Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Flyer in OKC,
I purchased a Signature Series Tx and Rx back in 81 ($500.00 bucks in those days), and this was the first really modern Tx on the market. I started flying Kraft in 1970 with a Series 69 system, using KPS-12 servo's. Sold that and picked up a Series 72 and eventually had all the Kraft goodies. He had a servo controller and even came out with a frequency block with all the new 72 meter channels together. He was an innovator and started a real revolution in R/C products for us flyers. I went over to Airtronics because I was told they used his systems for their R/C units. I still fly RDS8000 and 10G, but for some reason Airtronics is not as innovative as it was years ago and a lot of their good servo's are hard to find today.
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hi Guys,
I just received a message the new 30cc class Ugly Sticks will not be in until April or May..... : (
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

My first R/C Radio equipment was a discontinued Heathkit 3 channel 2 stick setup designed by Phil Kraft and using KPS-9 servos. The throttle was on the back side behind the right stick. My second radio was a Kraft series 70 5channel I got second hand in 1975 for $265, almost half of what your radio cost.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Guys,
I stand corrected...I just received an e-mail from Horizon Hobbies that my 30cc Ultra Stick was shipped today to me....! I am still on vacation and will be home on March 2nd. so I will let you know what I think of the model when I am home.
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

GSXR1000

My Feedback: (7)

ahhh the good ole days of #62 and #64 rubber bands and dowels....straight across and then crissed crossed...

hsukaria

Eager to hear about it. It is the only ARF I hope to get in the future.

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Bob,

Where does someone go on vacation when they live in Hawaii?

hsukaria

+1.. Lol.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

He could come here for a winter experience shoveling Idaho snow, what an offer!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

+2 I was thinking the same thing!

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Lifer,
As a single man living in Hawaii, I go on vacation usually to a place to look at sweet young ladies and eat great food...Asia. It was an addiction I must thank Uncle Sam's Army for, since I was a very young man. Where I can get two hour massages for two bucks, eat the best food on earth...and relax. North of Chiang Rai, Thailand, called Pi. Hot springs, happy folks, very reasonably priced and safe. I will stop off a the Nana hotel in Bangkok for two day's after the long flight, then fly to Chang Mai, check in with Dr. Montry to have my teeth checked, then rent a cab...and head north. The further north you go...the happier the folks seem to be and once you have tasted the delights of Northern Thailand...you will always return. A young man should always visit this place, for then he has all the energy to put up with all the diverse entertainment and when he is older like I am...to reminisce.

Hay GSXR1000,
Its been a while since I built a kit with #62 & #64 rubber bands, but I still have two older models with them and its hard today to get decent rubber bands. The ones I get today turn to gum in the heat and make a mess of my models.

I will be home on March 2nd. and my model should be home by then. I will open the box and let you know what I find. If you pre ordered the model, it was shipped free...though I was charged a $30.00 for shipping...that is 1/10th. the usual price for mailing a large model to Maui. So for me...it was a great deal.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

hsukaria

After that much fun, your expectations for that giant stik will be very high.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hay Hsukaria,
I have had two Ultra Sticks in the past...both were great ARF's, built well and took the outrageous over powered two strokes I installed. If the largest of all the Ultra Sticks is built as well as the smaller .40 and .60's were built...this will be a real pleasure to fly. I managed to put both my ultra sticks into the re-kit mode, by less then intelligent moves with the mastery of my flying abilities. My .60 was 20 feet to low on a 200 ft. loop (absolutely great re-kit I may add & never did find all the engine parts) and my .40 size went through a huge bush at the end of our flying field...the bush won. These have always been my go to models when the winds pick up at our field...and you can bet by 9~10:00am, we will get 15 mph trade winds. So I always bring one Ugly Stick to the field to fly when the winds pick up...and fly my scale models earlier. Ugly sticks handle the best of all my models in high winds and the most predictable flying models in my opinion, ever designed.

I have a VVRC twin cylinder 40cc gas engine for this model and I have been waiting for a Big Stick 35cc model for it...but when I found out Horizon came out with a 30cc class Ultra Stick, I canceled the Big Stick and pre ordered the larger Ultra Stick.

