pc2209

Hey fellow ESM Stuka pilots and builders. I only posted once before on this forum but have been following it during the building of my plane. I found a lot of the information very useful and now have had about 10 very successful flights on my Stuka. The plane weighed in at about 17 lbs so I was concerned that it would be difficult to fly but the thing really flies well with NO tendency for tip stalling nor any weird flying characterists. I think the two most important tips I got from the forum during building was about the thing being so tail heavy. As you can see from the pics I did everything I could to move the CG forward. Ignition is mounted over the motor [snug fit but works] which helped a lot and I have both receiver batteries and the ignition battery mounted on a tray just behind the firewall. In the end I actually had to ad about an ounce of lead in the tail so there was a little overkill. Muffler instalation was difficult and as you can see I eventually gave up and just made a straight out from brass tubing which is silver soldered. The plane is noisey for sure but the other guys at the field sort of like the effect...maybe takes the place of the dive siren....Ha! The Evolution 26 was chosen because it is the only gasser I could find with the carb sitting on the front...As you can see it makes for a very scale installation with almost no cutouts in the cowl. I wish I had thought about cutting and refiberglassing like the other guy recently posting that actually got a muffler in it but that came too late for me. With this engine and this weight the plane flys very scale like...which is how I like them. You guys that want to climb out vertically forever better put a 50 in it but good luck on that intallation.
The other tip I got that I think is of critical importance was the alignment of the flaps and alerons with the cord of the wing... I lot of guys were complaining about almost uncontrolable pitching and thought it was a CG problem...I had no problem with mine and my CG is 1/2 cm forward of the recommended CG. I would have more flight on it but like most big piston planes there is a lot to do to get it ready when you get to the field...takes me about 45 min to get it together and ready... I also fly electrics and they are so damn easy I really have to force myself not to throw in a battery and fly one of them. Hope some of this helps... PAUL C