Lynn S

Hello to all. I have been lurking here in the 1/2 A forum for a few days and have enjoyed reading all the threads. My first r/c plane was a Jr. Falcon with a .O49 cox. This was waaay back in 1968. The plane turned out fine, but my single channel radio was a dud and didn't work, so I never got to fly it. My next plane was a 60 size so I never did get into 1/2 A planes until now.
I found the article from the November 1975 R/C Modeler mag. and plans for the Littlest Stick on the net. I fell for the little plane right away and have it built and ready to cover. The small size is amazing and I can't wait to fly it.
I am going to use rudder and elevator. Will the .010 be enough power?
From what I have read here I assume that it will. I just wanted to make sure before I ordered the engine.
I have also thought about a .049 size version. Does anyone know how much to enlarge the plans?

Thanks for your help.

Lynn Sipes

Bipe Flyer

I flew my littlest stick with a PeeWee .020 and it flew well on elevator/aileron control. I've also seen one fly well with a .010 with elevator/rudder.

Bipe Flyer

If you're interested in a .049 size Stik, I sell plans for $10.

Follow this link to more pictures video clips.

Lynn S

Thanks Bipe Flyer, I'll have a look.

Bipe Flyer

I used an external tank on my PeeWee .020 to give longer flight times.

To set up an external tank for the Pee Wee, first remove the original tank and drill a hole in the side of it just large enough to fit a ½A fuel line. Remove the internal fuel line and connect the new fuel line in its place, then put the tank back on being careful not to pinch your new fuel line. Leave about 2 to 3 inches of fuel line coming out of the tank. I used a little bottle from a fish tank PH test kit as a fuel tank. I put a piece of normal sized fuel tubing over a piece of brass tubing about ¾" long leaving about ½" exposed. I then drilled a hole just large enough for a tight fit of the fuel tubing. The fuel tubing should be cut at 45 degree angle and just reach the back of the tank. Drill another hole on the side of the tank near the front and insert a piece of normal sized fuel tubing extending about ¼" into the tank and about 1" outside, this will be the fueling/pressure feed. Install the tank with the rear end angled slightly down and the brass tubing that extends from the front of the tank going through a hole in the firewall and connect this to the ½A fuel tube from the engine. Drill a hole in the side of the fuselage for the fueling/pressure line to go through and cut the fueling/pressure line so that it is angled forward. The prop wash and forward flight forces air into the tube pressurizing the tank. This works surprisingly well.

BMatthews

I've got one with the 010 on it built from the old Ace kit.

It's slow to accelerate from a handlaunch but I guess that's to be expected of all that power....

But it soon comes up to speed and climbs skywards. After that it's a fun model for doing rudder only stunts. Mine does nice loops and pretty good barrel rolls off the speed gained from a one turn spiral dive. The only problem is that with only a 90 second run time off the tank I can only do a single climb, about 2 or 3 maneuvers then it's time to set up for the shutdown and anvil like glide to a landing.

For mine I found that I needed a small tab of up elevator trim on the tail and another 1/32 shim of downthrust to set up for good flying. The tab on the elevator is a 1/4 inch wide and full span angled up at about 3 or 4 degrees. The hinges are thread and include a strip of soft aluminium that bends to hold the setting.

As I recall this is all with the CG setting as per plan.

Lynn S

Bipe Flyer- I may go with the .020 , good info about the fuel tank.

BMatthews- I have been flying electric some without elevator and sure did need it at times. Don't think I will try just rudder only. I can see there is more of a challenge to fly with just rudder only.

I almost forgot, I did fly a 1/2 A plane once.....
It was a Cox ready to fly foam Cessna for someone else years ago. That thing really moved. I got it up to about 200 ft and did some loops. Then the battery pack came apart and it went full bore into the ground, right in the middle of a housing project. I was amazed that the plane had very little damage.
The grandfather (and grandson) that I was flying the plane for was the Southern Airlines pilot who had his DC9 hijacked to the middle east (or was it Cuba?)back in the '70s. His last name is Hass. The FBI shot out his tires before takeoff and he took off anyway. I think he wrote a book about it.

BMatthews

Lynn, I don't blame you for not wanting to go THAT far back to your roots. After 4 or 5 tries I finally got the hang of rudder only with that littlest stick. The other models were all from my early teen days and it took me almost 20 years of modeling to finally learn to fly rudder only.

Stick with the micro servos from the new parkflyer generation and you'll have a great time with the 010 and 2 channel.

There's no reason you can't learn rudder only on that model. Just use the elevator for emergencies and after a while you'll have what it takes to "advance" to rudder only...

I'm putting the finishing touches on a new rudder only model. Hoping I can show the "Johnny come latleys" a thing or two.

goldguy

If you build your Littlest Stick R/E, set the incidence of the wing so that the flat bottom is at zero degrees, as is the stab. Leave the engine down thrust as is and you will have a winner.

I have build six of these great little flyers, both single and two channel, even flew one with a Cox "Fail Safe" radio. Dis-engaged the fail safe and it was bang, bang all the way on the controls. Lots of fun.

Presently flying one with a TD .010 with a GWS flight pack at 5 1/2 ounces, the best so far!!!!

dgliderguy

I've got a Littlest Stik with TeeDee .010 as well. I flew it rudder-only for a season, and then added a strip elevator and another servo last year. It was fun as a rudder-only, and funner yet as a two-channel. I used stock decalage and downthrust, and have no problems. The main landing gear (conventional, not trike) is mounted on the firewall to prevent nose-overs on landing-- I broke too many Cox greys with the gear at the leading edge of the wing. There's no rollout to speak of, anyway! It just bounces on the grass like a Nerf football. Cute is too soft a word for this little guy.