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

hsukaria

Flight report on the VMAR Stik 40:

J330 sold me his spare VMAR Vstik 40 for a price I could not refuse, so I jumped on the opportunity. I modified the Vstik to have taildragger landing gear and used a Dave Brown one-piece engine mount because I wanted the engine to mount at 45 degree angle so that I can mount various engines in the future with longer tuned mufflers (mounted vertically limits the length of muffler because of interference with the wing). These modifications are not necessary but I new I needed at least to go with taildragger layout with larger wheels because our flying field is in bad shape. I was worried that the main wheels were far forward but that came in handy with our rough field. No nose-overs.

I installed an older OS 46SF (ringed) with an APC 11x6 prop and ran 15% nitro and 20% oil. The total weight of the plane came out to 4 pounds and 10 ounces. In the future, I plan to install an old Irvine 40 with a tuned muffler, a Norvel AX-40 with mousse can muffler, a Norvel GX-40 gas with stock muffler, and maybe a small Fox 40 C-case.

The covering is printed heatshrink that takes very low heat to adhere and shrink. So set your iron at the lowest setting and work up from there. I resealed some seams at the low temps and it worked fine. I can see where the covering will sag in the summer sun. But otherwise, the covering is acceptable.

I used all the hardware provided in the ARF. Just make sure you use plenty of locktite. The provided pushrods and linkages give a totally slop-free setup. I liked that.

The only big gripe I have about this ARF is that it is the two-piece wing and tube through the fuselage layout. I cannot figure out why VMAR did this to a stik plane being a shoulder mount wing that would only require two nylon bolts. At first I thought it cuts down on cost but I think it actually increases cost because you need the wing joiner tube, wing nuts, access hatch, and hatch locks. If going electric, you would use the forward hatch (yes there are 2 hatches on top of fuselage) to swap batteries. But I moved on past that annoyance, maybe someday I will combine both hatches into one bigger hatch and clean things up.

The flight characteristics are very good in my opinion. Despite it being somewhat windy today, it flew well. It is very responsive, maneuverable, and very easy to land. With the OS 46SF, I was able to hover at half throttle and had unlimited vertical. So a smaller 40 can do the job well. Even a 36-size engine would be adequate if you don't need all-out performance. I ended up flying at 1/3 to 1/2 throttle most of the time.

My conclusion about this plane is that it is a good value if you don't have to modify it and actually use the provided hardware. I just happened to have the spare landing gear and engine mount in my spare stock-pile, so no extra cost for me.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hi Guys,
I received my Ultra Stick when I got home two nights ago. I opened the box and the ARF was in perfect shape. The wings were true and perfect and the covering was the best one could ever wish for. The tail feathers are perfect and the fuselage was even better then I expected. The ARF was worth every bit of the cost and it had a few surprises. First you can build it up as a tail dragged or with a nose wheel...your choice. It has a huge forward fuel tank hatch...and a nice touch for installing your gear. The fuselage allows you to use servo's in the tail or inside the wing saddle area of the fuselage-again, your choice. Construction was perfect, all glue joints had a nice bit of excess glue and find the integrity of the kit near perfect. I am Very Happy with the kit...its like all Ultra Sticks in the past...well engineered and the covering is prefect, with no imperfections any where.

I wil be using a VVRC 40cc twin cylinder gas engine in my model and I will use the flap option for crow. I am more the happy to report...anyone that gets a kit like mine will be very pleased with it. I will build mine as a tail dragger and place my servo's in the tail area for the elevators. I will use two servo's for the elevators and couple them with my ailerons...crow, flaps and a drop box I have made for the belly.

I will send pictures soon...my camera took a hit on my trip so need to get if fixed....

Go get yours now...they will not last long. Its built light, strong and near perfect...in fact I could not fault the ARF in any area...not one fault. Sweet....... : )

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Hey Bobby any luck getting pictures?

Mike

jamesroutledge

Hey Fellow Stick fans
I don't like Stiks much, as can be seen from my squadron of them.
Unfortunately 3 of them have gone to the big fly in in the sky since the photo was taken.

They also make great engine test beds, and I have attached some of my more interesting engines to them over the years as can be seen in the pics

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Hey James, maybe if you fly them more they will start to grow on you? ;-)

hsukaria

They do make great engine testbeds. That's why I got a 40-size stik, I have a handful of 40-50 size engines.

