RE: Christen Eagle - Building, Alterations and Modifications
Well, I made some progress in the last few days on my Christen Eagle. I've assembled both wings and installed the airlon servos. Everything lined up and the seams are minimal.
BUT!!!!! I made a wopper of a mistake. The graphics on the top and bottom of the top wing were installed with such precision the center panel graphics line up exactly with the left and right wing panels, rightside up and upside down. Yep, I glued it in upside down. I had to carve into the center panel at both cabane mounting points and install hardwood blocks because the original blocks are only installed just below the balsa covering on the bottom of the panel and do not extend the entire depth -- they do now and I have added a few ounses of weight to an airplane that will already by heavy with the Fuji in the nose.
I blame myself. If I had paid closer attention to the instructions and read through them in detail I would have noticed that the 6 tiny pin holes in the covering were there for a reason. At least I won't have to worry about the cabane holes not lining up because now I will have to mount the wing and let it set on the cabane struts to find out where to drill the holes.
One thing I have determined during my wing assembly and airlon servo installation. I can easily set this bird up similar to my Ultra Stick and not have to use any Y-connectors. This will give me a few flight options that might be interesting:
1) Full-span airlons -- this will be the norm. The top and bottom airlons will move in sequence. If your familiar with the Ultra Stick QUAD flap setup this is the same configuration used for full-span airlons.
2) Crow -- the top airlons with move up and the bottom airlons will move down. This creates a high-drag configuration and will operate like speed brakes.
3) Full or half flaperons -- depended upon the Futaba 9C's mixing capability I can use all 4 airlons as flaps and 2 airlons as flaps, etc; maybe even couple a combination with the elevator to enhance loops.