I had one years ago with a TeeDee .020 and two-channels, and even at 4500 feet ASL it was really too hot. Like a half-A pylon racer. Go with the TeeDee .010-- its a perfect match for this airframe.

Don Bailey

fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

Here are the plans if you want to try one:
http://my.pclink.com/~dfritzke/
I think the Pee Wee, with the external tank and 2 channel
micro radio is the way to go.
Daze

Lynn S

Yee-Haa!!!

I just discovered that my two channel radio out of a Megatech SkyVector electric has a elevator servo connection. The skyvector just has motor control and no elevator on the left stick.
All I need to buy is a battery pack and another micro servo.
I have a question about a switch harness and will post it on another thread.

Red7fifty

My Feedback: (73)

I have gutted the gear out of 2 Megatech Sky Vectors, didn't fly too well ( anyone want a Megajunk fuse and wing set?) You can run pretty much anything on that little receiver, but make sure the black wire is facing up, (or nothing will happen). I took a few hours break from my other projects a couple of days ago when I found the plans online, (thanks) and fished out some scrap. Here is the airframe, waiting for my engine, which I am buying of RCU. Look forward to having one of these again. Still have to go get some wire for the gear, I'm out of 1/16 at the moment. I bet you all thought I had retracts in it huh?

Red7fifty

My Feedback: (73)

Forgot to put this up.

Lynn S

Red7Fifty:
I found that the ESC could be disconned (thanks to BMatthews)on the radio and a battery switch harness plugged into the unused servo connection. That radio sure makes a tiny package without the ESC. I had the wires turned upsidedown at first, but I guess it didn't damage anything, it works fine. When it didn't work I just knew I had blown the receiver, but all is well. I lubed the gimballs where there was some friction going on and they work very smooth now.
Your plane looks just like mine, I covered the center section of the wing with 1/32 sheet. All I need now is a engine. I have put the plans on my copy machine and played with different sizes. A 150% size is a monster. The boxy fuse gets huge at that size. I would guess 120% would work for a .049

Lynn S

I decided to give the Littlest Stick Cox TD .010 power and use a four channel radio with rudder and elevator.. not the radio from the Sky Vector. I had to find a battery pack for the transmitter (found a 9.6 volt at walmart) tonight and have it charging.
I did the test glide today in a light north wind and it was smooth as could be, greased it right in. It didn't seem to mind the wind at all, it really wants to fly. Time to fire up the mighty TD tomorrow....
I will post some pictures then.

Red7fifty

My Feedback: (73)

Hey Lynn,
Just checked the date on my last post for this little guy, it has been almost a month! I better go check the date on the milk in the fridge while I am thinking about it. Here he is parked under a comfortable carport next to an engine 610 times the TD's displacement.

Red7fifty

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Here is the Sky Vector's guts being put to better use.

Lynn S

Red7Fifty-
I see you have rudder only. I thought I would go ahead with the elevator too, maybe I can fly without it.

Lynn S

It took me some time to figure out that it does take a good prime to get the TD .010 to fire up. After I learned that, it was easy to start.
The first flight lasted about 15 seconds due to a power line that got in the way. It must have hit right at the prop because that was all that was broken. The fall to the ground did no damage.
I also learned that it takes little rudder movement. I had to adjust to the minimum throw. It does drop like a rock when the engine dies, as someone said it has a glide like the space shuttle. This is a tough little plane, most of the landings were not smooth.
It was a handfull and needed plenty of room. I don't think I will fly this in my front yard anymore... I came very close to hitting the house, a power transformer, trees, kid in yard, you name it.
I need plenty of room with this plane.
Here are some after flight pictures to prove that it is ready to fly another day. I didn't install the landing gear because it was not needed in grass.

Note rubber band on right stick. I didn't realize the stick was not returning to center until after the first flight. The rubber band was a quick fix.

BMatthews

Red7fifty (is that a motorcycle reference BTW?), it's great to see another brave soul doing the rudder only thing.

I don't know if you've flown it yet but I should add that mine needed a 1/32 ply shim of downthrust to tame the "power".

Lynn S

I don't have the German cross' on it yet.
The yellow monokote shows up well.

Red7fifty

My Feedback: (73)

You flew it in front of your house? Thanks for the notice, won't be doing any of that then. How much rudder throw do you think it needs, someone told me 1/8 inch. Mine has 1/4 inch, but I am soft on the sticks (in this case, stick) Havent' taken mine out yet, will do when I bring out some bigger new planes, all at the same time, I already have sewn a wing bag for it too so it won't get dinged up in the van, I just hope I don't lose it altogether in there somewhere.

Red7fifty

My Feedback: (73)

Hey Bruce, Close, Kawasaki Jet Ski's actually. Brave with rudder only, I hope your not right.

Lynn S

Red7fifty-
My front yard is 600ft x 260 ft, but I was standing right in front of my house. The power line to the house runs down one side. It takes a long time to get it up high, it wants to sink fast when you turn, so when you turn you lose altitude. That's why I hit the power line.
The rudder throw is 3/16 to each side. That is only 1/16 over 1/8. I wouldn't go over that. I almost lost it at first because of too much rudder throw, it was probably a little over a 1/4 then.
If your's is anything like mine, you need a lot of open space around, this is not a park flyer.
Also, it did not fly into the wind very well. When I did get it up high and turn into the wind it was quick to stall. There must have been a pretty stiff wind at around 150 ft up. I would not fly it again with any wind.
I don't think I could fly this without elevator. It was not an easy plane to fly, but it was a blast. Give it plenty of space on a calm day and have fun.- Lynn

Edit: I almost forgot, man does that little TD make some noise. It really has a howl for such a tiny engine.