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Aloha Guys,
I started my build of my 30cc Ultra Stick to day...I will do the full build in this Thread too.

The Fuselage is as perfect as one can be made. The Balsa an light ply was perfect and of high grade. For some reason Horizons Ultra Sticks were alway a cut above the rest and this the same. Nice and light and near perfect wood, with a perfect covering.

I installed the landing gear and used the hardware in the kit. Mine will be a tail dragger and the gear that came with the kit was painted white...a nice touch for the model. The hardware is good so far and after I installed the landing gear...I took a good look at the fire wall and measured for my engine.

I am using a VVRC twin cylinder 40cc has engine. It will fit and the kit also gave you four stand-offs for the electrical power and the nice thing about this...if my model builds tail heavy I will instal the stand offs and move the engine out a bit more.

After I measure for the engine installation, I took thin epoxy and coated the whole inside of the fuselage from the fire wall, aft to the aft bulkhead where the trailing edge of the wing sits down. I used about 1-1/2 oz. of epoxy and this does several things for the model. It will fuel proof the whole insides and it will help hold the model together. It also will help add a longer life to your airframe and like all my Sticks...they usually last years...if I don't blow it and re-kit the model by doing something stupid. I did lay out all the epoxy and let the model sit to dry.

Tomorrow I weil install the engine and set up the ignition and ignition kill switch.

I plan on putting the servo's for the elevator and rudder in the aft part of the model, on the out side. I do this for two reasons...its easy to check your servo's this way...and its called an Ugly Stick...not a Pretty Stick. I may need the aft weight anyway with the larger 40cc gas engine installed on the nose.

So far so good...

Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Hi Guys,
I managed to get the engine installed...it was easy, just drilled four holes and fastened every thing down. Now the fun starts....for next I will install the throttle servo and hook up the throttle. Next set up the choke and finalize the ignition box and on/off ignition hot light. The fuel tank goes in on the C.G. and its a 16 oz Roto unit. I have two battery checkers to mount, the on/off switches (Miracle unit) and Receiver to mount. the elevator and rudder servo's are going in aft on the fuselage, with dual servo's for the elevator. I will use a full eight channels. 4, for the wing, 1 for the throttle, 2 for the elevator and 1 for the rudder. Rudder/aileron coupling and flap/aileron coupling in two ways. One for Crow and one for flaps...so full flaps will give me 25% down aileron. I just love computer radio's and my Airtronic gear is up to the task. I am using a 2200 mha. nickel battery for he ignition and a 3300 mha. for the radio Rx. I am using HD1501MGBB servos all around accept for the throttle. It gets a Hitec 225mgbb. I have all the goodies in house now and I plan on mounting the Rx and intention switch with fill valve for the fuel tank on the side of the fuselage up forward in the forward area just behind the engine on the port side. Battery monitors and digital rpm gauge on the top removable hatch. That is the plan anyway. I have now idea where the batteries are to go...but I will place them once I get the CG worked out. I may mount them aft and make a batter hatch aft of the wing, on the bottom. I've done it before on other Ugly Sticks.
Soft Landings Always,
Bobby of Maui

.

Telemaster Sales UK

Hi James,
Did you use one or two tanks for the Laser V twin?

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

Does any body know how to up load pictures onto this new formate for RC Universe....???????
Please let me know....
Soft Landings always
Bobby of Maui

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Bob instead of using the quick reply at the bottom click on the post reply button. That will take you to a new page where you type in your reply. Below where you type your reply is a section called addition options. In there is a button labeled manage attachments. Click on that button and a window pops up. In that window you select your pictures to upload. Click the upload button and when it is done close that window and then post reply. It is much harder to explain than it is to do it.

Telemaster Sales UK

Flew my 99€ ($106US) ARTF Stick 1500 yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed putting it through its paces. It's powered by an Irvine 46 which will not take it vertical for ever but it's powerful enough to do all of the manoeuvres I'm capable of and then some more. At reduced speeds it makes an excellent advanced trainer when used with a buddy box but nobody wanted me to take them up yesterday, neither with the Stick nor with the club's trainer!. I had to make several changes to the kit, cutting out bigger holes in the plywood to accommodate standard servos and fitting a better undercarriage as the original was too weak to be serviceable. Generally however, excellent value for money and a model which flies very well.