 is abt right as the 13k was marginal.

I've got time to check this out as I'm still working on my "Twinkle" (a 1/2 size version of the North Star)

Thanks again,

Erle

LADDIE

I converted one of my North Stars to electric. I made slight modifications to the model.
I raised the fin by 3”. I changed the shape of the nacelle. I placed the stabilizer to the middle of the nacelle. The stabilizer and the motor are at 0 degrees. The elevator servo and the speed controller are sitting inside the nacelle. I increased the span of stabilizer from 17” to 20”. Probably this change was not needed. I changed shape of the tip floats for esthetic reason. No other changes were made. I am running AXI 4120/18 motor turning 12-8 prop. I have room to swing 13” prop. No lead in the nose is needed. The total weight came down from 7.5Lbs to 6.5Lbs with the landing gear. I test flew the model today from the grass. The model performs great. The mode is fast at full power but slows down nicely for smooth landing.
Personally, I am very satisfied with the model.
After that I took the model for water tests at small pond situated close to my house. I could not fly there because of size of the pond, but test showed that the model will handle the water nicely.
If anyone there is contemplating converting the North Star to electric go and do it. You will not be disappointed if you going to use similar motor to mine.

LADDIE

Here are some pictures from today testing electric North Star.

werlec

Ladislav,

Thanks for the reply about the electric Northstar. I would like to see the pix that you posted - but they are not showing up on my screen. Not sure if they are missing or I have a 'puter problem.

I was thinking of using a similar motor - HXT- 50-55B 50kv. I was going to try a 10x10 prop to get a similar pitch speed to what I used to get with the OS46. The idea of moving the nacelle up sounds promising also. I'm hoping to get the weght down into the 6 lb. range also. I've allready remove the 15 of lead from the nose!

Hope I can see the pix of your modifications.

Thanks again,

Erle

BTW - are you Laddie?

LADDIE

varlec
I tried again but this time I noticed that image was not attached to text before I sent it. I do not know what I am doing wrong. Anyhow, go to Photo Gallery and then to Seaplanes. On first page I have two pictures of North Star.

LADDIE

It worked somehow.

Strykaas

Great !

By the way, what kind of LiPo batteries did you use on it ? Did you manage to get these into the canopy in order to get that CG right on ?