jboy381-RCU

yardbird is code for chicken...i don't think anybody wants to call there creation a chicken...

as for the tail feathers,you are doing the best thing moveing the stab up to meet the fin...it looks a whole lot better...

what color scheme are you thinking of???maybe white with some feathers drawn on the wings,and an orange nose for the beak...how about some chicken feet for landing gear???

i like it even better now that it's not on paper anymore...can't waite for the flight report...

john

Lynn S

Dang! Dickeybird.........we can't have any dupes.....
Let's...see......YardKitty.......YardDog!......... .YardBlackbird.....YardKilldeer.......YardHummingb ird...YardFireant....Yard Hawk......
Yard RPV........YardBud....Yard Burr....Yard Buzzer.....
I got it ..Yard Ape.......Ok this is the Yard Ape!!!

Well really it is the Yard Ape Jr.....or would Jr. Yard Ape sound better????
kinda like Jr. Falcon...got to sound official.....I wonder if there is another Yard Ape out there???..don't tell me Dickeybird has one.[:@]......

Lynn S

Well....here is the finished product. I'm using a 180 electric motor, found in some small parkflyers such as the E-gull and SkyVector. The flight gear in this plane came from a SkyVector which was bought for $20. I just got in a supply of props from readytoflyfun.com today so I'm ready to fly if the wind is right tomorrow.
I used Krylon acrylic latex enamel on the fuse and it turned out nice, and monokote on the wing and tail.
Here are some pictures.....

I hope to give a good flight report tomorrow.


wingspan 21 inches (an extra bay added to each side)
weight 7.5 oz.

MR Flyer57

That suckers as cute as a bugs ear!!
I'll be waiting to hear how it flys. Don't let combatpigg talk you into putting a streamer on it's tail
MR Flyer57

Rendegade

Why not call it the Balsabreaker, I'm sure that John Mayall won't care...

Balsa Faith?

jboy381-RCU

very nice lynn,i like the colors you chose...if it flys as good as it looks...it'll be a eagle looking for pray...

john

Lynn S

Thanks John, Mr Flyer and Tim,
I'm waiting for the wind to die down a little before I try the maiden flight out in my front yard today. The extra wing area should make it glide better than the original LS. It should be a bit faster too due to the smaller frontal area. I did try a test glide the other day with a tiny electric cox free flight prop on it and it glided good.
I had the other small electric LS up yesterday and had some fun with it. It is back to rudder and motor control only because the extra weight of the elevator servo made a terrible flyer out of it. The little plane will fly hands off! just set the rudder trim and motor speed and it will fly all by itself. Once it gets its speed built up, it is a fun flyer.
The new plane turned out to be only a half ounce lighter than the old one, but it has more wing area.
I guess you have noticed that all of my planes have yellow monokote on them. That is because I have several rolls of the suff, that I need to use. The acrylic latex enamel(from walmart) is something I learned about for painting foam electric planes, it sure turns out slick and hard. It would not work with fuel, without a poly clearcoat over it.
I will let you know what happens......

jboy381-RCU

the paint, is it in a spray can,or is it the stuff in the 4oz bottels...there is a bunch of colors to chose from...you could even mix a new color...use lusterkote clear to fuel proof...i'll try that on my next project...

john

Lynn S

This is brush on paint in 8 oz cans. I used a foam brush and put 3 coats on it.

Well not much to report for the maiden flight. It just kinda climbed out just a little and really didn't have enough power to keep flying. I brought it back to me at around 6 ft off the ground and that was about it. This motor doesn't seem to have the power like the other one ...or it could be the battery. Well it looks good and I didn't crash it.

Edit: The more I think about how it was flying, I think it was just too nose heavy. I was having to pull back on the stick to keep the nose up and that was killing any speed it had going. All it may need is moving the battery back some. Balance makes all the difference in the world in these little planes.

DICKEYBIRD

Looks really great Lynn! It just needs a Tee Dee .020 to make it really go!

ps: Ya better get out'da workshop and spray some 2-4-D on that yard dude....dem unyawns is takin' over!

