I have intended this 'short' build thread to be of help to those customers who have already placed orders for this new jet, and for those generally interested in small 'nano' turbine or EDF powered jets.

The Stinger is essentially a new fully composite sports jet, designed to be smooth over a large speed range, strong and easy to fly with landing gear suitable for use on grass as well as tarmac flying fields. The span is just over 1m and the length around 1.2m.

All parts are composite sandwich construction formed under vacuum, formers are pre-fitted as are ducts, and we have designed from scratch an electric trailing link landing gear system which includes an electric brake system and controller for programming all the functions required from voltage feed to door sequencing and failsafe - we have even incorporated a simple version of ABS which pulses the brakes to help prevent lock up and aids a smoother deceleration.

The build commences with the wings as these are the first items out from the newly made moulds, please note there are a few areas of 'rough' edges around the servo hatches which were as a result of a porous edge to the panel set in the mould to give the recess - this will be modified for final production kits. We also hope to finish the production kits in white rather than the grey of this and the second Stinger which will be built with an electric EDF system.

So wings come with flap and ailerons pre-hinged, servo recess cut and tabbed for the cover retaining screws, currently we live hinge the gear door but we are considering an option to simple cut the gear door opening and mould in a rebate for a separate gear door which the custom can fit or not depending on his choice.

First off is to fit the chosen servos, in our case we have opted to use the MKS 6125 servos, these have nice power, metal gear, great centering and neat accessories. Using one of the servo hatch covers supplied I first needed to position the servo mounting frame which can be purchased with MKS servos to the cover, to make sure it did not interfere with the servo cut out in the wing I turned it upside down and positioned the wooden frame in the mirror position to is actual position, as you can see through the covers its easy to judge this and fit the frame in position without the risk of it snagging.

Once the frame was fitted I fitted a small aluminium servo arm which is also available as an accessory with these servos, and keen to keep the linkage as low a profile as possible I worked out and then cut slots in the cover to conceal the arm, and ball link (which are also supplied in the kit) to the location of the horn. Careful alignment is needed to ensure things line up nicely. The flap and aileron horns which are supplied need to be trimmed, sanded and fitted into slots which need to be cut into the wing skin, balsa blocks are fitted to the inside of the control surfaces to help fixture.

When you are happy with the alignment and throws (these will be detailed later) glue in the horns using a strong epoxy, mask around the horns allowing a few mills of edge to bead some epoxy around the base of the two horns - a cotton bud (Q tip) are great for this.

The servo hatches require a small packing piece of scrap material like thin ply to be glued to the underside to give a good fixing base for the servo cover retaining screws.

Servo leads need to be extended to exit close to the wing leading edge at the root. A hole can be made through the root and then a wire passed up inside the wing to first go through a hole in the first wing rib made for this purpose and then sideways through a slot in the lengthwise rib along side the retract mounting plate position. Servo wires can be run across the retract area as there is space to do so.

The servo hatch covers have small holes pre-drilled in each corner, use these to pilot holes through the wings servo bays, once done open the holes out in the servo covers to suit the fixing screws shank diameter for a relaxed fit.

marcs