Lynn S

Dickeybird, I'm sure it would be a real honker with a .020 on it. You would think that I would check the CG better even after the thread on balance, I had it balanced too far forward. I just moved the battery back and will try again tomorrow. It's going to go this time!

Onions? I don't see any onions, that's early spring grass

BMatthews

MMmmmmmm...... Nice yard. I was wondering how you got away with flying in your yard. I'm envious. The most I can manage in mine is a short test glide.

I got myself some small motors yesterday and broke them in on the power suppy at work today. I may just be following in YOUR footsteps for this summer with my own Littlest StikEE.... or Yard Whatchamacallit...

I'm thinking a built up stick fuselage from 1/8 sq with a warren truss instead of sheet though. The Free Flighter runs hard and deep in my blood and it's hard not to see sticks and tissue whereever I look....

Lynn S

Bruce,
I had flying out of the yard in mind when I bought the 5 acre lot. But...it sure is a chore keeping it mowed. Too many houses around for big planes, but just right for the little ones.
I think the intent of Fred Reese designing the LS was to have a small plane you could fly anywhere, and just take it with you. The electric setup really works well....probably not as high performance as the TD,but the long flying time more than makes up for that.

If anyone is interested.... they have the 180 motors for $5 and rx and motor controls that work very well at www.readytoflyfun.com , these are the spare parts for the E-Gull. The prop is a pusher that has to be turned around and the spinner cut off. The 280 motor is too heavy for the LS, I have already tried it.

MR Flyer57

Well it still looks great, even if you didn't get much air time.
I will have to wait like the rest of the herd, to see what happens in the next chapter.
Good luck,
MR Flyer57

Lynn S

2nd day out.......I got the CG back far enough to keep it flying, but still its underpowered. It did look good flying around but it never got over 20-30 ft up. I can say it will fly really slow. I will have to see if another motor or battery will help.
If AJ wants to loan me a .020..... that would really put some zip into it.....hint?
I guess the next step is to build a 150% version and not worry about having enough power.

hotdogx

Lynn,

You are welcome to borrow the nose and tail from my Gopher! That's a good idea. The marriage turned out pretty neat I'd say. Be interesting to see how it flies.

Andrew

Lynn --

Hang in there -- your "clean" LS is cute as the dickens -- you will get that little plane tweaked into a real fun flyer. Like the others, I'm envious of your yard -- I grew up on a farm and could fly U/C, FF and R/C with never more than a walk or tractor ride away. Stepping out your door and flying the LS must be really nice.

the "other" Andrew

Lynn S

Andrew-
One of my neighbors has four horses that usually come over to the fence and watch me fly. I don't know why but they really go ape over the yellow LS. It really has an effect on them. Maybe they just like the color. I would like to know what in the heck they are thinking.

Al,
Thanks for your approval.
I really like your Gopher, the outline of the fuse is almost the same as the LS when the front of the wing is lowered. I'm going to use your plan for the next fuse I build which will be the 150% size.

Here are some pictures of my front yard after the big (8 inch)snow storm on Feb.15. As you can see most of it had melted by late afternoon, it was above freezing.
Two weeks later we had our fun-fly and it was 65 degrees!

I also can use the 5 acre lot shown in the last picture to fly over.

Lynn S

Yee...Haw....!!!!

It's flying now! I tried a different battery, and made better connections to the motor and that helped a good bit..but it was still too slow. That made me think that the extended wing was too much for the motor to pull. I put the standard size 19 inch wing from the LS on and Bingo!....that was it......It flew Great with the smaller wingspan!
It will loop from level flight, but I need some practice to get it to roll. I will have to try that coming out of a loop.
So....if you build this plane or a LS use the standard 19 inch LS wing, not the extended one. I will have to saw the last bay off each side, but that is an easy fix.

hotdogx

Lynn,

The Gopher is very aerobatic on a GWS EDP-50 motor direct drive. It will do continuous loops and consecutive rolls. It has a 20.9 span and 93 sq. in. area. Not really familiar with the motor you are using, but maybe yours just needs a bit more power.